Canadian Transformers News and Discussion Forum

[RNSrobot]

Picked this guy up tonight. Fucking outstanding. Beautiful decos, new head sculpt, weapons. Strafe is awesome. Nosecone may be my single favorite deluxe across the cw/uw range. Scattorshot is actually scattorshot, not silverbolt with a new head. And Computron looks great. So, so happy to have this toy.

EDIT: having trouble uploading pics from my phone, I'll add some later.

EDIT 2: Here is a full review!!

SCATTORSHOT
Beautiful deco, consistent. The new chest piece does wonders to set him apart from Scattorshot. He looks slick. The nice part is the animation model isn't so different from his toy so this still gets to my love of the original toy. The new guns give him some extra firepower and freshness.

vs Hasbro
Hasbro's is fine with just a new robot head and reshelled jet, except for the garish, bright red. It clashes with the traditional maroon and doesn't seem to have any obvious inspiration. It's not toyetic or toonish. And it looks bad.

LIGHTSPEED
Gorgeous deco, a brilliant red. Lovely new head. The twin guns are great, especially how they connect to his car doors/arms. As usual, the Breakdown mold is a fantastic limb. I really like the Wheeljack retooling and IMO it is a very good match for Lightspeed’s slick car mode.

vs Hasbro
There are many folks who don't like the Breakdown mold. I can get why (the hips are goony), but I am a fan of it. The Hasbro toy is a pure repaint. It's not bad but the robot mode has far too much white; again, it's not toy or toon close and doesn't look good. The limbs in particular should be red, and there’s no reason they couldn’t be. IMO Breakdown makes a better limb than Streetwise, particularly as an arm. YMMV.

NOSECONE
Whether it’s Rook or Swindle, the Rook toy is one of the strongest deluxe toys of the entire CW line. Big, solid, great in either limb mode, fun to transform, and just well designed. Nosecone adds a great new head, swaps the wheels for treads in clever fashion, and the top part for a nosecone adaptor. It leaves him a touch hollow from the side but the giant drill is a GIANT DRILL. He has three other guns, and a very attractive color scheme that works with both the G1 and toy.

vs Hasbro
If Rook is one of the top CW limbs, Brawl is widely considered one of the worst. However, the deco on Hasbro Nosecone is on point. As a strict recolor of Brawl (with a drill attachment vs the tank cannon), it makes sense. Shame they couldn’t add a new head. The same flaws which hinder the Brawl mold persist; the bad waist, lack of tight joints. He’s a solid leg and an interesting (if floppy) arm. It’s a fine, logical choice for Nosecone.

AFTERBURNER
In some sense, he’s too much of a normal motorcycle with future windscreen, but in other ways, the mold works even better for AB than Groove. The red and white is sharp, his two new guns are VERY cool, and the new head is again successful. A skinny leg or a great arm. Great as well for those who haven’t had a chance to experience Groove.

vs Hasbro
A straight redeco of the Takara version, including new head. Includes Groove’s sideguns instead of the new UW ones. I feel like the Hasbro version is trying to do too much; again, it takes more cues from the toy, but adds in some odd design choices. The red is strange. I actually quite like the green windscreen. Folks who prefer their Afterburner orange will be happy with this guy. Can’t really go wrong either way!

STRAFE
Oh my God, what a fantastic toy. I haven’t experienced the Blast-Off mold so I can’t compare but… wow. Just a great toy. A fun transformation, lots of detail. Great head, his big guns are detachable, he doesn’t partsform as I understand Blast-Off does. Again, the red and white deco is sharp. He’s a very nice arm, haven’t tried him as a leg yet. One gripe would be that his back kibble doesn’t really peg in. It’s fine, it doesn’t flop around but it feels like it should…?

vs Hasbro
The only major retool in the CW set, Strafe is a very extensive retool of the Air Raid mold. And it works very well. I don’t quite get the really off-white color. The orange chest connector is ugly and disappointing --- it should be white, but again, without being slavish, it simply doesn’t *look* good. The big guns aren’t removable. New head is just as good as the Takara one, more toy-based. Nothing wrong with Hasbro Strafe… just that Takara Strafe is soooooo good.

COMPUTRON
Somehow, Nosecone being the only non-red-and-white Technobot doesn’t totally clash, but hey, it’s true to the oddity of the toon and toy. It looks great. Just outstanding, but what makes it the best is the new head and chest. It’s not Red Superion, it’s Computron (or Computicon, whatever). The HFG are good shades, too, although the “stock” placement is a bit odd, switching the HFG around from their actual owners (ie giving Wheeljack’s gun to Afterburner). I can’t say enough good things about this toy. Silverbolt is an incredibly strong base torso; UW Computron is my single favorite combiner of the entire line.

vs Hasbro
I really don’t mind the HFG but I appreciate many aren’t huge fans. The new feet are great. The hands are a bit disappointing --- they have no articulation and almost feel a bit cartoony/oversized. The Takara hands and Hasbro feet, IMO, would be the best combination. He looks good as a combined robot but there’s no way around his torso being a red Superion. It’s a much better deco than the half-assed single-packed voyager Scattershot/Betatron, however. I really like the blue highlights on the thighs. He is what he is, and it’s a shame Hasbro couldn’t somehow include the new Computron head if not chest.

OVERALL
IMO there is little competition between the two. It isn’t really a competition, mind. Many aren’t going to pay the price for Takara UW (I paid $170 shipped) when Hasbro Computron will he had at 120 or less with sales or clearance. Hasbro’s is fine for those who want *a* Computron but Takara’s is so significantly different it becomes Computron and not a red Superion. I am in love with this toy, it’s gorgeous, fun, fresh, full of new and interest.

THE WINNER...

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER
HASBRO COMPUTRON COMES WITH SCROUNGE.

WINNER: HASBRO FOREVER