Dave's Universe Classics Rant: Ultra Wave 1
Powerglide
Onslaught
Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/UUltra1
I've decided to "file" Universe Classics under Classics for now, any
Universe recolors under the old Universe directory, and if the Universe
line
spreads further I'll decide where to go from there. :)
I'm amused that they seem to be really trying hard to push the
Onslaught
character now, given that he also gets a Legends figure (recolor of
Cybertron
Defense Red Alert).
CAPSULES
Powerglide: Okay vehicle mode, good transformation, decent robot
mode,
stability issues in both modes. On the low side of Recommended. $24.99
at
Target.
Onslaught: Good, solid vehicle mode with a few minor flaws, decent
transformation, very good robot mode. Strongly recommended. $24.99 at
Target.
RANTS
Packaging: Same basic shape as the Voyager boxes, but bigger. 12"
(31cm) across, 10" (25cm) tall, 4.5" (11.5cm) deep. The trapezoidal
indent
is 2cm deep, short vertical side 4.25" (11cm) long and the tall vertical
side
5.25" (13.5cm) long. The triangular truncation in the upper right takes
2"
(5cm) off top and side.
Both characters have faceplates, so no zombie face syndrome on the
art.
The bottom front advertises "Electronic Lights and Sounds" in the corroded
metal part (where the Voyagers talked about Mini-Cons), and the ****ny
plate
in the lower right says "ULTRA CLASS". There's a Try Me hole in the front
window to let you try out the sound and light feature.
The left side co-sell is for the other Ultra, the bottom has co-sells
for the first wave Deluxes (Sunstreaker, Prowl, Tankor). Instructions
(two-sided, with the back side covering attack modes and electronics) are
loose inside the box, no catalog.
As in previous Classics 2.0, I make up the function and motto, since
they're not present on the package.
AUTOBOT: POWERGLIDE
Altmode: Fighter Jet (so says the box, but see review body)
Function: Air Defense
Previous Name Use: G1
Previous Mold Use: None
Call-Outs: "Launching Thermal Beam Projectile!" "Electronic Lights and
Conversion Sounds!" "Jet Combat Sounds!"
Motto: "You'll never catch me, but you're welcome to run away!"
Not as fast or powerful as the DECEPTICON fliers, POWERGLIDE relies
instead on his raw skill as a combat pilot. Where his enemies rely on
afterburners and advanced weapon systems, he executes loops, flat spins,
and
other aerial maneuvers that make even the craziest and most foolhardy
DECEPTICONS backfire out of fear. In a sky full of bad guys, you can
always
easily spot POWERGLIDE twisting and diving through enemy fire, dodging
missiles, and generally outclassing even the best among the DECEPTICON air
warriors.
STR 3 INT 7 SPD 8 END 7 RNK 5 COUR 8 FRB 6 SKL 9 Avg 6.625
Packaging: Five twist-ties all the way through the cardboard tray
hold
the vehicle to the raised blister. The missile is twist-tied to the
blister
itself, requiring some cutting to get out, or at least creative prying.
Vehicle Mode: 9.5" (24cm) long, wingspan of 9.25" (23.5cm). As with
most other Classics, it's based on a real vehicle, but with enough changes
to
avoid lawsuits. In this case, it's an A-10 Thunderbolt, the same vehicle
that G1 Powerglide turned into (although they really downplayed the fact
back
then). And because they're striving for realism here, they went with a
mostly light gray color scheme that's actually like one used in real life,
rather than the solid red scheme of G1. The Japanese release will be
available in all red, though. Trademark-skirting changes include a more
snubby nose, mounting the main gun fully outside the nose (although that's
as
much to make it easily removable as anything else), the engines being
mounted
a little farther forward, and different angles on the ailerons. (You can
see
the real thing at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10_Thunderbolt.)
Oh, and the A-10 is not a fighter jet. It's an attack jet. Fighters
are made to go up against other planes, attack jets are tasked to ground
assault.
The toy is almost entirely made of very light warm gray plastic. The
cockpit and the thruster vents at the back of the jet engines are a clear
orange-amber plastic. The landing struts and missile are black plastic.
