DSC_5913
You ever look at someone's work, and can immediately visualize that point at which they no longer gave a crap about it anymore? That's kind of what happened with Earthrise Arcee, who finally showed up at a vendor close enough for me to purchase.
The figure retails for $29.99 CAD, and comes packed with.. well, to be honest, not a whole lot. Mind you, I've bought exactly ONE other Deluxe this year - Cliffjumper - but that badass came with a freaking rocket launcher. Arcee, on the other hand, has a tiny translucent pistol.
Lets talk about the elephant in the room. You know how I said you can tell clearly when people no longer cared about their work? Well, much like Cliffjumper, it's the vehicle chassis piece that doubles as an accessory. I don't remember what his was used for, but Arcee gets... a surfboard. While that doesn't help, that's still not the bottom of the barrel.
It's really the overall vehicle mode.
For an Earth mode, Arcee looks like a failed concept vehicle and as others have pointed out, it's basically like we've gone back to Beast Wars and she's a shellformer, or more accurately, like one of those kids halloween costumes where she falls on her face and has the shall draped over her.
The actual transformation itself is.. tolerably bad, but the legs really are inexcusable. I mean, if you're gonna half ass the transformation, at least make it so things fold up nicely. Instead, the legs end up awkardly twisted and it honestly feels like someone forgot to take them into account and just made the shell bigger to compromise because they ran out of R & D time.
Vehicle mode on the Generations version was clearly much better thought out.
Now that I got that out of the way, lets ditch the backpack and talk the actual figure. The body style is very similar to the Generations release, but with slipper hips and a larger head. The face on Earthrise Arcee isn't as overtly female IMHO.. feels more.. androgynous. Hasbro seems to have remoulded the Generations hands such that she can hold 5 mm port weapons, like with the Cyberverse versions.
The Earthrise figure improves upon the Generations version by adding many more points of articulation, generally made possible by the fact she abides by the Earthrise backpack motiff, with another major reason being that, of course, she needs them for transformation. She has ankle tilts, double jointed knees, thigh twist, mid torso swivel, standard pinned shoulders, bicep swivel, single jointed elbows, wrist swivel, and head.
The result is that you can actually put robot mode into an impressive number of graceful poses. It feels like Earthrise takes the Generations body and give its the articulation it deserves... because the Generations one was terrible.
Paint work is acceptable. The amount of paint isn't exactly mind blowing, mostly limited to the pink on her chest, the pink and grey on her pelvis, the splashes of colour on her vehicle mode., and her blue eyes.
Build quality is where I have one concern. Overall, it's pretty par for the course - more hollow sections than people would like ,but material selection and parts finishes aren't too shabby. I do have to question the longevity of joints, particularly the various folding panel on the vehicle shell, and those flimsy knees.
So overall, mixed feelings about the figure, but my consensus is that the focus was on the robot mode with the vehicle mode made to fit. IMHO, the Cyberverse version was the better thought out of the 2020 offerings, and I feel more love was put into the design of the Generations version.
But, considering that the Generations version was almost impossible to find natively here in Canada (language issues on the mini comic), if you want a mainline G1 looking Arcee this is probably the easiest way to scratch that itch.
DSC_5913
You ever look at someone's work, and can immediately visualize that point at which they no longer gave a crap about it anymore? That's kind of what happened with Earthrise Arcee, who finally showed up at a vendor close enough for me to purchase.
The figure retails for $29.99 CAD, and comes packed with.. well, to be honest, not a whole lot. Mind you, I've bought exactly ONE other Deluxe this year - Cliffjumper - but that badass came with a freaking rocket launcher. Arcee, on the other hand, has a tiny translucent pistol.
Lets talk about the elephant in the room. You know how I said you can tell clearly when people no longer cared about their work? Well, much like Cliffjumper, it's the vehicle chassis piece that doubles as an accessory. I don't remember what his was used for, but Arcee gets... a surfboard. While that doesn't help, that's still not the bottom of the barrel.
It's really the overall vehicle mode.
For an Earth mode, Arcee looks like a failed concept vehicle and as others have pointed out, it's basically like we've gone back to Beast Wars and she's a shellformer, or more accurately, like one of those kids halloween costumes where she falls on her face and has the shall draped over her.
The actual transformation itself is.. tolerably bad, but the legs really are inexcusable. I mean, if you're gonna half ass the transformation, at least make it so things fold up nicely. Instead, the legs end up awkardly twisted and it honestly feels like someone forgot to take them into account and just made the shell bigger to compromise because they ran out of R & D time.
Vehicle mode on the Generations version was clearly much better thought out.
Now that I got that out of the way, lets ditch the backpack and talk the actual figure. The body style is very similar to the Generations release, but with slipper hips and a larger head. The face on Earthrise Arcee isn't as overtly female IMHO.. feels more.. androgynous. Hasbro seems to have remoulded the Generations hands such that she can hold 5 mm port weapons, like with the Cyberverse versions.
The Earthrise figure improves upon the Generations version by adding many more points of articulation, generally made possible by the fact she abides by the Earthrise backpack motiff, with another major reason being that, of course, she needs them for transformation. She has ankle tilts, double jointed knees, thigh twist, mid torso swivel, standard pinned shoulders, bicep swivel, single jointed elbows, wrist swivel, and head.
The result is that you can actually put robot mode into an impressive number of graceful poses. It feels like Earthrise takes the Generations body and give its the articulation it deserves... because the Generations one was terrible.
Paint work is acceptable. The amount of paint isn't exactly mind blowing, mostly limited to the pink on her chest, the pink and grey on her pelvis, the splashes of colour on her vehicle mode., and her blue eyes.
Build quality is where I have one concern. Overall, it's pretty par for the course - more hollow sections than people would like ,but material selection and parts finishes aren't too shabby. I do have to question the longevity of joints, particularly the various folding panel on the vehicle shell, and those flimsy knees.
So overall, mixed feelings about the figure, but my consensus is that the focus was on the robot mode with the vehicle mode made to fit. IMHO, the Cyberverse version was the better thought out of the 2020 offerings, and I feel more love was put into the design of the Generations version.
But, considering that the Generations version was almost impossible to find natively here in Canada (language issues on the mini comic), if you want a mainline G1 looking Arcee this is probably the easiest way to scratch that itch.