Dave's Transformers Reactivate Rant

Starscream (Fighter Jet) vs. Bumblebee (dune buggy)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Artifacts/Reactivate1

Technically, the whole wave includes the other set, but these are
Voyager sized and I normally review one Voyager at a time. So, splitting the
difference here. (And yeah, Bumblebee kinda skirts the edge of "Voyager"
here, but they seem to be trying to keep the robot modes more or less the
same scale, so he has to be significantly shorter than the other three.)

CAPSULE

$62.99 on Hasbro Pulse.

Starscream: An interesting patchwork design that has elements of G1
Seeker and Armada Starscream to it. The transformation takes a few run-
throughs to get the hang of, but don't give up, the vehicle mode can be
attained with good solidity once you have practice. Recommended, if unlikely
to ever be available separately.

Bumblebee: They try to use paint to give a similar patchwork-ish look,
but it's mostly just an all new take on "small car becomes yellow and black
robot" that could have been given a different name without necessarily making
people wonder why it wasn't Bumblebee. But it's a decent if somewhat fussy
design, and adds a new option to what Bumblebee can...bee. Recommended, if
unlkely to be sold separately.

Set Overall: For a price between "Voyager plus Deluxe" and "two
Voyagers," you get a decent Voyager and a decent big Deluxe or small Voyager,
so decent value for 2024 toys. Being an expensive two-pack does make it
somewhat review-resistant, though...I doubt many people are on the fence
about this above-Leader-priced set, either they already want it or have
already decided to pass. (Especially if it never makes it onto regular
retail shelves.) Still, if you ARE on the fence, consider this a nudge onto
the "buy it" side.

RANT

Premise: Rather than folding this into the Gamer Edition of Studio
Series, or calling it a Collaborative, they decided to make the toys for this
one computer game by Splash Damage its own line. So far, a teaser trailer
has been released, nothing about gameplay, but it will include
microtransactions so it'll be mandatory-online even if it's single player,
probably. (Definitely not an MMO, although it could have an online co-op
mode for two or four players.)
What little has been revealed about the premise is that some new threat
has taken over Earth and killed off all the Autobots. Human resistance has
salvaged a handful of Autobots to take the fight to the invaders, and I
suppose it's possible the Decepticons will also be playable? The box doesn't
actually have a "versus" on it, and the screenshots on the back show the two
vehicles side by side rather than fighting each other. Oh, and the baddies
are Legion...which would be worse, that Splash Damage doesn't know about Kiss
Play, or that they do?
I would be shocked to my very core if the microtransactions didn't
include unlocking other "newly-salvaged" Cybertronians, as well as new skins
for the ones you have (Ciffjumper for Bumblebee, ever Seeker under the sky
for Starscream, etc).
Let's just say it's unlikely I'll be buying the game (not really into
dark and grungy shooters, which the trailer seems to promise), but I do look
forwards to Yahtzee savaging it should it actually come out.
Will there be more toys in this line? Well, it's safe to say that
success of the game will have no impact, but abject failure might if there's
more in the pipeline but not yet scheduled for factory time. Given the lead
time on toys, Hasbro has to have decided how many to make a while back.

Style: There's a deliberate asymmetry in the designs, mostly through
color choices but there's some shape differences. This is to reflect the
fact that they were put back together using scrap and spare parts. They
didn't deliberately give Starscream any other Seeker bits, it's more like a
cross between G1 and Armada colors. Bumblebee gets his asymmetry purely from
color. Oddly, the Soundwave/Optimus set eschews this asymmetry, perhaps they
were the lone survivors around whom the force was rebuilt?

Packaging: A rarity in 2024, this is a plastic-fronted window box. Of
course, putting two Voyager-sized figures into a single box means either
plastic window or no window at all. It does otherwise follow the sort of
design elements seen in other recent Transformers, with truncated corners
giving a sort of crystalline look. Basically, the front edges become
triangular facets used for the close-up character portraits: the bottom is
rectangular, but the top is an irregular hexagon.
13" (33cm) wide, with the front top edge being only 7.75" (19.5cm)
wide. 9.5" (24cm) tall, and a little over 3" (8cm) thick. The top side
edges are 1.5" (4cm) long, with the angled truncated top edges being about 3"
(7.5cm) long. Starscream is on the left and Bumblebee on the right, packaged
in robot mode.
The triangular front facets have portraits of the two bots inside. The
central trapezoid has the Transformers Reactivate logo along the bottom,
renders of both robot and vehicle mode in the lower corners. The upper
corners have the character names. The top panel is just a large version of
the Reactivate logo, the bottom has the usual legalese. The right and left
sides have fuller body versions of the character art, mirror-flipped from the
version used on the triangle facets. The back repeats the renders but larger
and a bit rearranged. The bottom of the back panel has what I presume are
screenshots of gameplay or at least cutscenes. While it's not on the front,
the Splash Damage logo joins the Hasbro logo on back.
The inner tray uses the trick where the top and bottom edges fold
forwards and the sides bend backwards to wedge it into the box, but without
any internal bits to avoid crushing. (Soundwave/Optimus is a bit more
complicated with tabs forwards and backwards around all edges.) Fortunately,
the outer box is pretty robust. The pattern is dark blue with light blue
gridwork and some larger light blue squares. In the lower right, not visible
while in the box, is a red set of warning notifications including
Cybertronian font for "RISE" (a previous name for the game), then the
following text in English:

