DSC_0689
With Wave 2 of Transformers: Siege officially released in Canada, I jumped through the necessary hoops to get the only two from the lineup that I actually cared to spend retail on - Chromia and Sixgun.
Being a Fembot, Chromia pretty much moved onto my "must buy list" as soon as I heard about her.. it honestly wouldn't have mattered if she was the most terrible Transformer in the world, though arguably you might arrive at that conclusion anyway.
I'm not sure if this is THE Chromia or A Chromia, but clearly she shares a colour scheme with the original G1 character. A lighter blue as compared to her recent Generations appearance, this time Chromia is a highly modified toy of the Deluxe Moonracer/Novastar release in the Power of the Primes toyline. I could write a novel on this topic, but it would be suffice if I simply said this - Chromia is basically better than the original toy in almost every conceivable way, with the strange exception being her waist.
The original toy was designed such that the figure basically had full waist rotation. On Chromia, she's got some weird waist panel that effectively restricts rotation to a few degrees in either clockwise or counterclockwise directions..
I guess if you're splitting hairs, another thing that is technically a downgrade would be that Chromia is a smaller toy.
Transformation schemes are generally identical between the two toys, and as you can see, the end result is a vague automobile looking thing, which again, is much better looking on Chromia.
Compared to the only other Siege Deluxe I own (well not partformers wise anyway), Hound, she's a bit of a let down because I kind of like some bite to the difficulty of my transforming puzzle boxes, which in comparison Chromia really doesn't have. Of course, this is what happens when you get a figure that was retooled from a combiner limb.
Next we have Sixgun.
Like Cog from Wave 1, Sixgun is an upgraded version of a classic G1 pack in toy with a larger figure, in this case Metroplex, who himself was a relatively recent release as the first Titan class figure ever, as part of the Generations line. Sixgun, however, didn't make this set and I guess Hasbro/Takara decided to backfill that missing piece.
Sixgun and Cog share transformation schemes, if you can call it that, with the various limbs flying off and recombining together. You either like it, or you hate it, but given the purpose of this figure (basically a weapons pack), this is kind of necessary.
Like Cog, Sixgun has excellent articulation for a Deluxe class figure, missing only the ability to tilt the head. Unlike Cog, however, as Sixgun does not have the shoulder pads of doom, the swiveling head actually is useful when posing the figure. Also like Cog, the smaller guns that are attached to Sixgun can be repurposed and held by the bot mode for its own purposes.
Now, unlike Cog, Sixgun never had a vehicle mode - he was simply a smaller bot that was formed from the combination of the various guns that Metroplex hand. Unfortunately, this new Sixgun is way, way too small to serve that purpose with the newer release.
The new vehicle mode is interesting to say the least. I don't know what to make of it in the sense I know it's a flying vehicle of sorts, but I feel he should have been more of a mobile weapons platform than a drone. The actual mode itself isn't bad, and gives me a Technobot vibes when I transformed and played with it.
Like with all the other Siege toys released thus far, the pain applications and molding details seem be quite generous compared to other recent mainline figures.
With Sixgun, movement seems to be smooth, and joints are nice and tight, though not quite "need to be an arm wrestler" tight like some of the Takara pieces of the past.
I want you to remember this last bit I wrote.
As mentioned above, Sixgun turns into armaments for other Deluxe sized figures. You've got an Defensive Loadout, Offensive Loadout, and my personal favourite, the High Precision Launcher Gauntlet aka Fist of Doom.
Here's the problem.. you remember how I said that Sixguns joints were nice and tight, mostly because he's a new figure and made in the new QC regime? Well.. that didn't extend to poor Chromia, who is a retooled figure and shares some critical parts, including her hip joints, with the original toy. I wouldn't say they're any looser than her predecessors, but it's clear that Chromia was never designed to bear the heavy load that is Sixgun in Defensive Loadout, and she barely can hold up in the much lighter and balanced Offensive Loadout.
It's really too bad that in the grand scheme of things, Chromia can only really handle the weight of the Micromaster figures, which I don't have any intention of getting.
Still despite this short coming, Chromia herself is a beautiful figure and probably one of the better Fembots Hasbro has ever released, and edges out Generations Chromia due to her slightly articulated waist. Sixgun is, as mentioned, a "love it or hate it" piece due to the transformation, but as a figure I say he's pretty damn good even with the questionable vehicle mode.
On to Wave 3.