The
main intake turbines and some underbody bits are made of a silvery light
gray
plastic. There's plenty of molded panel lines and rivet dots.
The main paint color used is bright red: leading and outer edges of
the
wings, front end of whatever the forearms are supposed to be, front edges
of
some unnecessary air intakes flanking the cockpit (the engines are out on
struts, they need no integrated intakes!), the outer faces of the
ailerons,
the trailing edges of the engines, and wing symbols that evoke winged
Autobot
symbols without being Autobot symbols. Slightly metallic medium gray
paint
is used on the cockpit borders, some fuselage-side details and the leading
edges of the jet engines. A more orangey red paint is used on the sound
and
light button that's located at the very center of the top side of the
plane.
Black printed numbers and letters are all over the plane, and may have
some
in-joke meanings: 9G on the wing symbols, JJM 7128 on either side of the
fuselage just behind the cockpit, B-12129 on each engine housing, M-10
over a
big 51 on each aileron.
Like the real A-10's GAU-8 cannon, Powerglide's gun is a
seven-barrelled
rotary cannon mounted off the centerline. However, the GAU-8 is mounted
so
that the firing barrel is on the centerline, and Powerglide's gun is a bit
too far to the side to allow this. If you swing Powerglide's gun around
180
degrees, it becomes a missile launcher (and it can be a bit tricky to keep
it
loaded when in seven-barrel mode, as the missile gets tangled in the
undercarriage junk). There's a famous picture of the GAU-8 out there that
shows it dwarfing a VW Beetle.
The robot arms are disguised as weird underwing mounts. The forearms
look kinda like jet intakes at the front, but not at the back. The
shoulders
might be intended as chemical lasers or something, they have nozzles at
the
front and tubing details molded on them.
Pressing the red button at the middle of the plane cycles through
three
sound effects, which emanate from a speaker just behind the button. First
is
a "firing up the engines" sound accompanied by three flashes of the red
LEDs
located in the cockpit, engines and tail (although the last one is meant
to
not be visible in this mode). Second is a "swoo****ng past overhead" sound
with three LED flashes. Finally, there's a rotary cannon sound that will
last as long as you hold the button down, accompanied by rapid fla****ng.
If
you just press it and let go, you get 12 shots (I think, they're pretty
rapid) and an equal number of LED flashes.
There's landing gear that swings down, but the connection between the
wings and the fuselage is a bit loose, so the plane tends to sag down in
the
middle when resting on its landing gear. The tail section is also
somewhat
loose, not being pegged down. However, the fuselage itself is held
together
pretty solidly, so you can pick the toy up without it falling apart. The
engines are the battery compartments (one battery per engine), so they
don't
rotate or anything, being fixed to the soundbox.
Transformation: True to G1 Powerglide, the wings fold up into
shoulderpads and the underwing stuff becomes arms, but the similarities
pretty much end there. Most of the top of the fuselage and tail becomes
either the upper torso or gets shoved out into a backpack, covering up the
sound and light button (but it's easy to push it down a little too hard
and
get a never-ending rotary cannon sound). The bottom of the fuselage front
splits into legs. Generally a fairly easy transformation, although
getting
the wings to snap into place on the torso is somewhat frustrating, and
they
don't stay very well. It's also a little tricky getting the abdomen
together
the first time, but it's fairly obvious once you've done it once.
There's a button just behind where the legs hinge down that controls
the
transforming sound effect. When pressed in, you get the forward G1
transforming sound, when released you get the reverse sound. This can be
pressed in vehicle mode, too.
When transforming back to airplane mode, make sure to line up the
forearms so that the [-shaped holes line up with similarly shaped pegs on
the
wing roots.
Robot Mode: 8.5" (21.5cm) tall, bigger than most Leader Class toys
anymore! The pro****tions are a bit off, though. The engines give him a
huge
bulky torso reminiscent of the Sky Guardian from Exo-Force, but he has a
really narrow waist and hips. Feels kinda pinched at the middle. The
head
is molded in a clear homage of the original Minibot head, down to a detail
that evokes the old screw hole in G1 Powerglide's forehead, and an antenna
on
the left side of the head to look like how the gun barrel ended up
off-center
on the original's head.
