SXS-R01 Continuously Variable

[Slayback]

SXS-R01 Continuously Variable

I’m going to say this right off the bat… I have no clue to what ‘continuously variable’ refers to. My impression of continuously variable would be – um something akin to the suit that Keanu Reeves wore in the movie ‘A Scanner Darkly’ (based on the book by Philip K. Dick). The suit he wore would always change his face, the clothing he wore when he was at work. It’s an undercover thing to protect his identity. Anyway ‘Not Gears’ is not ‘always changing’, and doesn’t vary too much. From here on in – I’m just going to save myself some time and call this guy NG.

Box: It’s a rectangular box – with almost no artwork –save the NG character. Your almost standard grid pattern that we’ve all come to accept for g1ish things.. with the name in an equally boring font. No window. One side offers a glimpse at a figure to be coming soon, R-02. The silhouette of the figure looks like Blurr. Another side shows poses for NG and nope, nothing that helps sell the figure.

Rating – the box is throwaway-able.

Inside – the figure has a clear clamshell package. Figure is in truck mode. Instructions and little ID card. The id card is made of flimsy cardstock, and the design is like the box, not much to it. The instructions come out on a large sheet of paper. You can stand back about 15ft and read it because the pictures are that big. Its an odd size- I think 9 x14”.

Figure:

NG is a pretty simple figure. The transformation is relatively easy as I managed to transform it without reading the instructions. (If you’ve ever talked to me – you know how quickly I give up on transforming stuff.) Yes I did do a pretty good job of it. Transforming it back into truck mode – is a little more difficult as it relies on the ‘order of operations’ thing.
Although the figure is extremely simplistic with ball joints for ankles, hips and shoulders, NG can be posed in a variety of poses ranging from dull to dynamic. He does have swivel thighs, arms waist and bending elbows. He does not lack much in the pose department.

Sculpt – The truck really does seem to be fairly elongated, or rather too low for a covered pickup. Little weird detailing offers some depth to the truck, but nothing substantial.


Robot mode.
Yes – so it looks like Gears. The colours are decent, but the one irritant for me is the head sculpt. He’s got a flat head, and yep – I totally agree that he does not have to follow the rules for a cylindrical or cubic type cranium, but the flat plate like quality really drops the figure. Its nice that he has the translucent plastic in the back of the head to make the eyes ‘light up’, but flat head.

NG has two identical pistols, one red, and the other grey. One of these guns can be placed underneath the truck like some of the Transformers Generation figures (Prowl, Sideswipe etc.). The other is considered a bonus gun and will just have to hang out somewhere.

Overall

The negatives
- Poor box
- Poor instructions
- Poor bio card
- Flat head
- Boring guns
- Odd truck mode

The positives
- Decent colouring
- Well placed functions (joints, swiveling things) to give the figure tons of available poses.
- Sizing. Decent deluxe.

Approximate price: $70 US in N.America

So do I like this figure? Personally I’m still on the fence on whether or not its going to be in my collection. Sure I can manipulate him into whatever pose I want ( some The Killer poses with the dual guns) – but I just can’t get into him. I do like the size of him as he does fit in with the generation figures, however the scaling is a little off. He doesn’t seen to exude a presence like some of the other figs. The Hench figure looks like a gritty type soldier… NG – not so much. He’ll definitely sit on my table for a couple of days but more than likely he’s back in the box unless I decided to make him like the cartoon movie and put a hole into him.

[down_shift]

Continuously Variable Transmission. As in, the Gears in your vehicle.

Might pick this bastsad up just yet. Really digging it.

[The 12th Prime]

I agree Eric his head looks a little flat maybe a 3rd party fix is on the way for that lol, but for whatever reason this guy intrigues me more than Hench does. The colouring looks pretty decent. The one thing that does throw him off for me in both modes is the ridging on his wheels makes the wheels look as blocky as the figure which I think over does the blockiness. My thought is with driving vehicles if they're going to be blocky, smooth them out with some good wheels. That is one thing I think Has/Tak really understands (FOC excepted because of budget cuts it would've been so nice if the wheels could've turned inward like in the game) in design even if they may not colour them right (I'm looking at you Prime Knockout). I think when it comes to 3rd party stuff, wheel and tread design (for tank based vehicles) can really make or break a figure for me. Imagine smoother looking wheels on this figure? I think "realer" looking wheels would really sell this for me and it's something I like very much in my figures painted rims go a long way for me in enjoying a robot for both modes.

I kind of do like the elongated look, I must say I have been looking forward to updated mini bots since I was a G1 kid as I never bought any of the mini bots because "I hated them all" for being too small. Their stumpy designs just got to me Overall though I think after I-gear has taken their shot at all "these" guys I'm sure some other company will hopefully take a run at this (what 3 3rd party Predakings, 3 Brainstorms and a 4th Arcee on the way???) and improve upon them.

[Echotransformer]

Thanks for the nice review. Continuously variable is a clever name because it is a transmission without gears, conically shaped plates modulate a belt to control the drive ratio.

[zuffyprime]

of all characters, I don't understand what made them do an homage to Gears? Not that I don't like Gears, but he's not really an iconic top seller or main character.

thx for the review though

i think the igear mold is nicer and I figure it will be nicer once it comes out in "anime" colours

[Pascal]

I think the truck mode looks a bit cheap (especially the wheels), it reminds me of the Captain America Crossover truck...

[down_shift]

Originally Posted by zuffyprime

of all characters, I don't understand what made them do an homage to Gears? Not that I don't like Gears, but he's not really an iconic top seller or main character.

thx for the review though

i think the igear mold is nicer and I figure it will be nicer once it comes out in "anime" colours

He got his own episode! He totally deserves the Masterpiece treatment! ha ha ha.

Joking aside, I do like the look of it, just too rich for my blood.