With 2024 and the 40th anniversary of the Transformers franchise fast approaching, we find ourselves moving out of the Legacy: Evolution toyline and into Legacy: United.
Legacy has been generally well received by TF toy collectors for not only bringing us characters from mutliple Transformers universes/timelines, but new characters as well. And Legacy United is no different, not only giving us a new character but one from a (sorta) brand new universe! So lets take a look at Legacy United Infernac Universe Armorizer Magneous …
…. wait wait wait wait, that name is way too much to be left unpacked before we continue. So for the unitiated:
*Legacy: Evolution is the 3rd istallment of the Legacy toyline, itself part of the Generations toyline, of the Transformers franchise.
*Infernac Universe is the reality this particular character is from. It’s a new reality, with it’s name rooted in the cartoon Inhumanoids, but the universe being a pastiche of Inhumanoids, Rock Lords and even the JP G1 continuity(confused yet?). Hence they look like robots made out of stone.
*Armorizers are Transformers that can break their bodies to bits to become armour for other Transformers.
*And Magneous is this particular toys name.
Phew! Anyway, on with the review!
Robot Mode
Very nicely proportioned and with a decent amount of poseability. The rocky details on the head and chest are particularly well done and I like how the wheels go behind the rocky pectorals. He has good articulation everywhere but the head. The weapons are very appropriate – being a pick axe and shield – as somehow laser blasters would seem out of place on this prehistoric bot.
Vehicle Mode
Reminicent of some of the other Armorizers we’ve had over the past year, with the grilled windows and armoured wheel covers. The stone motif is once again in full effect – you get the impression this is what would happen if The Flintstones ever met Mad Max.
Part of the back of the vehicle can be removed, giving Magneous a pick-up truck mode. What I found a shame is that his pick-axe could not be attached to become a tow hook. A missed opportunity one feels.
Amorizer Mode
Unlike most Armorizers, this figure is not fully dissectable. There are plenty of removeable parts, but the main body stays intact. Whilst this may make Magneous inferior to other Amorizer figures, I found that it allowed for a much less fiddly transformation as he wasn’t a complete partsformer. Personally I use the main vehicle body as a kind of battle sled.
Autobot or Decepticon?
He kinda looks like he would fit in with the Decepticons, but his weapons come in an Autobot wrapper. Whether this means he is an Autobot, or is coinicidental or something unbiqutous to the entire United line, one can only specualte – it may be that the Cybertron factions don’t even exist in the Infernac universe.
Worth getting?
I’d say yes. This is an interesting concept that we haven’t seen before in the main Transformers line, as well as being a new character which seems to occur less and less often. Magneous looks great in both modes, has an intuitive transformation and has extra play value by coming apart and being attached to other toys. Overall highly recommended.
Got any thoughts about this interesting new figure? Pop it in the comments section below!
It seems like only yesterday fans were swooning over finally getting an updated set of Stunticons in the Combiner Wars and Unite Warriors toy lines. Fan favorites, the Stunticons were the second ever combiner group to be introduced in the G1 Transformers cartoon and their rebellious attitude and sweet alt-modes gave the Autobots a run for their money on the roads. This has lead to them appearing in multiple toylines, from KRE-O to Bot Shots to even Robots in Disguise.
Well the Stunticons are back again – well – two of them anyway, with more along later in the year. Drag Strip was released several months ago and Motormaster – the latest Commander Class figure – has just hit stores here in Australia. So without further ado, lets have a look at Legacy Motormaster & Drag Strip!
Drag Strip
Robot Mode
‘Yes I have a name like a bloke in a dress taking his clothes off – wanna make something of it?’
There is a lot of yellow going on here, like a lot. The faux-engine in his chest and the guns and head break it up a bit, but this here fella is yella through and through I tell ya what! But he still a nice looking figure with good proportions, a very cartoon-accurate countenance and no big ugly combiner peg in his chest. Overall an improvement on what has come before. His articulation is quite good, with ankle-tilts and a decent range of motion in all his limbs.
‘Draw pardner!’
