Allegiances: Decepticon (Generation 2)
Set Price: $100 (U.S.)

(NOTE: Because this set is composed of repaints, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the set and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original versions of these molds. For a review on the mass-release Blackjack, go here. For a review on the mass-release Dead End-- the mold used for both Dead End and Brake-Neck-- go here. For a review on the mass-release Breakdown, go here. For a review on the mass-release Dragstrip, go here. For a review on the mass-release Motormaster, go here.)
 

Blackjack (G2)

Size: Legend
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Dark semi-metallic purple, moderately light flat teal, and some moderately light semi-metallic teal, black, silver, and red
Individual Rating: 9.5

    There was no G2 release of Blackjack, so this version is sort of "made up" based off of G2 Motormaster's colors, for the most part. His primary color is a really, REALLY nice shade of dark semi-metallic purple. The plastic isn't actually metallic, but there's a lot of glitter in it and it looks awesome. Plus, it's just a great Decepticon color. The main contrast color against this purple is a light milky teal plastic (with a slight variance of this color as paint being a little darker and semi-metallic-- it's not a huge difference, but noticeable). This is certainly a very "G2-y" color, and does an excellent job contrasting against the dark purple. There's also a fair amount of black on the figure, used not just on the car windows and wheels but also the robot kneecaps, on part of the upper arms, and on a few minor parts. It's an okay color, but unfortunately the purple around it is dark enough where it doesn't contrast enough, in my opinion-- I would've liked a little more of some other color like silver, which is only used on Blackjack's headlights and face. Speaking of the face, the red visor and silver faceplate work excellently against the teal head, and it all looks awesome.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Blackjack.
 

Brake-Neck (G2)

Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Leg: Very Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Arm: Easy
Color Scheme: Milky yellow, moderately dark blue, and some light milky brownish gray, black, silver, dark metallic purple, red, white, dull pumpkin orange, milky teal, and light red
Individual Rating: 9.0

    Brake-Neck-- aka Wildrider-- is, just like the exclusive "normal G1 deco" version, a redeco of the CW Dead End mold. He follows his cancelled G2 release color scheme quite closely, with his major colors here being yellow and a somewhat dark blue-- a far cry from his dark G1 scheme. Now, if you've been following my reviews for a while, you'll know I'm not generally a fan of the color yellow in large amounts, and G2 Brake-Neck does nothing here to change that. That said, although Brake-Neck has a pretty good amount of black on him to contrast against the yellow in the traditional "Bumblebee" manner, the moderately dark blue is a really nice, attractive shade of the color and looks better than the black against the yellow. This blue really makes the color scheme, if you ask me, particularly in robot mode where it's a bit more apparent with the hands and upper legs. The mold's tailpipe-beatdown weapon is merely painted blue over the yellow plastic, and unfortunately it scratches off somewhat easily, so be a bit careful with it. It's rather odd that only the front and side windows in car mode are blue, though, while the rear window is black. Speaking of the black, beyond the obvious tires and said rear window, in G2 style fashion they're on a nice triangle pattern on the front hood making a nice large G2 Decepticon symbol, and is also used to a good extent on Brake-Neck's head and chest. (The metallic purple face and red eyes on the head look downright eeevil, and really fitting for the character.) There's some light milky gray plastic as well, mostly visible in robot mode on the combiner connector port, knees, and waist-- not a major color, thankfully, because it's an ugly brownish shade as well. It just looks bad. Thankfully there's also a fair amount of silver, not just on the wheel hubs, but on the headlights, lower arms, and lower legs. (Sadly, there's no paint whatsoever on the back end of the car mode.) Aping his G2 toy, Brake-Neck also has a rather odd multi-colored bunch of paint apps on his vehicle mode roof, involving various blocks/stripes of white, light red, black, and blue. It's kinda weird, but adds some uniqueness to his scheme. Like the other limb-bots for G2 Menasor, Brake-Neck's hand/foot/gun is a nice shade of milky teal, which contrasts against his yellow pretty similiarly to his dark blue.
    Brake-Neck has the same headsculpt as his "G1 deco" version, but no mold changes have been made to him specifically for this version.
 

Breakdown (G2)

Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Leg: Very Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Arm: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Light sea foam green, moderately dark metallic purple, dark semi-metallic purple, and some silver, moderately dark blue, red, moderately light flat teal, metallic bronze, black, metallic black, and fuchsia
Individual Rating: 7.6

