Punch/Counterpunch
(2010 Collectors' Club 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 Sunstreaker. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Universe 2.0 Sunstreaker here.)
Talk about a remold match
made in heaven. A Universe 2.0 toy with two seperate robot mode designs
made for it that has a car mode almost identical to that of the original
G1 Punch/Counterpunch toy-- a remold of this toy as the double agent was
practically inevitable eventually. The color scheme is pretty close to
that of Punch/Counterpunch, with dark blue and black being the main color
combo. By itself this would be rather boring-- and honestly, given
that there isn't a whole lot of other colors in vehicle mode, it DOES make
that mode look rather boring-- but the red and yellow paint apps in the
two robot modes help Punch/Counterpunch stand out a bit more. The red paint
apps are more visible in Counterpunch mode and the yellow in Punch mode,
which helps make the robot modes look a tad more unique. (He's also got
a rather funky purple & silver rear bumper with green taillights...
of course, this is accurate to the original G1 toy, but it's certainly
an odd extra bit of color given the otherwise pretty well-grounded color
scheme.) Still, a few more paint apps in any of his modes would've have
hurt, as he does look a little plain-- not for a mainline release, mind
you, but for an expensive club exclusive I would've expected a few more
paint apps to give it that extra "oomph". His license plate says "PCNTP",
which is of course short for his two names, and is a decent touch.
Of course, the reason
most people tend to buy Punch/Counterpunch isn't because of the color scheme--
it's because of the uniqueness of the character's gimmick! It capitalizes
on the toy originally being made for two different characters, with Punch
taking, more or less, the "Sideswipe"
robot configuration (with a modified leg configuration to make the robot
modes a bit more different) while Counterpunch takes the "Sunstreaker"
robot configuration. Granted, it's little more than flipping the limbs
around so that a different chest is facing front, but it's still kinda
cool consdiering the mold wasn't specifically made for this gimmick. The
new head mold takes advantage of this-- it comes with a black visor that
you can flip down to cover the head that's not currently "in use", in the
act revealing the head for the relevant robot mode. The head sculpt itself
is well-detailed, but the paint apps on Punch's face could've used some
improvement-- his face is solid yellow, when it should be silver closer
to the center. His head is also small to the point of being comical-- it's
far smaller than it needs to be to fit inside the requisite cavity in vehicle
mode. This was, apparently, another case of the Chinese manufacturers making
a change for some reason and not telling Fun Publications until it was
too late to change. This is a real shame, as though the head looks somewhat
passable in Counterpunch mode, it looks so ridiculous in Punch mode-- he
can't even remotely see over his own chest. Punch/Counterpunch also has
a classic-style allegiance rub symbol on both of his chests, which when
rubbed reveal the relevant symbol depending on which robot mode he's in.
One additional thing to note is that because his fists aren't remolded,
in order for the fists to face the correct direction in both modes you'll
have to slide the fists out of the arms and swap them when you want to
change him from one robot mode to another. It's not a huge deal, but it
can be a tad annoying.
Punch/Counterpunch is
a great idea, and overall has a pretty decent color scheme, but his messed-up
head proportions (even if that wasn't FunPub's fault), the fairly lax paint
apps, and the aforementioned problem with the arms merely makes it a nice
homage figure instead of a GREAT one. Because of this and the quite high
aftermarket price, unless you're a particularly huge Punch/Counterpunch
fan I'd pass on this, unfortunately.
Review by Beastbot
*NOTE: Due to extremely high demand, Fun Publications was able to make a small additional run of ~100 more figures of Punch/Counterpunch, but at a slightly increased price. The price listed above is for the more plentiful first-run Punch/Counterpunch figures, but again, due to high demand, the after-market price for this figure is very high.