SWTF Altmodes for V-19, TIE Bomber, and Grievous Starfighter

Ancillary, non-main-line stuff. Star Wars TF, Speed Stars, Titanium Series, Robot Heroes, that sort of thing. They're kinda neat, but we all know they're not really that important. Admit it, you know it's true.
Post Reply
User avatar
JediTricks
Site Admin
Posts: 3849
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: LA, CA, USA

SWTF Altmodes for V-19, TIE Bomber, and Grievous Starfighter

Post by JediTricks »

In the bi-weekly Hasbro Star Wars Q&A I am an editor for, I asked for a pic of the upcoming V-19 Torrent figure's alt mode since it wasn't on display at Comic-Con, and they sent pics of the whole wave:

http://www.actionfigs.com/index.php?cat ... cleid=1916

To be honest, I think they all look pretty good, but the floppity mid-hinged wings on the V-19 are likely to be the same problem they were on the Imperial Shuttle.
Image
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
User avatar
onslaught86
Moderator
Posts: 1273
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:02 pm
Location: EnZed
Contact:

Re: SWTF Altmodes for V-19, TIE Bomber, and Grievous Starfighter

Post by onslaught86 »

That Torrent looks snazzy. I'm not so familiar with that ship, gave me a good excuse to look it up - definite Imperial Shuttle ties, always liked the way SW carried its aesthetic through the eras. Like you, I fear wing-flip, but as long as they don't clip on like Palps' wings, shouldn't be too much of an issue. Can't wait for the Grievous ship, that looks the most solid of the three, and it's a near design. Looking forward to seeing how the TIE bomber transforms, though.

Heh, hope we get one of the treaded EU TIE crawlers at some point..
Image
User avatar
JediTricks
Site Admin
Posts: 3849
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: LA, CA, USA

Re: SWTF Altmodes for V-19, TIE Bomber, and Grievous Starfighter

Post by JediTricks »

http://photos.sirstevesguide.com/showph ... hoto=29300
http://photos.sirstevesguide.com/showph ... hoto=29296
They seem to just live on the back of the arm, but I'm not sure if it is better than unpegging.
Image
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
User avatar
onslaught86
Moderator
Posts: 1273
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:02 pm
Location: EnZed
Contact:

Re: SWTF Altmodes for V-19, TIE Bomber, and Grievous Starfighter

Post by onslaught86 »

It's better than falling off!
Image
User avatar
JediTricks
Site Admin
Posts: 3849
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: LA, CA, USA

Re: SWTF Altmodes for V-19, TIE Bomber, and Grievous Starfighter

Post by JediTricks »

onslaught86 wrote:It's better than falling off!
Unless it causes it to break off.
Image
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
User avatar
Dominic
Supreme-Class
Posts: 9331
Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:55 pm
Location: Boston
Contact:

Re: SWTF Altmodes for V-19, TIE Bomber, and Grievous Starfighter

Post by Dominic »

V-19/Pilot:



I normally skip SWTF and other Cross-over toys. But, it was my birthday, and this mold had me intrigued.


The V-19 is a single pilot fighter from the "Clone Wars" series. The best way to describe it is as sort of a combination of Imperial Shuttle and ARC fighter. (I have no idea what the context for this ship is beyond it being a piece of Republic hard-ware.)

Like most SWTF toys, the vehicle mode is where the strengths are. Despite transforming the vehicle mode is actually a good-enough model of a V19. The side wings fold in half and can be moved up and down, similar to a birds wings. Said wings have spring-loaded launchers on them, but I am pretty sure the missiles on the toy would simply be (Not being familiar with the V19, I am not sure how much of this is only to accomodate the transform and how much is intended to represent something the V19 can do.) The dorsal wing can fold down onto the ship's under-side when in-flight.

(I am assuming the dorsal wing is intended to be up for landings, rather than having the ship perch on its wings, as there are landing struts on the under-side.)


The transform is intuitive enough to no be annoying, yet involved enough to be satisfying.

For an SWTF, the robot mode is actually pretty good, beyond the damnation of faint praise. Despite the substantial amount of air-craft chunks on the back, the robot actually looks pretty graceful. And, the head looks suitably mechanical, unlike the "mechafied human" look on most other SWTFs.

And, while the package-bio is not great, it is better than average for an SWTF, describing a generic pilot and his generic mech, rather than conflating the driver and the vehicle.


Grade: C
I am half-tempted to recolor this as a Decepticon.
Post Reply