Love/Hate-A-Figure: Cybertron

[Onslaught Six]

Here's a concept I literally just came up with to generate some more discussion. For fun!

It's really easy. There's a given line (Cybertron, we'll start with, because a lot of us liked Cybertron) and we all post one figure we liked, and one we hated, and some brief reasons why--not a whole review, just a blurb. Then we can all react on those that other people posted, and keep posting new ones as we go along.

I'll start!

Loved: Megaloplex (Metroplex/Megalo Convoy). A huge robot! His colours could've used more red and his face could've been painted so he was Moar Metroplexxy, but in general he's a pretty cool update in his robot mode. His altmode could definitely have been executed better, though, especially for what it was trying to be--but I feel like that doesn't drag the figure down too much since he's primarily a Hugeass Robot. I'd recommend getting him secondhand or sealed if you can find him cheap.

Hated: Thundercracker/Skywarp. I only got Skywarp--I think because I didn't have the mould and he was cheap at the time, or something. He promptly broke during his first transformation. I often say that there's only one TF I fully regret owning; Energon Megatron, but that's not true--I also regret CybWarp. I think he's the only mould 86 and I have *both* broke while getting him out of the package. In different places!

[138 Scourge]

I applaud this idea for a thread. Good to have a reason to drag out some of the old stuff and reflect on it's radness.

And y'know, I never had that much trouble with the Thundercracker mold. Maybe the Divebomb version of it had better plastic going or something, or maybe I just handled that thing extra-carefully so I wouldn't break it, but I didn't have any fragility problems. I do agree with you on it not being so great a mold, though.

Loved: Scourge. I just love what he is. Big solid dragon monster that turns into big solid robot. I love almost everything about this toy, his colors, his big clunky shapes, the best sound effect in any toy I can think of offhand, dude pretty much succeeds at everything. His transformation's simple enough to have been in G1, but I think that helps contribute to the size and impressive solidity of this guy. Besides, the barbarian king of a jungle planet should probably not be that sophisticated technologically.

I mean, I know he's not perfect. The lack of articulation hurts as far as posing goes, especially when posing with his bigass axe. But that's kind of a minor flaw when the rest of the toy is this awesome.

Hated: Overhaul. Now, in a line that delivered so many awesome basics, I have no idea how this guy could fail so hard. The Cyber-key gimmick is wasted here, it's not as impressive if it just shoots a missle. And then that missle takes up his entire chest. The transformation is underwhelming, and it leaves the guy with some of the lamest articulation this side of a Battlecharger. Plus, he's just boring. I think I transformed him back and forth once or twice, and then ignored him in favor of all the good toys from Cybertron. Apparently, his upgraded form wasn't so great, either, but I never got that one, so I dunno.

[Onslaught Six]

Yeah, Overhaul's pretty crappy. I never got Scourge, likely because there was always something better around; and partially because of what you mentioned. I really, really wanted that RID Bruticus repaint from Universe 2.0 though.

[donosaur]

Overhaul garnered my affection based on his kind of adorable alt mode, then transforming into a tiny little angry Wolverine. But on topic:

Love: Hardtop. His alt mode is passable and his cyber key gun is clunky and not as well integrated as many others from this line, but his robot mode is strangely... compelling? He's surprisingly posable and has fairly human proportions, and his simple little headsculpt combined with his crazy color-scheme makes me feel like I'm playing with an evolved G2 toy. The cyberkey gimmick isn't very clever, but it makes sense in terms of play value. I can't help but imagine this guy jogging around, finding cover, switching to sniper mode and taking pot shots at an Autobot shuttle. Basically, the toy compels me to play with it rather than just pose it on a shelf, and that's cool.

Hate: Brakedown. A tiny waste of a decent transformation scheme. Half of him turns into backpack! He has dumb arms! Um. I don't actually have the toy in front of me so I can't critique him more effectively. He's just not fun to me.

[Onslaught Six]

Brakedown is just iffy, yeah. I got him years after in one of those Big Lots or Dollar General-style Universe repacks. Not bad, better than Clocker, but not mindblowing. Loved Hartop though! For ages it was just him and Galaxy Convoy and those were all the new TFs I bought for like six months.

Speaking of...

Loved: Galaxy Convoy. The big thing about him that I think a lot of people miss is that he's *not* strictly an Optimus Prime homage--he's a Ginrai homage. Maybe it's just me but a lot of his elements seriously scream out Ginrai rather than Optimus Prime--his transformation in particular, for example. It's kind of a weird situation--it'd be like making a toy that homaged Storm Jet, who is specifically a toy to homage Jetfire. So much about him, though, is really good. When he's all combined, he looks like a seriously badass robot who could fuck you up. The only complaint I have is that his arms sometimes feel really short; especially if you're trying to get him to hold his super mode cannons like he's holding them.

