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Star Wars Transformers Commander Cody Clone Turbo Tank

December 14th, 2009 3 comments

I usually don’t buy Star Wars Transformers. I’m both a Star Wars fan and a TransFan, so you might think I would be all over these. I don’t have anything against this crossover. It’s just that, in Star Wars, vehicles don’t transform, and in Transformers, no characters transform into Star Wars vehicles. These reasons made it easy for me to ignore this line. Back in 06 I bought some SW TFs, never opened them, put them in storage, and then kinda forgot about them.

However, there are many figures released in this line, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down. They must be selling pretty well if Hasbro keeps making them. And if they’re selling they can’t be all bad. Moreover, TF customizers have made some pretty good creations with Star Wars TFs. Long time ago I came across an image of a customized Cybertron version Optimus Prime on Seibertron.com. It looked really good and the mold chosen was very fitting of how Prime would look on Cybertron. That Optimus was made using the Commander Cody Clone Turbo Tank figure from the SW line of TFs. It was painted to match Prime’s colors (red body, blue legs) with a customized head mold of Prime. I could totally picture Prime’s Cybertron alt mode as something similar to the Turbo Tank from SW. Unfortunately I can’t find that post anymore, but in the process of googling for it, I came across this equally good cutomized Ultra Magnus, also using the same mold.

And so, I had to get this figure to check it out for myself. This is an awesome figure! I did not expect SW TFs to be of such high quality and I am thoroughly impressed with Commander Cody. Let’s get on with the review.

Front of the package.

Back of the package.

I bought him for $16.95 at Walmart. I think it’s a little pricey, considering that Voyager sized figures only cost a little more (sometimes less) and they are bigger. Maybe Hasbro has to pay licensing fees to George Lucas.


Here is the alt mode. The turbo tank is really solid. It rolls well on a flat surface, and all the parts and pieces come together nicely. In fact, you don’t realize how well everything fits together until you transform it back into this mode from the robot mode. The parts that become the legs, arms, waist, and back all have tabs and grooves to lock the components into place. The tank itself looks accurate to the movie incarnation, except for maybe the color. This figure is kind of a weird gray in alt mode, and I think in the movie the tank is closer to white. The antenna is attached to the back, and the gun to the front. The missile does shoot. To my surprise, that thing fires pretty far! Don’t let that small launcher fool you, this thing packs a punch, and I almost lost the missile twice already from testing the mechanism. The button is kinda small, but you get used to it.

 


As you can see from this shot, the middle wheel on each side can open up. On this side it is the compartment for a small pistol. On the other side it holds missiles (that don’t come out). A nice touch. And I apologize for the bad pic. My photography skills are next to non-existent and my camera is not exactly top of the line.

 

The figure also looks solid in robot mode. He is nicely proportioned and no parts look out of place. The colors in this mode more closely resembles the colors from the movies. I know it’s hard to tell from the pic, but the detail on the figure in bot mode is really nice. The lines on the body, arms, and legs resembles the clone trooper armor very closely. I especially like the head mold. This is exactly the look of the Clone Commander helmets. I like the wings too. It adds a little extra something to his appearance.

 

He’s got a decent level of articulation. The joints at the shoulders, elbows, waits, and knees all bend or rotate fairly well. The only thing is, he’s got a lot of “stuff” on him (wheels, armor, wings) so it can be hard to get him into a specific pose simply because there’s too much in the way. The missile weapon fits nicely into either hand. The antenna is removed from where it is in the alt mode and plugged behind the right shoulder. The connection is a little loose here, but that’s a minor gripe.

 

Check out the wheels on the shoulder. It can be extended out to reveal more missiles. Very cool. He’s also holding the pistol that was mentioned earlier. It’s kinda hard to put the pistol in his hand, but again that’s a minor gripe.

 

Fighting along side Obi-Wan. Go Commander Cody!

The final verdict on this figure is that he’s very, very highly recommended. If all SW TFs are this good, I would definitely buy more.

Maybe the Force be with all Star Wars Transformers. Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: Pics, Toy Reviews