Swivelbot
2024-12-15 03:25:07 UTC
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PermalinkThe Autobots Stand United 5-Pack was super difficult to obtain in my
area here in Canada, I spent weeks, I’m not joking, looking for it
online, eventually I managed to snag one from an online store in The
Netherlands called tf-robots.nl, and I’m glad I did, because this pack
is pretty neat.
The figures within it come in a big sexy box with a big sexy flap. The
box is probably the best looking Gen Selects box I’ve ever seen, Opening
the box reveals all five figures in their glory, or it would, if their
glory wasn’t hidden behind an excruciating number of ties.
All of the figures came in exceedingly good condition, no loose joints
at all. Each of them feature this really nice finish, strongly evoking
their animated appearances in the G1 Cartoon.
I’ll go through them individually, each of them deserves it.
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AUTOBOT JAZZ
Studio Series 86 Jazz was another victim of my area's scarcity curse, he
pretty much disappeared everywhere after his first round. And my
original had a number of problems, his windshield cracked and his head
ball joint snapped off white I was transforming it one day.
That was around 2 Years ago, and I had been hunting for one for a while.
So how does this new one hold up? Well…
The paintwork (which I’ll remind you, is the point of this set) is
dazzling, in retrospect, the original was kind of lacking, the United
one has the blue stripe on the chest actually reach up to the neck,
which looks great, and has new racing stripes on his shin fenders and
Whale Tail heels, The front grill is left unpainted, maybe as a way to
declutter the front, but it’s shaded enough that I had to question the
prior statement multiple times, all the silver paint is also replaced
with flat gray, save for the wheels and the Photon Rifle, which looks so
much better because the ports on the sides are now painted as well.
Otherwise, he’s pretty much identical to the 86 figure, possibility is
as good as ever, and it probably feels the most like the character out
of the whole set.
The transformation is alright, though the lack of clear parts in the set
make it significantly less anxiety-inducing, it still is just an alright
experience, the coolest part is when the front wheels flip out, evoking
his G1 transformation sequence effortlessly, his right shin does tend to
come off its hinge when going back to robot mode.
Totally-Not-A-Porsche-935 Mode is still neat, The feet hanging out at
the back is still ugly, but it’s really not that big of a deal (Jazz
would love his alt mode customized) The Whale Tail spoiler The new paint
applications are a lot more pretty looking this time around, with the
blue stripe across the middle now a darker shade, and the red instripe
has been reduced. The new blue paint on the windows is very pretty, but
still it does make them look a little out of place with other figures
like Kingdom Tracks or Earthrise Hoist, this problem will come back for
Sunstreaker. Strangely, blue paint on the windows is also used for his
shin stripes, which is accurate (But, that’s not always a compliment, is
it?)
ASU Jazz is (IMO) a straight upgrade from 86, he looks very pretty.
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SUNSTREAKER
I never actually got my hands on Earthrise Sunstreaker or his redecoes,
so this mold was totally new to me when I got this set.
He looks absolutely incredible, the yellow on the ER figure didn’t look
the best, and this new yellow (which is very similar to your average
cheese) looks really nice with the dark gray they’ve used instead of the
black from the original, but this brings up a problem, the dark gray may
look nice on the figure with the rest of the pack in mind, compared to
Kingdom Sideswipe, his brother, he doesn’t look amazing, but this is a
significantly bigger problem in the vehicle mode, and isn’t that
noticeable if I cope hard enough.
Sunstreaker and Wheeljack didn’t come with handheld weapons in
Earthrise, being forced to go into battle with only their Superchargers
and Shoulder cannons was something I didn’t like. So now they’re packed
with redecoes of Legacy Elita-One’s guns, one based on Elita-One’s
pistol from “The Search for Alpha Trion” and the other based on
Nightbeat/Minerva’s rifle. Sunstreaker is marketed with the
Nightbeat/Minerva rifle, and it looks great in his hand, in great
contrast to Wheeljack, where the gun looks out of place (We’ll get to
it)
Articulation on Sunstreaker is excellent. He’s probably the most posable
out of the whole set, It’s between him and Jazz, partly due to their
lack of the restrictions that Wheeljack, Hound, and Trailbreaker share.
