Toyworld Grant - On Gangs

This toy is weird, man.

It's the kid in high school who had the confidence to not lead, not follow and make not fitting in cool as hell. It's the album you fall asleep listening to through headphones even though it’s insane grind that should only ever be played through the biggest **** off speakers you can find. Translated into toyspeak, Grant is an anomaly. One that dares you to pigeonhole him when holding the figure up against your own collecting standards and one that laughs in your face while you're doing it.

Do you know much about this Toyworld figure? In a nutshell it came out of nowhere in 2014 as a TFcon exclusive, presenting the collector with an Ultra sized approximation of the G1 Headmaster Grand Maximus. That being the Japanese only repaint of Fortress Maximus. And when you whack open the very nondescript packaging and gaze into the styrofoam, G1 is exactly what you’re looking at.

Gloria in excelsis 1988

This is very 1980's. There’s nothing modern looking about Grant, he’s just right angles and boxes atop more boxes, chucks in a bit of partsforming on the back of the shoulders and while for my sins I have never handled a G1 Maximus of any variety, the initial vibe here might be ‘downsized knock off’.

So far so uh oh.

But dammit if this thing doesn’t impress taken out of the box.

In hand there’s a good weight and some really solid feeling plastic. Like, better than official on a good day solid. The sculpt is wonderfully detailed with raised surfaces, layers, panels and circuitry all over. There’s no paint on either figure though. Not a lick. Just the basic plastic colours. But to my eyes it looks far from cheap and compared to the cornucopia of painted delights surrounding me, quite the refreshing change. It’s a stylistic choice, undoubtedly not for everyone though one that adds to his exclusivity. And the package does include a comprehensive decal sheet. More on this shortly.

HEAD ON!

Because before that, there’s the small matter of Grant’s articulation. And this is where things get good as in spite of first impressions, this guy is loaded with it.

1980s redux

While not an exhaustive breakdown, highlights include ratchets everywhere, double elbow joints, a waist joint, bloody ankle tilts and wrist swivels. Opening hands?? What the hell is going on?! This level of poseability flies in the face of his utter Generation 1 looks because this is proudly and defiantly not a Classics or MP styled toy. 

There is a strange clash here, where modern day articulation meets 1987 Transformers brick. That clash sees Grant stand out against Toyworld’s own Headmaster aesthetic as well as FansProject’s Function X line. It’s like somebody took a bullied and broken G1 figure and totally pimped it, sending it back into the toybox to wreak revenge laced havoc and is a style that, outside of the Infinitor repaint, currently exists on its own. I find Grant’s robot mode compelling.

So that decal sheet. Whether you choose to keep his plastic virginal pure or not, as you will see there’s no denying he scrubs up well with these bad boys affixed to his chassis and it's almost essential for city mode.

There are two downsides here though. The first being that the decision to leave the highlighted details solely to decals may really rub you up the wrong way. If that’s the case then the fully painted Fort Max homage Infinitor may be more your bag.

The second is the time consuming nature of doing it right and offering advice without boring you to death. These are not a simple case of peeling off a sticker sheet and applying to your toy, removing them if needs be to rectify a wonky placement. They’re individual adhesives that sit on backing paper affixed to a clear sheet . And once pressure is applied to that clear sheet they’re on Grant and staying on. So getting it right is both paramount and I will admit, intimidating when starting out. 

To make things easier, you can cut around them and lift them from the backing paper which enables you to line them up before committing to placement. My advice is cut them out individually, apply them individually and take your time. It’s worth the effort and if you screw up (like I did) it’s only ever going to be noticeable to you. Ask someone else and they will call you out on being a perfectionist madman and scold you for the blood in your eyes.

The end result though? Worth it.

Keeping in line with his G1 aping style, Grant transforms into both a space cruiser and a city. It’s a very simple transformation into both. Although for me things tend to come apart here. Because as good as the articulation updates are to the robot mode, they don’t really add a great deal once transformed and with this figure being more than a tad smaller than the 2ft tall original I have a massive feeling that size was what made the original toys alt modes a big deal.