The head is made of clear orange-amber plastic, and the clear bits of
the engines are now facing forward as his pecs. Cravat and upper arms are
made of black plastic. The three silvery gray bits of plastic from the
underside of the fuselage join together in this mode as the center chest,
abdomen and pelvis. Also made of silver gray plastic are the lower
thighs.
Upper thighs, feet, fists and pretty much all other parts are light warm
gray
plastic.
The helmet is painted bright red with medium metallic gray on the
forehead detail and the vents by the cheeks. The faceplate is painted
silver. A red and white Autobot symbol is printed on the center chest.
There's no other new paint in this mode, although some of the red edgings
make more sense now (as the "cuffs" on forearms and boots), and the
strange
bits of gray on the fuselage flanks are now kneepad details.
His head turns and can move forward and back on a transformation
joint.
The waist turns smoothly. The shoulders are universal joints that ratchet
on
the swivel but are smooth on the hinge part. There's smooth swivels right
above each ratcheting elbow. The wrists do not turn. The hips are
universal
joints that ratchet in both dimensions, there's smooth mid-thigh swivels
(that are the main issue for stable standing in odd poses), ratchet hinge
knees and smooth hinge ankles.
In this mode, the sound and light button only causes the rotary
cannon
sound, which works as it does in vehicle mode, except that the LEDs flash
two
more times after the shooting sounds stop. The eyes light up red in
addition
to the thruster rears and the backpacked cockpit. The gunpod can be held
either rotary barrels forward or missile forward, but it's a little harder
to
point if in rotary cannon mode if the missile is loaded. There's no
ddicated
storage for the missile if it's not loaded, and it's too thick to be held
in
the hand as a club.
Overall: A good design, but joint tightness hurts the jet mode, and
pegging weakness on the shoulders hurts the robot mode. Plus, of course,
the
"it's not G1 Powerglide" color scheme will matter to some. Still, for
relaunching a size class that hadn't seen action since Cybertron, it's
pretty
good, and compares favorably to most Cybertron Ultras. It's mainly hurt
by
comparison to Onslaught.
DECEPTICON: ONSLAUGHT
Altmode: Assault Vehicle
Function: Strategist
Previous Name Use: G1, G2
Previous Mold Use: None
Call-Outs: "Electronic Lights and Sounds!" "****eld attaches to arm!"
"Engine and Blaster Sounds!"
Motto: "No plan survives contact with the enemy. No enemy survives
contact
with me, however."
If ONSLAUGHT enters into direct combat, it's only because something
has
gone wrong with his battle plan. He prefers to remain on the sidelines of
a
fight, directing the action and revising his tactics second by second.
Nothing gives him joy as much as a well-executed ambush, or the swift,
organized destruction of an AUTOBOT base. When he must get involved in a
fight himself, he does so with cold fury, advancing meticulously across
the
battlefield with his fire focused on the most dangerous opponent. Every
variable in a fight is taken into account in his mind, every possibility
*****sed, and every contingency planned for.
STR 8 INT 8 SPD 3 END 7 RNK 7 COUR 8 FRB 8 SKL 9 Avg 7.25
Packaging: Three twist-ties hold the vehicle mode to the blister,
with a
secondary shell over the vehicle to try to keep the cannon barrels in
place.
Despite this, a lot of people have found the barrels popped off
in-package,
much like Leader Brawl's from the movie line. A rubber band holds the
right
barrel to the upper shell, and one of the ties holds down the left barrel,
so
even if the pop out, they're not going to rattle around. The riot ****eld
is
held to the blister by one twist-tie. All ties go through to the back, so
no
need to mess with the blister tray. Another rubber band keeps his
brushcutter bits up.
The photo on the back is not quite transformed correctly, the armor
buttflap is meant to fold up a bit more than shown on the box. Both the
package photo and the instructions show the knee armor flipped way out,
but
it can actually be pressed flat into the line of the boots.
