Decided to stop posting here for a bit but I'm back now (work is complicated man.) so now I review toys with a fancy title.

So Perceptor is everybody's favourite microscope scientist with an excessive verbosity but toy wise he doesn't have too many (though compared to someone like BumbIebee everyone doesn't have too many toys) I've heard the ones he does have are pretty good though.

THIS figure looks real good, it looks like someone took an Animation Cel and peeled Perceptor right off of it. Colours are spot on, head is dynamite. the figure also FEELS great to handle, he's solid.

Perceptor comes with his "Concussion Rifle" and he's very posable, containing everything we'd expect save for a wrist swivel (bot) and he does in fact have his Perceptor kick (he's got sideways knees in addition to his real ones)

Transformation is short, sweet and goes exactly how you'd expect it to.
though it can be difficult getting his head out when going from Microscope back to Robot.

Microscope mode does not function as a real microscope but it looks like one and that's what's important. there isn't much to talk about, it's a microscope it's not the most exciting thing in the world. can't expect me to sit around looking at toys all day (what do you think I'm some kind of nerd, jeez)

also he's got a tank mode that kind of sucks, appreciate the option though.

4/5

Swivelbot (Zobovor I'm coming for your brand)

On Monday, December 25, 2023 at 5:35:11 PM UTC-7, Swivelbot wrote:

> Decided to stop posting here for a bit but I'm back now (work is complicated man.) so now I review toys with a fancy title.

Fancy titles are fun!

> THIS figure looks real good, it looks like someone took an Animation Cel and peeled Perceptor right off of it. Colours are spot on, head is dynamite.. the figure also FEELS great to handle, he's solid.

I'm very happy with him. There was a time when Hasbro was trying to modernize characters like Perceptor and Blaster and Soundwave, and we ended up getting versions of them that turned into half-tracks or trucks or whatever. For me, at least, part of the fun of Transformers is that they can change into pretty much anything. The G1 toy line would have been a bit more boring if they had all been vehicles. (I remember a movie critic's review of The Transformers: the Movie where he said something like, "These robots in disguise can change into anything—cars, planes, guns, and a couple of things that look like kitchen sinks.")

The Titans Return version of Perceptor was quite good, and I consider it one of the best Titans Return toys, but there's something about the Studio Series toy that's considerably better. They really have reached a pinnacle of design excellence in recent years.
> Microscope mode does not function as a real microscope but it looks like one and that's what's important. there isn't much to talk about, it's a microscope it's not the most exciting thing in the world. can't expect me to sit around looking at toys all day (what do you think I'm some kind of nerd, jeez)

I think that's the main reason they used to make an effort to modernize the characters—microscopes and cassette players and things aren't really very exciting. But, Perceptor has a *lot* of fans (especially the female members of the fandom, I'm finding). Not everybody had an action-packed role. He's the guy who sometimes works behind the scenes and does scientific-type stuff (the sort of thing that Brawn tended to chafe about). Or, you know, the guy who blasted Devastator into pieces with a single shot. Depends on the day.

But, I like and appreciate the fact that they're adhering more closely now to the fidelity of each character. A robot's transformation can often define him just as much, or more, as his color scheme or physical design. The only heritage character I suspect they're not going to be able to fully do justice to, going forward, is Megatron. Whatever Studio Series '86 version we get is certainly not going to be touted and marketed as turning into a gun. My most fervent hope is that he has some kind of acceptable "submarine mode" that's gun-shaped enough to make me happy.

> also he's got a tank mode that kind of sucks, appreciate the option though.

The third mode (Hasbro called it a "mobile laboratory" during G1) has never been great. I think the designers threw it in to pay homage to the Diaclone-era toy more than anything else, since it's certainly not anything Perceptor ever used in the media. The early days of transformable robot design seemed to utilize a lot of half-transformations that weren't really acceptable true vehicle modes—witness the various alternate configurations for Jetfire or Shockwave, or the attack modes for the Omnibots, or the flight modes for Tracks and Wheeljack. Even the Diaclone helicopter had a "jet" mode that was hardly a third vehicle mode in its own right.

> Swivelbot (Zobovor I'm coming for your brand)

Circling the wagons as we speak...

Zob (bring it on, hotshot!)