A little while back, we were given the latest wave of Generations figures for Transformers. This time around the 6 figures came packed with comic books. Overall the figures are really well done. We have 4 new molds, one repaint in a second wave, and a repaint from an earlier figure. Pretty good to get 4 out of 6 as new molds in a series that has been running for years.
There are whole bunch of photos of each figure on my Flickr site, so you can head over there to look at even more.
Orion Pax:
The future Optimus Prime. It is great to get an Orion Pax figure in the Generations line. Isn’t that where we should get him? He comes with his classic rifle and his battle axe. A good pair of weapons for this figure. Unfortunately, there is no place to hold one or both of the weapons in robot mode. Either he holds them, or drops them. I would love to have seen at least one hole that the posts could fit into.
Vehicle mode is… kinda a truck of some sort. It looks like they gave him the solar panels from one of the movie figure trucks. Strange design, but it is okay. In the comic, he is actually hooked up to a trailer. This does not look like a rig to me, but whatever!
Trailcutter:
Trailcutter is a great figure. Small and compact, he is perfect for a re-imagining of his former G1 counterpart. He comes with a shield that has blasters on it. Everything moves well. The transformation is pretty straight forward. I do think the only letdown is the missing Autobot emblem. It is on the hood in vehicle mode, and then disappears into the chest in robot mode.
In vehicle mode, he continues to look great. The stripes on the side are perfect.
Megatron:
A little change this time around for Megatron. Still sporting an arm cannon, which transforms itself to become longer with some clear purple parts, he is decked out more on black and purples, and less in the traditional silver. Even with the color change, there is no mistaking who this is. Since he is Deluxe class, he is a little on the small side of how big Megatron should be compared to the other figures in the line. He is quite small compared to the recent Generations Triple Changers.
Things keep on changing with Megatron. Finally taking on an Earth form, he smartly took the shape of a Stealth Bomber. This is quite an ingenious transformation, to make a rather thin vehicle. I really like how the arm cannon comes apart into two pieces and each becomes one of the longer wing pieces.
Bumblebee:
Ugh! I love Bumblebee, but I can barely stand this figure. The shoulders are bulky. The doors are mounted to the shoulders, so they look weird when he moves his arms. His forearms are painted the wrong color. his cannon is the wrong color. His feet look weird. His roof sticks down between his legs in the back. It looks like he has tiny hands. Okay, now that the negative is out of the way, let’s look at the positive. He has Bumblebee’s head. Yay!!! I like the joining of the two cannons to make one cannon. Reminds me of the Animated Bumblebee that could combine his stingers into a more powerful weapon.
In vehicle mode, it does not get much better. He looks like he is supposed to be similar to a Mustang GT500. I see the 1967 version front hood intake as well as the scoops by the doors. The nose has a funny shape and it looks like he was in an accident. It think there is too much of a curve up there. There are a whole bunch of color problems. That is what is to be expected with yellow. The bane of Hasbro’s existence is trying to match yellow. My car would not fit together all the way. There is a big gap down the back window.
Hoist:
Back to some better designs. Hoist is part of the second wave of figures. Not much of a wave with only two figures, who are repaints, and who pretty much came out at the same time as the first wave. But, Hoist is a good figure. Very similar to Trailcutter, with the exception of a different head, different weapon, and a great paint scheme. I was really excited to see how his tow-hook folded up to become a blaster. Not much else to say other than he also has the problem of no Autobot emblem in robot mode.
I think I would have been happier if he did not have the engine intake that Trailcutter has. On Trailcutter, it fits, but with Hoist, it just sticks up back there. These two make a great pair of “brothers.”
Thundercracker:
Thundercracker is a repaint of the Fall of Cybertron Starscream. A Cybertronian jet, the only change is a new head. He comes with the twin Gatling-guns that can combine to make a lot of blaster bolts fly very quickly.
It is nice for Starscream to have a friend. Thundercracker looks good in his vehicle mode. Mostly blue with a few silver highlights.
Overall this is a great wave of figures. The only letdown was Bumblebee. He is a lot weaker than the other five figures in the line. We seem to be winding down on the different Transformers lines. It will be interesting to see what we get next, since Prime is done.
My Life in Scale 