Here we have a robot having a good lie down through space. It’s daft, a bit like a stupid looking sphinx but I do like it. His head can fit inside the translucent blue canopy and pilot it too.

At this size,the other mode really can’t be called a city any more. It’s not even a shopping centre. Maybe it could pass as an upmarket Bargain Booze next door to a chippy where kids hang around getting smashed on Lambrini and legal highs. Or a battle station?

Go in t'shop for us mate?

Credit where it's due, the decals come into their own in this form, with tons of little incidental details like windows, safety markings, ramp directions etc.

And though Toyworld have concocted an amended city mode of their own, it’s simply borne out of the joints found in the robot mode and screams fan mode/trying too hard.

While I am not a fan of the city and the cruiser is just silly fun, the robot mode surpasses expectations. There was a gamble Toyworld made in making Grant so much truer to the G1 toy than their previous Headmasters and it's a brave one that flirts with putting the figure in a collectors no mans land.

But I'll take that gamble. Grant makes for a stunning robot. On one hand utterly familiar and on the other pretty damn unique, it's a figure that sidesteps current trends and needs to be experienced in person to truly appreciate. You going to need to be a patient soul when dressing him for dinner though.

New York Toy Fair 2015 Combiner Wars or 'Constructicons: Elbowned'

As Facebook doesn't show Pages posts to all people who have liked the page, we thought we'd collate yesterday's posts with the new Hasbro Combiner Wars stock photos into one blog post.

At this point Combiner Wars is fast becoming Repaint Wars but oddly the figures look different enough and still true to the original designs that they are still exciting.

We will list preorders for all of these as soon as Hasbro announces case assortments and release dates.

Legends Class

First up is Warpath which is a repaint of the Megatron figure released in 2013 but with a new head. 

The second figure announced in the Legends class was Groove. It's interesting to note that Hasbro have said that the Legends figures will transform into weapons or other parts that can be used with the larger combining figures. Groove seems to form part of Defensor's chest. 

Deluxe Figures

In the deluxe range Hasbro showed off the Protectobots who are mainly repaints of previous figures. The deluxe figures each form a limb of Defensor.

Blades is a repaint of the wave 1 Alpha Bravo figure but with a new head. Got to love a rescue helicopter with missile pods!

First-Aid is a repaint of Wave 2's Stunticon Off-Road and is arguably one of the best looking figures announced. Quite how he's going to repair anyone with an axe is a mystery.

Streetwise is a repaint of Wave 2's Stunticon Dead End.

The final limb is Rook who is a new figure.

Voyager Class

Two figures were announced in the Voyager range. First is the last Protectobot, Hot Spot who forms the body of Defensor. In a surprising move, Hot Spot isn't a remold of Optimus Prime/Motormaster as people anticipated.

Defensor

The second Voyager is a figure have wanted for a long time - Cyclonus. As expected, he is a reworked version of Wave 1's Silverbolt.

Leader Class

This was a big one as it had been rumoured for a while - Ultra Magnus! Keeping the IDW Transformers comics fans happy is the inclusion of Minimus Ambus, a character we won't go into here as it is a huge spoiler for anyone who hasn't read the More Than Meets the Eye series but intends to. (You really should be reading it) For that reason we've omitted the pictures of him too.

Titan Class

Lastly was the announcement everyone knew was coming. We'd seen the combined picture of Devastator already but it was all about the individual bots and how they'd look. While Devastator is undoubtably imperssive standing at 18" tall, the individual figures themselves are a mixed bag. Hasbro also confirmed that this will be a giftset release.

Bonecrusher is true to his animated colours in having green legs which seems to big a big deal for some people.

Hook has received a bit of a cool reception because of those dreadful elbows. It's a shame as otherwise the figure is a dead on likeness.

Long Haul has a rough time of things as he always seems to end up short and stocky in every version of him since the original figure. This one takes it to the extreme though as he's nearly as wide as tall with very spindly arms which look like they may not hinge forwards.

