Strika
(BotCon 2013 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 Generations deluxe Warpath. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Generations deluxe Warpath here.)
For her "pre-Beast Machines"
form (according to the fiction, Machine Wars is where she and Obsidian
made their names well-known), Strika is a futuristic tank. Not quite the
six-wheeled armored vehicle that she had in the BM
show, but it shares enough similarities-- such as the two "side guns"
on the sides of the turret, and four sets of treads-- that I can see her
taking this form. She also has some features in robot mode that match her
BM form fairly well, such as a fairly bulky form, broad chest and-- in
place of her wheel-feet-- tread-feet that you can easily see her "skating"
on, which is basically the tank equivalent. The only thing I think really
doesn't fit her is the turret barrel in the middle of her chest, but the
mold wasn't made for her, so the fact that it's got this much in common
is pretty impressive already. Her main color scheme is mostly show-accurate,
but with more purple (which is itself a bit more vibrant than the pale
purple used on her show form). She also has considerably less of the grayish
blue on her form-- it's on her head, upper arms and legs, and side guns,
and that's it-- but I don't mind, as the purple to me looks a fair bit
better. (That said, the grayish blue and purple both complement and contrast
each other quite well.) Her secondary color is the same orangish yellow
that marked the Vehicon Generals on the BM show, and it contrasts quite
well with her purple, too-- I always thought purple and orange looked very
well together, and this is only a step below that. As you would expect
from a premium-priced BotCon toy, she also has plenty of paint apps-- from
several of the orange paint apps that help break up all her purple, she
also has some silver on her knees and tank turret/chest, with the latter
being stripes to match her appearance there on the BM show. Her entire
treads are also painted black, as well as the front armor panels-- not
a small amount of paint, there. She also has some metallic silvery blue
paint on her abs and shoulders, which is sort of the "metallic paint version"
of her grayish blue plastic, and again, it looks quite good. The details
on her abs that match her show appearance fairly well, given the mold detailing.
To emphasize she's still part of the Autobots at this point in her history,
she has Autobot symbols on the sides of her front treads with a white lightning
bolt through them, likely to indicate she's part of an "elite" force.
Strika has a new headsculpt,
and it is SPOT ON to her Beast Machines show head. It's the usual bluish-gray,
with a no-nonsense look on her face, red eyes, a black painted gas mask-like
mouth, two little dongles and purple stripes on the side of said mouth,
and a yellow-painted crest halfway back on her head. NO complaints here.
Botcon 2013 Strika is
a great color scheme applied to a mold that generally suits her very well,
with some details reminding me of her BM form that I never would have put
together if you had just told me she had been a Warpath redeco with a new
headsculpt (and what a headsculpt it is!). Judging just on the merits of
the toy, I'd have put her right up with Obsidian as my personal favorite
Botcon 2013 exclusive-- but she's only a deluxe. I realize this isn't something
FunPub can do anything about, but Strika was HUGE in the show, and to have
her be an average-sized Transformer-- especially when Obsidian is a voyager
now-- just doesn't feel right. Suitability of molds aside, she should at
least have been voyager-sized, if not leader-sized. As such, because of
that she falls down a few slots when with her fellow 2013 exclusives, but
she's still a very well-done toy.
Review by Beastbot