Before we get into the episode review proper, can we talk about the new Marvel logo? Isn’t it spiffy? I wonder if it’s on the new Thor movie too (I know, I haven’t seen it, I’m a terrible fan)

The Hub focuses around, strangely enough, a facility called The Hub. This is just one of many SHIELD facilities around the world and I do love that they name drop the Triskelion, the Ultimate universe’s base of operations for SHIELD (and the continuity the movies are loosely based on). The team arrives and is greeted by a returning Agent Sitwell (Thor, The Avengers, Item 47) and intrdocued to Agent Victoria Hand.

Anyone familiar with comics are instantly distrustful of the red-haired temptress and while she does exhibit some shady motives but she does appear to be on the side of good, trusting Coulson to get Fitz and Ward extracted from their suicide mission before SHIELD destroys the “Overkill Device”. Hand is played by Saffron Burrows and after browsing her IMDB, the only thing I’ve seen that she’s in is Deep Blue Sea, but she’s a solid actress in this episode and I’m always for proper Marvel characters showing up.

Apparently, the rather generically named Overkill weapon is something from the Marvel Universe, having the alternate title of “Overkill Horn”. Yeah, that’s not much better. Fitz and Ward are sent in to disable the device before it’s due to be activated. This episode is big on the character building as Fitz tries desperately to prove himself to be every bit the agent that Ward is, despite Ward assuring him that he is, using the events of FZZT to back that up. The girls, meanwhile, are kept in the dark about the operation and Skye is intent of finding out the truth, enlisting a rather sheepish Simmons into her “bad girl shenanigans”. They manage to get the information (after Simmons uses the knockout gun on Agent Sitwell) and Coulson finds out. He’s naturally pissed but Skye assures him that she did it for the good of the team and asks if he knew. He fobs her off but it’s clear that he didn’t. The team heads off to fetch Fitz and Ward and all’s well that’s end well with the mainplot, let’s get on with…

COULSON WATCH! Victoria Hand has a coupleof knowing comments that slightly throw Coulson off his catchphrase but the crux of the subplot comes into play with the redacted files from Girl in the Flower Dress and Skye’s origins. Coulson had promised to look into the file while they were at the Hub and he came through, revealing that the woman who dropped Skye of at the orphanage was indeed a SHIELD agent. Skye hugs Coulson for finding out what little he did but as he talks with Melinda later in his office, it’s revealed that the SHIELD agent was murdered? Possibly! To find out more, Coulson uses his Level 8 status to get the death/recovery report on a SHIELD agent, but mostly the recovery… in Tahiti! He’s denied access and is visibly worried by this.

Not a bad episode but its mostly character building with little bits of mystery to keep us coming back next week as we deal with the aftermath of Thor: The Dark World in The Well.

The Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters line has had some really interesting toys that I can’t wait to own and this sub-line throws more into the ring. Predacons Rising is a retailer exclusive sub-line for Target in the States and Tesco in the UK. Today we’re looking at a Cyberverse two-pack, bringing me one step closer to a Predacon gestalt and another edition to my Lost Light crew shelf. They’re the smallest-scaled Transformers out right now but they can be some of the most entertaining toys I’ve owned.

Smokescreen is a damn good character, I was unsure of his inclusion so late to the series but Nolan North managed to make him extremely likable. In this two pack, the Cyberverse mould is repainted to look like Smokey’s G1 namesake and that’s always a great thing. His vehicle form is sleek, sexy and very cool, although there’s some weird issue with the back end. The pieces just don’t quite fit together the way you expect leaving the vehicle mode with a slight hump back. Let’s take a look at his robot mode!

Smokey is a delight to transform, having enough steps to not be too simple but intuitive enough to keep it interesting. The finished robot mode is a great representation of Smokey at a tiny scale and his sparkly red really pops against the navy blue. For a cheap repaint, he’s a solid little figure, despite the problems in vehicle mode.

But where there’s Smoke’, there’s Firecon and Cindersaur is a fantastic G1-inspired repaint of Predacon gestalt leg, Rippersnapper. His beast mode is an awesome looking bipedal dragon shark monster. Cast in grey and, what I believe to be, the same purple as my bedroom walls. Clearly Hasbro is keeping tabs on what shades of purples I dig. I love all the Cyberverse Predacons, not only because they combine into the dread Abominus but also because they’re all brilliant figures, each in their own right. Although again, he has a little trouble in beast mode keeping his face together. Which is an unfortunate undercurrent in this two-pack. Let’s heat things up in robot mode.
While the transformation is much more involved, having to pull double duty for both robot and leg component, the result is a stocky little chap that I just adore. He’s one of the smaller Predacons on the market but he’s got bulk and you cannot ignore his girth. He’s definitely the star of this two-pack for me.
The Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters – Predacons Rising Cyberverse Cindersaur & Smokescreen two-pack (Can you see why I abbreviated the review title now?) is an awesome little set with only a couple niggling issues to tarnish what is otherwise a solid release for this line. I picked this up for around half price and I’d definitely recommend it for that price.