Dave's Transformers Collaborative Rant: Universal Monsters

Frankentron (retool of Impactor)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Collab/Frankentron

https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/DeluxeS4 - Impactor mold

Yes, this is the fourth version of the Impactor mold I've bought, but
it's the first to not be a version of Impactor. And it's a good mold.

This is the second Universal Monsters Collaborative, after Draculus, and
in anticipation of this I kitbashed a spare Minerva into Minerva
Wollstonecraft Shelley. Here she is presenting her creation:

http://www.dvandom.com/kitbash/MinervaShelley4.JPG (replace the 4 with 1
through 3 to see more pictures of her)

This does have a pretty hefty licensing tax, something I avoided on
Draculus by getting one on sale.

CAPSULE

$35 at HasbroPulse.

Frankentron: Original mold was strongly recommended. This does quite a
bit with changing basically one sprue and adding a new weapon and Fire
Blast. A bit overpriced, but still recommended.

RANT

Packaging: The same sort of VHS-inspired slipcase box, where the outer
box deco is reminiscent of the fancier themed set boxes, while the inner box
is patterned as a very thick VHS tape. As with Draculus, it's got little
tabs inside to keep it from sliding all the way out of the box unless you
apply extra force, which I guess was a concession to how this might actually
be on the shelf somewhere (Draculus was technically on the shelf at Target in
their Collectibles section). You do need to pull it all the way out and cut
some tape to get at the instructions, but the ties holding the toy into the
box can be cut without doing that.
The front art depicts Frankentron in the classic "monster rising from
the slab with mad science lightning in the background" scene. The back has
renders of both modes plus an inset showing the new Fire Blast effect on the
new cannon barrel in tank mode. The packaging puts a Decepticon symbol next
to his name, but otherwise doesn't use the term Decepticon. It also doesn't
list the number of transformation steps on back, same as Draculon's box. The
Collaborative logo has neck bolts on it. On the "tape label" below the title
Frankenstein and the name Frankentron is "ITS ALIVE" in Cybertronian glyphs
(which lack an apostrophe).

DECEPTICON: FRANKENTRON
Assortment: F7141
Altmode: Cybertronian Tank
Transformation Difficulty:
Previous Name Use: None
Previous Mold Use: Siege, Legacy

Packaging: Six ties hold the robot into the tray. Two ties hold the new
electro-cannon to the right of the robot, and one holds the electrical Fire
Blast in the bottom compartment.

Color Swaps: Not really a simple swap, annoyingly. Most of the toy is
now very dark brownish gray plastic that looks black under normal room
lighting. The new-mold pieces are a shiny pale green plastic. The light
gray parts that weren't replaced are non-shiny slightly lighter pale green.
The shoulder cannon, inner shoulder blocks, feet and toes are light gray
plastic (lighter than the gray on Impactor). The blast effect is clear
purple plastic.

Paint Apps: The non-face parts of the head are painted gunmetal, which
is also used on the upper right (his right) of the chestplate and the vent
molded on the front of the right thigh. Silver paint covers most of the
Tesla-coil-inspired new cannon, the neck bolts, the vents on top of the
forearms, the cupola-like bits on the undersides of the forearms (outer faces
of the turret), the vent on the lower central chest, belt bits, the studded
band around the left thigh, the shin details, the drive wheels of the tank
treads, and some panels on the backs of the boots (rear fender edges). The
eyes, inside of the shoulder cannon, and the depression on top of the
shoulder cannon barrel are painted red. A pale metallic green paint (darker
than the lighter of the green plastics) is used on the upper left chest, the
kneecap greebles. Purple paint is used for some details on the back, plus
giant Decepticon symbols partially visible on the sides of the boots (they
look like just dazzle camo at first glance since the purple doesn't really
stand out against the dark plastic, I had to look more carefully under
stronger light to see the pattern). There's also a nearly invisible purple
Decepticon symbol printed on the darkest part of the right side of the
chestplate.
In vehicle mode, the front drive wheels are painted silver just like the
rear ones, as are the front end claws (mine-sifters more or less). The other
side of the shoulder cannon has some dark gunmetal stripes on top, and a
printed Decepticon symbol that's rather more visible than the one from robot
mode.

Mold Changes: The head, hands, chest panel, and thighs are all new...and
all cast in the same color of plastic, conveniently. The original's weapons
are replaced by a single electro-cannon and an electrical Fire Blast.
The new head is of course a Karloff Frankenstein's Monster sort of deal
with asymmetric helmet details and a zigzagged crack with some staples
holding it closed. The chest is similarly jagged and patchwork, a cruder
version of the sort of fusion seen on Autobot X, with more cracks and stuff.
The hands are remolded to be palm down (so they have trouble holding
weapons), and with the reverse sides losing the 5mm sockets that Impactor has
for his harpoon. The idea is to let the figure more easily do the "arms out
and hands outstretched" Karloff lurching along pose. The right thigh has a
vent, while the left has a studded metal band around it.
The electro-cannon, as noted, is inspired by the look of a tesla coil,
but the sphere at the tip being covered in 5mm pegs. It's a single piece of
pale green plastic a little over 2.75" (7cm) long and so covered in pegs and
sockets it feels like it's supposed to go with the first year Legacy weapon
combiner gimmick. In addition to the two 5mm sockets opposite each other
near the end needed for attachment in tank mode, there's another 5mm socket
on one side at the very end, which I'm guessing is to let it be mounted on
the short pegs on top of the wrists. The instructions show this last socket
used for attaching to the turret, rather than the opposite-side ones that are
clearly the intended ones. (The instructions have very little to say about
connecting any of the stuff, just one suggestion for each mode.) Near the
base, below the five rings along the barrel, are four equally spaced short
5mm pegs. On the sphere at the end there's five pegs, but one of them is at
a 45 degree angle back from forwards instead of 90 degrees (and there's one
pointing along the axis). The Fire Blast can attach to any of the five on
the end. One possible reason for the tilted peg on the sphere is that it
allows a firmer attachment if you mount the electro-cannon on top of the
shoulder cannon. (Doing so with a straight peg on the bottom side works, but
the peg can't go into the cannon top as well.)
The Fire Blast is not a traditional sort, as it connects via a 5mm
socket rather than via a peg or a 3mm socket, and it's clearly designed to
fit around the plasma ball end of the electro-cannon. 3.25" (8cm) long and
made of rubbery clear purple plastic, in addition to that 5mm socket inside
the flared back end there's an unexplained 5mm peg sticking out 45 degrees
from backwards. Storage? Or did they just throw in extra attachment points
to the new pieces for the heck of it? It'd have been nice if there was a way
to make it look like he was shooting lightning from his hand, but the peg
doesn't really help there.

Other Notes: As with the original, the neck is a very restricted ball
joint, it mostly just turns but can wobble a little.
The "Guntank" mode (just transform the legs) looks pretty good too.

Overall: The aesthetic of the unchanged parts works pretty well with the
brutalism of the Frankenstein's Monster motif, and while the retooling does
remove one bit of function, this does help further distance it from being
just a modified Impactor.

Dave Van Domelen, sooooo far behind on the review stack, especially
since he found all the missing Speedia toys at Ross this month.