And we are back! Apologies for the delay in more DOOM content but I’m glad to be back on my bullshit with an all-new Mint in Box for something wholly new to this series; a 3rd Party Transformer!

3P Transformers are a unique beast in the toy world and there’s lots of companies doing them but for now we’re just looking at Mech Fans Toys’ rendition of Generation One’s Blaster – Emitter! Check out the video review and the gallery below that!

Hi guys! Sharp-O back once again for another toy review and this time I’m taking a look at a downright dastardly duo of DUOCONS! Battleslash and Roadtrap are Legends-class figures from the Power of The Primes line that combine together to form the G1-homaging BATTLETRAP!

The amazing Titans Return line continues and not content with reviving the Headmasters, Targetmasters and Powermasters of yesteryear, the line has taken a swift right into the bad part of town that is home to the bizarre assortment of 1987 robots known as the Monsterbots.

Twinferno (aka Doublecross) is one of the Monsterbots, an Autobot trio that makes the Dinobots and the Wreckers look positively friendly by comparison.  His comrade Repugnus makes an appearance in the low-price Titan Master assortment so we may be seeing the trio complete before the line is done.

Twinferno’s beast mode is an awesome two-headed, bi-pedal dragon — ala King Ghidora. The twin heads have a decent array of movement since they’re also pulling double duty as arms in robot mode, allowing for some cool poses! Unfortunately, the tail refuses to stay together via friction and had to be forcefully compressed together for the photos.

Partnered with Twinferno is the Titan Master, Daburu. His name is derived from the Japanese pronunciation of Double and his nicely sculpted robot form is a homage to White Leo of the Battle Beasts/Beastformers, a toyline with close ties to the Transformers in Japan.

Daburu can ‘pilot’ Twinferno via several mounting points on the dragon mode which is pretty neat.

Being a Titan Master, the pair can combine to form a singular robot and Twinferno’s head is a really handsome visage, if a little plain.

Twinferno stands a little shorter than the other figure I have from this line, the previously reviewed Mindwipe and can even swap heads as part of the signature cross-play pattern.

As a solo figure, he definitely cuts an impressive silhouette and looks like a proper boxy brawler. He has a decent range of articulation and can do a fair Rider Kick and even be a pretty ballerina!

The twin cannons that were previously mounted on the dragon mode’s back can be wielded in robot mode as either shoulder cannons or by attaching them to the side of his dragon face hands.

Twinferno was one of my highly anticipated figures from the Titans Return range and I’m happy to say that this figure does not disappoint! He’s an absolute blast to play with and I highly recommend picking him up for yourselves.

After too long in the dark, the beastial Decepticons of the Headmaster era return in the aptly titled Titans Return line and today we’re looking at the master of hypnotism; Mindwipe!

Mindwipe is a superstitious and cowardly ‘Con, the Transformers equivalent of a Ouija board enthusiast who desperately wants to communicate with the dead. Quite a macabre character bio but it soon devolves that into sitcom shenanigans when he’s paired with his scientifically-minded Titan Master, Vorath.

Mindwipe’s bat mode brings to mind the Ricky Gervais bit: Have you been over-feeding a pipistrelle? because this is a proper chubby bat. The wing span is epic and has amazing articulation, befitting of such a creature of the night. His gun/shield kibble tail is a bit slapdash though (Oh! Oh! Can we get a Titan Master Slapdash?)

Just like an evil Kinder Egg, Mindwipe has a prize inside and it’s none other than Vorath! This 1½ inch head on legs has a surprising amount of detail but sod all paint work (but that’s why people fork out for the Japanese ones) but that’s fine because it’d only get chipped in the process of inserting his tiny head into Mindwipe’s neck hole over and over again. That’s way grosser than I intended…

Vorath can ‘pilot’ the weapons in their gun… sled… configuration. My one complaint about this line is the forced inclusion of rubbish ‘vehicles’ in the Deluxe figure range.

The conversion process is lovely and intuitive, the bat wings folding into nice boxy legs while his stumpy legs unfurl for the robot mode arms. Scale-wise, Mindwipe stands at a little under 6″ tall. While that isn’t quite as big as you’d expect but for what he lacks in height, he makes up for in quality.

Ooooooh myyyyyyy! I think I might be turning robosexual with this figure because DAMN, Mindwipe looks gorgeous. The colour palette is like a pimp’s finest suit; blacks, reds, subtle browns and the same sexy-ass purple I have on my bedroom walls!