Vehicle Mode: Billed as a SWAT APC, but it's really a full-on
military
APC with turret and mine-clearing teeth (like movie Brawl's) that just
happens to have SWAT stenciled on the side and a police lightbar stuf on
top. I've done a fair amount of searching online and can't find an APC
model
that matches it closely (even leaving off the turret), the front end is a
lot
sharper-nosed than most APCs, it's almost an amphibious craft in
appearance.
The undeployed mine-clearing teeth swung up against the bottom of the prow
give it a somewhat bulldog-like appearance, though, appropriate to a
police
vehicle.
7.25" (18.5cm) long, 4" (10cm) wide, 3.5" (9cm) tall. The turret is
roughly 2.5" (6cm) square, with two thin 2.25" (5.5cm) long gun barrels
sticking out the front. The gun barrels may be warped a bit, especially
near
the tips where the rubber band or twist-tie grabs it. Running very hot
water
over the barrel seems to straighten them out a little, but not all the
way.
It runs on six tires 1.5" (3.5cm) in diameter. A riot ****eld 3.5" (9cm)
tall
and 2.5" (6cm) wide can be attached on top of the turret.
Most of the toy is made out of a slate gray plastic with slight
metalflake inclusions. The wheels are black plastic, the mine-sifter
claws
are rigid silvery gray plastic, the gun barrels are soft light gray
plastic
(lighter than the claws) and tend to be a little warped (mind don't fall
out
easily, at least). Clear amber plastic is used for the lightbar, openings
on
the tops of the turret, the front windows, the headlights, the turret
searchlight and the taillight. I don't know what color plastic is used on
the light and sound button, as it's completely painted over. A silvered
surface (mylar?) is inside the turret to reflect the LED lights up through
the amber windows.
A metallic yellow-green paint is used on several armor plates around
the
vehicle and on the louvres over the speaker in the turret. Silver paint
is
found around the molded winch at the front, the space between the stowed
sifter claws and on a bit of diamondplate behind the turret. The winch
line
is painted black, but there's no black paint on the vision slits of the
molded side doors. A bright orange-red paint covers the sound and light
button and a pair of tail lights. White printing on the side doors says
S.W.A.T., and on the front side plates says MONZO over 12782. This is a
reference to the Transformers fan who goes by the handle Monzo, who was
born
on January 27, 1982 (whippersnapper!).
The sifter claws are hinged to fold down, which the instructions list
as
an attack feature. The turret can turn 90 degrees to either side, but
wiring
leading into the main body means it can't turn freely. The hatch over the
main driver's compartment can be opened up, and you can stick a Lego
minifigure or something of comparable size in as a commander. The rear
gate
opens for transformation, but is not meant to do so as a vehicle mode
feature. The wheels spin, five of them freely. One triggers a sound
gimmick, so is not free-spinning. The middle pair of wheels has
rubberized
strips along the edge to get more traction, although only one of them
needs
it.
The ****eld has a hole to accomodate the lightbar and louvres over the
turret's amber windows, so all the lights can ****ne through it. The
louvres
are painted metallic yellow-green, and a big S.W.A.T. is printed in white
at
the bottom. There's a hinged bit at the top that lets you push the light
and
sound button even when the ****eld is on the turret. A single little clip
holds the ****eld in place, and not very well. The slot that holds the
****eld
tab is actually a little too tight, and tries to squirt the tab back out.
Scraping a tiny bit away from the clip sides seems to help a little
Pressing the turret button alternates between two effects. The first
is
a single whoop of a police siren, with red LEDs inside the lightbar
fla****ng
once. Holding the button down does NOT keep this sound going, which
strikes
me as an accidental bug. It's not just mine, it seems to be common to all
sampels of the toy. The other effect triggers the side LEDs to flash
rapidly
along with a machinegun sound...I think the lights are meant to be evoking
cartridge ejection or something. The LED flashes a couple times after the
shooting stops, and just tapping the button gives one to three shots
followed
by a faint echoing sound. This one *will* continue as long as you hold
the
button down. Some have re****ted an ozone or burning smell coming from the
speaker after extended firing, but mine doesn't seem to do that.
