DSC_3735
Backlog.. everyone loves backlogs, right?
Well, to start digging myself out, I've decided to start with my surprise Walmart find this weel, Transformers: Cyberverse Arcee, which is technically still on preorder for me at Amazon but with no provided fulfillment date.
Transformers: Cyberverse is a cel shaded computer animated television show featuring characters from the Transformers toy franchise. It's not a show I've watched at all because, well, I have no idea how to access Cartoon Network programming.
I've also never purchased any toys from this line as it is aimed at a lower age group, which affects not only aesthetics (which doesn't bother me a whole lot) and complexity of transformation. But hey, it's Arcee, the official First Lady of the Transformers universe, so I couldn't say no to that.
Being a Deluxe sized figure, she retails for $29.99 CAD here in Canada. Like the rest of the Cyberverse line, it comes with the figure, some weapons for the figure (in this case, her pistol with two blast effects) and parts for a Build-A-Figure (some dude named Maccadam). The blast effects (and the fin of the vehicle mode) are made of a soft rubber, and will most likely require the hot water treatment to reshape them upon opening).
The aesthetic I guess you could say is an evolution of the old Transformers Animated series back in 2010 or so, with recognizable characters but very zany looking body proportions.. a very Looney Toons aesthetic compared to the bulky builds of the 80's.
As with all Transformers, toy designers and animators did the best they could to complement each other, but like with most ambitious designs, the toy is somewhat lacking compared to the on screen counterpart.
First off, you can see that the backpack of the animated figure is smaller, and resembles Arcee's G1 look, much like.. well pretty much every other four wheeled Arcee figure (with the exception of the repaint for the Titan Returns line). The toy is.. well, not even close.
Secondly, despite having the price point increased like with the Siege line, I can't exactly say I'm terribly impressed with where they used all the extra budget.
So there are BAF parts which aren't my thing, but I will acknowledge they are there.
The plastic utilized for this toy (and probably the rest of the line too) feels more like the glossier, softer plastics that the figures used before the Unified Product with Takara Tomy was announced. To Hasbro's credit, finishes on the plastic were quite well done, with no real mould lines or rough finishes, and non of the parts seemed particularly flimsy.
Given the lack of Takara Tomy markings on the box, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Cyberverse is a Hasbro exclusive line for the time being.
There's also a startling lack of paint. One of the dangers of having an animated model or other official art work is that you can do a comparison and contrast. Much like the Hasbro of old, there's quite a few paint apps that aren't there. There's almost no white on the toy whereas white makes quite a few appearances on just the image on the back of the box alone. The gun should have two shades of pink, the wheels should be black, and there's missing blue paint apps. I'm confident that if I looked deeper into official art, I'd probably find many more.
Quality of the paint apps is... acceptable, with some bubbling observed in areas where the light pink paint was used, most notable being the vehicle canopy.
The actual figure itself isn't bad - to be fair, the only female bots as of late that have been average at best would be Moonracer and her derivatives. The giant backpack on the back is.. well gigantic, though I will admit you don't see how big it is from the front - I like the design of the folding rear vehicle tires which helps to minimize its exposure. It also helps that unlike Moonracer, there aren't that many obvious car parts in robot form.
Articulation wise, Cyberverse Arcee is... alright. The most recent iteration of a specific toys designed for the character would be the one used for Legends/Generations, which had all the curves of Arcee, but with pitiful lower body articulation and no waist joint. I'm happy to report that this figure seems to have learned from the previous one, keeping that feminine look and still can pull off some decent poses despite that giant backpack.
You get forward/backward rocking ankles, single jointed knees which lock in place when straight, the ability to rotate the lower leg, hips on ball joints, waist, standard ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivel, pinned elbows, and ball jointed head. While I would have loved to have seen ankle tilts, a bit more versatility with regards to leg position, and greater leg range of motion, the fact this figure has a functioning waist automatically makes this a better figure than the Generations one.
For reasons unknown, yet again, Arcee was sculpted with open hands rather than closed fists that fit standard sized weaponry.
Transformation into vehicle mode has all Arcee's bits and bobs fitting inside her neatly connecting vehicle panels, with the twin blast effects doubling as boosters on the back of the vehicle. The vehicle mode itself is blockier than her G1 counterpart, and resembles Blurr more than Arcee... but to be fair they were both Cybertronian vehicles anyway.
So overall, it's not as pretty as the Generations release, but the Cyberverse Arcee figure is certainly much more functional as an action figure. I dig it in the same way I dig most main line Transformers - I have a certain mental image of what figures should be able to do given the price point, and this figure does them all.
I have no idea how she compares to the other Cyberverse figures play wise, but I do know they all look like they they could use more paint.
That's about it for Cyberverse Arcee, though Arcee herself still has some heavy representation coming in - there's the Big Firebird Nicee, MP Arcee, and of course Earthrise Arcee. I'm most curious about what the latter can do, as most of her vehicle chassis comes off to form some sort of sled, like with most of the Earthrise line, easing design restrictions.
Till next time!