The proportions are full of satisfying chunk and tight joints. You can pull off a great range of poses but there’s no ankle articulation so his legs are constantly in a wide stance. His weapons includes an update of his trademark Viper Pistol and the clawed shield dealie which will probably end up in a box somewhere…

Mindwipe’s return to the Transformers line is much appreciated as his figure is the best Transformer I’ve messed with in a very long time and after this initial hands-on experience, I will definitely be trying to hunt down both Skullsmasher and Wolfwire to complete the trio. I want to give a super-special-awesome shout-out to Dawfydd Kelly for sending this figure to me out of the kindness of his heart though considering how now I want more, he’s more like a plastic crack pusher…

Anyway, thank you for checking out my review and I’ll catch you guys next time with another Mint in Box!

Hypothesis: What would happen if you took one of the most iconic Decepticon generals, down-scaled him, and made him into an accessory for the Combiner Wars line? Conclusion: You’d get a friggin’ sweet toy!

Shockwave comes in the standard packaging for both Combiner Wars and the newer Titans Return. Moving on!

Much like the Powerglide from this line and like Shockwave’s previous outing 2012; this logic machine takes the curiously illogical approach to his alt-mode(s). This is apparently a cannon mode but considering there’s no mount for him, he’s just lying around — unless you take a leaf out of 2012 Shockers’ play book and this is his ‘Cybertronian mobile artillery’ mode.

The real value to Shockers is in his traditional gun mode which is a faithful update to his 1985 original. While not designed for children to wield; the wily cyclops has both a 5mm peg for regular Transformers to wield him but also a clip that allows for the CW Bruticus to handle like he did in The Revenge of Bruticus (here substituted by the other famous Decepticon cyclops; Lugnut!). Depending on the friction of each figure’s joints, Shockwave can be held pretty nicely by most.

Shockwave’s transformation is simple and intuitive like many of his line-mates and the result is an adorably sized, yet perfectly proportioned, figure. He’s even around the same size as the Rewind I reviewed recently!

Shockwave’s colour scheme is simply delicious; decked out in rich purple with translucent pink highlights and the grey of his limbs making him pop all the more in contrast, a single dot of yellow to pick out his cold monocular eye.

The detail of his sculpting is impressive for a figure this size and with the help of a decent array of ball-joints and transformation hinges, you can get Shockers into a decent assortment of poses!

For an RRP of £9.99, much like Rewind and Powerglide, it’s hard for me to sell a Legends scale Transformer as a good purchase at this price point but if you can get him for even a few quid cheaper (like I did), I’d say this diminutive yet definitive Shockwave is worth your time. It’s only logical, after all…

Titans Return (well, Headmasters Return but I guess Hasbro doesn’t have that trademark anymore0 to the world of Transformers with the redux of the tiniest titanium twink, Rewind!

Originally just one of Blaster’s cassette-bots but given new relevance as once half of the Lost Light’s premiere gay-married trouble magnets, Rewind’s release – in the same line as his husband, Chromedome – is yet another instance of Hasbro taking cues from IDW’s stellar comic series, More Than Meets The Eye.

The packaging is exactly the same it was for Combiner Wars but with this year’s branding. Moving on!

The cassette-bot of 1986 gets a massive upgrade for 2016, now transforming into a touch screen MP3 player… that has a cassette themed background so it makes him look like a walkman. Still, you can plug a pair of headphones into him and he can still be loaded into the Voyager scale Blaster’s chest like a cassette… Which doesn’t make a lick of sense other than THEY DID IT IN THE 80’S!

I’m really thankful that the Combiner Wars mandate of Legends scale figures being triple-changers persists because while this Space Tank mode is as basic as they come, it does add some more value to this entry level Transformer. The transformation between all three modes is so basic yet intuitive that you shouldn’t even have to unfold the instructions.

Rewind in robot mode stands about 3½ inches tall and, barring the bulky forearm kibble, is a dead ringer for his IDW design, even down to the camera sculpted to the side of his tremendous head sculpt that pays homage to Alex Milne’s comic design.

Poseability-wise, he’s got a tremendous range of movement thanks to the hinge and ball joints; allowing for all manner of cool action poses, balancing precariously, or even cute poses when his husband finally shows up.

Overall, for an RRP of £11.99, it’s hard for me to recommend Rewind simply as a toy because when I first started doing reviews five years ago, that would be the price of a Deluxe scale figure but as a massive More Than Meets The Eye fan, I had to get him and he’ll be a permanent fixture on my desk.

JJ and his amazing friends Jason and Mint In Box’s own Sharp-O transform and roll out this latest episode. Everything is awesome, you might say as they combine their love of comics, Transformers, and Lego into one giant podcast Devastator! Also, Skype sided with Megatron and tried to kill the episode, but JJ teamed with Blaster and made it listenable, although you may still hear some odd edit points. You are forewarned.

Click here to download!

View the RSS feed!

Powerglide has always been a firm favourite of mine since I was a kid, you can blame a very well-loved VHS tape with The Girl Who Loved Powerglide on it. As such, when I saw that the new Transformers Combiner Wars line was going to be featuring one of my favourite ‘Bots, I jumped at the chance as soon as I saw him in-store!