His two pistols can be combined into one double-barreled gun and can also be stored on the backs of his thighs.
Vehicle Mode
NOW the name makes sense
A really beautiful and faithful rendition of the original toy, Drag Strip finally turning into a 6-wheeled racer again rather than a Mirage wannabe. There is very little to fault here and kudos to the designers for making him look sweet as!
The pistols can be added to his vehicle form, giving it a battle mode. Gotta say it is an improvement on the giant cannon that plugged into the back of the G1 toy. Overall this is a really nice figure with an intuitive Transformation and perhaps the nicest official Drag Strip figure we have ever had.
The original Motormaster toy was quite different from his cartoon depiction. The toy had its body made from the trailer so was therefore grey, whilst the entire cab made up Motomaster’s feet. This made the toy a bit comical, although very easy to stand up admittedly, with his feet being the size of Prime’s alt-mode on their own! The cartoon kinda skirted around this by making Motormaster predominantly black, as if he was made up from just the cab like Prime was. This Motormaster comes with a trailer but the robot is made up solely of the cab, though they gave him little fake-cab feet, which are actually pretty cute, if quite odd. The lower legs are disproportionately big compared to the rest of him, but that beautiful face-sculpt more than makes up for it.
Overlord eat your heart out
Motormaster has good range of arm motion, but very little swivel in the neck and the legs are too bulky to do much with. Still very good overall however and more cartoon reminicent than the larger Unite Warriors version.
Vehicle Mode
The King of the Road is back baby!
Now this is what I’ve been waiting for – Motormaster with a trailer! Just like I’ve often felt many Optimus Prime toys have been lacking when they come sans trailer, I was disappointed we got no trailer for any of the Motormaster toys subsequent to the original one. Though it’s not as long as I would have liked, it is an extremely welcome addition and really makes the toy for me. Motormaster doesn’t appear nearly as big as the other Commander-class figures in their alt-modes, but that is due to just how jam-packed with parts the trailer is. This mode is what made me want to go buy the figure, and it has (except for the quibble of length) not disappointed. Plus unlike the original toy the cab can detach too!
‘Suck a fat one Optimus and Ultra Magnus – I can do this now too!’
Base Mode
The original Motormaster toy had a sorta base mode, complete with a ramp for his little roller-drone to drive down. This base mode is by far an improvement on the original, with the entire trailer partsforming into a big gun emplacement. This helps make up for Motormaster’s lack of a rifle. It actually looks pretty sweet in person, and while not as cool as Sky-Lynx‘s shuttle launch bay, looks a lot cooler than Rodimus Prime‘s gun trailer. Given everything the trailer has to do to become both a gun-emplacement and parts for Menasor, the partsforming is forgivable in my opinion. The one silly thing is that Motormaster has to put down the sight in order to actually use the gun.
Between robot mode, truck mode and base mode this is easily the best Motormaster figure we have ever had, and we haven’t even got to the gestalt gimmick yet!
It’s a bit hard to do a review of Menasor at this stage since only two of his five components have been released, but I’ll give it a shot.
Drag Strip Component
Ouch!
While they fully made up the limbs of the original G1 toy, in the cartoon the four smaller Stunticons seemed to simply plug onto pre-existing limbs to give them more bulk, and that is apparently the route they are going with this rendition of the Stunticons. Whilst I appreciate toon-accuracy, I’m not a big fan of this, and poor old Drag Strip has to literally split in half in order for Menasor to use his right elbow. It might be screen-accurate, but personally it’s not my cup of tea.
Motormaster Component
Motormaster himself converts into the upper torso of Menasor, whilst his trailer becomes the chest, hands, feet and, er…., exoskeleton of the rest. Once again partsforming is in play. It’s actually quite cleverly done and this mode, like all the others of Motormaster, consists of lots of tab-slotting which gives a lot of structure stability to the figure. I appreciate how the effect overall differentiates this Menasor from his CW/UW counterpart, who because of the design looked similar to many of his toyline gestalt peers. I will reserve judgement on his good this Menasor is until I get the remaining three Stunticons. The gun turret from the base mode stays separate to Menasor and is useable by him, though it does look a bit odd, with it being so big compared to Motormaster, and so small compared to the combined form.
