Depthcharge
(Universe)
(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 Beast Wars Depth Charge. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Beast Wars Depth Charge here.)
Depthcharge's (apparently
his name is just one word now) color scheme, if taken as a WHOLE, is not
quite as fitting for an aquamarine animal as Beast Wars Depth Charge's
was. The blue, silver, and purple on the original seemed to go absolutely
beautifully with a manta ray and blend him in well with the ocean. Of course,
Universe is not at all known for its realistic color schemes, but rather
its surreal, outrageous- and yet astoundingly beautiful- schemes. Universe
Depthcharge is a perfect example of this. The off-white, red, and dark
green-blue would probably look prototypish and ugly on most Transformers,
but Depthcharge manages to pull it off. Why? His almost absurd amount of
paint apps. His wings are the most obvious, so let's start there. He already
has enough red, blue-green, and silver paint apps on there, but when you
add in the light orange highlights and the wonderful smoke-like "energon
radiation" patterns on his back fins- and on BOTH sides of them, I might
add- it simply becomes the highlight of the toy. It's hard to pry your
eyes away from it to look at the actual robot. Once you do, however, he
still looks nice. The tattoo-like pattern on Depthcharge's fish gun looks
almost like an oriental manuscript for some reason I can't quite put my
finger on, and there's a nice red paint deco pattern on his face as well.
In exchange, his arms don't have any paint apps on them at all, but by
this point you really don't care. Now, for a few minor complaints- first
off, the Autobot symbol in the middle of Depthcharge's forehead in beast
mode looks a bit dumb. Also, they never removed the Maximal symbols on
the backside of his fins, even though he's an Autobot now. And finally,
his chrome parts- rather than just being remolded into regular plastic
like the other Universe toys that were originally Transmetal/Transmetal
2 toys- are just painted over with black, and have chrome underneath. Normally
I wouldn't mind this, but if you aren't too careful, the black paint can
start to wear away over time, and having little bits of silver chrome show
up here and there looks ugly. I'm not sure why Hasbro did this, as it seems
a needless expense- the only thing I can come up with is that maybe it
has something to do with plastic tolerances.
Depthcharge has a few
minor mold changes- the tail of his shark gun can now be removed for some
reason I can't fathom, and the disks he fires out of his chest don't have
notches in them anymore, since the launcher itself has had its notches
removed. Other than that, he is the same mold-wise.
Depthcharge's color
scheme may not be as fitting as his predecessor's, but it certainly is
more eye-catching. Recommended if you like pretty colors- he makes a very
nice display piece, especially in beast mode.
Review by Beastbot