Allegiances: Decepticon
Set Price: ~$25 (U.S.)

Megatronus (Prime Wars)

Size: Prime Master
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Black, transparent red, gray, and some moderately light red
Individual Rating: 3.7

(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 the original PotP Megatronus. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original PotP Megatronus/Bomb Burst set here.)

    Megatronus' release without a Pretender shell to call his own has the "core" portion of the toy set in a transparent red plastic-- which works very well not just to emphasize the eeevilness of the guy, but also makes more sense as a energy "core" for toys than the gray plastic on the original. The Megatronus symbol in the middle of the core mode is a slightly lighter shade of solid red paint on this transparent red plastic, with some black outlining it to make the actual symbol more obvious. I would've preferred the Megatronus symbol a more obviously different shade of color than the transparent red plastic, but it still works pretty well for the character. Megatronus' colors in robot mode are mostly black and gray-- black on the lower legs, body, and painted on the robot face, and gray on the upper legs, the rest of the robot head, and painted on the outside of the arms (the inside of the arms are unpainted transparent red plastic, along with the knees). The gray and black go together okay enough, but by themselves they're rather dull, boring colors. The bit of transparent red shining through does help give this mode some much-needed color, even if I dislike that they didn't paint the entire arms the same color. Still, even ignoring the red, the breaking up of the gray and black on the body and legs-- and the usage of more than one paint app on the head-- makes the robot mode look more visually appealing here than on the original version.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Megatronus compared to the mass retail one-- beyond the obvious removal of the Pretender shell accessory, of course.
 

Blast Off

Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Leg: Very Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Arm: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Dark dull olive brown, black, moderately dark purple, and some light milky gray, silver, yellow, lavender, red, dark blue, and flat dark purple
Rating: 8.7

    Not satisfied with the original Combiner Wars Blast Off being a jet repaint? Well, it's a few years late, but Hasbro finally got around to giving the space shuttle Combaticon his own mold! Huzzah! In space shuttle mode, Blast Off gives off a slightly futuristic vibe, with the way the cockpit area doesn't look like shuttles today-- the windows are much more angular, and the nosecone as a whole isn't as long as you'd expect. The wings could also stand to be a bit bigger, as well, and the thruster parts poke out from behind the back end a bit more than they would on the real thing. Still, we're talking about a space shuttle that combines with military vehicles here; it doesn't concern me as much as it would if Combiner Wars were a more realistic line. The biggest issue I have with this mode is the very obvious robot arms just hanging out there on the sides, without any real attempt to hide them-- yeah the fists are turned downwards, but you can still see the "back end" of them plainly, complete with two fist-sized holes on the topside of each lower arm! The end of the arms ends in small additional thrusters, which adds slightly to the more futuristic take, but I still really wish there was SOME way they could have integrated those arms into the space shuttle body better. For mold detailing, this toy has it pretty good, with armor paneling and aerodynamic lines all over the place, almost from front-to-back; the only exception are the top of the rocket pieces, which only have a few basic details on them. However, this is pretty forgiveable, since those pieces become the bottom of the robot feet. The hand/foot/gun piece that comes with Blast Off (and that comes with all Combiner Wars deluxes) has some unique detailing on the top/wrist side as well, with some large bolt-like details near the back, and dual wide blasters that narrow to smaller nozzles. (Blast Off also comes with another, smaller, gun accessory that ingeniously stores underneath the cockpit in this mode, with a little bump to make it look like a landing gear wheel.) For colors, of course Blast Off stays with his G1 colors, so he's mostly a dark olive-y brown, with some black on the wings and the underside of the nosecone. There's also some black paint on the top of the tailfin, the small faux thrusters on the arms, the real thrusters on the back end, and on three oval details on the mid-point of the nosecone. Some fairly dark purple is also used, mostly visible in this mode on silver-bordered stripes on the wings to break up all the black paint, but also on the Decepticon symbols on the wings, tailfin, and top of the nosecone (Blast Off is REALLY proud to be a Decepticon, yeesh!), though the one on the nosecone is not bordered by silver, which makes it hard to make out against the olive green. There's also a titch of lavender used on the cockpit, which contrasts VERY well against the olive green-- I wish this shade was used more on the toy, it's a really superb accent color. The hand/foot/gun weapon is light milky gray on the actual hand portions, with the weapon top/"wrist" painted silver. The main "plug" for the hand/foot/gun in this mode is smack dab in the center of the top of this mode-- it doesn't integrate with the shuttle all that well, but these accessories rarely do. There's also two similarly-sized ports on the back end of each lower arm, as mentioned before, and ports on the inside of the engine exhaust bits, which is a nice surprise.
    Blast Off's transformation is straightforward, though perhaps a titch more complex than most CW deluxes. First, fold back the nosecone onto his upper back, and then fold in the upper portion of the nosecone into the lower; then, fold out the arms from the sides and up to form, obviously, the robot arms. Next, fold up the exhaust port pieces and the wings back, then separate that whole rear section and rotate both halves down to become the feet. Finally, in a completely unnecessary step but one that is nonetheless appreciated, the tailfin halves can rotate further into the back of each leg so they're not just poking out from the more visible inside portion of each leg. The end result is fairly G1-accurate, but with considerably more detail, of course-- plus, no more chubby arms made out of halves of the space shuttle anymore, even though we pay for that in vehicle mode. The usage of the exhaust ports for the feet looks pretty neat, and the size of them helps keep Blast Off nice 'n stable in this mode. The wings do stick out a bit from behind the legs, but for an aerial Combiner Wars toy it's to be expected, and they aren't particularly cumbersome eyesores, so I find them to be only minor downsides. The upper legs are bit small compared to those large lower legs, but it's still a minor issue, given the transformation. The arms are, of course, pretty perfectly proportional, with some nice lavender stripes on the lower arms and peg holes at the end of the faux exhaust ports on the wrists, allowing Blast Off to form a "big fist" with his hand/foot/gun accessory in a manner akin to Rook, if you don't want him to hold it like a traditional weapon. The headsculpt is spot-on, with a large forehead vent and smaller squared antennae on the sides of his head, and with large lavender eyes and a black faceplate. The chest is fairly flat detail-wise (though there's some nice angular details around the waist), making the only large section of this mode that isn't revealed in vehicle mode a bit of disappointment in that respect-- at least mold-wise. The paint apps on the chest pegs are really nice and ape the G1 sticker details quite well, having a black "base" with some blue "circuitry" details amidst some yellow and red button-like details. Oddly, the purple plastic used for the chest-- which helps break up the olive brown immensely in this mode, by the way-- is of a slightly brighter shade than that used for the combiner port in the middle, but only just. It's not a huge issue. In a nifty twist, if you don't like the flat design for Blast Off's chest, you can rotate his torso around (and his limbs appropriately) and use his back for the chest if you want to, giving him a bit more mass up there, with the broad folded-up nosecone making for a nice alternate torso configuration in the front (though this means the purple isn't nearly as evident in this mode). Blast Off's articulation is stellar in this mode-- he can move at the head, shoulders (at three points), elbows, rotation at the waist, and movement at the hips (at two points), knees, and ankle tilts. Given how well-balanced he is, this means he can get into a ton of great poses.

