Dave's Transformers Prime:RiD Rant - Decepticon Hunters Wave 1 Optimus Prime vs. Decepticon Bludgeon (truck, cannonball) Sideswipe vs. Decepticon Anvil (car, cannonball) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/PRiD/Hunter1 This is a new class, bringing Legends scale figures to PRiD, and pairing them with Mini-Cons, with the conceit being that the Legends-scale Autobots are hunting Decepticon Mini-Cons. Also known as Battle Packs, and if they release any with Decepticons as the Legends figure, then I guess they'll be Autobot Hunters or Cyclone Hunters or whatever. [Later note: the app game calls the Legends figures "Battlepack" and the Mini-Cons "Cyclone" instead of cannonball. The app has a purple "Stealth Anvil" deco available as well, but only one Bludgeon.] Note, the Mini-Cons still have idiosyncratic peg holes all over their bodies, so presumably when redecos of these molds come out singly, they'll get their own accessories. Frankly, I'd rather the Mini-Cons get the accessories, since they have so little going for them otherwise, as a class. CAPSULES $15 price point. Optimus Prime vs. Decepticon Bludgeon: Good robot, okay accessories, weak vehicle mode, decent (for the type) Mini-Con. Recommended. Sideswipe vs. Decepticon Anvil: Okay robot, not very good accessories, good vehicle mode, Mini-Con not as good. Mildly recommended. RANTS Packaging: These are carded on the same size card as the TRU-exclusive Legion two-packs (and at TRU may be found on the same pegs), 9" (23cm) wide and 8" (20cm) tall. Both toys are packaged in robot mode, with the Legends figure on the left, the Mini-Con on the right, and the weapon assortment in between. Unlike single-pack Mini-Cons, the clear plastic accessories included are for the Legends figure, not for the Mini-Con. The upper left of the card front has art of the Legends figure wearing their energy armor accessories. Logo is along the right side of the card front, and the center has the character art fading away towards the bottom. The blister insert card has a photo (or CG art...if it's a photo it's heavily shopped) of the vehicle mode of the Legends figure. No picture of cannonball mode on the front. The underside of the card insert has the other set in the wave as a co-sell. The card back has photos of the Legends robot both with all the accessories on as armor, and holding a combined weapon made from all the accessories, plus the same picture of vehicle mode as on front. There's pictures of both modes of the Mini-Con, and the usual ad for the app. In the lower right is a picture of Overload, the Deployer made to fire the cannonball type. The instructions are folded up inside, at the bottom of the blister. The instructions do not show the vehicle mode storage of the weapons (Optimus's assembled super-weapon can store in his vehicle mode, but you have to move part of Sideswipe's to get it to store, it's really only meant to hold the base mace). No sprues for the accessories, they're held into the blisters by the same sort of "sock tie" as the figures. Note: when two things are separated by a semicolon in the listings below, the first applies to the Legends figure, the second to the Mini-Con. AUTOBOT: OPTIMUS PRIME DECEPTICON: DECEPTICON BLUDGEON Assortment: B4714 Altmode: Truck; Cannonball Transformation Difficulty: 5 steps; 1 step Previous Name Use: Yes; Movie 1, RotF/NEST, Kre-O (older versions were just "Bludgeon") Previous Mold Use: None Weapon: Axe, arm blades; None Function: Once And Future Leader; Mini-Con Motto: "Am I dead today? I honestly can't keep it straight anymore."; "I will hammer you." Packaging: Five ties on Optimus, two on Bludgeon, each of the seven accessories gets its own tie. Robot Mode: Pretty much the usual PRiD-style Optimus Prime, with tiny head and huge boots to give the impression it's really supposed to be part of the next size class down. However, it uses black instead of light gray, darkening the overall look. While the cab of the truck is a bit backpack, they otherwise pretty clearly prioritized the robot mode here, rather than the vehicle mode. This design makes the choice to show his face rather than battle mask, and his expression is slightly dismayed. The usual 4" (10cm) tall Legends size, in red/black/blue with a little silver and white. The backpack, center torso, shoulders and pelvis are made of bright red plastic. The head, forearms, and boots are metalswirled medium-dark blue plastic. The torso sides, abdomen, thighs, upper arms, and wheels are black plastic. The face and forehead crest are painted silver, with bright blue eyes. The chest window is painted slightly metallic black, as are the toes. The code circle is on the left shoulderpad. The head turns on a very restricted ball joint the waist does not turn. The shoulders have swivels at their roots and a hinge-outward where the upper arm enters the shoulderpad. Ball joint elbows, hips, and knees. The hands can hold 5mm pegs, and the armor panels on the forearms have gaps to let weapons pass through, a necessity considering that the toy comes with a poleaxe rather than a gun. There are 3mm peg holes for armor attachment on the forearms and shins. Accessories: An energy ax, arm and leg armor with hooked blades on them, and a chestplate with hinged helmet reminiscent of some of the Mini-Con armor bits. They're all orange clear plastic. As will also be the case with Sideswipe, the connecting pegs for most of these pieces are 3mm, meaning that if you happen to have been collecting long enough to have Cyberverse weapons around, you can stud these figures with alternate gear. The axe is 4.25" (10.5cm) long with a 5mm diameter haft. There's a single 5mm hole through the connection point between front and back blades, and several 3mm