Transformation is really nice and really similar, but somehow better
than Wheeljack’s. The way the feet work is borderline magic, and using
that to hide an Autobot symbol for car mode is ingenious.
Totally-Not-A-Lamborghini-Countach mode is alright, the lack of spoiler,
while tolerable on Sideswipe, hurts Sunstreaker the most due to the
presence of the Supercharger engine on the back. But have no fear, the
back bumper has been painted silver so it can pretend to be a spoiler
and it looks awful, painting it the same as the main body would probably
not look great, but I think they should have just left it blank.
Speaking of paint, the Blue Windshield hits Sunstreaker the hardest,
again, it looks great on its own, but next to Kingdom Sideswipe… Ouch,
if I cope really hard, It could be that Sideswipe just has a customized
windshield. It may be my love for the Sunstreaker character and his
double act with Sideswipe but I’m letting it get to me!
ASU Sunstreaker looks great on his own, and is a great figure, but
suffers visually in a group.
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TRAILBREAKER
I never got Earthrise Trailbreaker either, it seems Trailbreaker and
Sunstreaker were affected by the curse as well, but I did get Hoist
(Favouritism because Hoist is my favourite Transformers character? It’s
more likely than you think!)
Earthrise Trailbreaker is very pretty… on his own.
Again, the blue windshield looks out of place with figures that don’t
have one, outside of that, however, he looks great, the red looks really
great and the gray is very nice. The gun hand is now painted with the
same black cuffs as the regular arms, which looks very nice. But the gut
section reveals one of my major problems with the set. A lot of the
Autobot symbols in the set are misaligned, not so bad that it’s
terrible, but just enough that I notice it, Trailbreaker’s chest symbol
is the most misaligned out of the set.
The proportions are not at all accurate to his comparatively slender G1
character model, but one of my favourite things about the Hilux
Transformer Build is how round it is, so this is fine, his head bothers
me though, while the head itself is fine, he looks really angry, which
is not an emotion I associate with Trailbreaker, he’s an occasionally
depressed jokester, not Ironhide.
Articulation is generally good, he can kneel really well, and he has all
the joints he needs, but he’s held back by a lot of little things. For
instance, his hips joints, retooled from Hoist, can no longer raise when
you turn the waist. His head is also really difficult to move because of
all of the equipment on his back.
Transformation is pretty great, the camper shell does come off a big
more than I would like, but no big deal, just reattach it and it does
stay in place relatively well, Transforming this thing a few times made
me realize something about the figures construction, the top half of
this molds torso is held in with the same hinge as the vehicle hood, and
tabs into place, It’s very secure on Hoist, but Trailbreaker’s comes out
more than I’d prefer.
Camper Truck mode is… breathtaking. It feels really dense in your hands,
the blue windows help this mode more than any others, since this time
they’ve painted ALL the windows. Front still looks a bit odd, but the
charcoal colouration helps it so much, it’s large, flat, and gray.
ASU Trailbreaker is a great robot mode with an exceptional vehicle mode.
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WHEELJACK
Earthrise Wheeljack had this really ugly off-white colouration that just
got uglier after I saw the pictures of this guy floating around.
Wheeljack is now a very stark white, and it looks impeccable, the new
white coupled with the gray that replaces the deep black of the
Earthrise figure just makes him pop, the new design on the trademark
belly roof just looks amazing, The Shoulder Cannon is now a bright
silver, and this strangely makes it look blurry in the physical realm,
it doesn’t stand out. He also lacks a lot of the racing sponsorship
decals that littered the Earthrise figure. But this will come back in
the vehicle mode.
Articulation is good, but a bit hampered by the shapes of the shoulders
colliding with the back. The hands are still really ugly due to what I
call “Earthrise Megatron Hand™” where the hand is attached to a plate
that juts out further than the hand. I think it looks really ugly,
regardless of its necessity. The lower legs also come untabbed a bit too
much.
