Death's Head
08-08-11, 09:11 AM
Looking back on it now, it’s interesting to note how colourful 2010’s Hunt For The Decepticon line was. This might not come as something too suprising or outrageous, but for a movie themed line, it made for a suprising change from the monotony of the blacks and silvers of previous movie toys. Less realistic, perhaps, but with their strong, vibrant, colours and bright, colourful packaging they really caught the eye.
Hailstorm was a ubiquitous presence at UK retail. Along with the HFTD repaints of Skids and Arcee (as Elita -1), he was a toy that seemed to be forever shelf warming. That he was a squat, green tank (yawn) with a rather cuboid robot mode meant he was easy to pass over or be dismissive of. There were better toys to look out for, after all. And yet, this does Hailstorm a massive disservice as he is actually a cracking little fellow.
His missile launcher mode is great. A boxy, powerful looking thing with huge treads and a swivelling kinetic missile launcher array decked out for the most part in military green. There’s an odd mix of some urban camouflage splattered along the sides of the missile launcher which is at odds with the dominating colour scheme, but it stops it being boring. Shame it looks a bit like someone’s smeared bird muck down the sides though. There are some nice bronze/ gold highlights (most noticeable on the treads) and the detailing is exceptional. Only the cab looks a bit odd, as if someone forgot to fix in the bit of clear plastic that would give the impression of windows.
Transforming to robot mode is done through some clever engineering. The treads fold up allowing the arms to move out from under the chassis, whilst the legs unfold from the front of the vehicle mode. Most impressive is the manner in which the torso moves into place in a piston-like movement. On my version, this mechanism is very stiff warranting a good degree of force applying to it. The best bit is splitting open the missile launcher to form those shoulder rocket launchers. This could have easily been left just hanging on Hailstorm’s back, so it’s great to see someone thinking that this could make a neat play feature in robot mode too. As the two launchers are on a set of ‘arms’, they can be positioned as you please, to an extent.
As a robot, Hailstorm is a short, aggressive looking chap. He has a cubed head, with a right grumpy expression, massive arms with great clawed hands, a powerful looking body and stumpy, clompy legs. He’s decently articulated so can be posed in allsorts of threatening stances and thanks to the excellent engineering in his legs and those huge feet, he does all that without toppling over. He’s a very angry and threatening looking robot. He’s nicely detailed with some superb paint applications and attention to detail.
All this good work is slightly undone, however, when you put him next to any other deluxe class figure from the movie lines. He is tiny. A fraction bigger than the largest Scout Class toy in his range (Insecticon), he is nevertheless a disappointingly small figure. This puts him in my mind into the same sort of league as Rumble- that of a small, aggressive brawler with access to too much firepower. It’s perhaps not quite what was intended, but despite all the good work done on the engineering, design and paint applications, it is a slight disappointment to see such a well crafted figure turn out to be less impressive than his gait and demeanour would have you believe. In terms of value for money, you don’t get much for the full rrp, but if you’re lucky enough to see him on clearance then he’s a much a better buy.
100101
Hailstorm was a ubiquitous presence at UK retail. Along with the HFTD repaints of Skids and Arcee (as Elita -1), he was a toy that seemed to be forever shelf warming. That he was a squat, green tank (yawn) with a rather cuboid robot mode meant he was easy to pass over or be dismissive of. There were better toys to look out for, after all. And yet, this does Hailstorm a massive disservice as he is actually a cracking little fellow.
His missile launcher mode is great. A boxy, powerful looking thing with huge treads and a swivelling kinetic missile launcher array decked out for the most part in military green. There’s an odd mix of some urban camouflage splattered along the sides of the missile launcher which is at odds with the dominating colour scheme, but it stops it being boring. Shame it looks a bit like someone’s smeared bird muck down the sides though. There are some nice bronze/ gold highlights (most noticeable on the treads) and the detailing is exceptional. Only the cab looks a bit odd, as if someone forgot to fix in the bit of clear plastic that would give the impression of windows.
Transforming to robot mode is done through some clever engineering. The treads fold up allowing the arms to move out from under the chassis, whilst the legs unfold from the front of the vehicle mode. Most impressive is the manner in which the torso moves into place in a piston-like movement. On my version, this mechanism is very stiff warranting a good degree of force applying to it. The best bit is splitting open the missile launcher to form those shoulder rocket launchers. This could have easily been left just hanging on Hailstorm’s back, so it’s great to see someone thinking that this could make a neat play feature in robot mode too. As the two launchers are on a set of ‘arms’, they can be positioned as you please, to an extent.
As a robot, Hailstorm is a short, aggressive looking chap. He has a cubed head, with a right grumpy expression, massive arms with great clawed hands, a powerful looking body and stumpy, clompy legs. He’s decently articulated so can be posed in allsorts of threatening stances and thanks to the excellent engineering in his legs and those huge feet, he does all that without toppling over. He’s a very angry and threatening looking robot. He’s nicely detailed with some superb paint applications and attention to detail.
All this good work is slightly undone, however, when you put him next to any other deluxe class figure from the movie lines. He is tiny. A fraction bigger than the largest Scout Class toy in his range (Insecticon), he is nevertheless a disappointingly small figure. This puts him in my mind into the same sort of league as Rumble- that of a small, aggressive brawler with access to too much firepower. It’s perhaps not quite what was intended, but despite all the good work done on the engineering, design and paint applications, it is a slight disappointment to see such a well crafted figure turn out to be less impressive than his gait and demeanour would have you believe. In terms of value for money, you don’t get much for the full rrp, but if you’re lucky enough to see him on clearance then he’s a much a better buy.
100101