Both Motormaster and Drag Strip are a significant improvement on their predecessors. Both have smaller robot modes but this is far outweighed by both their visual appearances and the intricacy of their toys. Both have good transformations, and despite the multiple configurations inherent in Motormaster there is never a point where one feels frustrated by the process and all the tabs lock tight and sweet! There is one issue however:
photodegradation
There have been many, many reports of yellowed parts on this first batch of Motormaster. I lucked out that there was only one small panel suffering from it on mine, but there have been reports of much worse from many Aussie TF fans. If you purchase a Motormaster and find many such panels, I suggest you try to swap for another.
As previously stated, I am reserving judgement on their Menasor mode before I fully review that mode. Right now my plan for my Transformatorium is to have, regarding my Stunticons, my Combiner Wars in their combined mode, my Unite Warriors in their robot modes and the Legacy toys in the vehicle modes. Then I have the best of all 3 worlds!
So yeah, Legacy Motormaster and Drag Strip – go pick them up! Just watch for the yellowing, only that dang varmint Stripper should be yeller on his belly.
Got something to say about these figures? Pop it in the comments section below!
The Warrior Class toys from the Cyberverse line had gotten a reputation for being pretty poor, and for the most part that rep was deserved. The simplistic paint jobs, transformations and lacklustre modes have made many of these figures an easy pass for most collectors.
However thankfully, like the cartoon which got pretty damn good in seasons 2 and 3, the powers that be decided to improve the Cyberverse toyline too. And they have done so by introducing the Deluxe Class. This class is used by the Generations line and usually involves a higher degree of sophistication in all facets when compared to the Warrior Class, and of late has included blast effects that can be attached to characters weapons.
So lets have a look at the first wave of the Cyberverse Deluxe Class figures – Bumblebee, Optimus, Megatron and Shockwave.
Bumblebee
Sigh, it wouldn’t be a Transformers toyline without about a 150 different versions of Bumblebee would it. Thankfully this Bumblebee is quite good. He looks very screen accurate, comes with a lot more detail than the preceding Warrior Class figure, and comes with his stinger as well as a gun. Very nice!
The vehicle mode is ok. Quite compact with a decent amount of detail. However this is one case where I would say the Warrior Class looks that bit more impressive.
Optimus Prime
Once again, a vast improvement on the Warrior Class toy that came before. Optimus has good articulation, good proportions and it’s always appreciated when you can open an Optimus toys chest to find a Matrix inside. And you can use this one to (simulate) blast the big baddies, just like in the cartoon!
The vehicle mode is ok, not bad but nothing special to write home about. Perhaps a bit better than the Warrior Class due to the better paintjob (always irritates me when Optimus has red smokestacks).
Megatron
My son doesn’t own the Warrior Class Megatron so we had to compare him to another from the Cyberverse line which equated to no comparison at all. Megatron looks very good here – very cartoon faithful and well articulated. I particularly like the head sculpt. Would have been nice for him to have an Energon Morningstar but I guess you can’t have anything.
A pretty decent looking Cybertronian Tank, full of nice angles and Megatron’s arm cannon taking centre stage as the tank turret. Small but feisty and very cartoon accurate.
Fusion Mega Shot
Shockwave
Shockwave has gotten nearly as many Cyberverse toys as Bumblebee, having a figure in nearly every size. And unlike many the Shockwave toys haven’t been half bad. This Shockwave is good but doesn’t particularly stand out from any of the others, though its nice to see him get his arm cord back.
The beauty of having multiple Shockwave’s is that you can convert your other ones into the crab-tank modes to represent the army of drones he has in the cartoon. Once again, this toy doesn’t particularly stand out from any that have come before, though there are multiple ports on the tank mode to put his extra blaster in, giving you more options.
