GMfan
04-04-2013, 05:41 PM
First up, a big thanks to Ages Three and Up (http://www.agesthreeandup.com/), from which these 2 figures (and more to come) came from. Check out Ages Three and Up for your Canadian Transformers needs, be it first or third party.
http://i47.tinypic.com/24dmvj5.jpg
The third party combiner. Seems to be the big thing lately. Kinda started with FansProject's upgrade kit that included 2 new figures to give your Energon/ROTF Bruticus Maximus a real G1 look. Then we got Hercules and Giant for our Devastator, "Superion" is in the process of being completed...and FansProject is giving us our first stab at the third party Stunticons and Menasor.
Many of us collectors have been itching for some "proper" Stunticon love. Menasor has been overlooked often by Hasbro, even in the new KREO combiner line. The name Menasor has been thrown around to odd repaints though (look at that SDCC Titanium Rodimus repaint...), and the individual Stunticons have gotten some love here and there, the 2011 Botcon set, and a multitude of Motormaster, Dead End, Wildrider, Drag Strip, and Breakdown repaint/molds/homages...but never had we had a full on team capable of combining in any shape or form. Even the G2 repaint was cancelled!!
Needless to say, this has been some wait in the making...first lemme breakdown (heh) the overall "name conversion" for this team.
Car Crash = Breakdown
T-Bone = Wildrider
Down Force = Drag Strip
Last Chance = Dead End
??? (still waiting...maybe Engine King :P) = Motormaster
Intimidator = Menasor
First 2 of the Intimidator to get released was Car Crash and T-Bone, roughly the sizes of scouts these guys do an awesome job of representing the characters they're meant to. With that, let the actual review begin!
CA-09 Car Crash
Vehicle Mode
http://i45.tinypic.com/344a3w9.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/xm8kmc.jpg
With an alt mode that looks based on the Lamborghini Revention (NOT the Aventador...whiney bitch... :P <3), Car Crash captures all that the original Breakdown had. Lambo alt mode, blue trim, red hood. It's just awesome. Yup the gun "stores" as the vehicle's exhaust, bonus points. Only downside I have with it are the front wheels are on hinges for the transformation and don't have a solid pegging point allowing them to move around in alt mode more then you may like.
http://i49.tinypic.com/e9hhdk.jpg
As you can see in the comparison here with some fellow white Lambo's and Breakdown's he's smaller then most deluxes and closer to scout size. You'll also notice he's white then the "proper" Breakdown cream colour as demonstrated and enforced by the Derrick J. Wyatt made Animated Breakdown.
Robot Mode
http://i45.tinypic.com/dqljco.jpg
Super poseable and articulated. Ball jointed head, crazy shoulder mechanism giving him awesome range of motion, hinged and swiveling elbows, wrist rotation, rotating waist, ball jointed hips, thigh swivel, knees, AND articulated ankles. Awesome. You can put him in tons of cool poses, I could have taken pics for hours but this isn't a gallery, it's a review.
Transformation was pretty simple too unlike some of the previous FansProject items to come out. It's refreshing to say the least. I like complex transformations but there's complex, and then there's "scary, too complex", neither of which apply to Car Crash.
http://i45.tinypic.com/9pnpxl.jpg
As you can see, not the tallest figure in robot mode. Not quite a deluxe, not quite a scout, but he's a great size and manages to put a lot of fun in a small package.
CA-10 T-Bone
Vehicle Mode
http://i50.tinypic.com/28sx9a0.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/vmvos4.jpg
Let's go with some natural lighting on this darker figure, shall we? Based on the Lamborghini Ankonian, this vehicle looks like a crazy assed Tumbler sports car...I mean...look at those rear wheels! This thing looks vicious and I can't help but think it was a perfect fit for a "Wild Rider". I really like that these guys are all based on actual super sexy sports cars. He's got some sharp edges and points. It's amazing how well angled these panels are to make the transformation to robot mode.
Same flaw as his bro Car Crash with the front wheels, only additional down size is the robot mode in the chest protrudes on the underside a little much and interferes with the wheels being nice and flush without dragging on the ground. Kinda unfortunate but hey...who's really keeping this guy in vehicle mode now?
http://i49.tinypic.com/25887rp.jpg
Let's compare him with some other red windowed, darker coloured Decepticon sports car, and Animated Wildrider. Same size as Car Crash but you can see he's more of a gun metal black then straight up black or flat out grey.
Robot Mode
http://i46.tinypic.com/29ooh9u.jpg
More or less a total remold of Car Crash with the same transformation, poseability, and everything. The transformation is more scary with T-Bone then Car Crash though, especially in the legs. It can be fixed with some dremeling (still have to do...) otherwise you risk some bad stress marks in the darker plastic. I've already got some on the roof appearing and its a bit of a piss off to be honest.
What I will say though is I like that they kept the "peg head" look for T-Bone from the toy version of G1 Wildrider for that Scramble City combining capability vs. his show appearance. Though purple eyes would have been cool to see too and differentiate him 1 step more from Car Crash but its no biggie. It's a mod everyone can easily do if they so choose.
http://i47.tinypic.com/zj8g3p.jpg
...probably should have picked something better then a larger then average deluxe and shorter then average deluxe to compare T-Bone with, but being the same size as TFCC's Runabout I guess we can say at best these 2 are the height of a short deluxe.
Overall
They're both great figures...though they are essentially the same figure. Regardless, they're super poseable and are the greatest homages we have and will likely ever get for G1 Breakdown and Wildrider. Looking ahead at the next 3 releases and the final combined form that is Intimidator, this is just the tip of an amazing iceberg. If you can get your hands on these guys still, GET THEM.