Hated: Clocker! The thing that broke that six-month streak was my grandmother buying me four Deluxes and four Basics for Christmas, apparently at random (or whatever they had at wherever she went). There were some winners and some clunkers, and Clocker was a clunker. His arms really need a bicep or something; without it, his arm articulation is severely limited, and all of his guns suck. He's clearly, in part, a Hot Rod design homage (the pipearm guns, transformation, elements of his head; at least I think) but all of it's done poorly. His pipearm guns look weird and are too unweildy, and his regular gun either looks really dumb when it's clustered together or is too wide when it's deployed.

[andersonh1]

Hate: Brakedown. A tiny waste of a decent transformation scheme. Half of him turns into backpack! He has dumb arms! Um. I don't actually have the toy in front of me so I can't critique him more effectively. He's just not fun to me.

I love Brakedown. Sure he's flawed in the very ways you describe, but I love the brown/bronze/gray color scheme and the "old guy" characterization. And the auto rolls very well, something that can't always be said for a basic vehicle.

I'm not sure I hate any of the Cybertron figures that I bought. I'm so selective in my purchases as it is that if I see something I think I won't like, I just skip it.

[Dominic]

Dammit, this is a toughie.

"Cybertron" was a great line. Okay, short list: Vector Prime, Recon Team, Stealth Recon Team, Menasor, Metroplex, Landmine, Ransack, Crumplezone, Evac, Optimus Prime........

Seriously, I could add to that list all day. As much as I disliked hunting for toys, it damned good fun finding them.

The only toys I really disliked from that line were the Beast Planet Autobots. Most of those were pretty well awful.


Dom
-never mind that "Cybertron" was the first time in a few years where the US had more, and better, toys than Japan.

[138 Scourge]

Oh, yeah, Hardtop! I forgot about that one. That is a really cool toy. Now I want to figure out where my Hardtop went to.

As for Brakedown, I always liked that one. His transformation is kinda neat, and like anderson, I like the colors on him. And I dig his motorized sword. He's one of the few I liked enough to get the repaint of, as well, so he must have had something going for him.

Optimus, I have to agree, is friggin' fantastic. One of my very favorite Optimii, right after 20th Prime and Powermaster Prime. Amazing toy, it even looks as good in person as the retouched pics on the box do. And I dig the flying firetruck alt mode to no end.

Okay, love!: Scrapmetal. What a neat little toy. I like how the alt mode is sort of equal parts vehicle and insect-like thing. I liked the variety of hand that he could use: "pounders" pointy bits, or hands, that little feature did a lot for this guy. The cyber-key gimmick's sort of silly, turning a gun into a sword, but if you picture a swarm of these guys on top of luckless victim-robots, then the pop-up saw things make sense.

Hated: This part's gonna get difficult, because there were so many toys from Cybertron that were so damn good. I mean, there were a bunch that were "okay", a bunch that were rad, and only a very few that weren't that great. That said, I guess...Override. I never actually bought this one, didn't care for the vehicle mode, wasn't wild about the bot mode, and just did not care for the episodes of the cartoon set on Velocitron. That has little to do with the toy, but it certainly influenced my not buying it.

[Dominic]

General musings on the line:

While "Cybertron" was not as likely to floor me as "Armada" was, it was also less likely to leave me saying "good effort, but not quite".

Put simply , "Cybertron" was a fun line. The character profiles ranged in quality, and were the only real story content I would get for "Cybertron". But, there were only a few toys that were not fun to fiddle with. At the time, I actually cut back on comics enough to justify buying more toys, and "Cybertron" came to be my "every week or so" vice. The fact that the characters came from 6 different worlds meant that there was ample variety in the line. I made a point of buying at least one of each Prime from that line, including the "Emperor" looking one. And, my skip rate was much higher than I wanted it to be. I arguably did not complete any of the subsets I wanted to. But, it did not bother me, as the toys were just so damned fun and displayed so well.


Dom
-still waffling on a favorite.

[donosaur]

You know, I should switch out Clocker for Brakedown in terms of my hate-it spot. I got Hard Top and Clocker in a ROTF 2 pack though, so I felt cheap comparing those two. Yeah, Clocker has problems.

I find it interesting how much we're talking about scouts for this line. Didn't people really hate Leobreaker? I never picked him up, he always looked dreadful.