‘My babies. My ugly, ugly babies’
Maccadams/Alchemist Prime Parts
Part of the lure to get these figure is that each character comes with a body part that, when combined, form Maccadams. It’s very tempting as there has never been a toy of the famous bartender before. If you end up with multiple Shockwaves you can always use both legs, which looks a bit odd but saves you buying other figures down the line if you don’t want them.
Cyberverse Deluxe Class – worth getting?
Well they are for the most part the best Cyberverse toys we have gotten so if you are a big fan of the show then you may want to pick them up. If not then you can always bypass them. I found these figures for a staggeringly cheap $12(AU) each on sale so I was more than happy to pick them up at that price. And of course, the temptation is now there to get the next four in order to make Maccadams.
Over the 5 live-action Transformer movies we’ve had our share of traditional bad guys (Megatron, Galvatron etc) as well as a Prime gone bad with Sentinel Prime in DOTM. In The Last Knight we get to see a Prime go bad again with Optimus siding with Quintessa as Nemesis Prime.
Like a lot of the characters from TLK, Nemesis Prime hasn’t gotten a general toy release, putting him alongside many of the other on-screen robots we have been screaming for a figure of. Luckily Takara Tomy has come to the rescue with MB-20 Nemesis Prime.
Nemesis Prime is a redeco of the TT exclusive Calibur Prime which itself was an extensive (and much needed) retool of Armor Knight Optimus Prime. He comes in a gorgeous box – I was so impressed when I received this in the mail I nearly decided to leave him MISB, but the desire to play was too much!
Truck Mode
Essentially unchanged from the past two incarnations. However in deference to the fact he is a darker character as Nemesis rather than Optimus, the paint job had been made more subdued with the red and blue being darker hues. I think this actually works to make the chrome to be found on various parts of the truck pop more. It’s a lovely looking truck, being a big solid size with excellent dimensions.
Robot Mode
Whereas AK Optimus had a big, ungainly backpack, Calibur Prime had this convert into a huge shield which was a massive improvement. This has been carried over for Nemesis Prime, where the main change from Calibur is again the colour scheme with the reds and blues more subdued and the axe and shield have been given a purple tinge instead of orange. Speaking of purple, the eyes are now purple like in the movie, and in certain lights they look absolutely fantastic! Once again, we are looking at good proportions on the toy and it’s an excellent representation of the onscreen character.
The Head
As well as the new purple eyes, Optimus Nemesis is sporting the big red streak on his face to show his allegiance to Quintessa. Both versions of the face (which can be rotated for either mask or non-mask) have this. I thought maybe it would have been good for one version to not have the streak so you could show him changing from Optimus to Nemesis and back, but it’s a minor quibble.
Transformation
It’s at the level I quite like, as in its far more complicated than a couple of quick movements, but you don’t have to take 20 minutes out of your day to get it done. The only thing I found was the head, the instructions assumed you had played with previous versions of the toy so did not say that you had to press the chest to make his bonce pop up – I had to look it up online. The back of the truck turning into the shield is very well done.
Overall
There have been very few official Quintesson-aligned toys over the years, far too few. So when the likes of Infernocusand Nemesis Prime came up for grabs I was all over it! It you have the previous versions of this toy mould you probably don’t need Nemesis, but if this is your first time encountering it or you want a representation of the on screen character, then I heartily recommend giving MB-20 Nemesis Prime a go.
Got something to say about this figure? Would love to read it in the comments section below!
So here we are in the third instalment of the Prime Wars Trilogy and the latest toyline is Power of the Primes! This toyline will be filled with combiner groups like the Combiner Wars and smaller characters that can attach to bigger characters like in Titans Return. However a new gimmick – Evolution – is being trotted out for arguably the two most well known leaders in Autobot history – Optimus and Rodimus Prime!
For those that don’t know, before he because Optimus Prime this inspirational leader was a much humbler character named Orion Pax. Likewise before he because Rodimus Prime, this headstrong leader was a less-than-humble Hot Rod. Once given a matrix both of them got bigger, stronger, wiser and a kick-ass trailer!
