With RID disappearing into the sunset, leaving most fans with a ‘yeah, it was alright I guess’ taste in their mouths, many have been anticipating the new Cyberverse cartoon and toyline. However if what one reads online is to be believed, fans are already being put off with what they perceive to be overly simplistic figures.
On Father’s Day I received two from the new line, and both characters I obsessively collect. So without further ado let’s take a look at Cyberverse: Warrior-Class Shockwave and Ultra-Class Grimlock.
Shockwave
Robot Mode
Though small in stature, Shockwave comes in a really vibrant purple with pink highlights via circuitry lines on the arms and the hexagon on his chest. He has shoulder, elbow and knee articulation though his head is immovable. His proportions are quite good and he has his signature blaster on his left arm.
I really like the head on this Shockwave. I think because you only see the bottom half of his eye so it makes him look far more angry than usual.
His ‘Wave Cannon’ weapon sits behind his right shoulder. Moving it up onto the shoulder makes the pink laser fire automatically pop out. Personally I prefer to leave it behind his shoulder but it adds a lot of play value for the kids.
Cybertronian Spider-Tank Mode
Really, this is the first alt-mode of this kind we have seen in a Transformers toy. There was Thunderhead from DOTM which had treads so perhaps this is the first walking spider-tank in the Transformers line *. That novelty value alone made me want to grab Shockwave. It looks odd but fairly good overall. Really they needed to find a way to shorten Shockwaves thighs so that the two back legs were the same length as the front, and have a bit more detail and variety in colour so it’s not one big block of purple. It’s nice to see that they have kept with the theme of Shockwave not having an Earth mode, and this makes a nice variation on the Cybertronian Tank form he has been rocking for the last few years (such as in Energon, Animated, Prime and DOTM). Since all 4 legs are able to be positioned in different ways, both on the horizontal and vertical axis, it means this toy is great to set up on battlescapes with uneven terrain.
*I have subsequently been reminded by Laine from Melbourne that in fact ‘Scrapmetal’ from the Cybertron series can be considered the first ‘walking spider-tank’. Thanks Laine! I actually own this toy so I feel particularly silly for forgetting this figure 😉
The laser turret on top of the tank can once again activate his ‘Wave Cannon’ for pink laser fire but only one pops out. There is an Ultra-Class version of this character coming out in subsequent waves where the laser turret resembles his Prime incarnation more.
Grimlock
Robot Mode
It is a big bulky and solid looking Grimlock. Despite being depicted in the shots of the cartoon as having a mouth (like in RID) they have given Grimlock back his faceplate and overall a much more G1 head than the ‘teddy-bear’ look he was rocking in Robots in Disguise, which I was not a fan of. He is well proportioned and has a very G1/Evergreen colour scheme. This figure has minimal articulation, his shoulders and elbows both have a small amount of movement but he has no knee or head articulation whatsoever. The front half of his Dino-mode folds down the back of him and goes all the way down to his knees; the figure could have benefitted from this folding in half so that it formed a backpack, but I guess that was not possible due to the figure having to accommodate the ‘Rocket Roar’ feature that the robot mode doesn’t use. I quite like Grimlock having missile pods on each shoulder, it’s something new for the character and makes up to a small extent him not having any other weapon such as his signature Energon-Sword.
Cybertronian T-Rex Mode
It’s an interesting look, very distinctive with the raised eye sockets and the way it leans forward is quite indicative of the Animated version. The spikes on his back, forehead and tail are quite interesting too. A black tail instead of the usual gold but it still sorta works.
By pressing down on one of his back nodules (the foot from his robot mode) you activate the ‘Rocket Roar’ feature which not only shoots ‘fire’ out his mouth but also causes it to flare up from his back. It looks pretty cool and it will be interesting to see if this happens in the upcoming cartoon as I think it would look quite boss for his back to be spouting fire as he breathes it at Cons. My only gripe is you have to lean Grimlock even further forward in order to get the nub that activates the switch to be in the right position, meaning Grimlock has to be virtually horizontal for this to work.
Transformations
Both this figures are very easy to Transform, in particular Shockwave whom my 5-year old can do with his eyes closed. Didn’t take too long for him to figure out Grimlock either. Not much challenge for the adult collector but then that’s not who these toys are aimed at.
Overall
Look, I have to put my hand up to say that I’ve been feeling fairly negative about this new line from all the images I’ve been seeing online. But now having two in my hands I gotta say they are a lot of fun! I received these two for Father’s Day and I think my son played with them more than me and he had an absolute blast! I think given the relative simplicity of these figures that their price tags are a tad steep and feel that set at about 2/3rds their current cost would be more appropriate. However that said, if you are a fan of these two characters or you have kids that are really into Transformers they are both worth picking up.
Got anything to say about these toys? Would love to read it in the comments section below!
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