A quick review turnaround!
Up tonight, two reviews.
First, it’s the Takara re-issue of Astrotrain.
Many thanks to Arion, who picked up Astrotrain for me during her trip to Japan!
Anyway, as an older Transformer, Astrotrain has limited articulation and of course, the animation counterpart looks very dissimilar. Still, he’s neat. Having owned the original American release, I have experience with Astrotrain and taking him out of the package was a blast from the past, even though he’s not in his American colors here. Though it should be noted he is painted to resemble the Space Shuttle. To note the differences, the American release was light grey where this one is white and purple where this one is black.
The box is designed fully with the collector in mind, with a booklet containing information, though obviously not in English as this was a Japanese release and a cover from Dreamwave comics. Astrotrain is secured in a plastic clamshell package that holds his weapon as well.
In robot mode, Astrotrain’s limited to simple articulation, as noted before. Basically, it’s all in his arms, which are mounted on a ball joint, so they have a pretty good range of motion. And that’s it for the articulation. His fists have holes in them to hold his large weapon.
As he is a Triple Changer, he can go to either the shuttle mode or locomotive mode.
Going to either mode is fairly simple from robot mode.
In shuttle mode, Astrotrain resembles the Space Shuttle. Primarily white, with some black trim, Astrotrain looks sharp in shuttle mode. For plastic wheels(2 up front, 2 behind) provide “landing gear” for the shuttle mode.
Flipping the nose up into the legs; flipping the wings against the body; flipping the panels on the lower legs down, and you have the other mode for Astrotrain, the locomotive. In this mode, Astrotrain is pretty much solid black. He has molded train details, such as drive wheels and pistons. The boiler is diecast metal, which is also something the old Transformers contained(though the Japanese versions of the Alternators, Binal Techs, do have metal in them).
As this is a gift, price isn’t an issue, but as with the other re-releases, if you’re a fan of the older Transformers, then Astrotrain is for you.
Next up, we have something that should have been reviewed around November or December, but since I never saw one until yesterday, I couldn’t. Finally, I was able to purchase the Cobra Crimson Command Copter. This is a slight reworking of the G.I. Joe Night Attack Chopper. Done up in red and black, along with a new canopy, rotors, weapons and some addition armor on the missile pods, this helicopter looks different enough.
Though the storyline from Spy Troops: The Movie is that the CCC is a captured NAC that’s retrofitted to serve Cobra. This means that it looking like the NAC fits it’s origin, since that’s what it once was.
As with the NAC, it holds three figures up front, with a few more in the rear. These rear seats are accessible via sliding doors on either side.
New weapons feature a large moveable claw on the bottom of the nose and a new side gun. The missile launchers are the same as before, but feature new panels on the sides and new missiles. The tail also features a new gatling gun mounted on the rear stabilizer.
The CCC comes with new versions of Tomax and Xamot, the Crimson Guard Commanders. Though, it should be noted that while they are new versions of the twins, they are not new molds; in fact, the mold is largely that of the C.L.A.W.S. Commander with the head from Scalpel. Only the red of the CC’s uniform was darkened and his undershirt is now grey, while Scalpel’s hair was darkened and his scar moved around on Xamot’s face. The helmet comes from Spy Troop’s Duke, repainted in red and grey. Still, aside from the funky hands on the CC mold, the new Twins do look nice. One does hope, however, that in the future, we get true twins, and a return to their mirror image manner of dress, which is lacking here.
Coming in around $30 originally and only $20 at KB when I got it, the Crimson Command Copter is a nice deal, since you do get two figures with it. The only problem is the wonky shipping, since it took several months for it to show up here and only since other KB’s have started closing.
First, it’s the Takara re-issue of Astrotrain.
Many thanks to Arion, who picked up Astrotrain for me during her trip to Japan!
Anyway, as an older Transformer, Astrotrain has limited articulation and of course, the animation counterpart looks very dissimilar. Still, he’s neat. Having owned the original American release, I have experience with Astrotrain and taking him out of the package was a blast from the past, even though he’s not in his American colors here. Though it should be noted he is painted to resemble the Space Shuttle. To note the differences, the American release was light grey where this one is white and purple where this one is black.
The box is designed fully with the collector in mind, with a booklet containing information, though obviously not in English as this was a Japanese release and a cover from Dreamwave comics. Astrotrain is secured in a plastic clamshell package that holds his weapon as well.
In robot mode, Astrotrain’s limited to simple articulation, as noted before. Basically, it’s all in his arms, which are mounted on a ball joint, so they have a pretty good range of motion. And that’s it for the articulation. His fists have holes in them to hold his large weapon.
As he is a Triple Changer, he can go to either the shuttle mode or locomotive mode.
Going to either mode is fairly simple from robot mode.
In shuttle mode, Astrotrain resembles the Space Shuttle. Primarily white, with some black trim, Astrotrain looks sharp in shuttle mode. For plastic wheels(2 up front, 2 behind) provide “landing gear” for the shuttle mode.
Flipping the nose up into the legs; flipping the wings against the body; flipping the panels on the lower legs down, and you have the other mode for Astrotrain, the locomotive. In this mode, Astrotrain is pretty much solid black. He has molded train details, such as drive wheels and pistons. The boiler is diecast metal, which is also something the old Transformers contained(though the Japanese versions of the Alternators, Binal Techs, do have metal in them).
As this is a gift, price isn’t an issue, but as with the other re-releases, if you’re a fan of the older Transformers, then Astrotrain is for you.
Next up, we have something that should have been reviewed around November or December, but since I never saw one until yesterday, I couldn’t. Finally, I was able to purchase the Cobra Crimson Command Copter. This is a slight reworking of the G.I. Joe Night Attack Chopper. Done up in red and black, along with a new canopy, rotors, weapons and some addition armor on the missile pods, this helicopter looks different enough.
Though the storyline from Spy Troops: The Movie is that the CCC is a captured NAC that’s retrofitted to serve Cobra. This means that it looking like the NAC fits it’s origin, since that’s what it once was.
As with the NAC, it holds three figures up front, with a few more in the rear. These rear seats are accessible via sliding doors on either side.
New weapons feature a large moveable claw on the bottom of the nose and a new side gun. The missile launchers are the same as before, but feature new panels on the sides and new missiles. The tail also features a new gatling gun mounted on the rear stabilizer.
The CCC comes with new versions of Tomax and Xamot, the Crimson Guard Commanders. Though, it should be noted that while they are new versions of the twins, they are not new molds; in fact, the mold is largely that of the C.L.A.W.S. Commander with the head from Scalpel. Only the red of the CC’s uniform was darkened and his undershirt is now grey, while Scalpel’s hair was darkened and his scar moved around on Xamot’s face. The helmet comes from Spy Troop’s Duke, repainted in red and grey. Still, aside from the funky hands on the CC mold, the new Twins do look nice. One does hope, however, that in the future, we get true twins, and a return to their mirror image manner of dress, which is lacking here.
Coming in around $30 originally and only $20 at KB when I got it, the Crimson Command Copter is a nice deal, since you do get two figures with it. The only problem is the wonky shipping, since it took several months for it to show up here and only since other KB’s have started closing.