Busy month indeed. With my baby, works, TransMY exhibitions, hard to find time for reviews. Aside from this, hopefully will also be able to finish the reviews for TFC Phlogeus, UT Soundmixer, KFC Citizen Stack, and also TFC Gumball.
But first thing first, let us proceed with MMC R-04 Leo Dux (Not-Razorclaw). With this release, Feral Rex finally took form!
For brief back story of the character, please refer below:
In Package
Leo Dux comes in the same packaging as both Fortis and Bovis before with his artwork on the front. So far out of the 3, I like Leo Dux artwork best.
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| Back View |
The back shows all the modes of Leo Dux along with few gimmicks for Robot and Alt Mode.
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| Tech Spec |
Like most releases, Leo Dux comes with a tech spec and also instruction sheet/comic book. I won't be spoiling any of the plot but 2 things worth mentioning:-
A concept art gallery of Seraphicus Prominion (Not-Nova Prime), said to be MMC's next release (maybe next-next-next).
Also, black-painted Hexatron (Not-Sixshot) which was revealed recently to be R-01D Terminus Hexatron Shadow Emissary version.
Alt Mode
Seriously, MMC nailed Razor Claw looks! Leo Dux is basically what G1 Razorclaw would look like IF it is released now (and IF Hasbro did not decided to cut cost on the newer design).
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| Side View |
Leo Dux is overall nice to look at. Only there are a few things that I wish were done differently. First is to add bulk on his underside. However, this isn't noticeable especially from the front.
Second is his tail, which was made out of Feral Rex's sword hilt but looking at it a few more times, I kind of dig the design.
Maybe my main complaint would be the hind legs. Compared to Nemean which uses the legs of the robot to form the alt mode's hind legs, Leo Dux's hind legs are merely side attachments which are too small and kind of spoil his overall fierce looks.
In alt mode, Leo Dux's articulations are pretty 'moderate'. The front legs are very poseable due to the number of joints on them; while the hind legs are pretty limited. The lion head is static with the jaw able to be opened.
Comparison shots
Having Leo Dux with 2 other Feralcons is a nice sight. I really like how these three fit nicely together, design, paint scheme and size wise, an advantage that TFC doesn't have.
Next, with TFC Nemean, another Not-Razorclaw iteration.
Size wise, Leo Dux is significantly smaller than Nemean. However, both figures manage to capture Razorclaw's aesthetic well, in their respective design.
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| Side View |
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| Back View |
On most of the alt mode design, I leave it for the fans to decide. But personally, the looks on Nemean's back portion is better compared to Leo Dux.
Robot Mode
Right in the G1! MMC again did well in capturing the toy design of G1 Razorclaw while retaining their original concept. Transformation wise, Leo Dux is quite simple with most of the sequences can be easily guessed.
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| Back View |
Leo Dux is kibble free but a bit too plain on the back
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| Side View |
Compared to TFC Nemean, Leo Dux have a better design of the lion head which looks great on both robot and alt mode. However, the shoulders are a bit high and the robot head isn't visible aside from the front.
I was fairly surprised to find that the shoulder canons (guns? rifles?) aren't black colored plastic but metallic black finishing.
G1 accurate head sculpt with metallic-red painted eyes/visor
Leo Dux has decent posebilities with strong joints supporting them. The head is on a ball joint, the shoulders are on a ratcheting joints and hinges, double-jointed elbows and wrists swivel. Leo Dux also have a waist swivel, ratcheting universal joint and swivel on the thighs, 2 different-rotation ratchet joints on the knee (one is a bit higher) and swivel joints on the feet.
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| The Shoulder Canons |
Leo Dux comes with Feral Rex's crotch plate which can either be attached on his back or pegged onto his hand to form a shield.
Even better, Leo Dux comes with 2 cleaver-like weapons (that reminds me a lot of Diablo 1's The Butcher). Material wise, they felt a bit sturdier than Bovis and Fortis's weapons but that might just be becauce of the size.
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| MMC gave him the right weapons! |
Group Shots
Honestly, there's nothing much I can say about this aside from totally awesome! Size wise, Leo Dux is just a bit taller than Bovis and Fortis, enough to differentiate him with the rest of the team but not big enough to make him look out of place.
Next, comparison with TFC counterpart.
Leo Dux paint scheme is almost the same as Nemean (following G1 Razorclaw) in most aspect. However, he is almost a head shorter than Nemean. And I prefer the bulkiness of Nemean especially on the shoulders.
