Death's Head
25-11-11, 09:02 AM
Like the film upon which the toys are based, the figures backing up Dark Of The Moon feel like they’ve come out with a sense of obligation rather than because anyone particularly wanted them. The Cyberverse sub-line seems to bear this out. Whilst the deluxe toys have been strong sellers, the shelves are choked with unwanted Cyberverse Legion and Leader Class toys and frankly its not hard to see why. The Cyberverse line is a continuation of sorts of the cracker toy Legends line which are 3” simplified Transformers toys and ostensibly squished down renderings of larger figures. The simplicity of these Legends toys and their odd looking nature has bled into what used to be the Scout Class line. So it is that the budget spectrum of the Dark Of The Moon toyline has become filled with oversized Legends toys that wouldn’t look out of place next to the sort of comical looking bootlegs you find in Poundland.
The selling point, such as it is, is that the Cyberverse toys can interact with a series of playsets – most of which are largely absent from UK toy shelves, leaving you with a clutter of cheaply produced but expensive to buy ugly looking toys that no one seems to have much interest in. There are two figures from the Cyberverse line that have garnered some interest though : Powerglide and Guzzle. This has less to do with any particular merits the toys may have and more to do with familiarity and recognition from older fans looking to pad out the ranks of their Classics collection with anything vaguely G1-esque. Powerglide falls prey to all the usual problems movie-verse aeroplane Transformers have, particularly at this scale, in that he looks like a walking pile of aircraft parts. Guzzle, by comparison is a much better toy, having a solid, boxy tank mode to work with.
Like all Transformers toys these days, Guzzle comes packaged in robot mode. For giggles, once you’ve got Guzzle out of his package, just stand him next to his packet. Go on, it’s funny. The box is over five times the size of the actual toy. I think I spent more money on the actual packaging than I did the toy. Cheers, Hasbro. Guzzle is an impressive little toy. Clearly borrowing some of Nick Roche’s design from Last Stand Of The Wreckers, Guzzle is pretty much his 1980s counterpart stuffed into the Movie-verse line. He’s not the impressive reimagining of ROTF’s Bludgeon but just a good, highly detailed update of a ‘fan favourite’ (Forever a euphemism for ‘appeared in the old stuff from the 1980s so must have some cache’ these days). The detailing is what sells Guzzle. Hasbro’s designers have gone to town on the guy – he’s a busy looking fellow, all sinews of metal and wire. Paint apps are pretty sparse, just being daubs of silver, yellow and blue really, but they do the job. Being a movie-verse figure, his proportions are quite simian and a bit odd looking. His arms and hands are absolutely massive, whilst his legs are stuck at an awkward angle giving him a slightly stumpy look. He has some articulation – his arms move at the shoulder and elbow and the legs move at the hip, knee and ankle – but he can’t do much with it owing to his gait. On a further bum note, he’s two thirds the size of previous years’ Scout Class figures, so is an awkward fit into a wider movie-verse collection or , indeed, a Classics collection Although as the latter hasn’t exactly being overflowing with figures in this scale. probably works a little better. Or would do if his aesthetic wasn’t a bad fit for the cartoon derived Classics designs.
Transforming Guzzle to tank is pretty easy. The only sequence that isn’t much fun is clipping the halves of the tank treads together, which requires a ‘just so’ alignment of the parts to clip the peg on the front treads to clip into the holes on the rear ones. It’s a very tight fit and I’ve noticed on my figure that this scrapes the paint off the top of the robot thighs which the rear treads form. Another clever use of an unsuitable material at a point that requires careful handling.
Overall I’m not sure what I make of Guzzle, yes he is a good little toy (little being the operative word), particularly for his size, but he just seems symptomatic of a wider malaise in the current crop of Dark Of The Moon Transformers toys which has an overall theme of “will this do?” I suppose a joyless film deserves a joyless toyline.
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The selling point, such as it is, is that the Cyberverse toys can interact with a series of playsets – most of which are largely absent from UK toy shelves, leaving you with a clutter of cheaply produced but expensive to buy ugly looking toys that no one seems to have much interest in. There are two figures from the Cyberverse line that have garnered some interest though : Powerglide and Guzzle. This has less to do with any particular merits the toys may have and more to do with familiarity and recognition from older fans looking to pad out the ranks of their Classics collection with anything vaguely G1-esque. Powerglide falls prey to all the usual problems movie-verse aeroplane Transformers have, particularly at this scale, in that he looks like a walking pile of aircraft parts. Guzzle, by comparison is a much better toy, having a solid, boxy tank mode to work with.
Like all Transformers toys these days, Guzzle comes packaged in robot mode. For giggles, once you’ve got Guzzle out of his package, just stand him next to his packet. Go on, it’s funny. The box is over five times the size of the actual toy. I think I spent more money on the actual packaging than I did the toy. Cheers, Hasbro. Guzzle is an impressive little toy. Clearly borrowing some of Nick Roche’s design from Last Stand Of The Wreckers, Guzzle is pretty much his 1980s counterpart stuffed into the Movie-verse line. He’s not the impressive reimagining of ROTF’s Bludgeon but just a good, highly detailed update of a ‘fan favourite’ (Forever a euphemism for ‘appeared in the old stuff from the 1980s so must have some cache’ these days). The detailing is what sells Guzzle. Hasbro’s designers have gone to town on the guy – he’s a busy looking fellow, all sinews of metal and wire. Paint apps are pretty sparse, just being daubs of silver, yellow and blue really, but they do the job. Being a movie-verse figure, his proportions are quite simian and a bit odd looking. His arms and hands are absolutely massive, whilst his legs are stuck at an awkward angle giving him a slightly stumpy look. He has some articulation – his arms move at the shoulder and elbow and the legs move at the hip, knee and ankle – but he can’t do much with it owing to his gait. On a further bum note, he’s two thirds the size of previous years’ Scout Class figures, so is an awkward fit into a wider movie-verse collection or , indeed, a Classics collection Although as the latter hasn’t exactly being overflowing with figures in this scale. probably works a little better. Or would do if his aesthetic wasn’t a bad fit for the cartoon derived Classics designs.
Transforming Guzzle to tank is pretty easy. The only sequence that isn’t much fun is clipping the halves of the tank treads together, which requires a ‘just so’ alignment of the parts to clip the peg on the front treads to clip into the holes on the rear ones. It’s a very tight fit and I’ve noticed on my figure that this scrapes the paint off the top of the robot thighs which the rear treads form. Another clever use of an unsuitable material at a point that requires careful handling.
Overall I’m not sure what I make of Guzzle, yes he is a good little toy (little being the operative word), particularly for his size, but he just seems symptomatic of a wider malaise in the current crop of Dark Of The Moon Transformers toys which has an overall theme of “will this do?” I suppose a joyless film deserves a joyless toyline.
12281229