Dave's Transformers EarthSpark Rant: Warrior waves 2 and 3

Megatron (cargo plane)
Terran Thrash (motorcycle with sidecar)
Terran Jawbreaker (pachycephalosaur)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/ES/Warrior2-3

So, I'm definitely NOT getting Thrash's wavemate (a redeco of the
crappy Cyberverse Warrior Starscream), and I found Jawbreaker and Megatron
before I got done plowing through Rise of the Beasts toys, so might as well
do all three together. (The reviews are in serial number order, even though
that puts Thrash in the middle of wave 3.)
Apologies to anyone for whom this review was a Significant Spoiler,
since as of July 2023 Jawbreaker hadn't yet gotten his altmode in the show
(assuming it's not a fake-out like all those Rescue Bots vehicle modes that
never appeared on the cartoon, but the rather limited toy line argues against
wasting a slot on a non-show mode).

CAPSULES

$15 price point.

Megatron: Vehicle mode isn't really worth the hassle of transforming,
but if you just want a reasonably show-accurate robot mode this is at least
cheaper than the Deluxe. Mildly recommended.

Terran Thrash: Okay, this is extremely good for a Warrior. It's not
without some flaws, but it's pretty show-accurate, with good articulation and
a reasonably solid vehicle mode. Recommended.

Terran Jawbreaker: This is more of a "pretty good for a Warrior" toy.
Some issues of hollowness, and altmode suffering from the desire to get a
more show-accurate robot mode without building in enough joints to
significantly change the shapes. Low end of recommended.

RANTS

Packaging: same sort of sturdy partial tray deal as wave 1 Warriors. As
with previous toys, Terrans don't have their own faction symbol on the
packaging, just Autobot symbols.

DECEPTICON: MEGATRON
Assortment: F6727
Altmode: Cargo Plane
Transformation Difficulty: 15 steps
Previous Name Use: Yes
Previous Mold Use: None
GHOST Affiliated: Yes

Packaging: Three rattan strings hold the robot to the cardback, and one
string wrapped around it three times holds the cannon/sword weapon in.
The card has the GHOST/Decepticon symbol.

Robot Mode: Pretty close to the animation model, only a minimum of
vehicle kibble (rotors on the elbows, tailfins sticking off the sides of the
knees). Not all the colors are right (needs more red on the elbows), but
otherwise pretty good for a Warrior. The cannon is a bit bulky compared to
the scale of the animation model, but it's not broken up into pieces like the
Deluxe version's, and contains a simple gimmick.
5.25" (13cm) tall at the head, the shoulderpads are a tiny bit taller
and rather wide. In the usual gray, black and red of Megatrons. Shiny
medium-light gray plastic is used for the torso/head, shoulderpads,
forearms/fists, rotor roots on the elbows, thighs, feet, and the blade hidden
inside the cannon. Black plastic for the inner shoulders, upper arms,
pelvis, hip flaps, boots, rotors, and the cannon.
Gloss red paint is used for the eyes, some vents atop the torso, fronts
of the abdomen flanks, inner edges of the thighs. It glows really strongly
under UV. Silver paint is used for the fists, the tops of the thighs, the
tailfins sticking off the sides of the knees, and the back end of the cannon.
The cockpit windows on the belly are gloss light blue, and a purple
GHOST/Decepticon is printed on the sternum. There's no paint on the face.
The head does not turn, but the waist does, if very stiffly. Ball joint
shoulders, elbows, hips, and ankles. The shoulderpads have transformation
struts that let them move around usefully a little. Hinge knees. The hip
flaps are on ball joints.
5mm sockets in the fists, outer faces of the forearms, and under the
heels. There's a 3mm socket in the back of the pelvis, and another on the
outer face of the cannon.
The cannon is 2.75" (7cm) long when folded up, and has a 5mm peg on the
left side near the back. While it can technically go on either arm, it's
upside down if you put it on the left arm. Rather than use a spring action
for the gimmick, there's simply a bit on the left side of the barrel you can
turn to swing the sword blade out. Another rather stiff joint, but you
really only need to get the blade out a little and you can grab the tip of
the sword for better leverage. The blade is kind of like a stack of diamond
shapes, inspired by the G1 Megatron toy's sword. When deployed, the whole
thing is 4.25" (10.5cm) long.

Transformation: I had to carve a lot of mold flash off to get the
transformation tabs to seat properly. Even then it wasn't great for the
front end (shoulderpads). Note, to get the chest cockpit out, poke the back
side of the swivel with the sword to get it far enough out to grab and turn
around to cover the head.
The cockpit swings up to cover the face and the shoulderpads snap
together (more or less) over the head to make the front end. Just bend the
elbows the right way and latch the propellor bases into slots on the upper
arms. Turn the waist and fold the boots double with the toes going onto tabs
on the back of the belt. Getting it all connected takes a fair amount of
force, though. The hip flaps have tabs that go into the thigh stress slots.
Finally, the cannon has nonstandard tabs that got into slots on the lower
shins.