holes (one in haft, two in front blade) for connecting the armor pieces for combined mode. It also has a tab halfway down the haft that goes into a slot on the back of the truck. The armor panels have faux solar panel hexagons molded into them, and hooked blades. The helmet front piece is a sort of hybrid of Optimus's own helmet and a fantasy knight. I don't much care for the look of the armor, though. The combined weapon is essentially a big spiky hammer, the only part that feels extraneous is the chestplate/helmet piece that's tacked on the back. About 4.75" (12cm) long. It's a little tricky, but you can get Optimus to hold it in both hands at once. Transformation: The torso sides fold down so that the arms can peg onto the shins (there's 3mm pegs on the undersides of the forearms for this), and the boots tab together. Then the backpack folds up over the head and torso. Vehicle Mode: Like the Legion class, it's like a truck that's missing the middle underside. There's the front wheels, and the wheels on the back of the trailer, but just empty space where the rear wheels of the tractor part should be. Rather than all the clear armor, I'd have preferred a "Roller" accessory four-wheeler that could snap into this gap to flesh out the vehicle mode. Other than the gap, though, the molding at least makes a decent effort. There's taillights molded on the underside of the heels (unpainted, of course), plenty of cab details molded (but not painted), etc. All the blue plastic ends up in the trailer, although the front of the trailer is red and black. The front windshield is painted metallic black, but the side windows are unpainted. The smokestacks are painted silver, but the grille and headlights are unpainted. It rolls okay once you have all the wheels on the same plane, and there's a slot on the top that's clearly there for attaching the axe (or combined hammer). Mini-Con: In cannonball form, Bludgeon lives up to his name, being a spiked black and purple sphere that would be at home on the end of a haft (in fact, a 5mm rod with a neo-Mini-Con peg on the tip would be a useful 3P accessory to make it or any other cannonball into a mace). The front of the cannonball has detailing that is vaguely face-like, and paint for eyes brings that out, so it looks like an evil spiked ball with a curly mustache flying at you. Cannonballs in general seem to be 35mm in diameter, with the tank-like Overload being designed to fire them. Unlike torpedoes and buzzsaws, cannonballs can be either Autobot or Decepticon (4-pack Undertone is an Autobot). A short episode serialized online suggests that cannonballs (or Cyclones) are unaligned, but it might just be that THOSE cannonballs were. Their 3mm by 5mm peg holes are at the back, and they continue the tradition of otherwise having idiosyncratic peg holes for their own accessories. Neither Bludgeon nor Anvil have accessories, but I presume we'll see redecos as single-packs that do have their own. Drawing from a sample size of two, they seem designed to not roll away if you set them with their peg holes on bottom. Mostly black plastic, but the visible hands and legs on the underside are Decepticon Purple plastic. The only paint in cannonball mode is on the "eyes," and the code circle is on the upper left quadrant. Transformation requires pulling apart at a seam in back (difficulty with short fingernails like mine) and pulling the legs down. The hands should then be rotated down. The robot mode has huge spiked shoulderpads from the ball shell pieces, a pot-belly, and a horned "evil fantasy knight" helmet with red eyes and purple horns. 2" (5cm) tall. The purple paint on the horns is nowhere near as vibrant as the purple plastic, and is easy to overlook. In this mode, additional purple plastic is visible behind the head, and is part of the internal gearing system. The hands rotate for transformation, providing two points of pathetic articulation. The gaps in the backs of the hands from the snap-in joints may be used for attaching weapons, or they may not. Hard to say in the absence of actual accessories. Overall: Prime is weak in vehicle mode, but this is a problem with almost all of the PRiD Optimus toys. Good robot mode, decent Mini-Con, okay accessories. Definitely the better of the two. AUTOBOT: SIDESWIPE DECEPTICON: DECEPTICON ANVIL Assortment: B4715 Altmode: Sports car; Cannonball Transformation Difficulty: 6 steps; 1 step Previous Name Use: Yes; None Previous Mold Use: None Weapon: Energy mace, energy claws, energy shuriken; none Function: Warrior; Mini-Con Motto: "Hold still you little...."; "Break against me!" Packaging: Three ties on Sideswipe, three on Anvil, one each on the eight accessories. Robot Mode: The entire front third of the car is a backpack, but otherwise it's not as bad as the reedy Legion class. The doors and the lower halves of the side windows are stuck on the arms, which lack the tooth-edged appearance of the show model. However, the hands extend past the door panels, so there's no need to put holes in them as Optimus's arm panels did. 4" (10cm) tall, but with a large enough head that it doesn't really look like it belongs next to Optimus. Closer to fitting with Warrior class Optimus. The color scheme is red and black with some silver and gold. Black plastic is used for the wheels, shoulder roots, upper arms, thighs, butt, and toes. The rest of the toy is metalswirled red plastic. The face is painted silver with bright blue eyes, but the deep holes molded for the pupils make them look darker. There's also silver on the skinny abdomen. There's gold on the tops of the forearms, and bright blue on the window bits on the arms. There's gold-printed Japanese characters on the sides of the boots (appear to be the same "very fast" ones