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Warbotron Turbo Ejector Quick Review

April 25th, 2018 Comments off

We have to talk about Turbo Ejector. This figure is Warbotron’s interpretation of Technobot Afterburner in MP scale. And I’ll get straight to it: I really like this figure. I have heard of high praises for Turbo Ejector for some time before this purchase. In fact, I tried to buy it in 2016. Saw a eBay listing at a good price, but too many eBay scammers in recent years made me hesitant. So when I saw him on sale at $79.99, I quickly got one (MSRP is $95.99). And that was a smart decision.

Before we look at the figure, let’s take a peek at the box. Even the box is high quality. Construction of the box is one of the sturdiest I have seen, made of high quality cardboard all around.

Box open flap. Nice artwork on the inside flap.

Tab on the side of the box for easy pull out.

In the packaging.

Turbo Ejector is about the same size as the other Warbotron Combaticon limb figures. He actually weighs quite a bit for a figure of this size. I don’t detect any diecast. For him to weigh this much, the fig has got to be made with some high quality plastic.

Back view.

Alternate back configuration for the G1 purists.

All armored up.

I’m ready for my closeup. Great face sculpt.

Ready for some serious action. Check out the awesome light-piping.

Construction of the figure is super solid. Warbotron figure are usually plagued with tolerance issues, but I detect no such problems on my Turbo Ejector. Everything fits snugly where they need to be. Joints are just tight enough to hold some good poses, but not so tight that transformation becomes frustrating.

Speaking of transformation, Turbo Ejector follows the same overall motif as G1 Afterburner. It’s good to see that Warbotron did not stray very far from the character’s G1 roots and implemented a modern transformation that is true to the original toy. Turbo Ejector’s transformation difficulty is somewhere between easy and average. I like that, actually. This is a figure you can just pick up and play.

I love this alt mode. Afterburner is my favorite Technobot, and part of that is because of his awesome motorcycle alt mode. It looks like a futuristic bike, like those Tron bikes.

Alt mode with weapons attached.

Alt mode with weapons attached more G1 style.

Back view of the bike.

Turbo Ejector forms the right arm of Computicon (Computron). I didn’t try this, since I don’t have the rest of the guys. And on that point, I did hear that Turbo Ejector is the best fig in the group. That makes me hesitant to get the rest. But who knows… if I’m lucky enough to find his cohorts for cheap, I will.

I cannot recommend Turbo Ejector enough. He is far superior to Quantron’s Overheat. Again, Afterburner is my favorite Technobot. I’m happy there is a high quality MP scale figure made of him. Transform and Roll Out!

 

Categories: Pics, Toy Reviews

Titans Return Sky Shadow Quick Review

April 22nd, 2018 Comments off

Titans Return Sky Shadow was acquired about a year ago. I only have one other Sky Shadow, which is a repaint of Generations Thunderwing. TR Sky Shadow is also a repaint. Actually, he’s what I call a “prepaint”. I should officially coin this term before someone else does. What this means is that the mold used is meant for a more famous character, but HasTak is releasing a different character first using this new mold. This way, hardcore buyers would first get this character because the mold is new, and then buy it again when the more famous character is released later. I ranted about this so many times now I’m repeating myself, so I’ll stop. I hate the practice of prepainting, but I fall for it every time.

Sky Shadow is a prepaint of Overlord, who would be released towards the end of 2017. It’s super obvious once you see the alt mode. To be fair, Sky Shadow is not a bad figure. I have Overlord too, so I know they made enough mold differences between the two figures that buying Sky Shadow is a bit more justified. Sky Shadow reminds me of G1 figures from Season 4: he’s big and blocky, easy to transform, and full of gimmicks. Sky Shadow is a Headmaster, Triple-Changer, and Duocon, all rolled into one.

The figure is packed in bot mode. I like his overall colors of black and red, and the paint job is nice for a mass retail store proudct. As a leader class fig, his size is impressive. For such a blocky figure, his articulation is actually not half bad. He is a Headmaster, and Ominus (the Titan Master) is attached has the head in all the bot mode pics below. Other than the Titan Master, he comes with 2 accessories, a gun and a jet nosecone piece. In bot mode, the jet nosecone can function as a shield.

Sky Shadow has a base mode. In this mode, he can supposedly connect with other base figures in the Titans Return line, such as Fortress Maximus. I didn’t try this. Before doing this transformation, I thought this mode would be a half-assed fan mode. But then I tried it and it’s actually quite nice. The Titan Master is featured in the pic below. There are plenty of Titan Master ports on the surface of the base mode for other Titan Masters to stand on.

As a Triple-Changer, Sky Shadow has one more mode. Or maybe I should say modes, because he splits into a jet and a tank. That’s right, Sky Shadow is also a Duocon! Well, maybe he was never officially classified as such, but that’s essentially what was a Duocon is in G1 (a robot that splits into 2 alternate modes). Check the pics below. The Titan Master can fit inside either the tank or the jet.

And like I said already, he’s quite easy to transform. Very easy to just pick up and play. Easy to handle too, since he’s so large. At first he seemed a bit too gimmicky, but the way in which all these gimmicks are implemented is well done. I highly recommend this figure based on the fun factor alone.

And now I just realized that both of my Sky Shadow figures got quick reviews. What are the chances of that? This was not deliberate… another weird trend fated by the TF powers that be.

Transform and Roll Out.

 

Categories: Pics, Toy Reviews

MakeToys Quantron Pictorial Review

April 6th, 2018 Comments off

MakeToys Quantron is a third party homage to my favorite Autobot combiner team, the Technobots. I got this set back in October of 2014. A quick search for them on this blog revealed that… gasp!… I never mentioned them again since that post! That’s a crime. So here they are getting their 15 minutes.

Packaging and Manuals

Alt Modes

Robot Modes

Combined Mode

I’m going to quickly list out some things I like about this set, and some things that I don’t.

Pros

  • Metalstorm (Scattershot) is a great fig. I thoroughly enjoy this fig, in both robot and alt modes
  • Materials used for every figure in the set is quite good. High quality plastic all around.
  • Quantron (Computron) combined is impressive.
  • There are plenty of detail on each fig. No plain or simple looking figures here.
  • Relatively G1 accurate, though that’s debatable.
  • Plenty of accessories to satisfy even the most demanding accessory fiend.

Cons

  • My biggest gripe: Overheat (Afterburner) has to be the left arm, and Blindfire (Strafe) has to be the right arm. WHAT?! That’s reversed! MakeToys, why?!!!
  • Combining into Quantron is more work than fun. So much to assemble – it feels like putting together LEGOs and not transforming.
  • Too small for today’s standards, even for CHUG scale. The only one that’s ok is Metalstorm, the rest too small.
  • Transforming each figure is more difficult than it should be, mostly because they’re so small.
  • SonicDrill (Nosecone) is a horrible fig – poor construction and poor design. A very unstable fig that doesn’t work well in either robot or alt mode.

This set was ok, but it was far from perfect. I no longer own Quantron; I sold the set some time ago. Most 3P TF retailers are now clearing out this set for around $200 to $250.

The only other 3P Technobot set that is available at this time is Warbotron Computicon. I have one figure in this set: Turbo Ejector (Afterburner). Turbo Ejector is leaps and bounds better than Overheat. Though I’m told that Turbo Ejector is the best one in the set. I may get the rest of Computicon. Or not.

Technobots rule. Transform and Roll Out.

 

Categories: Pics, Toy Reviews