    Breakdown has the most "history" of the G2 redecoes here, with the original coming out in a limited capacity at BotCon 1994 and a "re-do" of that toy-- without the combining aspect-- done at BotCon 2010. I'm not sure if it's because of this or because G2 Breakdown's original color scheme was loud even by G2 standards, but this Combiner Wars version of G2 Breakdown has the most changes from the original, next to G2 Motormaster. Granted, it's still easily recognizable as G2 Breakdown-- the main color is an incredibly unrealistic light sea foam green (a bit paler than the sea foam green used on previous releases of this color scheme). However, the other main color has been changed from pink to a dark metallic purple. This frankly looks considerably better than the pink-- accurate to the source or not-- because not only does the purple contrast against the seafoam green more, but helps tie in Breakdown a bit more color-wise to Motormaster and Blackjack. The bronze from the original is kept, but only used on the car windows and not on any parts of the robot mode. (The bronze goes GREAT against the sea-foam green, by the by, and I like the black outlines around the bronze as well as the "94 RACING" bit on the window, which calls back to the BotCon in which the original was released.) In place of much of the bronze is a fair amount of silver, which is used mostly on the robot mode chest, with a lesser amount used on the wheel hubs and part of the sword. (The rest of his sword is a nice fuchsia color, which both contrasts against the seafoam green and complements the purple-- I wish it was used a tad more on the toy.) His robot face is also painted a nice accurate dark blue-- the same great color as that on Brake-Neck-- with some red eyes. The whole combo of that with the purple "helmet" on the head looks really darned awesome. In another G2 nod, Breakdown has an angular black paint app across much of his front hood, and though his G2 Decepticon symbol there is fairly large, it's not nearly as large proportionally as it should be, due to the mold detailing on the hood. There's also plenty of purple paint on the lower robot legs and bottom rims of the vehicle mode, but this comes at a cost; there are somewhat large spaces of the toy that are all seafoam green, like the back half of the vehicle mode and the robot arms. I really miss the silly "paint splatter"-esque paint app on the roof that was on the previous releases of G2 Breakdown; it really would've helped the vehicle mode a bit more. Oddly, Breakdown's hand/foot/gun accessory is a paler, flatter teal than that used for the rest of the team-- I guess because of the mold breakup, they had to paint most of it and just decided to make the rest of the plastic on the weapon a similar shade so it didn't stick out too much.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Breakdown.
 

Dead End (G2)

Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Leg: Very Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Arm: Easy
Color Scheme: Milky cherry red, black, and some silver, milky teal, light milky brownish gray, moderately dark blue, red, pale yellow, and white
Individual Rating: 9.6

    Dead End is colored like his G2 namesake in being a somewhat bright, cherry red, though its brightness has been dulled compared to the cancelled original release. It's a great main color, and the bit of "milkiness" to it makes it look slightly more like a car finish in vehicle mode (slightly). Dead End also has the same awesome color of dark blue that is used on a good amount of Brake-Neck/Wildrider, but not as much-- only on Dead End's tailpipe weapon, front bumper, head and part of the chest, and on bits of the lower legs. Still, it contrasts excellently with the red and looks fantastic. Same with the milky teal used for Dead End's hand/foot/gun weapon. Unfortunately, Dead End also has the same ugly light brownish gray plastic that Brake-Neck has, on his waist, knees, tailpipe, combiner connector, and a few other minor bits. Again, it's not a major color, but it's still an ugly one and a more "pure" gray or silver would've worked better here. Besides the cherry red, Dead End's other major color is black-- mostly visible in robot mode, which makes said mode look a bit more "grounded" than many of his fellow Stunticons. Needless to say, the black on the wheels, upper legs, lower arms, and shoulders contrasts quite well with the red. He also has a similar large black paint app on his front hood, with a large G2 Decepticon symbol in the middle of it, just like Brake-Neck. Dead End's wheel hubs and windows are silver, the latter of which doesn't quite pack the "punch" color-wise of Brake-Neck's blue windows, but still looks pretty good-- and hey, even the rear window is painted, that's a rarity! Although Dead End doesn't quite have all the "unique" paint apps that his canceled G2 toy did, he does have the white-to-yellow "flame lines" along the sides, which are a nice little detail and obviously contrast against the red nicely. There's even a little silver-painted "gas cap" near the back of one of these lines, with a little G2 Decepticon symbol on it-- that's a nice little extra. Dead End's blue head has a nice red visor and a yellow faceplate, but the yellow paint isn't quite thick/dark enough to completely "blot out" the blue under it-- it's a little "see-through", which is unfortunate since otherwise the color scheme looks pretty ace on his head.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Dead End.
 

Dragstrip (G2)

Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Leg: Very Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Arm: Easy
Color Scheme: Black, moderately dark blue, and some silver, orangish yellow, red, metallic black, dark purple, moderately light blue, and milky teal
Rating: 9.4

