Axer
(Wal-Mart Exclusive)
Axer's vehicle mode is
a police-bike style motorcycle. An interesting thing about Axer's name:
It's taken from the Generation One Action Master Axer, who, ironically,
rode a motorcycle. The tech specs also match up to the Generation One counterpart.
Nice homage, there. Anyway, his mode is very nice-looking, if not a bit
less sleek than his "partner", Sideways. With the exception of the "exhaust
pipe"- which glows bright red if you press the button in front of the handlebars-
this mode is pretty symmetrical, too, and gives it a very balanced, realistic
feel to it. Unfortunately, Axer's robot hands are slightly obvious on the
sides of the motorcycle, as is the robot head in between the bars connecting
the headlights to the front wheel. They aren't that much of a drawback,
though, and the silvers and golds more than distract one's eyes from them.
However, I would have liked another primary color besides just black on
Axer. The golds and silvers make nice headlights, but the dark pale blue
almost blends in completely with the black. A slightly lighter primary
color would have been appreciated. Axer can't stand up by himself in this
mode, due to him having only two wheels, but he has a kickstand. Unfortunately,
this doesn't hold him up quite as well as one would have hoped; it's too
smooth. The "upper seat" portion on the back of the motorcycle also splits
into the feet halves a bit too easily. Odd, considering that it takes enough
pressure to swing the robot knees down during transformation that it almost
feels like they're going to break...
In robot mode, Axer
looks a bit.. odd... from the chest down. His robot head looks nice- very
ninja-esque- as do his arms, one of which has the glowing "exhaust pipe"
strapped on it from vehicle mode, but that's really it. The using of the
motorcycle dashboard for the chest doesn't really "fit" that well, and
the legs are very oddly jointed, making them look a bit funny. Having a
motorcycle wheel on one leg and not on the other also looks a bit odd as
well. The one motorcycle wheel that does hang off Axer's back doesn't get
in the way at all, though it does detract from the look slightly. He also
could use a bit more paint detailing in this mode, as he looks rather bland
from a front view. You press down on Axer's chest to activate his electronic
"light up" function in this mode, but it's a bit TOO easy to activate,
so it comes on accidentally a bit when you're fiddling around with him.
On the plus side, though, Axer is quite a bit more articulate and posable
in robot mode than his "partner", Sideways.
Overall, Axer has a
great vehicle mode, but an odd-looking robot mode from the chest down.
He also could stand to have a few more colors on him. Still, he's far from
an outright bad toy.
Review by Beastbot