Possibly the best received of the Constructicons so far is Mixmaster who again suffers from awful elbows but otherwise is a great looking robot. Quite why his mixing drum empties into his cab is anyone's guess though....

Scavenger is another good looking robot who's dodged the elbow bullet and it's hard to imagine anyone having cause to complain with this great toy.

Lastly, the leader of the Constructicons - Scrapper. This is a great looking figure which has one ugly issue - a lack of elbow joints. For those keeping score, that's 4 of the six Constructicons who have an issue with elbows...

Elbows and niggles aside, most collectors will be displaying The Constructicons in their combined form as the massive 18 inch tall Devastator!


Somebody will no doubt complain about partsforming but at a pricepoint of $149.99, like Titan Metroplex, there are bound to be compromises in both engineering and quality. It's important to remember that this is a Generations figure and not intended to be a Masterpiece so it ticks every box it is meant to and will no doubt be a titanic hit!

That's all for now, remember to like us on Facebook so you can get up to date news on when these figures go up for preorder!

Combiner Wars Powerglide.

So I walked into a shop today with the sole intent of buying Fireflight and then saw this little beauty. I picked it up to have a closer look at it and haven't put the toy down since.

Nice touch with the card. No stats but lovely art (Box is ragged from a furious opening on the bus)

Now, I own the X-Transbots/Jizai designed figure and thought that would do me. That figure is ace. Admittedly it looks a little bit like a pig zipped up tightly in a cagoule but that's okay, it gives him cute points and he's a Minibot so that's fine. Isn't it?

Frankly.. no.

See, Powerglide set a precedent for the acceptance of interspecies relationships in the wonderful world of transforming robots and he did so by being the mouthy rough and tumble sort of guy who would begrudgingly take a young woman to the fair, ride the carousel with her then take on three Decepticons at the same time using just a vending machine and a marqee to ensure victory. And still manage to look all brooding and badass to the ladies when shrugging off a devastating attack from a merry go round horse.

Powerglide is ace. I wanna go drinking with him.

The overriding points here though are that Astoria Carlton-Ritz would not fall for a pig in a cagoule, you need to watch The Girl Who Loved Powerglide and we need this toy to meet some (possibly) serious criteria.

Ready to win the hearts of women who can rend metal with their bare hands everywhere

So let's have a look at him. Powerglide is small (Legends class, think Diet Scout) but packs a punch. Sculpt is great with surprising articulation. Ball joints, swivels and hinges are mostly where they need to be. He might lack a bicep swivel but it took me long enough to notice its absence that it isn't an issue. And they've nailed the head sculpt.

Sadly he doesn't come with a gun but then he flexes and you realise..

Ready for the new Powerglide Pow?

..the dude's got 10 missile pods in each forearm so **** all you gun toting hip gangsta wannabes. Attitude aplenty oozes from this tiny tough guy and this robot mode is a success through and through in my book.

An easy as pie transformation and we're into his alt mode.

It's a jet, it's a rocket, no..

Which is an okayish affair. The hands being the obvious offenders to decency but I'll give it a pass at this scale and there's some nice detailing and fold down landing gear. Crucially, it captures Powergide's alt mode well. You get there in seconds too so it's one of those things you constantly go back to because you can. Unlike in real life as that's when they show you the door.

It's POWERGLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!

You know when I said he didn't have a gun? This being a Combiner Wars figure, Powerglide can actually turn into a gun for Superion, the downside of which is that it might just be a little bit drivel. Worry not though, because even at the Legends scale it does not in any way cause a problem for robot or plane mode and kids will likely find it a great third mode where imagination takes precedent over flawless execution.

To be fair it has a viewfinder and is a fairly powerful looking bit of kit and.. Naaaah, it's rubbish

Bottom line, this is a winning return to the smaller size class for Hasbro. I haven't purchased any of these Legends class figures in quite some time as they've always looked compromised to me, but if they can keep making toys like this that literally leap off the peg and demand your damn attention then yeah, sold.

LegendARY class