    Dragstrip is, again, an homage to the unreleased G2 Stunticon toy. Dragstrip is definitely the odd 'Con out of the bunch, though; he actually has a fairly dark, realistic color scheme. He's mostly black, with a good amount of that nice moderately dark blue that's on Brake-Neck and Dead End. Although both colors contrast against each other very well, the dark blue doesn't look quite as nice of a shade on the black, for some reason. I'm honestly not sure why. There is some nice metallic black used on the backside of Dragstrip's lower legs-- for some reason those parts seem to always be painted on this mold, and I love the metallic black, but man... that makes me wish all his black had been that nice shade. For a light color, Dragstrip still has a bit of his G1 orangish-yellow, though it's used sparingly-- just on the combiner port and on the drivers' seat area in vehicle mode. It's not my favorite color in the world by any means, but again, it gives him at least a little "light". I would've preferred the gold on the cancelled G2 toy in its place, though. There's also a fair amount of silver paint-- on the bars connecting to the front wheels in vehicle mode, as well as on the wheel hubs, elbows, the bar details near the back end of the vehicle mode, and on the face. (The combination of a blue head, silver face, and red eye strip look really darned cool on an already amazing headsculpt.) Sadly, because of either paint budget or space limitations, the more "G2-y" unique paint apps on the original cancelled toy are minimal on this CW version. The light-blue-and-dark-purple checkered pattern is present on the spoiler, but it's such a ridiculously tiny spoiler in the first place that this doesn't amount to much. The blue paint splash/flame paint apps on the front and sides of the original are completely absent, being replaced with more straightforward blue paint apps. Like most of the other deluxe Stunticons in this set, Dragstrip's weapons are a nice milky teal, which contrasts against the darker colors as well as complements the darker blue-- it's quite a nice accent shade.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Dragstrip.
 

Motormaster (G2)

Size: Voyager
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Medium
Difficulty of Transformation to Torso: Easy
Color Scheme: Moderately dark metallic purple, moderately dark blue, and some black, silver, moderately dark metallic blue, moderately light blue, and red
Individual Rating: 8.2

    Motormaster has the most changes compared to his original cancelled G2 toy, mostly because the original toy had a trailer attached to it. The cancelled G2 Motormaster toy had a LOT of bright blue plastic, as well as a pretty good amount of seafoam green as well. The seafoam green has been completely removed from this "Combiner Wars" version of the color scheme, and the blue has been darkened a fair amount to the point where it's the same moderately dark blue as that on Brake-Neck and Dead End. What IS carried over pretty much unchanged is the dark purple, which is pretty much on the exact same areas in the truck mode as they are on the cancelled G2 toy. There's also a bit of black, mostly used on the wheels but also the robot hips, to get a bit more "dark" in there. As a whole, the purple and dark blue color scheme looks pretty darned good, given that both are excellent shades of each color. As already mentioned in my reviews of the other G2 Stunticons, the purple is a really nice metallic shade, and the blue is an attractive shade as well. Plus, blue and purple go together pretty well too, which is always good. There is a bit of the same light blue used on the original G2 toy, but it's been relegated to the windows and headlights of the vehicle mode-- which is fine by me, it makes an excellent accent color and both contrasts and complements the purple and darker blue in particular. (That said, as with the other versions of this mold, the odd "breakup" of the paint apps on the side windows looks really weird.) There's also a fair amount of silver, which serves as an excellent neutral color on the front grill, faces, torso mode abs, and sword in particular. Finally, in a move that is completely new to this version and wasn't on the G2 toy at all, Motormaster also has red as an accent color, used not just on the stripes on the sides of the vehicle mode, but on various small areas of the robot mode to boot and on the combiner face eyes, which looks great.. It contrasts excellently against the blue and purple, and helps add a bit of a "warm" color to the whole thing. Really, the whole package together just looks amazing if you're at all into G2 color schemes-- it's loud, but it's still great. Motormaster has my favorite color scheme of this set.
    No obvious mold changes have been made to this version of Motormaster, but the "uneven hips" problem the first releases of this mold and CW Optimus Prime had have been fixed, thankfully.
 

Menasor (G2) (Combined Form)

Individual Rating: 8.4

    All combined together, Menasor looks like he's mostly formed from Starburst candy. Blue, teal, yellow, cherry red, grapey purple, seafoam green... they totally don't go together, and it's a very loud color scheme, there's no doubt about it. Most combiners have appendages that don't really "match" their torsos and are very obviously five (or six) robots combined together-- and again, Menasor is no exception here. Dragstrip, as already mentioned, also looks a little out-of-place, given how dark his general scheme is compared to the rest of the set. However, that said, the teal on the hands, feet, and chest, as well as the dark blue on everyone except Breakdown (who has seafoam green, which is sorta kinda in the same general area of the color wheel)-- it all does tie together the various color schemes a bit into a cohesive whole, giving the team a bit of "theme" despite how different they all are, which I appreciate. Still, this certainly isn't a piece for everyone, and the Motormaster mold is definitely the weakest Combiner Wars torso mold.

    The "Generation 2" color scheme for Menasor is just "Starburst-juicy", and is pretty much one of THE prime examples of the G2 loudness and fruitiness of many of the toys of the early '90s. Quite frankly, you're either into it or you're not-- I love it, and as far as colors go this is my personal favorite of the Combiner Wars boxsets overall. However, your mileage may certainly vary, and I do wish Hasbro would cool it with using two of the same mold with different heads for two different characters on the same combiner. This set was also over-produced in proportion to demand, it seems, and you can usually get this set for cheaper than buying the mass-release versions separately. Thus, if you're on the fence about which version to get, I'd get this boxset-- but if these very unrealistic, fairly loud colors put you off, well there's your clue right there to get the original versions instead.

Reviews by Beastbot

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