Perfect Effect PE-DX03 Warden - Pictorial Review

March 2014 has been a killer month for me. Bought around 10 Henkei/United figures to complete my mold collection, few 3rd Party figures, and continuing my quest to complete Botcon 2007 Boxset, Bugbite, and Thundercracker. Now, only Dirge and Thrust to go!

On top of all that, an unexpected figure arrived at a local shop here where I almost cried due to the timing, LOL. Thus, I manage to burn a bigger hole in my wallet with Perfect Effect's PE-DX03 Warden, a homage to IDW Fortress Maximus.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Fortress Maximus is no stranger in the Transformers universe. After his debut in G1's The Rebirth, Fortress Maximus became a regular in the franchise as himself, an iteration of himself or as characters having the same design as he does (Grand Maximus, Brave Maximus).

Fortress Maximus has a lot of backstories, depending on which continuity you're referring to. But for this review, I'll be taking IDW G1 continuity as my reference as Warden clearly homages that design.

Came to existence during the hard period of war, Fortress Maximus was portrayed differently in this continuity, well-known for his mass-killing of Decepticons, as opposed to a weary Autobots with pacifist nature that had seen too many battle.

Running a tight ship, Fortress Maximus is the warden (hence the name) that's in charge of Garrus-9, a penitentiary for both Autobots and Decepticons. And that itself make him a target by a lot of the inmates and the worst happened when the Decepticon forces lead by Overlord run down the prison and Fortress Maximus was almost rip to shred first by Overlord and then the angry prisoners. And it didn't end there, until Fortress Maximus was rescued by the Wreckers.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Unlike in G1 cartoon where Fortress Maximus is a big robot in which Spike Witwicky form the head of Cerebros who in turn, becomes Fortress Maximus's head, IDW Fortress Maximus is a normal size robot that might just tower few others. This actually (if I'm not mistaken) roughly follows Marvel Comics G1 continuity where Fortress Maximus is a normal size robot (roughly the same as his other Headmasters group).

However, Fortress Maximus underwent a big reconstruction process to alter his size, making him twice the size of an average Transformers. With this increase in size, Fortress Maximus needed a new head to bridge the gap between his and Galen's (his Headmaster before Spike) size. And this is where Cerebros comes into the picture.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Generations Whirl - Pictorial Review

For now, 2014 seems like a well-balanced year, with interesting releases from both HasTak and 3rd Party companies. There's still no sign of the Generations Deluxe Wave 4 here in Malaysia, kind of worrying; considering this won't be the first time I have to outsource some of the regular releases. We are lucky though, since the Wave 4 (if not mistaken) of Generations Voyager has already arrived.

Pic Credit : Web

Whirl....the weird character both in term of his design AND personality. Don't get me wrong Geewunner, I have nothing against his design, just calling a spade; a spade. Whirl is a member of the Wreckers, which recently given more spotlight in the Transformers world. Honestly, I think it's because of that spotlight that fans could have a chance to get our hands on an obscure characters like him (and not long after, Voyager Roadbuster).

Wreckers are well-known to be 'reckless', not abiding to most rules written. But Whirl take it to another level. None can determine whether Whirl is in fact insane OR he just believes that insanity makes an extremely effective weapon.

G1 Whirl
Pic Credit : Web

Generations Voyager Springer - Pictorial Review [Part 2]

Robot Mode

Awesome design! Hasbro manage to take the IDW design and bring it to life. If you notice, the shoulder pads are made out of thin plastics. His rotor blades can be use a sword which is solid and design nicely, much better compared to Defender's

Generations Voyager Springer - Pictorial Review [Part 1]

First of all, I want to said, last time Generations halted during the screening of Transformers' Dark of the Moon, around June 2011, having release Junkheap and Sky Shadow. So for me, except from 3rd party releases, it's been constant repaint and repaint and repaint (including the Asia Exclusive figures) so hasn't been that much exciting for me. Even when I started Henkei/United this year, felt bored of the same mold

However, early this year, Toy Fair 2013 revealed what's on the table for the future and I was damn excited. One of the figure would be, Generations Voyager Springer

Pic Credit : web

First made his appearance in the 1986's Transformers The Movie, Springer became one of the new regulars (together with Kup, Arcee, Blur, etc) that took place post-Optimus Prime era. Springer, to me gave the impression of regular jock. Good build, skilled, but never really shines.

Springer was apart of a new group introduced, a triple-changer, along with a few others ie Sandstorm, Broadside and few others.

Pic Credit : Web

He received a fairly decent toy back in the days which to me is good enough if you look some of the other characters released. After Generation 1, a (somewhat) homage of him made an appearance in Transformers Superlink (Energon), named Sprung/Bulkhead. Toy wise, HasTak did make an effort of introducing him post-Unicron Trilogy under the Universe line A COUPLE OF TIME being repaint after repaint (not to mention Botcon release)

One of the many Springer
Pic Credit : Web

And in 2012, he was again released using Transformers Hunt for The Decepticon's Tomahawk mold and as I saw it, people seems happy to use it filling in for Classics Springer slot.

Despite all that, back in 2010, Fansproject kick-start their Warbot series with the release of Defender a coincidentally-homaging-Springer which was met with different reaction. Being the first full fledge figure, poeple still wondering whether the price is right for a small-voyager figure. Nonetheless, fan rejoice, we have our Springer!

I have to admit though, Defender comes with a few flaws, paint chip, loose joint and sometime-weird proportions. In early 2013, during Toyfair 2013, HasTak launch their 'counter attack', answering to fans wants and demands.

Mech Ideas Demolition Crue Apex and Geminus - Pictorial Review

These past few years, the Transformers scene had change drastically as Hasbro/Takara focused more and more of their attentions to mainstream line (except for Takara's Masterpiece line) namely Dark of The Moon, Transformers:Prime and Fall of Cybertron, independent companies jump ship one after another into this gold mine of collectors. There are cases of failure debut while a few had significant improvement on their releases (Xovergen's Trailerforce TF-01).

Few however, passed with flying colors on their first try. Planet X for instance, went with the Genesis Project, their own rendition of War for Cybertron's Omega Supreme (hopefully, will be able to review him before end of February)

Another 3rd party company that kind of step in nonchalantly into the arena with the offering that (at least for me) really caught my attention. Mech Ideas first debuted their Demolition Crue (Not-Wreckers) project with Apex and Geminus in TFCon 2012 which schedule to be release on February 2013.

Apex and Geminus are homages of G1's Jumpstarters, Topspin and Twintwist which were said to be able to transform between modes in a fraction of a second providing them edge in combat

Jumpstarter - Topspin
Pic Credit : Web

Jumpstarter - Twintwist
Pic Credit : Web

The brothers made appearances in various series and publications like the Marvel comics and Dreamwave comics continuities. However, my favorite would be their appearance in the 5-issue limited series published by IDW Publishing in 2010.

The Last Stand of The Wreckers #1
Pic Credit : Web

 The story follows the adventure of the veteran Wreckers and their new recruits in a (suicide) mission of liberating an Autobots facility from the rogue Decepticons Overlord.

Different from other series, The Last Stand of The Wreckers focused on more 'benchwarmer' characters that hardly being explored in depth unlike the 'popular' characters.

A really recommended read but note, it's heavy and it gets bloody (or oily(?)) so if any of you guys can't stand the fact of losing any of your favorite characters, stay away! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!










 

The brothers - before the end
Pic Credit : Web

Let's get into the review, shall we?