August of 2015 continues with Combiner Wars. Both figs this month come from CW, though neither one realistically combines. More on that later.

• Combiner Wars Rodimus, Target, $9.78

• Combiner Wars Thundercracker, amazon.com, $40.58

CW legend class Rodimus is a repaint of Blackjack, with your classic Hot Rod color scheme and a new head mold. Technically he does combine to be the chest plate, when Optimus or Motormaster is used as the body component. But this feature feels tacked-on like an afterthought or gimmick. I mentioned before that Blackjack has got some poorly fitted connection ports when trying to be attached as the chest plate, and Rodimus shares this same problem. Shame to see that Hasbro did not fix this. The weapon/wing accessory has a right place when Rodimus is in alt mode or chest plate mode. But in robot mode he can only hold the weapon, and not have them attached to his back as wings to have that classic Hot Rod look. For Blackjack this is a non-issue, but I expected more for Rodimus. I can only recommend this figure if you’re a completist or if you are dying of TF thirst. Pass otherwise.

This is the 2nd Thundercracker to be released in the CW line. The first one was a legend size figure. This figure is Leader class, and he is a minor rework of the awesome Jetfire from Generations Thrilling 30. I like this figure. He feels different enough from Jetfire to warrant a re-release of this mold. In addition to the different color scheme and head mold, Thundercracker has a different chest mold, different shoulder molds, and differently styled wings that resemble more like an F-15. He also has extra twin guns for the wings, instead of the the Jetfire thrusters pack. I love the sleek blue jet that is Thundercracker in alt mode. The one knock against this figure is the size. At Leader class, Thundercracker is the same size as Ultra Magnus, Megatron, and Jetfire, and that is just is too big to scale well with the rest of your CHUG lineup. A Voyager class Seeker mold would work better here, such as Cyber Battalion Starscream.

August was a light month in terms of TFs. More will come soon… Transform and Roll Out.