as on Warrior Sideswipe). The code circle insignia is on the center of the chest. The head turns, but is limited to about 30 degrees each way before the chin hits a popped collar detail, the waist does not turn. The shoulder roots are restricted ball joints that can only turn or lift up, and there's a higne where the arm meets the root so that they can lift up without looking as weird as doing it at the root. Ball joint elbows and hips, hinge knees (a little low inside the boot, so the legs look a touch off when bent at the knee). The toes are hinged for transformation, but not a useful point of articulation for posing. The hands can hold 5mm pegs, there's 3mm peg holes on the forearms and knees. There's transformation tabs on the forearms that look like they should hold Mini-Cons by their sprue-connect points, but they're too short and too narrow. Accessories: While there's no sawteeth on the toy itself, they're all over the armor bits. Shin armor with loads of sawteeth, toothed forearm armor with claws (three-fingered on one, two-fingered on the other), a throwing star to clip into one of the shoulder wheels, another of those combined chestplate/helmet deals, and an energy mace with a long normal haft and 5mm pegs on either side of the haft just below the head. All of them are a yellow-orange, clearly different from the color of Optimus's set, but still more orange than yellow. The energy mace is only 3" (7.5cm) long, with a flanged head and an endcap that looks like it's supposed to be a missile for a not-included launcher. There's a crossguard with two 3mm holes for attaching the chestplate in combined weapon mode, and two 5mm pegs stick out just below the mace head (mostly seem intended for vehicle mode storage). There are also 3mm holes in the made flanges, for connecting armor in combined more. The helmet piece is meant to look samurai-ish, and the chestplate has some aspects of samurai armor. On mine, the chestplate doesn't stay on well. Speaking of not staying on well, the giant shuriken doesn't really stay put on either shoulder, might as well snap it onto the mace or just discard it. The combined mode is a bit more "Huh?" than Optimus's. The shinguards attach to either side of the mace head, the arm claws attach to them, resulting in some sort of grabber. The ninja star becomes an oversized crossguard, and the chestplate/helmet I guess is a basket hilt. 4.5" (11.5cm) long and generally pretty bleh. If you want it to be held as a grabber rather than a club, you need to remove the crossguard so that one of the pegs on the sides of the club haft can be used as a handle. Oh, and the design of making the armor panels connect together means that one of the pegs on each shin armor (the one at the bottom) is more like 4mm than 3mm. Transformation: Arms shrug up using the double shoulder joints and rest firmly against the sides. The backpack swings up and requires excessive force to snap into place as the front end. Peg the boots together, point the toes, fold the knees 180 degrees to make the back end. Vehicle Mode: Red not-Lamborghini sports car, fairly solid and with only a few significant seams. 4" (10cm) long, so about 80% the size of the Warrior. Almost all the black plastic is hidden, except for the wheels (which should be black anyway) and the toes forming part of the roof. The front and side windows are painted bright blue, as are the headlights. No paint on the turn signals or taillights. The gold Japanese characters end up on the rear fenders. Rolls nicely for a snap-on wheels toy. There's a 5mm peg in the center of the roof intended for mace storage, and the kneecap 3mm peg holes are now on the spoiler and can be used for borrowed weapons. Mini-Con: Anvil is a silvery light blue cannonball with minor flanges, and reminds me mainly of a Union class dropship from Battletech (albeit without landing legs). The Mini-Con port feels more like it defines a front than a back, especially given the orientation of the code circle insignia. There's a large hole on the underside which I'd suspect was part of the launching mechanism, except there's nothing like it on Bludgeon. It's bigger than 5mm, and a little off-center. It seems to exist purely to provide a gap between the legs in robot mode. Mostly silvery light blue plastic in cannonball mode, with various bits of shiny black plastic around the equator and on the bottom. No paint, and the code circle is just above the Mini-Con port. Transformation is similar to Bludgeon's, but the fronts of the shell pieces are on the back side of the robot. The arms are fixed in position, but the feet need to be folded down. The head of the robot mode makes me think of a chibi Cyclonus done in the wrong color. 2" (5cm) tall. The shell pieces form wings, and they can be popped off their struts if you press in on the center of where the struts poke through. The black plastic is mostly in the legs and the wing struts. A little bit more is visible on the abdomen, in the form of transformation gears. There's some slightly metallic black paint on the chest, while the face is painted silver with red eyes. The hinges for the feet do not provided even pathetically useful points of articulation. The hands are designed to hold 3mm pegs, but since the arms can't lift up, there's not a whole lot you can do with them. I presume the redeco will have swords rather than pistols. Overall: Sideswipe has a better vehicle mode than Optimus, but that's the only way it's better. So-so robot mode, pretty sad accessories, and Anvil isn't as good as Bludgeon. Dave Van Domelen, will probably get the Mini-Con 4-pack reviewed this weekend if his power stays on. [Later note: power stayed on, but I slept in pretty late on Sunday and only got a start on the 4-pack.]