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CUBEX ROBOTS: Engineer HUFF
OLD TIMER SERIES 01

Released: 2014
Based: Transformers Generation 1
Minibot HUFFER

Package includes:
o Huffer figure
o 1 gun
o 1 extra pair of closed hands
o 1 extra face
o Instructions
o 2 bio cards

Height robot mode: approx 6 inches.

First Impression
The Cubex Huff figure comes in a non-descript box. The box is a mustard yellow and purple with very little box art. The back of the box has a couple of small caption, illustrated pictures of Huff, and some weak English verbiage and Chinese kanji. From a design perspective, it has poor spacing for text, and poor usage of space. The box is ultimately weak.
When I pulled out the Huff figure, my immediate impression was that it was horrifically light. I’ve been suspect of this figure since images of the prototype first started appearing online. The cab on his back will make for a lot of weight, and I can only imagine that down the road as he goes through the normal wear and tear of being handled, he’s going to flop over.

Positives

Detail
Huff has a strange balance of detail. In truck mode, there can be no denying that it looks like a truck. He’s got nice detailing to make him look like a truck. In robot mode, Huff has enough detail in both face sculpts. There isn’t much expression, but it does look nice and defined. Little bits and divots in the surface of the plastic make the figure more interesting without having gone overboard. No folks, there are almost no vents, which is nice.

Transformation
The transformation for Huff is nice, not overly difficult, but not gobot easy. Reading the instructions will help, as there are a couple of small little nuances to the figure that isn’t immediately observable.

Joints
It’s not that I find that having no ball joints as a positive, but Cubex has managed to simulate a wide range of movement without them. He has a wide range of available motion in all his limbs and torso. He has joints/movement in the elbows, biceps, wrists, shoulders, knees, ankles thights and waist, to name a few. He’s extremely pose-able which is nice for those who like the more dynamic and action oriented figure.

Negatives

Material
This figure really could have used some more weight. A finer and sturdier grade of plastic would have given the figure a lot more chutzpah. For parts of the figure, the plastic used feels akin to model plastic. This is extremely noticeable in the arms and the shins and feet. A nice grade of plastic was used for the torso and thighs, and its unfortunate that I wasn’t used throughout the figure.

Execution

Perhaps it was a one off, but my figure had very poor paint execution. There is a noticeable glob blue paint on the face of my Huff, and paint scratching on the thighs. This was direct out of the package and hadn’t been transformed yet.

There are panels that fold over in the legs. They fit into little pegs, but I’m not sure whether it’s the weak plastic, but they don’t stay. The little panels tend to pop open.

Second face/head – Huff’s head comes apart in two pieces. A single screw holds the face and the back of the head together. Unfortunately my second face does not hold onto the screw. Poor qc?

Another issue is the excess plastic that is left from the sprue to the molded plastic. There’s a lot of it so have a nice sharp exacto/ pen knife handy to clean it up.

Other Stuff

The Gun – Huff’s gun can be folded in half and stored into the cab during truck mode. In robot form his weapon unfolds and combines with the hitch? (The round thing that a trailer would hook onto.) It’s a nice idea and it could have been nicer with better detailing on the gun.

Instructions
The instructions are presented in a booklet format. Pictures are decently sized and well presented. Aside from a small inconsistency with format, the instructions are one of the best that
I’ve seen in a long time.

Bio-Card
Bio-cards – they’re coasters. One coaster is for the Asian market while the other coaster is written in English. Nothing spectacular. Just cards with poor design.


Overall

I’m pretty divided on my opinion of this figure. I guess I should make a nice checklist and start scoring things so I can get a point based opinion. He’s a nicely engineered figure with an amazing array of poses made available. The downfall for this figure is the weak execution and materials used. A better grade of plastic is always preferable. The little parts that are supposed to click together to hold – not very effective, and since its mass produced, I’m going to assume there will be a lot of errors out there.

Price tag –if you’re lucky you can get for about $95-$110 cad. Please folks – having an American address to mail it to for free shipping does not reflect true cost. You still have to go there, gas etc whatever - you still have to add it in. So, is this figure worth the price tag? I’m going to have to say no. Not worth it. If it had more durable plastic – sure, it could be even considered a nice MP quality figure.

Conclusion

I’m going to give this figure 6 out of 10. Its not a terrible figure, but the weaknesses of the figure are very apparent. Someone will make some stickers to help spruce up the figure, but it will be only a band aid solution.