Keep your eyes open over at Ages Three and Up (http://www.agesthreeandup.com/), pre-orders for the upcoming figures in this set should be coming up at any time.
http://i49.tinypic.com/73nzoj.jpg
ROLL OUT!
http://i47.tinypic.com/24dmvj5.jpg
The third party combiner. Seems to be the big thing lately. Kinda started with FansProject's upgrade kit that included 2 new figures to give your Energon/ROTF Bruticus Maximus a real G1 look. Then we got Hercules and Giant for our Devastator, "Superion" is in the process of being completed...and FansProject is giving us our first stab at the third party Stunticons and Menasor.
Many of us collectors have been itching for some "proper" Stunticon love. Menasor has been overlooked often by Hasbro, even in the new KREO combiner line. The name Menasor has been thrown around to odd repaints though (look at that SDCC Titanium Rodimus repaint...), and the individual Stunticons have gotten some love here and there, the 2011 Botcon set, and a multitude of Motormaster, Dead End, Wildrider, Drag Strip, and Breakdown repaint/molds/homages...but never had we had a full on team capable of combining in any shape or form. Even the G2 repaint was cancelled!!
Needless to say, this has been some wait in the making...first lemme breakdown (heh) the overall "name conversion" for this team.
Car Crash = Breakdown
T-Bone = Wildrider
Down Force = Drag Strip
Last Chance = Dead End
??? (still waiting...maybe Engine King :P) = Motormaster
Intimidator = Menasor
First 2 of the Intimidator to get released was Car Crash and T-Bone, roughly the sizes of scouts these guys do an awesome job of representing the characters they're meant to. With that, let the actual review begin!
CA-09 Car Crash
Vehicle Mode
http://i45.tinypic.com/344a3w9.jpg
http://i48.tinypic.com/xm8kmc.jpg
With an alt mode that looks based on the Lamborghini Revention (NOT the Aventador...whiney bitch... :P <3), Car Crash captures all that the original Breakdown had. Lambo alt mode, blue trim, red hood. It's just awesome. Yup the gun "stores" as the vehicle's exhaust, bonus points. Only downside I have with it are the front wheels are on hinges for the transformation and don't have a solid pegging point allowing them to move around in alt mode more then you may like.
http://i49.tinypic.com/e9hhdk.jpg
As you can see in the comparison here with some fellow white Lambo's and Breakdown's he's smaller then most deluxes and closer to scout size. You'll also notice he's white then the "proper" Breakdown cream colour as demonstrated and enforced by the Derrick J. Wyatt made Animated Breakdown.
Robot Mode
http://i45.tinypic.com/dqljco.jpg
Super poseable and articulated. Ball jointed head, crazy shoulder mechanism giving him awesome range of motion, hinged and swiveling elbows, wrist rotation, rotating waist, ball jointed hips, thigh swivel, knees, AND articulated ankles. Awesome. You can put him in tons of cool poses, I could have taken pics for hours but this isn't a gallery, it's a review.
Transformation was pretty simple too unlike some of the previous FansProject items to come out. It's refreshing to say the least. I like complex transformations but there's complex, and then there's "scary, too complex", neither of which apply to Car Crash.
http://i45.tinypic.com/9pnpxl.jpg
As you can see, not the tallest figure in robot mode. Not quite a deluxe, not quite a scout, but he's a great size and manages to put a lot of fun in a small package.
CA-10 T-Bone
Vehicle Mode
http://i50.tinypic.com/28sx9a0.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/vmvos4.jpg
Let's go with some natural lighting on this darker figure, shall we? Based on the Lamborghini Ankonian, this vehicle looks like a crazy assed Tumbler sports car...I mean...look at those rear wheels! This thing looks vicious and I can't help but think it was a perfect fit for a "Wild Rider". I really like that these guys are all based on actual super sexy sports cars. He's got some sharp edges and points. It's amazing how well angled these panels are to make the transformation to robot mode.
Same flaw as his bro Car Crash with the front wheels, only additional down size is the robot mode in the chest protrudes on the underside a little much and interferes with the wheels being nice and flush without dragging on the ground. Kinda unfortunate but hey...who's really keeping this guy in vehicle mode now?
http://i49.tinypic.com/25887rp.jpg
Let's compare him with some other red windowed, darker coloured Decepticon sports car, and Animated Wildrider. Same size as Car Crash but you can see he's more of a gun metal black then straight up black or flat out grey.
Robot Mode
http://i46.tinypic.com/29ooh9u.jpg
More or less a total remold of Car Crash with the same transformation, poseability, and everything. The transformation is more scary with T-Bone then Car Crash though, especially in the legs. It can be fixed with some dremeling (still have to do...) otherwise you risk some bad stress marks in the darker plastic. I've already got some on the roof appearing and its a bit of a piss off to be honest.
What I will say though is I like that they kept the "peg head" look for T-Bone from the toy version of G1 Wildrider for that Scramble City combining capability vs. his show appearance. Though purple eyes would have been cool to see too and differentiate him 1 step more from Car Crash but its no biggie. It's a mod everyone can easily do if they so choose.
http://i47.tinypic.com/zj8g3p.jpg
...probably should have picked something better then a larger then average deluxe and shorter then average deluxe to compare T-Bone with, but being the same size as TFCC's Runabout I guess we can say at best these 2 are the height of a short deluxe.
Overall
They're both great figures...though they are essentially the same figure. Regardless, they're super poseable and are the greatest homages we have and will likely ever get for G1 Breakdown and Wildrider. Looking ahead at the next 3 releases and the final combined form that is Intimidator, this is just the tip of an amazing iceberg. If you can get your hands on these guys still, GET THEM.
Keep your eyes open over at Ages Three and Up (http://www.agesthreeandup.com/), pre-orders for the upcoming figures in this set should be coming up at any time.
http://i49.tinypic.com/73nzoj.jpg
ROLL OUT!