The new Legends scale packaging for the Generations line is slick as hell! It’s crisp and stylish and I kinda dig it. What I don’t dig are the Collector Cards that are bundled in with every figure now. We get it, Hasbro, you need to get your money’s worth out of all that Transformers Legends artwork you paid for…

Powerglide transforms into a stylised A-10 Thunderbolt II and it’s entirely serviceable. What do you want, he looks like a better version of his original version? Okay, the back end on my figure likes to bend where his conspicuous knee-joints are but it’s not that bad. And his fins are loose as hell… And his fuselage is wonky. Okay so it’s not GREAT. Like I said, serviceable.

The new moulds in the Generations like are pulling double-duty as either components to their thematic Combiner or, in Powerglide’s case, as Targetmasters. Yes, Powerglide adds triple-changing into his arsenal by becoming a gun so heft that only five guys combined into one can wield him! It’s not a bad form to be fair.

Powerglide’s robot mode is what I bought this guy for because he is spot-on, tip-top, G1 awesomesauce! The delicious red, the huge Autobot symbol, that FACE. Mmmm, perfic’! He has a decent amount of articulation, pulling off all the poses you’d want him to but I’d have loved a bicep swivel so he could pose hands-on-hips.

Powerglide is a fantastic little figure but your mileage may vary but I love him and he’ll fit in right alongside his Minibot update brethren.

We’re going to be doing a live podcast at Anime Banzai! We’ll be in the broadcast room from 5:00-7:00PM.

WHY IS THIS THEME SONG SO CATCHY?

Nightbeat has been a firm favourite of mine since childhood when I read the Marvel stories The Big Shutdown! and Bird of Prey. While other Transformers were just soldiers, this Autobot was a detective first and foremost and I really latched onto the idea. In the more recent IDW run, this characterisation was built upon and now he’s a member of the Lost Light crew in the ongoing title More Than Meets The Eye. Some of the more recent offerings from Hasbro’s Generations line of figures has focused on IDW characters and this is no exception so let’s take a look at Transformers Generations: Nightbeat. (Massive shout-out to my buddy Dawfydd Kelly selling me one!)

The American releases of this sub-line all come with reprints of IDW storylines and Nightbeat’s wave (and maybe a couple others) all feature parts of the recent Dark Cybertron storyline. Now there’s a few problems with this. Firstly is the cover, featuring Nightbeat rendered in the body of the 2010 Jazz toy. Early preorders also showed the figure like this but this is obviously not the toy we got. Secondly, the issue that comes with Nightbeat BARELY features him!  Dark Cybertron being pretty awful artwise is bad enough, but they didn’t even pick a good issue to showcase the character.

Nightbeat, as he was released, is using the recent Bumblebee body and it looks pretty good on him. The vehicle form is chunky and looks like the kind of muscle car a hard-boiled detective might drive. His paint scheme is a slavish homage to his G1 roots, even down to the flame deco on his doors. The paint is crisp and clean, picking out some great details in silver and yellow.

His dual blasters can plug into the rear of his vehicle mode as both front-facing weapons or maybe even some Star Trek nacelles!

Unfortunately, Nightbeat’s robot mode chest doesn’t sit flush and really hampers the rolling ability of his car form.

Transformation is incredibly simplistic but is also intuitive enough to not feel boring. There’s some clipping issues that spring up when going from robot-to-vehicle but nothing major.

The robot mode is pretty cool. It has good proportions and casts a good silhouette but there’s some unsightly streaks in his metallic blue plastic that you should be aware of. His head sculpt is spot on but it feels a tad small. only swivels side-to-side and his red visor appears to have been chipped, which REALLY damages him for me.

‘Beat can pull off an okay assortment of poses but nothing spectacular. His shoulders are especially bad, because they move along with the rest of the arm, leaving a lot of poses out of the question.

Nightbeat’s forearms have a light wash applied to them, resulting in some pretty nice panel-lining which was a nice surprise. The dual blasters can be combined for one big gun, two seperate guns or pegged into the ports under Nightbeat’s arms for two underslung “claws”.

Compared to the RTS Jazz mold that he was intended to be, Nightbeat comes off all the lesser. While his vehicle mode looks fantastic, the robot mode suffers from the lack of articulation and build quality that the Jazz body had and the Bumblebee body just feels… bad. It looks closer to the Nightbeat we know but it suffers from bad articulation.

Ultimately, am I happy with this figure? Little bit yes and a lot more no. Am I happy to have a new Nightbeat for my Lost Light shelf? Yes, I am. Am I happy that his sub-par articulation and numerous QC issues will mean that he’ll do nothing but stand in line? HELL NO.

I’m really disappointed with how this figure turned out and can’t recommend it and that really sucks to say.