Quick review/overview: Animated Lugnut, Ratchet and Blackarachnia

[Pascal]

LUGNUT

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/PascTF/100_3679.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/PascTF/100_3674.jpg

YAYS

-good size in jet mode
-nice deco
-retractable landing gear (front/rear)
-rotatable cockpit and top canons
-power mace gimmick works well and is fun to activate (plug it in the hand and slam it on the ground to deploy the mace)
-in robot mode, it totally looks like an updated G1 Shockwave with the dark purple and clear red eye
-pretty good articulation overall
-cool automorph gimmick (from jet mode to robot mode, swing down the tail to reveal the head Ã* la Bulkhead and cockpit will split in 2 to form the chest)

NAYS

-head and waist don't turn
-cockpit sometimes want to split in 2 in jet mode
-tailfins are a bit dangling around because of the spring-loaded power mace gimmick

RATCHET

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/PascTF/100_3680.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/PascTF/100_3676.jpg

YAYS

-tight vehicle mode
-nicely articulated robot mode
-lots of gimmick (flippable power magnets when you bend the arms up + 4 interchangeable tools)
-automorph gimmick (fold down the backpack to pop up the head)

NAYS

-automorph gimmick is not working well on my figure (head either doesn't want to stay in or doesn't want to come out)
-feet and heels are a royal pain to flip out
-painted side windows
-no waist joint

BLACKARACHNIA

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/PascTF/100_3678.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/PascTF/100_3675.jpg

YAYS

-sexy and stylish in both modes
-good articulation
-retractable string/grapple gimmick is fun and works well
-strong leg joints to support the spider mode
-good deco
-nice hommage to BW Blackarachnia

NAYS

-very light
-very plasticy (more than all the other figures released so far)
-a bit of a pain to transform and align
-little purple mandibles often want to pop off
-visible hands in spider mode (not that it bothers me much though, but some might hate it)
-hard to balance because of the tiny feet

Overall, 3 good figures, but not the best released so far. I would rank my figures this way:

VOYAGER CLASS

1. Optimus Prime (pretty much perfect)
2. Bulkhead (ditto)
3. Lugnut (loses points for poseability and dangling tailfins)
4. Starscream (loses points for the unfinished jet mode)
5. Megatron (lame alternate mode and oddly positionned arm canon)

DELUXE CLASS

1. Bumblebee (tight in both modes and fun accessories and stinger gimmick)
2. Optimus Prime (excellent robot mode, possibly the best so far)
3. Prowl (insane poseability and clean in both modes)
4. Ratchet (loses points for the problems with the automorph gimmick)
5. Blackarachnia (loses points for being so light and so difficult to align and transform - not that the transformation is complex; it's just a pain to get from point A to point B)

[brr-icy]

another informative review, thanks pascal

[Nightscrabbler]

Lugnut's colour scheme is awful.

[GMfan]

Isn't his face supposed to be gray or silver? I've seen it gray before, must be a prototype you got there.

[agesthreeandup]

Lugnut's colour scheme is awful.

Agreed also not so sure about the huge arm/bombs. I don't think they needed to be that large to look animated.

Still interesting looking figure.

Spencer.

[Pascal]

It would have looked better with grey instead of teal.

EDIT : Wait a minute. Peaugh's version HAS grey... Looks like I got an early deco because some details ARE painted teal... And I just noticed that some colors are reversed on Peaugh's version... And his version has teal chest guns that aren't matching the rest of the figure...

[BadJeff]

Liking em'
Thanks for the write up!

[CobraCommander]

Nice pics and review, I want em!

[Team Jetfire]

Thanks for the pics...they all look great.

[brr-icy]

i personally like lugnuts colour scheme, reminds me of g1 drfeadwing

[Pascal]

There we go: G2 Lugnut! :D

Btw, the cockpit is translucent even though it looks painted black in the pics.

[Robimus]

Great picks Pascal! :)

I like Lugnut in Plane Mode but robot mode is a bit lacking. "Tell me when your gonna use da punch!"

Ratchet is my least favorite of the lot. He looks like more of a mini van in vehicle mode and where are his magnet weapons in robot mode? If they are there they are the wrong color. It would take so little effort to make those add-ons with real magnets which would make him a way more interesting toy.

Blackarchnia is kinda interesting. I like her grappling hook play feature and her robot look. Her spider mode seems a lot less sinister than the Universe version from Beast Wars. Still, kinda cool.

[Pascal]

The art of confusion: this MISB Lugnut IS purple and teal... WTF? On the back of the box, he's like purple and silver/grey...

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/PascTF/003.jpg

[Pascal]

where are his magnet weapons in robot mode? If they are there they are the wrong color.

They flip out from under his arms, but it's only half a magnet on each side (and they're black).

[Peaugh]

It would have looked better with grey instead of teal.

EDIT : Wait a minute. Peaugh's version HAS grey... Looks like I got an early deco because some details ARE painted teal... And I just noticed that some colors are reversed on Peaugh's version... And his version has teal chest guns that aren't matching the rest of the figure...

Yeah, the teal on yours is a lot more vivid, mine's more of a grey-green, the top cannon on mine is grey while the cockpit cannons are teal, and the face and extra eyes are painted. The boxed versions on ebay have the richer teal like yours; I'm curious if I got a test shot with more paint apps, if yours is an actual retail version, or a closer to release test shot without all the paint. Weird.

[Peaugh]

The art of confusion: this MISB Lugnut IS purple and teal... WTF? On the back of the box, he's like purple and silver/grey...


Yeah, the photos on the back of the box are a lot more silver than the one I have. The grey/teal bits on mine seem to be a much less saturated teal than silver.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a355/BenjaminDolle/Lugnut/DSCF0008.jpg

[Pascal]

So the greenish grey on yours is more matching the color of the feet?

[Dark Rage]

If you haven't realized by now, a lot of the TF packaging uses either photoshop or better painted TF toys (prototypes?) on the boxart than what the Transformer actually looks like.

And on another note, what's the the surge of American TFW2005 members on the boards? Or should I create a new thread about this...

[Pascal]

I just noticed that the art on front of the box is showing Lugnut in purple/teal/greenish-grey... And on the back, the photoshop job looks more like a metallic light teal or something. Oh well, time will tell.

I remember my first Starscream from last October being dark purple/blue, then seeing another one done with a lighter blue-purple, claiming it was the revised/final version, but when I got my 2nd SS, it was the same color as the first one... so was the lighter blue version scrapped or something? All the Starscreams I see now seem to be like the one I have.

[Peaugh]

So the greenish grey on yours is more matching the color of the feet?

Yeah, the feet, thighs, hands and paint apps are all the same greenish-grey color.

[Goaliebot]

All three look great. This entire line has really grown on me for some reason - like the show has. I can't really explain why... I just really like them!

I agree that a "less teal" teal-grey looks better for Lugs.

I'm gonna be soooo poor this summer. :(


And on another note, what's the the surge of American TFW2005 members on the boards? Or should I create a new thread about this...

I for one welcome our new Yankee overlords and remind them that I can be useful in rounding up others to work in their sugar mines... :p