(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Combiner Wars Breakdown. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Combiner Wars Breakdown here.)

    It's no longer Punch/Counterpunch-- it's just Counterpunch now. The story is that he was severely damaged, and the Punch parts had to be removed. Reusing the Wheeljack mold fits Punch/Counterpunch pretty well in vehicle mode, less so in robot mode. I mean, you're essentially taking Punch/Counterpunch's signature gimmick and removing it (although you are adding in combining at the same time, to be fair). Stil, Counterpunch's colors are replicated quite well. His main colors are black and a fairly dark (but not super-dark) blue. It's just a SHADE lighter than the blue on TFSS Bluestreak-- it's definitely close enough where they complement each other as teammates. By itself these colors would be rather dull, though, so thankfully the windows on Counterpunch (both the real windows in vehicle mode and the "fake" chest windows in robot mode) are painted silver, which adds a little bit of "light" to the color scheme. There's also some light red on the wheel hubs and the sword-- it looks quite nice against the black, in the small amounts it's used. The black paint on part of the rear "shaded windows" of the vehicle mode is a nice touch, too, though black headlights are bizarre. In robot mode the most interesting paint apps are the really nice light purple, silver, and lime green paint apps on the knees, which partially replicate details on the G1 toy (I really wish these colors had been used more on the toy, G1-accurate or no). There's also a bit of bright orange on the shoulders, which is accurate to the G1 toy as well-- a bit of "Punch" showing through Counterpunch's robot mode, so to speak. A bit more of Punch has been added, though, and that's the hand/foot/gun-- it's all a bright safety orange (the paint on the top is a glossier shade than the orange plastic used for the actual fingers, but it all looks good together). This is for the arm mode, called "Punch" mode (Get it?!), but it still makes for some excellent contrast against all the dark blue and black in any of Counterpunch's modes.
    Counterpunch has a new headsculpt, apparently already made for the mold by Hasbro but never used-- hence the odd choice to make Counterpunch his own character, as the headsculpt had already been made (not quite sure what Hasbro was thinking there, though). It's a spot-on headsculpt for Counterpunch, with good proportions, crisp detailing, and a silver visor with a black helmet. No complaints here. Besides the headsculpt, Counterpunch also has all the changes made to the base mold that CW Wheeljack has.
    CW Counterpunch is an interesting idea, and the "Punch Mode" is good for a nice laugh, but I think this is definitely the weakest of the Wreckage combiner components. Even ignoring that you got rid of the thing that made Punch/Counterpunch unique-- and that FunPub already made a Punch/Counterpunch toy-- the color scheme is generally dull, particularly in vehicle mode. He has a few nice paint apps on his knees in robot mode and on the wheels, and the hand/foot/gun is a nice bright color for contrast, but for a FunPub figure he's relatively bland and could've used a bit more paint.

Review by Beastbot

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