DSC_0689
With Wave 2 of Transformers: Siege officially released in Canada, I jumped through the necessary hoops to get the only two from the lineup that I actually cared to spend retail on - Chromia and Sixgun.
Being a Fembot, Chromia pretty much moved onto my "must buy list" as soon as I heard about her.. it honestly wouldn't have mattered if she was the most terrible Transformer in the world, though arguably you might arrive at that conclusion anyway.
I'm not sure if this is THE Chromia or A Chromia, but clearly she shares a colour scheme with the original G1 character. A lighter blue as compared to her recent Generations appearance, this time Chromia is a highly modified toy of the Deluxe Moonracer/Novastar release in the Power of the Primes toyline. I could write a novel on this topic, but it would be suffice if I simply said this - Chromia is basically better than the original toy in almost every conceivable way, with the strange exception being her waist.
The original toy was designed such that the figure basically had full waist rotation. On Chromia, she's got some weird waist panel that effectively restricts rotation to a few degrees in either clockwise or counterclockwise directions..
I guess if you're splitting hairs, another thing that is technically a downgrade would be that Chromia is a smaller toy.
Transformation schemes are generally identical between the two toys, and as you can see, the end result is a vague automobile looking thing, which again, is much better looking on Chromia.
Compared to the only other Siege Deluxe I own (well not partformers wise anyway), Hound, she's a bit of a let down because I kind of like some bite to the difficulty of my transforming puzzle boxes, which in comparison Chromia really doesn't have. Of course, this is what happens when you get a figure that was retooled from a combiner limb.
Next we have Sixgun.
Like Cog from Wave 1, Sixgun is an upgraded version of a classic G1 pack in toy with a larger figure, in this case Metroplex, who himself was a relatively recent release as the first Titan class figure ever, as part of the Generations line. Sixgun, however, didn't make this set and I guess Hasbro/Takara decided to backfill that missing piece.
Sixgun and Cog share transformation schemes, if you can call it that, with the various limbs flying off and recombining together. You either like it, or you hate it, but given the purpose of this figure (basically a weapons pack), this is kind of necessary.
Like Cog, Sixgun has excellent articulation for a Deluxe class figure, missing only the ability to tilt the head. Unlike Cog, however, as Sixgun does not have the shoulder pads of doom, the swiveling head actually is useful when posing the figure. Also like Cog, the smaller guns that are attached to Sixgun can be repurposed and held by the bot mode for its own purposes.
Now, unlike Cog, Sixgun never had a vehicle mode - he was simply a smaller bot that was formed from the combination of the various guns that Metroplex hand. Unfortunately, this new Sixgun is way, way too small to serve that purpose with the newer release.
The new vehicle mode is interesting to say the least. I don't know what to make of it in the sense I know it's a flying vehicle of sorts, but I feel he should have been more of a mobile weapons platform than a drone. The actual mode itself isn't bad, and gives me a Technobot vibes when I transformed and played with it.
Like with all the other Siege toys released thus far, the pain applications and molding details seem be quite generous compared to other recent mainline figures.
With Sixgun, movement seems to be smooth, and joints are nice and tight, though not quite "need to be an arm wrestler" tight like some of the Takara pieces of the past.
I want you to remember this last bit I wrote.
As mentioned above, Sixgun turns into armaments for other Deluxe sized figures. You've got an Defensive Loadout, Offensive Loadout, and my personal favourite, the High Precision Launcher Gauntlet aka Fist of Doom.
Here's the problem.. you remember how I said that Sixguns joints were nice and tight, mostly because he's a new figure and made in the new QC regime? Well.. that didn't extend to poor Chromia, who is a retooled figure and shares some critical parts, including her hip joints, with the original toy. I wouldn't say they're any looser than her predecessors, but it's clear that Chromia was never designed to bear the heavy load that is Sixgun in Defensive Loadout, and she barely can hold up in the much lighter and balanced Offensive Loadout.
It's really too bad that in the grand scheme of things, Chromia can only really handle the weight of the Micromaster figures, which I don't have any intention of getting.
Still despite this short coming, Chromia herself is a beautiful figure and probably one of the better Fembots Hasbro has ever released, and edges out Generations Chromia due to her slightly articulated waist. Sixgun is, as mentioned, a "love it or hate it" piece due to the transformation, but as a figure I say he's pretty damn good even with the questionable vehicle mode.
On to Wave 3.