As I said, Sunstreaker and Wheeljack didn’t come with guns originally,
so they now have new weapons, Wheeljack is marketed with a rifle that is
based off of, and originally came with, Legacy Elita-One, and it doesn’t
look the greatest, I don’t like how over-detailed it is, and due to his
“Earthrise Megatron Hand™ in most poses it looks like the gun is just
sitting on top of the hand instead of him actually holding it.
Transformation is just okay, you pretty much just lay him down flat on
the ground and sort out some giblets. The roof isn’t held in place very
securely on my copy, and this is a problem on Sunstreaker as well, but
your mileage may vary.
Totally-Not-A-Lancia-Stratos mode looks… good. The lack of sponsorship
details is very accurate to the G1 Cartoon, but in the physical world
it’s kind of a mixed bag for me, on one hand, the vehicle looks rather
plain, but on the other hand, it’s a blank slate for customization or
stickering (I admire its purity) The windshield really bothers me, it
simply refuses to sit flush with the main chassis, TFWiki.net says it’s
due to a retool of the armature connecting the roof with the waist, but
I’ve checked and I can’t find any differences between the one on this
figure, and the one on the Earthrise figure, So it might just be due to
something else.
ASU Wheeljack is the least interesting thing in the set, but he’s not
bad.
(And I’m still looking for a Shattered Glass Collection
Wheeljack/Slicer, so if anyone knows where I can find one for a decent
price, tell me)
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AUTOBOT HOUND
And now, the moment we were all waiting for.
Hound is a MAJOR retool of Siege Hound, almost everything has been
replaced, The new paintjob is slavishly cartoon-accurate, the bright
parts are a bright green that I can only describe as “Apple-Like” the
darker main green is very pretty in person, and really sells Hound as
who he is in the cartoon better than the Siege one did. Hound’s back
doesn’t look great though, as the hyper-detailed vehicle mode “seats”
just make him look gappy, and he still has the tabs that the Siege
figures back kibble plugged into.
Hound has always been two vibes, Maybe best exemplified by his two
different but equally good CHUG Toys, Universe ‘08 Hound was a charming
forest friend, and Siege cranked up the combat and Hound still found
himself right at home in his full fighting fatigues. But this figure
seems to be going for a hybrid of both, he looks significantly more buff
than his G1 Model due to his bulkier build that he gets from the Siege
version, but this has the added downside of making them look extremely
distinct from each other, to the point where they almost look like
different characters.
Articulation is a bit hampered by his huge new hood chest. But he still
can pull off everything he needs to. The Rocket Laun- Sorry, “Hologram
Projector” is on a shallow peg, so it can be rotated around freely, it
probably has more articulation than Hounds neck joint, because the new
larger head simply cannot look upwards.
He comes with some new weapons based directly off his shrimpy little
pistol from his Character Model, which I understand comes from a
misinterpretation of his G1 Box Art’s dynamic foreshortening, and his
“Hologram Projector” which consists of two pieces, the “Hologram” and
the “Projector” The Ho- okay, it’s a rocket launcher. The ROCKET is a
very tight fit on its peg, because it’s a round peg going into a
hexagonal hole.
Transformation is exactly the same as the Siege figure, but without the
kibble folding out. But the way the legs work is still really nice.
The Jeep mode is… alright, it’s missing a lot of things and
proportionately it’s a bit awkward, I just think Hound needs the turret
on the back, but that is probably on us to add if we so desire. The hood
is pointed downwards and this makes it a little ugly from the front, not
helped by his lack of rear view mirrors. All in all, it’s okay, but it’s
blatantly obvious that this is a retool compared to the other figures in
the set.
ASU Hound is a charming enough figure that does what it sets out to do,
and with a few upgrades, can become truly what it’s meant to be. He
still doesn’t get to be human though.
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Overall, The Transformers Generations Selects: Legacy United Autobots
Stand United Five-Pack *breathes in* is pretty good, it’s a good way to
get a good selection of figures with nice paintjobs, they look rad as a
gang, And it does let you get yourself one of those new fangled Earth
Mode Hounds.
I do recommend it, but good luck finding one.
Swivelbot (Hasbro. Windcharger when)