Combine Mode
Before we start, all the daggers/knife/cleaver of the first 3 can now be combined, forming an incomplete sword of Feral Rex
Moving on to the combiner mode
Transformation to this mode is quite straightforward. Probably the hardest part is taking out the Feral Rex's head from his body cavity, need to be extra careful with the antenna as they are quite thin
Comparison with TFC Ares main body
Despite being smaller in individual mode, Leo Dux looks somewhat bulkier in combined mode compared to Nemean.
This is a hard pick. The combiner head of Feral Rex homaged his G1 counterpart alot while the head of TFC Ares is what a Neo-G1 Predaking head should look like, personally.
The time a combiner collectors waited for. When the combiner take form and can stand proud!
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| Back View |
Feral Rex manage to capture the aesthetic of G1 Predaking toy from head to toe, giving him a very awesome look. That, paired with the quality of the plastic makes Feral Rex one of the best combiner I had ever played with. However, one thing that disappoints me is the knee and thigh joints aren't strong enough to perfectly hold the weigh of Bovis and Fortis. However Feral Rex won't do split like TFC Uranos did.
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| THAT'S A LONG SWORD! |
One thing that fans might wonder, how tall is he? Well, sadly, Feral Rex, in normal configuration is just as tall as TFC Uranos is.
However, the legs can be extended further to make him taller but without the rest of the limb, it's hard to determine can the extended legs hold the weight.
The result? Feral Rex is half-a-head taller than TFC Uranos.
I was never a fan of FP and MT-sized combiner so MMC Feral Rex is actually the first combiner outside of TFC that I really enjoyed playing. And he would definately be my pick if TFC didn't release Ares (or waited a year after to release)
*Anxious to see how will Feral Rex and Ares look side-by-side once completed*
nice reveiw. vote for mmc
ReplyDeleteIt's a lion dude....big shoulders, small waist and underbelly so they can be effective "predators"...get a clue. Also never ever disparage Green Giant which is infinitely better than that waxy piece of TFC trash Floppelies .....regardless of size.
ReplyDeleteSo, how effective is he as a 'predator' when he has small front legs and just a 'portion' of hind legs? Most can argue that Giant is better but to each their own. I won't go out and saying that TFC has better quality than MT nor MMC. BUt aesthetic is subjective. Giant's individual bots to me are uninspired, lack of character. but that just me. And I like the Neo-G1 style on TFC releases. Again, that's me and my reviews are my opinions.
DeletePeace
Do I need to go Discovery channel on you..........lions have relatively short limbs in proportion to the rest of their body. They use their short powerful limbs in SPRINTING and bringing down large pray. You can think of it as fast twitch vs slow twitch muscle........whose going to be stronger, a stocky weight lifter or a tall and lean marathon runner? (Oh and you might want to look again at the back legs, cause you are clearly missing the black haunches, legs don't begin at the knees)
ReplyDeleteHow can you say that Giant's individual bots are uninspired and lack character?! I guess you don't consider G1 Devastator inspiring?! Maybe you would care to discuss where TFC's individual bots get their plethora of inspiration and character? Is it in their cheap bulbous plastic that can't hold detail? Is it in their loose joints? Perhaps it may be in their neon green plastic color reminiscent of my curb side trash container? I know, it's in their marvelous engineering. I imagine it is very difficult to engineer six individual bots that look like Chinese freight containers that merge into one super large boxy freight container.
Peace Broham
Haunches, that's a new term for me, thanks. That doesn't change the fact that the hind legs are no more than an attachments, a more obvious example would be on Bovis and Fortis. And personally I prefered them as part of the figure itself, just like G1 Razorclaw. I kind of agree with your 'Discovery Channel' explanation though
DeleteGiant's individual bots are as far away as they are from G1 Constructicon, just look at their Not-Long Haul and the way the backhoe attached to Not-Scavanger. Not to mentioned their Not-Mixmaster slightly out of scale with the rest of the team. Hercules clearly aim their design to fit in the Classics line, a Neo-G1 take of the characters. However I won't defend the design of their head for example as most of them are pretty far off. But people seems to miss out the fact that them being 'simple' are simply intentional, just like their subsequent releases. Look at the detailing of Uranos's team. Even for Ares. That's their way of doing it. But again, aside from the quality, most of what you pointed out are merely 'preference' of how things are. However to say that Giant's individual bots are 'G1' is a joke