A PCC that doesn't suck! Sledge w/ Throttler

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.
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JediTricks
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A PCC that doesn't suck! Sledge w/ Throttler

Post by JediTricks »

After the disappointment that was Icepick w/ Chainclaw (2 names that make little to no sense with the figures), I was sorta losing all interest in picking up the last 2 new Commander figures from wave 2. Then I saw Sledge yesterday and it looked decent enough to give 1 last shot.

First, Throttler. Throttler is purple. His head is a 5mm hardpoint and has a silver face of little detail. His limbs have detail, and he looks alright for a clear plastic minicon. He has thigh rotation. He transforms into a giant drill bit, the kind used to make tunnels and such, and he ACTUALLY TRANSFORMS! It's a miracle, he actually has parts that lock together, and his chest rotates around to center the bit mode (the instructions don't know about this, but the assembly makes for no other possibility). As a weapon, he's a drill bit. The instructions don't realize his peghead can be used to peg under Sledge's forearm, so they think his weapon-mode is chest-based or shoulder-based, not their finest hour - "behold, my powerful boutineer!" Because of the cone alt mode, his limbs are triangular which makes for adequate coverage in armor mode, but it's really still just wrapping a minicon around a robot.

Sledge is a balanced figure, normal-length torso, arms, and legs. The arms have big kibble on the sides, but the wrap upwards at least. The head has blinders on either side which are doors that close for the combiner head, the face inside is a face though, not some cheapness. The torso has a big cutting wheel sticking out, and a cockpit with a hardpoint on the side. Articulation is decent for a scout-class but not outstanding. Interestingly, to use the minicon-as-armor, the cutting wheel is retracted and the cockpit unfolds to become a chest (this is also what you do to make him a Combiner core, more on that later).

Sledge's transformation to a backhoe is very interesting and perhaps a little more ambitious than a scout could pull off, but the backhoe arm fully works (if a little loose). The sides of the torso fold down and around, the legs fold under. The only problem I have is there's nowhere for the head's blinders or horns to go so the combiner face remains deployed under the cockpit. It's not a great-looking vehicle but it's alright, and it has treads, a cockpit, a cutting wheel and plow in the front, and a backhoe arm in the back.

Combiner mode rotates the head around and closes the binders to reveal more of a visor-eye non-face that Transformers has seen before. The shoulders rotate around diagonally with the arms running straight back (although I like them folded down to act as lats), and the legs fold in slightly on a new joint. The combiner core is alright, it's a bit narrow though, and the legs can de-transform a little due to springs on the tread panels. It's not mind-blowing, but the combined bot looks a bit different from the others with the core keeping things so narrow, so that's unique (some of the other cores are wide, so this is an intentional thing). On mine, the PCC peg-cube joints are very stiff which can be an annoyance with the limb engineering problems.

All in all, still not a great line, but at least Sledge & Throttler are adequate transformers on their own without massive compromises.
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BWprowl
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Re: A PCC that doesn't suck! Sledge w/ Throttler

Post by BWprowl »

I'm in the midst of typing up a review of the Wave 2 Commanders, but suffice to say that I pretty much agree with you about these two, JT. Throttler blew my mind, he's easily the best Mini-Con this line has seen.
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