Vehicle Mode: I mean...from the waist forwards they did a decent enough
job of replicating the oddball tiltrotor cargo plane mode, but the tail end
is way too big. A lotta junk in the trunk, as it were. Even worse once you
attach the cannon. They did try with some of the detailing, at least, with
little non-moving wheels molded into the struts sticking out of the robot
back, and the vents on top of the shins becoming jet exhausts here. If the
front end is supposed to lock in place, I can't get it to do so. The
hollowness of the forearms results in the outer faces of the engine pods
being hollow.
4.75" (12cm) long and 6.25" (16cm) wide including the rotor circles. No
new plastics visible, color balance is about the same as in robot mode, no
new paints. The fists are sort of accessible pointing backwards from the
inner faces of the engine pods, the cannon attaches via nonstandard (and not
very firmly held) tabs.
The rotors spin freely, no other intentional articulation. You can tilt
the rotors if you unlock the tabs on the forearms, but there's no alternative
locking position.
Really, this mode is not worth the bother of transforming the toy, given
all the stiff joints and unstable bits. (It doesn't move well where it's
supposed to move, and moves too easily in places where it shouldn't.)

Overall: Decent robot mode, transformation is a real quality control
crapshoot, vehicle mode is kinda meh. Better than the Deluxe? Nah, but not
a whole lot behind it, and cheaper.

TERRAN: TERRAN THRASH
Assortment: F6729
Altmode: Motorcycle with sidecar
Transformation Difficulty: 15 steps
Previous Name Use: None
Previous Mold Use: None
GHOST Affiliated: No

Packaging: Four rattan strings hold the robot to the tray, including a
string that holds the hands behind the back inside a folded out block piece.
The sidecar weapon is held in by one string that loops around twice. Unlike
Megatron's card, there isn't a gap large enough through which to pull the
instructions, so the card sides need to be cut open.

Robot Mode: He has that sort of spindly retro-robot look about him, like
he shouldn't even be able to stand up while holding his shield weapon (while
mostly used as a shield or Captain America style in the cartoon, it is molded
with very clear cannon barrels at the pointy end as well as flipped out over
the passenger seat). He has goggles molded onto his head, but sadly they
can't be flipped down over his eyes. His calves are basically motorcycle
wheels, so it looks like he skipped everything but lower leg day at the gym.
He has some hollowness issues, but given the slender nature of most of his
body parts they're not too bad, even when held to a Deluxe standard.
5.25" (13cm) tall and mostly light silvery gray and faintly metallic
somewhat dulled green, with some bits of light blue and faintly greenish
gold. Light silvery gray plastic is used for the head, torso, pelvis,
shoulder struts, backpack, forearms, knees/wheel forks, not-kickstand on the
right foot, and the body of the shield. Green plastic is used for the upper
arms, thighs, and the lower shin/foot pieces. Black plastic is used for all
three wheels, as well as the weapon barrel pieces that fold out of the
shield.
The face is painted metallic dull green in a decent match to the
plastic, with light blue (verging on light teal) eyes. The goggles are
painted slightly greenish gold with light blue lenses. The headlight detail
on the chest has a metallic dull green housing and light blue lens. The
shoulders are painted "sequin black" (super dark gunmetal) with dull silver
fronts that match the plastic pretty well. The hip pads are greenish gold,
with pipe detailing on the thighs painted dull silver.
The neck is a swivel, a bit restricted by the chin hitting the collar,
and the waist is also a swivel. Ball joint shoulders, elbows, and hips. The
knees are hinges. There's transformation hinges in the upper shins, try to
avoid bending them in this mode unless you want it to look like Thrash got
into a horrible accident and broke his legs. The lack of ankle joints does
make it difficult to find dynamic poses that are stable. Also be careful
with the knees, they can bend backwards a bit for transformation.
The fists can hold 5mm pegs, there's 5mm sockets on both outer forearms
close to the elbows, and another socket on the back for shield storage.
There's a 3mm socket on the back of the pelvis, although it's blocked by the
shield if you have it stowed.
The shield doesn't look a whole lot like a sidecar, in large part due to
the lack of paint...if they'd painted the windshield and the sorta-seat
inside, the resemblance would be stronger. With the main tribarrel cannon
folded out, it's 2.75" (7cm) long, with a 5mm peg on the back side for
attaching to either forearm or to the back. It can be held in a fist as
well, it just doesn't look as good that way. In addition to the main barrel,
tehre's a second one that covers most of the sidecar seat, and I suppose
might be intended as a scope, or maybe a grenade launcher or smoke dispenser.
While he has not done this on the show that I can recall, you can sort
of get a wheel-foot mode by bending his legs for transformation. It makes
him kinda short, though, almost Beast Machines Rattrap-like.