Ferak
w/ Tornado (BotCon 2014 Exclusive)
(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 Universe 2.0 Cyclonus w/ Nightstick. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Universe 2.0 Cyclonus w/ Nightstick here.)
Ferak is a member of
Squadron X (a sort of Decepticon version of the Wreckers), and in a somewhat
recent (very brief) comic appearance he looked remarkably like Cyclonus,
so it makes sense that FunPub ran with that and redecoed Cyclonus into
him. Following his comic appearance, Ferak has a color scheme of mostly
white and gray (a bluish gray is used for most parts, but a lighter shade
of the color is used for a few minor pieces, like his fists and feet).
By itself, this color scheme is pretty boring. Thankfully, there's a fair
amount of dark red paint on Ferak, which helps to spice up his color scheme,
especially in robot mode where the red paint on his toes, knees, lower
arms, and chest is more apparent (there's also some red on the "side blasters"
on his nosecone and on a stripe on each side of said nosecone). The red
provides excellent contrast, especially against the white, and helps keep
Ferak from being monochrome. Ferak also has a decent amount of black--
mostly on some connector parts, but also on his abs and windows-- which
provides some contrast and a nice dark color for the scheme, but otherwise
just fits in with the whole "monochrome" theme he's mostly got going. Given
that this version has left the Decepticons to join the Star Seekers, Ferak
has some white Star Seeker emblems on his wings, though he's still got
a small Decepticon symbol on his forehead. The red on the face... again,
it's comic accurate, but I'm rarely a fan of red used on the face, and
Ferak is no different. The orangey yellow eyes look pretty good against
it, though.
As for Ferak's little
buddy Tornado-- that was the name of another member of Squadron X-- he
looks nothing like Tornado from his brief appearance in the comics. It's
mostly a "name slap" since they gotta call the Targetmaster mold that comes
with Cyclonus something, I guess. The bluish gray takes up more of a dominant
color on Tornado, but the white chest and black shoulders help provide
a bit of contrast, and his head is well-detailed with a silver face and
orangey yellow optics.
No mold changes have
been made to Ferak or Tornado.
BotCon 2014 Ferak is
my least favorite figure from the boxset. He's a solid mold, to be certain,
but his color scheme-- though comic-accurate-- is mostly dull, with only
the red here and there really making him look somewhat interesting. He
also could've really used some more paint apps on the main body of his
jet mode, it's too plain there. Tornado is also largely forgettable, and
without at least SOME other Squadron X members as toys, Ferak's appeal
seems rather limited, in my opinion.
Review by Beastbot