Strongarm
Vehicle mode is a jeep.
This mode is very nice, with absolutely no robot extras whatsoever. Well,
if you look really hard, you can see the back of Strongarm's head at the
rear of the vehicle mode, but this is pretty well-covered-up by the wheel
on the back of it and the surrounding vehicle parts. The color scheme works
very nice together, and is very fitting for a jeep- the mustard yellow
and tan give Strongarm a "hardy" feel, while the metallic blue and silver
make him look shiny and robotic at the same time. Of course, just like
all the Omnicons, Strongarm has a good deal of transparent red on him.
In this case, it not only makes up the components of his Energon weapon
and his Energon chip, but also the jeep windows too, and it works somewhat
nicely for them. I would have preferred just clear plastic or transparent
blue, but I understand that it would have been a bit more expensive to
add yet another color to Strongarm's already-impressive color palette,
so I understand why it wasn't done. The jeep itself has quite nice proportions,
with large wheels and bulky rear. It's also somewhat realistic for an Energon
toy, although it still retains a "futuristic" look to it on certain parts.
Excellent paint and mold detailing all around on Strongarm, so no problems
there. He also has a gun in this mode, attached to his right top side,
that can move up and down, back and forth, and pretty much any position
you want to put it in. Very cool. It also has Minicon ports on both sides
of the upper portion of it, in case you want to attach it to a larger Transformer.
Strongarm's Autobot spark crystal is on the top side of the rear of this
mode.
Strongarm's robot mode
isn't quite as good as his vehicle mode, but it's still pretty nice. His
excellent colors and detailing carry over into this mode, for one thing.
He's also got great articulation for such a small toy- he can move at the
shoulders (at two points), elbows, head, waist, hips (only forwards, not
backwards, unfortunately), the knees, and the feet. Pretty much anything
you can reasonably ask for, he's got, except the aforementioned backward
hip articulation, which is restricted because of the seats from his vehicle
mode. It's a bit annoying, but his otherwise great articulation almost
makes up for it. I also love the "skirt" thing Strongarm has going on,
as well as his big, broad shoulders. His head is rather plain- no headcrests
or anything- but this suits his "I'm just a workerbot" personality just
fine. I think it's absolutely ingenious, though, how the gun and wheel
halves from his vehicle mode form his axe in robot mode. I never would've
thought of something like that, myself. For a guy who's name is Strongarm,
though, his arms are remarkably puny. They wouldn't be so bad if his upper
half wasn't as beefy as it is, but as they are he can't reach very far
past his chest. His feet, which are the windows of his jeep mode, also
look a little goofy.
Strongarm is a great
Omnicon, and worth adding to any Energon fan's collection. He has a few
minor problems in robot mode- such as the flat feet and restricted hip
articulation- but these are easily overshadowed by all his other great
features.
Review by Beastbot