Overcast
(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 Energon Jetfire. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Energon Jetfire here.)
Overcast, overall, has
a color scheme that I think surpasses his predecessor's a little bit. It's
also a bit of a nod to Armada Powerlinx Jetfire,
as the same overall color scheme is used here, although in a slightly less
impressive manner. The various shades of blue, white, gray, and red go
together pretty nicely, though when comparing him to Jetfire, I can't help
but think that having white as a major color again is a tad redundant,
even if the other colors are completely different. Most of his paint apps
are also different, and there are more of them than on Jetfire, which is
always a plus. And his robot head actually has *gasp* the EYES painted
this time around-- they're under his visor, it turns out. His head still
looks odd, though, as given where the eyes are positioned, the visor seems
a bit low in comparison to them, and the forehead is too large. The overall
paint design behind his cockpit is still the same (albeit in different
colors), and I wish they'd have changed that, as it's one of the most noticeable
paint apps on the toy. What DOES irk me about the paint apps, though, is
that Overcast has some odd assymmetrical applications that definitely weren't
intended to be that way. First off, one of Overcast's vents in front of
his tailwing is silver; the other vent, right next to it, is bluish-white.
And, on the back of one of Overcast's lower arms, it has a nice silver
paint app with a few orange-red dots at the front; on the back of the other
arm, however, no such paint apps are there, it's just a blank white. And
finally, the gold Powerlinx symbol is nowhere to be found on Overcast.
At first, I thought that maybe these paint apps were just messed up on
the toy that I bought, but upon conversing with other Transfans, I found
out that this is the case on all of the Overcasts! I don't know who was
in charge if this major oversight, but it Hasbro really needs to crack
down on quality control if something like this could happen.
No mold changes have
been made to Overcast, though the missile launcher trigger on mine is not
NEARLY as touchy as it was on Jetfire, thank goodness.
Overcast's color scheme
is a step above Jetfire's, but his odd asymmetrical and/or missing paint
apps really bother me, especially since they're on practically every Overcast
released. If it wasn't for this, Overcast would have scored a few tenths
of a point higher. But as it is, considering that Jetfire is on such severe
discount now, you might just want to forgo Overcast and get Jetfire if
you want one of the mold anyways, since Overcast, as he is, is only slightly
better than Jetfire-- not nearly enough of an improvement to justify the
extra $10-15 when compared to the discounted Jetfire.
Review by Beastbot