Dave's Transformers Legends Rant: Allspark Power Wave 2 Ironhide vs. Desert Blackout Nightwatch Optimus Prime vs. Stealth Starscream Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/Legend5 An abbreviated wave, the Rescue Ratchet vs. Decepticon Brawl reships with this wave to bulk it out. I haven't seen the Prime/Starscream recolor set yet, but unless it looks really good in person, I won't be getting it. If someone wants to send me the package notes, though, I wouldn't mind. :) http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/Legend2 has the Prime mold, and http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/Legend3 has the Starscream and Blackout molds. CAPSULES Ironhide vs. Desert Blackout: So-so new Ironhide figure, kinda unimaginative repaint of a good mold. Mildly recommended, but if you don't have Blackout yet that almost goes up to a regular "recommended". $6.88 at Wal-Mart. Nightwatch Optimus Prime vs. Stealth Starscream: Pure recolor set, and neither recolor is all that great. Mildly recommended if you have neither original version, otherwise don't bother. $6.88 at Wal-Mart. RANTS Packaging: Same as the first wave of AllSpark Battles. AUTOBOT: IRONHIDE Altmode: GMC Topkick Licensor: GM Previous Mold Use: None Previous Name Use: G1, G2, BW, RiD, Universe, Armada, Energon, Movie Techspec: STR8 INT6 SPD6 END9 RNK8 COUR9 FRB7 SKL5 Avg 7.25 DECEPTICON: DESERT BLACKOUT Altmode: Sikorsky Pave Low Licensor: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation Previous Mold Use: Movie Previous Name Use: None Techspec: STR8 INT6 SPD8 END7 RNK7 COUR5 FRB9 SKL5 Avg 6.875 When two of the biggest bruisers ever constructed on CYBERTRON clash, the result is a quaking, roaring fireworks display powerful enough to level mountains. IRONHIDE is the AUTOBOT weapons master, with millions of years of combat experience and a tactical database including the greatest battles ever fought. BLACKOUT is one of the largest DECEPTICONS ever, with an array of weapons designed just for cracking the armored hides of his AUTOBOT enemies. IRONHIDE Twist-Ties: 5 Robot Mode: 3" (7.5cm) tall, made entirely of black plastic. The face is silver and the eyes bright blue. Silver is also used on the cannon barrels, but not to pick out the exhaust pipes on the forearms (probably for the best that they don't paint the pipes this time, since they'd look more awkward in robot mode). A silver Autobot symbol is printed on the right forearm, in a position that's not visible in vehicle mode. There's a light metallic blue paint on the chest and pelvis. The hips and elbows are ball joints. The shoulders can shrug on transformation hinges, and the chest can tilt back on a transformation joint to let him shoot skyward or something. Generally pretty low on the Legends articulation scale, though...the 3" Titanium figure's almost better in terms of meaningful joints. Transformation: Very similar to Bonecrusher's, except that the head swings down to store and it's all backwards (the front of the vehicle is at the chest, not the back). But the same basic "arms come together to make the top half, legs swing up to form the bottom half" plan. Vehicle Mode: 2.75" (7cm) long and a bit oddly proportioned. Too narrow and tall for the length, and also hurt by the fact that the robot fists and cannons just stick out in back of the cabin and fill the pickup bed. The windows are dark slightly metallic blue, there's silver on the grille and the edge of the running boards. There's no molded or painted Autobot symbol on the back. A generally disappointing vehicle mode. Overall: Eh. So-so robot, disappointing vehicle, transformation that doesn't really grab me on second use. DESERT BLACKOUT Twist-Ties: 5 Color Swaps: The slate blue plastic becames a sort of sandstone taupe color, while the dark blue becomes a faded gray-brown. Paint Apps: Black on the face, fists and copter windows. Silver down the center of the torso, on the helmet, on the turbojet intakes and on the pontoon-like bits on the sides of the copter. There's some purple bits on the chest and shins, and red eyes. Just like the original, there's no Decepticon symbol. Other Notes: The fit is so tight in vehicle mode that I actually needed to use a knife to get it apart. Overall: Eh, kinda bland...a little bit of "chocolate chip" desert camo patterning would have gone a long way. But it's a good mold, and if you never got the original, it's a good one to get. Set Overall: Well, it has a new mold in the set, but it's not a very good one. And the recolor doesn't really sing to me...Blackout's a good mold, but they didn't do much of interest with it. Don't worry too much if you can't find this one. AUTOBOT: NIGHTWATCH OPTIMUS PRIME Altmode: Semitractor Licensor: None Previous Mold Use: Movie Previous Name Use: None (name also used on an upcoming Movie line Leader class repaint, though) Techspec: STR10 INT10 SPD7 END10 RNK10 COUR10 FRB10 SKL9 Avg 9.5 DECEPTICON: STEALTH STARSCREAM Altmode: F-22 Raptor Licensor: Lockheed Martin Previous Mold Use: Movie Previous Name Use: None Techspec: STR8 INT4 SPD10 END7 RNK9 COUR5 FRB8 SKL8 Avg 7.375 STARSCREAM stayed on Earth because that's where the AUTOBOTS are, and he knew more DECEPTICONS would come, answering the final, explosive call of the AllSpark. Come they did, and now STARSCREAM has the beginnings of a new DECEPTICON army. While his troops hunt the other AUTOBOTS scattered around the planet, he attacks OPTIMUS PRIME. He hopes that surprise will be the edge he needs to destroy the AllSpark powered AUTOBOT leader before OPTIMUS PRIME can mount a defense. Starscream continues to get shorted on the brains department. And I guess they're ignoring the post-credits scene of the movie. :) Note also that neither has their new trademarks used in the bio note. NIGHTWATCH OPTIMUS PRIME Twist-Ties: 3 Color Swaps: Red becomes black, black becomes medium gray, and the blue parts becomes more of a slightly greenish/grayish blue (web color 003366, more or less). Paint Apps: In vehicle mode, the lower halves of the doors are painted a metallic version of the blue plastic color...a decent match unless the light catches it. There's black flames on the doors. The flames on the hood and front fenders are slightly bluish silver. The grille/front bumper and the cab shield at the top are silver, the front windows are black. No paint on the side windows. There's a fairly large silver Autobot symbol on the left rear side. In robot mode, the abdomen and faceplate are silver. There's black on the chest windows, and bright blue on the eyes. Other Notes: He's rather mis-transformed on the package, with his shins flipped down to give him stilt-legs. On the other hand, they got the abdomen part transformed correctly, at least (unlike the Target exclusive version of the mold). The toy's transformed correctly in the actual package. Overall: Well, it's not an Ultra Magnus color scheme, or a Nemesis Prime color scheme. In fact, it's not really a color scheme used on a Prime mold before, a nice break. However, it's so dark that some of the painted details are lost, maybe they should have picked a color other than black for the windows so they'd be visible. STEALTH STARSCREAM Twist-Ties: 5 Color Swaps: The swirly pale gold plastic is now black, the light gray plastic is a bit lighter and slightly cooler. Paint Apps: Identical to the original version. However, the bronze paint on the pectoral region in robot mode stands out more against black than it did against pale gold. Other Notes: Well, it looks kinda Skywarpy, albeit without any purple. Overall: Eh. The only real change was gold to black. The slightly lighter gray isn't a big deal, and I'm disappointed they didn't change the paint masks at all. Set Overall: Well, a somewhat bland but new color scheme on an okay Prime mold, plus a very uninspired recolor on a so-so mold. If you couldn't get the originals, it might be worth getting this set, you might want this, but otherwise, don't bother. Dave Van Domelen, at least Ironhide has a painted face....