DSC_3735
Backlog.. everyone loves backlogs, right?
Well, to start digging myself out, I've decided to start with my surprise Walmart find this weel, Transformers: Cyberverse Arcee, which is technically still on preorder for me at Amazon but with no provided fulfillment date.
Transformers: Cyberverse is a cel shaded computer animated television show featuring characters from the Transformers toy franchise. It's not a show I've watched at all because, well, I have no idea how to access Cartoon Network programming.
I've also never purchased any toys from this line as it is aimed at a lower age group, which affects not only aesthetics (which doesn't bother me a whole lot) and complexity of transformation. But hey, it's Arcee, the official First Lady of the Transformers universe, so I couldn't say no to that.
Being a Deluxe sized figure, she retails for $29.99 CAD here in Canada. Like the rest of the Cyberverse line, it comes with the figure, some weapons for the figure (in this case, her pistol with two blast effects) and parts for a Build-A-Figure (some dude named Maccadam). The blast effects (and the fin of the vehicle mode) are made of a soft rubber, and will most likely require the hot water treatment to reshape them upon opening).
The aesthetic I guess you could say is an evolution of the old Transformers Animated series back in 2010 or so, with recognizable characters but very zany looking body proportions.. a very Looney Toons aesthetic compared to the bulky builds of the 80's.
As with all Transformers, toy designers and animators did the best they could to complement each other, but like with most ambitious designs, the toy is somewhat lacking compared to the on screen counterpart.
First off, you can see that the backpack of the animated figure is smaller, and resembles Arcee's G1 look, much like.. well pretty much every other four wheeled Arcee figure (with the exception of the repaint for the Titan Returns line). The toy is.. well, not even close.
Secondly, despite having the price point increased like with the Siege line, I can't exactly say I'm terribly impressed with where they used all the extra budget.
So there are BAF parts which aren't my thing, but I will acknowledge they are there.
The plastic utilized for this toy (and probably the rest of the line too) feels more like the glossier, softer plastics that the figures used before the Unified Product with Takara Tomy was announced. To Hasbro's credit, finishes on the plastic were quite well done, with no real mould lines or rough finishes, and non of the parts seemed particularly flimsy.
Given the lack of Takara Tomy markings on the box, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Cyberverse is a Hasbro exclusive line for the time being.
There's also a startling lack of paint. One of the dangers of having an animated model or other official art work is that you can do a comparison and contrast. Much like the Hasbro of old, there's quite a few paint apps that aren't there. There's almost no white on the toy whereas white makes quite a few appearances on just the image on the back of the box alone. The gun should have two shades of pink, the wheels should be black, and there's missing blue paint apps. I'm confident that if I looked deeper into official art, I'd probably find many more.
Quality of the paint apps is... acceptable, with some bubbling observed in areas where the light pink paint was used, most notable being the vehicle canopy.
The actual figure itself isn't bad - to be fair, the only female bots as of late that have been average at best would be Moonracer and her derivatives. The giant backpack on the back is.. well gigantic, though I will admit you don't see how big it is from the front - I like the design of the folding rear vehicle tires which helps to minimize its exposure. It also helps that unlike Moonracer, there aren't that many obvious car parts in robot form.
Articulation wise, Cyberverse Arcee is... alright. The most recent iteration of a specific toys designed for the character would be the one used for Legends/Generations, which had all the curves of Arcee, but with pitiful lower body articulation and no waist joint. I'm happy to report that this figure seems to have learned from the previous one, keeping that feminine look and still can pull off some decent poses despite that giant backpack.
You get forward/backward rocking ankles, single jointed knees which lock in place when straight, the ability to rotate the lower leg, hips on ball joints, waist, standard ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivel, pinned elbows, and ball jointed head. While I would have loved to have seen ankle tilts, a bit more versatility with regards to leg position, and greater leg range of motion, the fact this figure has a functioning waist automatically makes this a better figure than the Generations one.
For reasons unknown, yet again, Arcee was sculpted with open hands rather than closed fists that fit standard sized weaponry.
Transformation into vehicle mode has all Arcee's bits and bobs fitting inside her neatly connecting vehicle panels, with the twin blast effects doubling as boosters on the back of the vehicle. The vehicle mode itself is blockier than her G1 counterpart, and resembles Blurr more than Arcee... but to be fair they were both Cybertronian vehicles anyway.
So overall, it's not as pretty as the Generations release, but the Cyberverse Arcee figure is certainly much more functional as an action figure. I dig it in the same way I dig most main line Transformers - I have a certain mental image of what figures should be able to do given the price point, and this figure does them all.
I have no idea how she compares to the other Cyberverse figures play wise, but I do know they all look like they they could use more paint.
That's about it for Cyberverse Arcee, though Arcee herself still has some heavy representation coming in - there's the Big Firebird Nicee, MP Arcee, and of course Earthrise Arcee. I'm most curious about what the latter can do, as most of her vehicle chassis comes off to form some sort of sled, like with most of the Earthrise line, easing design restrictions.
Till next time!