IMPACT APPROACHING (large font)
TELETRAAN INITIALIZATION ATTEMPT MC-1980
RECIPROCATING BINARIES...........23 MATCHES
Optimus Prime is the noble leader of the Autobots. He believes that freedom
is the right of all sentient beings and fights tirelessly to defend it. He
is beloved across the universe for his compassionate nature, steadfast
leadership, and heroic feats in battle.

The instructions have Bumblebee on the front and Starscream on the back,
in white and various shades of blue/teal, with a very dark teal instead of
black. A tissue bundle taped behind the tray holds the accessories for this
set, and it's in the lower left front corner of the tray for Soundwave/
Optimus Prime.

DECEPTICON: STARSCREAM
Assortment: F0383
Altmode: Jet
Transformation Difficulty: 25 steps
Previous Name Use: Yes
Previous Mold Use: None

Packaging: His entire wingpack is behind the tray, so even after you
remove the seven plastic ties you need to wiggle them out. Oh, and there's
two more ties in back holding the wingtips.

Robot Mode: Easily the most asymmetric of the four, this doesn't just
use color to make the robot look patchwork, but also molding of panels.
Obvious "replacement parts" on several places on the left side (upper torso,
wing, outer thigh, shoulder pad, hip pad) on top of some purely color-based
bits like the left forearm. The forearm guns (not upper arm guns as most
Starscreams use) are also deliberately slightly different in shape. All in
all, it gives the impression that he was dragged back from death's door after
getting shot a lot from his left and whoever did it cared not a whit for
looks. The actual patches and a few of the bits meant to look like patches
are black, increasing the overall level of black in the design and giving
more of an Armada Starscream feel. (Oddly, the guns have no black on them,
despite being molded differently.)
6.5" (16.5cm) tall at the head, 7" (18cm) to the tops of the shoulder
scoops and wing tops. As noted, there's a lot of matte black in addition to
the bright red, very light gray, and bright blue of a latter-day Starscream.
Matte black plastic is used for the head, the inner bits of the shoulders,
the left shoulderpad, the hands, the abdomen sides, the pelvis, hip joints,
inner shins, and the middle of the backpack. Bright red plastic is found on
the upper torso sides, the shoulder scoops, right shoulderpad, both hip pads
(one is painted). Bright blue plastic for the guns, forearms, feet, and a
bit folded up inside the backpack. Very light gray plastic for the wings,
tail sections, upper arms, thighs, and outer boot shells.
A slightly metallic almost-black paint (which also shows up on
Bumblebee) is used on the "patch" parts that aren't already black plastic:
much of the left wing front, left torso top, left forearm, left hip pad,
plates on left thigh. It's also used for the kneecaps, and details around
the chest cockpit (including the canopy frame). Gunmetal paint is used on
the cannon barrels, chest turbine intakes, and the fake intake scoops on the
shoulder. Gloss red paint on the edges of the wings, silver on the face and
lower abdomen sides, light blue eyes, bright blue shins, slightly metallic
amber canopy glass. A violet Decepticon symbol is printed on the front of
the right wing, the wing that isn't patched.
The neck is a ball joint, the waist is a smooth swivel. Pinned hinge
and swivel universal joint shoulders with the shoulderpads on pinned hinges,
upper arm swivels, hinge elbows, and wrists bend inward on transformation
joints. Pinned hinge and swivel hips with pinned-hinge hip pads, upper thigh
swivels, hinge knees. The ankles are hinged near the front, but at least on
mine the hinges are kinda weak so the figure is prone to falling over. You
can help stabilize this by ignoring the instructions and package photos and
folding the tail fins on the boots all the way back to act as new heel
spurs.
The open hands hold 5mm pegs, there's 5mm sockets on the forearms for
the guns, and 5mm sockets on the backs of the wings for gun storage in this
mode or gun mounting in vehicle mode. There's a 3mm socket in the back of
the pelvis. The thruster nozzles on the backpack and the boots are narrower
than 3mm and more conical, so not useful for attaching things.
The guns are both the same basic size, they just have differently shaped
armor panel cores from which emerge identical rotary cannon barrels painted
gunmetal. Each is a single piece of bright blue plastic 2.5" (6.5cm) long
with short 5mm pegs near the back. The pegs are just long enough to let the
guns be held in the hands, if a little loosely. But they're really meant to
go on the forearms, covering an otherwise low-detail spot. Raised lips
around the outer foreams let the guns lock in place so they don't slide
around. The muzzle apertures are a little more than 2mm wide, so also not
useful for any standard connector.