Rolling the toy forward or backwards far enough triggers a sound (but
no
light) that is either supposed to be the engine roaring, or cra****ng
through
a barrier. Hard to tell. There's a series of cams inside the panel
holding
the wheels on the left side that presses a button on the robot's hip that
triggers the sound, that way they don't need to run wires all the way into
the wheels themselves. :)
Once you have all the panels in the right place (not always easy when
transforming back from robot mode), it's pretty stable.
Transformation: The vehicle sides pop apart and fold into legs, with
the
front pair of wheels folding inside the boots and the armor panels above
those wheels folding up rather cleverly into toes. The front sides become
shoulderpads, with the arms being tucked under the middle of the vehicle.
The rest of the front end folds to become the chest and abdomen. From
there
it's just a matter of getting a few panels folded up. Going to robot mode
is
quite easy.
Going back to vehicle mode, on the other hand, can be a bit
frustrating,
as all the panels need to go back in just the right places.
There is no transformation sound effect.
Robot Mode: 8" (20.5cm) tall at the head, 8.5" (22cm) at the tops of
the
shoulderpads, 9.25" (23.5cm) at the tops of the back cannons. While
shorter
than Powerglide, his pro****tions are MUCH better and give a sense of size
and
power that the other Ultra lacks. The head is molded to be reminscent of
G1
Onslaught's (but rounder and with something of a Master Chief feel to it),
and the back cannons further help the image. The shoulderpads already
stand
out pretty strongly, and being painted silver strengthens the effect when
I
think he'd be better served by muting it.
The head and upper thighs are black plastic, as is the right forearm
cannon. The fists, knees, boot-instep wheel cages and hip joints are
silvery
light gray plastic. The shoulderpads are actually all slate gray plastic,
but with a load of silver paint. Interestingly, a winch is molded onto
the
belt buckle location, perhaps for a faux-transform look. The visor is
amber
clear plastic.
The sides of the faceplate are painted silver, as is most of the
shoulder area. There's a dark blue paint on the forearms and lower
pelvis,
and next to that the gray plastic looks more greenish. A violet
Decepticon
symbol is printed on the left shoulder. Bright red paint is on the "belt"
parts of the pelvis and on a small forehead dot. The molded winch line is
painted black.
Onslaught's head turns, the waist does not. The shoulders are
universal
joints, with the swivel being soft-ratcheting and the lift-to-side hinges
being smooth. Smooth upper arm swivels, smooth elbow hinges, smooth wrist
swivels (plus a transformation hinge for the fists). Hips are universal
joints that ratchet both ways, there's smooth mid-thigh swivels and
ratcheting hinge knees. The toes are on hinges, but the hinges are loose
enough not to offer sup****t.
A rectangular peg folds out of the left forearm, and between that and
a
clip further down the forearm, the riot ****eld holds on very firmly. He
can't really hold the ****eld the way a cop normally holds a riot ****eld,
though. Nor is it nearly big enough to work as a riot ****eld for him. :)
Pu****ng a button on the right forearm lets a black blaster barrel flip
out.
Sound and light are identical in this mode. A red LED inside the
head
glows steadily during the duration of each sound. The rolling sound
gimmick
trigger is on the left side of the pelvis front, and can be easily
triggered
if you want him to have "stomping on hapless Autobots" sound effects. The
turret button will override the stompy button.
Combiner: No, it's not designed to be a combiner. I fully expect to
see
at least one kitbash before the end of the year, though. I can see how
the
toes could unfold and become kneecaps for leg units (and there's some gaps
on
the soles of the feet where a leg unit could be pegged in). Arm
connections
would be a bit trickier, though.
Overall: Not perfect, but very good. And if you intend to leave it
in
robot mode, most of those problems go away. One of the best Ultras in
years,
and not hampered by the kinds of gimmicks that hurt a lot of older toys in
this size class (i.e. it doesn't have to combine with anyone).
Dave Van Domelen, not watching the Olympics.
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