We’ve had a plenty of Hot Rod and a few Rodimus Prime toys over the years. Likewise we’ve had a few Orion Pax toys and you could fill a real life truck trailer with the amount of different Optimus toys there have been. But this is something new – we are getting these characters combined. That’s right, Orion and Hot Rod can become their matrix-infused selves with the help of transforming trailers – let’s have a look!
Robot Modes – The Primes!
Beefcake!
Both these characters are really big and chunky. I don’t mind this, I think a bit of bulk suits both characters quite nicely. Both are well proportioned and able to perform a decent amount of poseablity. It’s a shame Rodimus Prime’s arm’s don’t come forward further as to hold his rifle in both hands he has to hold it almost perfectly horizontally. Also his (what would you call it – a ‘crest’?) yellow fins look too small on his big frame. Optimus resembles his Powermaster incarnation a bit more than his original incarnation but given his trailer makes up the bulk of his body, this is forgivable and perhaps even to be expected.
‘Roduimus – what HAVE you been eating?!’
Both characters carry a Matrix of Leadership within them in their Prime modes. Optimus’ one resides in his chest as to be expected, however Rodimus looks like he is trying to digest his.
Robot Modes – The little fellas
‘Before they were stars’
Hot Rod looks quite nice and looks pretty much most other incarnations of the character from recent years. Here the yellow fins are quite proportional. The Orion Pax toy looks more like he did in the original G1 cartoon than any other Orion toy I have seen to date – the screen dominating his chest piece and the sculpted head going a long way towards doing so. The larger rifles from the bigger bots split in half to become two guns apiece for their precarnations, which works well for Hot Rod in particular. Once again there is decent poseability here and the proportions are nice.
Bloody teenagers – always depressed
The only thing – why do they both look so serious and miserable? If I remember they were both pretty happy characters before being dumped into their leadership roles.
Prime Vehicle Modes
Optimus Prime
Always nice to get an Optimus’ sporting a trailer. The back of the truck cab has a lot of kibble and looks frankly bollocks from the side and back but the front view is fine. It lacks the big grey smokestacks that the robot has – it’s odd that the robot mode has truck kibble that is not used for the actual truck. The trailer looks quite good and you can imbed his rifle in the middle. The toy rolls and mauvers well.
Rodimus Prime
‘Cybertronian Winnebago’ – for when Mini-Cons retire and hit the road
There have only been a handful of Rodimus Prime toys so not that many with trailers. Besides the Masterpiece version I think that this is the best of the lot of them vehicle wise. The Cybertronian Winnebago is faithfully represented, though there is a fair old gap between the overhang of the trailer at the front and the vehicle underneath. When transforming into this mode one needs to make sure that you get every tab in nice and tight before moving on to the next step, otherwise the next set of table will not align properly. Getting the tab from the bottom of the trailer into the top of the car is very hard to get tight.
I won’t even bother with Orion Pax’s here since he doesn’t have one. It’s simply Optimus’ truck cab without the trailer attached. A bit disappointing, I know he didn’t show an alt-mode in the cartoon on which he is based but it has been widely accepted since then that he turns into a Kup-esque vehicle. So let’s look at Hot Rod.
22 years later and it’s still a sexy alt-mode!
To get Hot Rod into his vehicle mode all one needs to do is remove the trailer and reposition the arms/doors on the sides of the vehicle – that’s it. But nevertheless it works and it’s a good sized alt-mode, looking a fair bit bigger than most deluxe versions of the character in recent years.
Overall
Look, these aren’t perfect toys. The backpacks on the Prime modes that carry their precarnations are fairly bulky and Orion really could have used his own alt-mode. It also would have been nice if the trailers had battlebase-modes for the smaller bots to use. However these are fairly minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things. These toys trot out a very clever idea with the Evolution concept – makes one wonder if they could somehow make a Megatron that turns into Galvatron or a Bumblebee that turns into Goldbug. Both kids and older fans of the original series are really going to get a lot of enjoyment out of these figures! Well done Hasbro – a fantastic start to your new toyline indeed!
Got anything to add to this review? Would love to read it in the comments section below!