    As with most Combiner Wars toys, Blast Off's arm mode is his robot mode, but with a few changes. The shuttle-cockpit backpack has been extended out and up a little to make for a nice bit of "shoulder armor", while the robot head is folded back inside and the combiner port in the chest is folded out. The two halves of the tailfin are rotated around, and then both legs are pegged together, with the gun accessory plugged into the bottom to become the hand. Finally, the robot arms are rotated down a bit at the shoulders and folded backwards to... kinda hang off the sides of the shoulder of this arm mode. The robot arms really don't have anywhere to go, and even worse, they don't even peg together anywhere; good thing the joints are nice 'n stiff, otherwise these things could get in the way. As is, they're mostly just eyesores. The bottom folded-up back half of the shuttle/robot legs makes for a a great, solid lower arm, and the blasters form a nice "wrist gun" for the combiner mode hand. The shuttle cockpit, as mentioned, forms a nice little extra mass for the shoulder and helps accentuate the mode with some more lavender color from the cockpit. Otherwise the moving of the purple to the inside of the shoulder makes this mode more one-tone, being mostly olive brown with a bit of black and silver (which works better as a combiner arm than as a stand-alone figure). As with basically every Combiner Wars arm mode, in this mode Blast Off can move at the shoulder (at two points), elbow (at two or three points, depending on whether the robot knees are facing forward or not), wrist rotation, and at the thumb (at two points) and the base of his four fingers (all moving as one joint).
    Blast Off's leg mode is mostly based off of his space shuttle mode, but with the cockpit section folded back into its robot mode "upper back" position, the combiner port rotated up, and then the wings and exhaust port pieces folded down (in respect to the top of the shuttle mode) while the weapon accessory is plugged into the back end to become the foot. Just like with the arm mode, the shuttle cockpit serves as a nice "kneecap cover" for this mode, and the solidified color scheme of mostly the olive brown with some black works well for a combiner limb. The overall look of the limb from the front is a pretty solid rectangle, and makes for pretty good leg proportions; however, it is a bit odd to have the wings actually folded BACK for an aerial vehicle leg compared to forward. This-- combined with the folded-back thrusters-- does help to make Blast Off a bit more balanced mass-wise when looked at from the side, however, so that the heel from the foot isn't jutting so far back. As with just about every Combiner Wars leg mode, Blast Off can move at the knee joint at two points in this mode, and he can rotate at the ankle.

    The Prime Wars Trilogy "look-back" version of Combiner Wars Blast Off is a great update to the G1 design, even if some elements of the space shuttle mode-- most notably the very obvious robot arms, as well some proportional issues with the body-- aren't stellar. The robot mode is fantastic, though, and I love the option for two alternate chests. His appendage modes are also generally solid (minus the obvious individual robot arms in arm mode). I think the mold itself is also a SLIGHT upgrade from the original jet mold used for him in Combiner Wars purely in terms of design, but of course it fits the character oodles better and thus I'd recommend it more regardless. Clear red Megatronus is a nice little bonus I guess, and does look better than the mass release, but is generally easily forgotten in this 2-pack.
 

Reviews by Beastbot

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