Rav
(DotM) [Online/Secondary Retailer 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 the Classics Swoop toy. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the Classics Swoop toy here.)
Like his other fellow
Dinobot Mini-Cons in this little exclusive assortment, Rav is a light homage
to a G1 Dinobot-- namely, the pterodactyl Swoop. His light gray and dull
brown color scheme is a bit of a hearkening back to G1 Swoop's gray-and-gold--
though the dull brown doesn't look nearly as eye-catching as an actual
metallic gold would have. What makes this color scheme pop a bit more aren't
the main colors, but rather, the accents. The bit of dark blue used for
Rav's robot chest and both sets of his eyes is a rather striking shade
of the color, and goes very well with the gray and brown. The light red
on his pterodactyl crest also looks decent enough, and the white on his
robot arms/pterodactyl wings gives his color scheme a much-needed light
color. Unfortunately, all of the focus is on his paint apps on the TOP
of his beast mode-- on the underside, it's entirely gray and brown. This
means that his robot mode-- where a bit more of that "underside" is exposed--
is a bit duller than his beast mode from most angles, particularly his
legs, which are entirely brown.
No mold changes have
been made to DotM Rav, but this mold seems to be on its last legs. One
of the ball joints on mine fell right out of its slot until I applied a
bit of polish to it, and its Minicon port is warped enough on mine where
it doesn't work. This could be an isolated problem, but keep an eye out
for mold degradation on this one.
DotM Rav is a nice little
homage to G1 Swoop, finally releasing this dinosaur mold in Dinobot-ish
colors, and a few of the minor colors-- like his dark blue and white--
work quite well with his main colors. However, as a direct "update" to
Swoop it falls significantly short, being a pretty weak mold overall with
signs of degradation on this release. Thus, I'd only recommend this for
Dinobot and/or Mini-Con completists; I don't think the colors quite match
up to Universe 2.0 Windrazor.
Review by Beastbot
*This toy was also released with Age of Extinction Generations deluxe Strafe as part of a Toys "R" Us exclusive "Evolution of Strafe" 2-pack-- the name may have changed, but the toy release is exactly the same for that version as for this version.