In Part 1 of Moving your Transformers Collection we looked at packing your Transformer collection safely in order to get it ready to move to its new home. In part two we are going to look at the moving itself. What method you use will depend on whether you are moving yourself or having movers do it for you.
If Hiring Movers
The sign may be battered, but at least your toys wont be.
Ensure you mark all pertinent boxes with FRAGILE. Even in plastic crates if something of sufficient weight is put on top the lid can break. Don’t think that most 30 year old G1 toys can take the strain of the weight of a couch sitting on them – not even Brawn. Also have marked on the outside of the box which particular Transformers are in there in order for easier sorting when they reach their destination.
Make sure all the boxes are taped up at the top to prevent lids coming off or cardboard boxes opening when being lugged by removalists.
Word up your removalists about your collection. Most movers are younger blokes so are well aware what Transformers are. I worded up mine when moving from Melbourne to Swan Hill and unbidden they did a visual sweep of the truck before leaving after unpacking. Because of this I ended up not losing one of my Leader-Class Movie Brawl’s shoulder cannons that had managed to fall out of a crate. I was very grateful for this unasked for courtesy.
If Moving Yourself
Where is Motormaster when you need him?
This is where I am for the current move. Moving a thousand kilometers with a whole hobby farm to pack up on top of my 3000+ TF item collection means we are using a 40 foot shipping container which we pack ourselves. As such you need to know how to stack your TF boxes. I use the following method:
Furniture and heavy boxes (such as full of books) make up the bottom half of the layers
Strong Transformer Crates (such as plastic ones) make up the first upper layer
Weaker Transformer boxes (such as cardboard ones) make up the second upper layer
Light items that cannot damage anything underneath make up the top layer
Make sure all Transformer crates and boxes are secure. Your ratchet straps will be more useful affixing large pieces of furniture to the wall so this can be achieved by simply wedging the boxes tight enough against each other that movement is all but impossible but at the same time they are not crushing each other.
When unpacking at the other end, do several visual sweeps of the truck or shipping container to see if any items have fallen out.
Keep a Record of your Collection
Don’t wanna lose any of these little suckers
If you have a large enough collection, you might not notice until it’s too late that somehow a rare and tiny Arms Micron or Decepticon Cassette got left behind. To try and remedy this do a thorough check at both ends that all your pieces are present and correct. However if even this is too time consuming at least have a complete list of your action figures so that you can make an insurance claim. I do this in two ways:
1: A typed list. How you do this is up to you. I’d recommend an Excel Spreadsheet, though I personally just have a bloated Microsoft Word file, since when I started my cataloging many, many figures years and years ago I didn’t know how to use that program and it’s a bit late in the game to swap over.
2: An online visual record. Having a typed list is all well and good, but what happens if your computer goes missing during the move, or the whole truck crashes and burns? How will you make an insurance claim then? By having a visual record kept online somewhere, it not only helps to remind you what is in your collection, but prove to an insurance company what you had should anything go wrong. I use Photobucket and also have extensive albums on Facebook for this purpose.
By following the advice given in part one regarding sorting and packing along with the advice imparted above regarding the actual move, you stand a damn good chance of getting all your Autobuddies and Deceptipals to their destination without a single bot getting lost or damaged. It may never be a stress-free experience (moving never is) but at least you won’t lie awake at night wondering if Springer’s Sword is lying on a roadside somewhere. Good luck!
Got any extra advice to add to that above? Would love to read it in the comments section below!
The fourth of my Multiverse galleries. Bulkhead first showed up in the Animated cartoon & toyline and became quite popular quite quickly, going on to star in the Prime cartoon as well.
Note: Not featured here is Bulkhead the helicopter from the Energon Toyline/Cartoon as he is considered a completely different character.
Individual Figure Pic’s
Name: Bulkhead Toyline: Animated Mode: RobotMode: Military Transport
Name: Bulkhead Toyline: Prime Mode: RobotMode: Truck
Name: Bulkhead Toyline: Kre-O Mode: Robot
Name: Bulkhead Toyline: Kinder Surprise Mode: Robot
