DSC_9930
Some photos of Animated Arcee and Rodimus.
I remember this being one of the last Transformer TV series that I watched on a semi-regular basis. I'm not certain if it was hand drawn or not, but the series certainly had a unique look to it, and was a welcome change of pace after the dubbed Unicron Trilogy a few years before.
These two figures were, IIRC, Toys R US exclusives, which back in the day meant that you had to go to the US in order to actually find them.. or so I thought. Turned out if I waited an extra a few weeks I could have bought them from up the street. But hey, I got them and that's all that matters.
If you've ever watched the show, you'll know that the bots look very.. exaggerated. Not in a bad way, but they resemble more Looney Toons than your typical lumbering robot, with very non standard proportions for limbs and torso. I would go and say it was an American attempt at Anime styling,
Some figures worked out great, some not as good, which isn't to say they were the worst things ever made, but there were some limitations. These two are definitely examples of the latter.
Vehicle mode for both have been recreated very well, and definitely very indicative of that Animated visual style - G1-esque with a touch of whimsy. QC and lack of paint is indicative of Hasbro back in the day, and from what I've seen the Takara versions are much nicer.
Robot mode is where things get a little iffy. As you've probably guessed, the actual robot mode in the show is probably impossible to recreate in figure mode, especially if you're going for accuracy in vehicle mode. Unfortunate, but the end result isn't too bad looking, though Rodimus has a really.. stoic expression on his face.
He looks like an old man.. no other way of saying it.
Articulation is really where the two figures suffer. Both figures feature acceptable head articulation (swivels with some tilt), decent shoulder movement, and surprisingly, full waist movement. However, Arcee doesn't have much in the way of knee or hip articulation, and Rodimus can't cross his arms across his body (a reality of the shoulder design and sheed width of the chest) which makes posing a guy who uses a bow and arrow to attack kind of difficult.
Furthermore, both these figures feature open hands, and squeezing the weapons into their grips can be somewhat of a nuisance, further made frustrating by the QC of Hasbro. I'm not sure if by this point the Hasbro and Takara plastic quality was the same, but the clear plastic swords on Arcee feel very fragile. On the bright side, at least Rodimus has actual firing arrows.
At the end of the day, the show aimed to bring a looser, more energetic vibe to the various characters, and in that respect the toys definitely reflect that.
DSC_9930
Some photos of Animated Arcee and Rodimus.
I remember this being one of the last Transformer TV series that I watched on a semi-regular basis. I'm not certain if it was hand drawn or not, but the series certainly had a unique look to it, and was a welcome change of pace after the dubbed Unicron Trilogy a few years before.
These two figures were, IIRC, Toys R US exclusives, which back in the day meant that you had to go to the US in order to actually find them.. or so I thought. Turned out if I waited an extra a few weeks I could have bought them from up the street. But hey, I got them and that's all that matters.
If you've ever watched the show, you'll know that the bots look very.. exaggerated. Not in a bad way, but they resemble more Looney Toons than your typical lumbering robot, with very non standard proportions for limbs and torso. I would go and say it was an American attempt at Anime styling,
Some figures worked out great, some not as good, which isn't to say they were the worst things ever made, but there were some limitations. These two are definitely examples of the latter.
Vehicle mode for both have been recreated very well, and definitely very indicative of that Animated visual style - G1-esque with a touch of whimsy. QC and lack of paint is indicative of Hasbro back in the day, and from what I've seen the Takara versions are much nicer.
Robot mode is where things get a little iffy. As you've probably guessed, the actual robot mode in the show is probably impossible to recreate in figure mode, especially if you're going for accuracy in vehicle mode. Unfortunate, but the end result isn't too bad looking, though Rodimus has a really.. stoic expression on his face.
He looks like an old man.. no other way of saying it.
Articulation is really where the two figures suffer. Both figures feature acceptable head articulation (swivels with some tilt), decent shoulder movement, and surprisingly, full waist movement. However, Arcee doesn't have much in the way of knee or hip articulation, and Rodimus can't cross his arms across his body (a reality of the shoulder design and sheed width of the chest) which makes posing a guy who uses a bow and arrow to attack kind of difficult.
Furthermore, both these figures feature open hands, and squeezing the weapons into their grips can be somewhat of a nuisance, further made frustrating by the QC of Hasbro. I'm not sure if by this point the Hasbro and Takara plastic quality was the same, but the clear plastic swords on Arcee feel very fragile. On the bright side, at least Rodimus has actual firing arrows.
At the end of the day, the show aimed to bring a looser, more energetic vibe to the various characters, and in that respect the toys definitely reflect that.