Steeljaw's wolf-ish SUV
mode is replicated extremely well for his Legion class version, with all
of the proportions very spot-on. Nice treads on the tires, angular details
on the grill, an appropriately-sized spoiler and windows. I also love the
two little ridges on the roof of the SUV, as they remind one slightly of
wolf ears. The pale milky blue color is replicated pretty exactly on the
plastic used for this toy, as is the black on the angular windows and the
"nose-like" front grill. There's also some nice orange headlights and some
red lights on the back of the spoiler (as "taillights") and behind the
side doors. The hood is fairly sparse in its detailing, though, as is normal
for the RID2015 figures. There aren't any obvious robot mode extras in
this mode, though the back end is a bit lacking, with no real "middle area"
of said back end-- just the rear wheel/shoulders and a small bit of the
end of the tailpiece. Additionally, though normally I don't mind it, at
this small size having the Decepticon "scan" symbol right in the middle
of the right door is a bit of an eyesore; it doesn't fit with Steeljaw's
otherwise angular look. There's also two little holes in the roof to store
Cyberverse-scaled weapons, but Steeljaw sadly comes with no weapons himself.
To transform Steeljaw,
you basically just unfold the vehicle mode from the bottom-- the legs are
formed from the car sides, the legs from the SUV front, etc. In a nice
surprise for such a small figure, there is a small fold-down tailpiece
that goes behind his lower back and is mostly proportional as well, though
it could stand to be a LITTLE thicker width-wise. Some parts of this mode
do suffer from having parts of the SUV mode hanging off of them-- the arms
in particular, which have overly large shoulders, and really 2-D, skinny
areas in the middle. The hands can hold Cyberverse-scaled weapons, though.
The legs are a bit overly bulky on the back end because of the front hood
hanging off them, but from the front they're not too bad, being largely
proportional. The head and chest are well-detailed and proportioned, with
some good paint detailing as well-- beyond the yellow on the eyes and black
on the "window" on the chest, there's some pale chalky white used for the
abs, face of the wolf head, and middle of the arms, to bring a bit more
"light" into the color scheme. All of that said, the roof and spoiler stick
out behind the main body and head VERY obviously. Because there's no extending
of the vehicle mode or folding out for the transformation, Steeljaw is
pretty darned short, even for a Legion class figure. Normally that wouldn't
be a huge deal, but for the leader of the Decepticons in this series it's
a little underwhelming. For articulation, Steeljaw can move at the shoulders
(at two points), hips, slightly at the knees, and slightly forwards at
the feet-- this seems slightly more than is usual for a Legion-class toy
from the description, but all the interfering kibble limits it quite a
bit, particularly on the legs.
Steeljaw is an okay
Legion figure, though his vehicle mode is much more solid than his robot
mode. In the latter mode his arms are very oddly-proportioned, and in general
he's got a lot of vehicle kibble that hinders his articulation and overall
looks some (plus he's short even for this size class). Mildly recommended
if you're fan of the character and/or the size class, but otherwise there's
better toys of him out there.
Review by Beastbot