Takara United Wheeljack

The Takara United Wheeljack has a very nice vehicle mode. Very clean lines that are well concealed and not very noticeable.

I compared the paint job & general quality of this Takara figure against the Hasbro Generations version and there is no contest. The paintjob by Takara is definitely superior.

The plastic quality for the Takara version is much better too.

Instead of the flat red and green paint used by Hasbro, this version here has metallic red & green, which makes the car look very striking.

The side exhaust pipes are pretty cool too. They can become separate tonfa-like weapons or be clipped onto the vehicle's underside like I have done in the picture.

Now... meet Stubbie (a.k.a Wheeljack in robot mode).

Here I see that Wheeljack paid the ultimate price of having a gorgeous vehicle mode... and that is to have an epic fail robot mode.

He actually has a decent number of articulation points but I still couldn't pose him in a stylish manner because he looks so squat.

From the back view, you can see that the entire rear third of the vehicle forms his backpack.

I am definitely going to be displaying Wheeljack in the vehicle mode.

TFP RiD Wheeljack vs United Wheeljack.

Definitely loses out to TFP RiD version in posability and coolness factor.

All said and done, I don't regret getting the United Wheeljack because I like Transformers toys with great vehicle forms.

Cheers.

War For Cybertron Soundwave

An awesome figure from the Generations War for Cybertron line. I thought I would have to pass this one up because I was 2 years late in finding out about this figure.

It was sheer luck that I spotted this guy at a local flea market (at China Sq. Central on Sundays) and I bought him & a Takara United Wheeljack (check out my post on Wheeljack) at a surprisingly low price of SGD$50.

The card for the Soundwave figure was pretty beat-up though but it didn't matter to me as I fully intended to liberate him from the packaging.

As you can see, he has a pretty cool cybertronian vehicle mode. I love the way the weapons peg into the sides of the vehicle.

And here is Soundwave transformed into his robot mode. The steps to do so are pretty simple and can almost be done without referring to the instructions.

Simply dig the headsculpt and his iconic shoulder-cannon.

"L-o-r-d   M-e-g-a-t-r-o-n,   S-o-u-n-d-w-a-v-e    r-e-p-o-r-t-i-n-g."

"L-a-s-e-r-b-e-a-k,   R-a-v-a-g-e,   R-u-m-b-l-e,   a-t-t-a-c-k..." 

"D-e-s-t-r-o-y   t-h-e   A-u-t-o-b-o-t-s..."

Yes, I totally admit that I used to speak into the fan when I was a kid so that I sounded like Soundwave.

If you are a fan of the G1 cartoons, chances are you probably did too.

: p

Size comparison shot of the WFC Deluxe Soundwave vs a First Edition Voyager TFP Optimus.

Peace out.

Dark Starsaber Arms Microns AMW-01, 02 & 03

Behold the Dark Starsaber!


Although this is really supposed to be the Dark Starsaber, what Megatron had in the cartoon was a jagged crystalline purple blade.

Hence, I prefer to think of it as the Starsaber since it looks like the sword wielded by Optimus.

Freshly stickered and assembled.

One problem with these arms microns is that the stickers don't stay stuck. The edges of the stickers curl up pretty easily.

I was too eager to start photographing them and did not prep the plastic parts before stickering.

As a general rule of thumb, it is always good to wash the plastic parts in a tub of water with a few drops of dishwashing liquid added in. After washing the parts, leave them out to dry before applying stickers.

This helps in removing the mould release agent that is on the plastic so that stickers adhere better to the surface.

These are the 3 separate arms microns that form the saber: AMW-01, AMW-02 & AMW-03.

They can be wielded as individual weapons as well.

And... in their robot forms, a crocodile, hawk & scorpion.

Now on to the fun pictures!

Here's a shot of Optimus admiring his new sword.

Lookin' badass....

*Huff* *Huff* "This sword is really heavy, let me rest it on the ground for a while..."

Having the saber increased the fun factor of posing the figure ten-fold!

"I'ma keel you!"

Hasbro Transformers Prime - First Edition Optimus

My new favourite Transformers Prime figure in Vehicle Mode!

I was late to the game of collecting the toys from the Transformers Prime line & this FE prime was sold out all over Singapore by the time I started hunting for it.

Prices were sky high at around SGD$180 for a Hasbro FE Prime and I almost wanted to ship one in from overseas.

Luckily Hasbro decided to re-release the First Edition line in North America and somehow, departmental stores in Singapore started to have new stock for this fabulous figure.

Once I saw them on the shelves, I immediately grabbed two of them!

IMO, the mold for the FE Optimus is the best amongst all the Tranformers prime toys released to date.

 Great articulation and very cartoon accurate.

If I have to nitpick on the downsides to this Hasbro figure, it would be the grey areas (around the windshield, thighs & smokestacks) I just feel that they would look so much better with a silver finish.

In fact, I intend to paint those parts silver ASAP!

I am just so glad that I had decided to buy 2 of these guys.

Here is a comparison shot of the FE and the RiD versions.

The RiD figure is actually pretty nice as well but a little less cartoon accurate as the chest area doesn't quite resemble Optimus in the cartoon.

I simply love how the FE Version is taller and how it scales better with the other TFP toys.

Lastly, I proudly present the Takara Tokyo Toy Show Exclusive Shining Optimus Prime (behind the RiD figure) & my spare Hasbro First Ed. Optimus (behind the FE figure)

Thanks for reading!

Alternity!

Great joy, I received my Alternity & Arms Micron figures from Robotkingdom! It’s my first time purchasing from this online store and I must say that the packing is great & their delivery speed is break-neck fast.

I thought these Alternity figures  looked great in video reviews I saw on youtube, but having the actual figures in hand simply blew me away.

Granted that these guys are way smaller than Binaltech (Alternator) figures, they still pack an amazing amount of detail and the paint jobs are of very high quality.

It’s late now, so I will keep this short. These guys rock and I have gone ahead to order more stuff from Robotkingdom, my new favourite online store.