Generations IDW Deluxe Crosscut - Pictorial Review

Now, a release from the same wave as Windblade, Generations Crosscut. Crosscut is one of the new "original G1 characters" in Transformers universe, an ambassador to almost every world known especially earth.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

In IDW Dark Cybertron Chapter #7 The Dead Are Not Enough, Crosscut can be seen battling the Ammonites with the help of Swerve...who he confused with Rung...

Pic Credit : TFWiki

G1 Crosscut was released on 2002 as e-Hobby Exclusive and sold togather in set with Road Rage. G1 Crosscut is a retool of G1 Skids and comes with a different head and hood.

Generations IDW Deluxe Windblade - Pictorial Review

Now for the release that lots of fans have been looking forward to. Back in 2013, Hasbro started an initiative for fans to be involved in creating a whole new character, the "Fan-Built Bot".

There were 2 polls conducted, the first one commenced from April 18th 2013 to May 5th 2013 for fans to decide her faction, alternate mode, weapon, color scheme, and also personality; while the poll from May 10th 2013 to May 17th 2013 was conducted to select her name, gender, origin, and specialty. And all of that gave birth to Windblade.

Art By Sarah Stone
Pic Credit : TFWiki

Windblade has a four-issue miniseries, published by IDW from April to July 2014 while a second miniseries was planned under the title "Windblade Returns" which was changed back to "Transformers : Windblade"

Windblade comes from Caminus, a place whose inhabitants were cut off from Cybertron for millions of years. This change when Thunderclash came to seek help from Cityspeaker in order to aid Metroplex.

Generations Leader Class Jetfire - Pictorial Review

Now, time for another exciting official release. Just to be clear, I tried my best not to be biased in my reviews and being that my collections focused mainly on [Official] Neo-G1 figures, there's been up and down in terms of the excitement of HasTak releases. My last Deluxe wave (Scoop, Rattrap, Tankor, etc) was a big disappointment while Voyager Roadbuster is kinda great (better than Skybite). But this here, is one of the best official figures for 2014, the 2nd biggest original Neo-G1 CHURG mold after Metroplex and the first of it class in this line, Leader Class Jetfire.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Jetfire (also known as Skyfire) first made his appearance in G1 cartoon, Fire in the Sky episode. He was a friend of Starscream from way before the war but an exploration mission gone bad causes Jetfire to be lost (presumably dead) for millions of years.

I could go on and on about him but the best thing about Jetfire is his G1 toy. Not all original G1 toys originated from HasTak. Jetfire is one of the example, taken from Macross Super Valkyrie VF-1S of Takatoku Toys. And perhaps due to legal reasons, Jetfire in the animation was changed to not resemble his G1 toy.

Pic Credit : TFWiki/Seibertron.com

Generations Autobot Scoop - Pictorial Review

This is one review that I've been dreading to do for reasons that I'll explain later. Once in a while, Hasbro choose to release few obscure characters that are sometimes even fans are unfamiliar with. They did that back in 2011 for example, with the release of Generations Darkmount, Sky Shadow and Thunderwing.

For 2014, Hasbro released Generations Autobot Scoop, a character that is new even for me.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Scoop is an Autobot Targetmaster, the 4th Autobot Targetmasters to be released under CHURG after United Stepper, Artfire and Henkei Strafe. Known as one of the best field infantries, Scoop uses both cool-headed logic and battle-hardened tactics to fight and crush his enemies on the battlefield. I have no idea in which media did Scoop first appeared but he's in Marvel continuity, Generation 2 and also the more recent IDW Generation 1, among others.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Generations Deluxe Tankor - Pictorial Review

One would thought that Beast Wars was the most unorthodox and controversial Transformers franchise when it was aired in the 90's. But then 1999 came in and we have Beast Machines (BM), a 26-episodes sequel to Beast Wars.

Season 1 of BM focused on the Maximals (Optiumus Primal, Rattrap, Cheetor and Blackarachnia) being back on Cybertron...but not the Cybertron as they know it. All that's left is a deserted Cybertron with streets patrolled by mindless Vehicon Drones serving Megatron and at the same time, the Maximals are infected with a deadly virus that'll kill them. The problem was solved with the help of a supercomputer, the Oracle which reformats them into technorganic bodies.

On the other hand, we have Drones serving Megatron evil plan, specifically Tank Drones, lead by the tank general, Tankor. Tankor along with the other Vehicon Generals, leads Megatron mindless army in keeping the planet under control and to fight against the Maximals.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Tankor and the other generals are the only ones granted sparks, as opposed to normal drones. Tankor fought again and again with the Maximals, holding onto Megatron's promise of "fabulous prize to be won!" for getting them into captivity. And the Maximals anything they can to defend themselves from Tankor brutal attacks. However, much to their dismay, Tankor turns out to be their beloved comrade that fought side-by-side with them during the Beast Wars, Rhinox

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Rhinox was one of the unlucky ones during Maximals' returned to Cybertron. Unlike the Transmetals that were able to stay mobile for a short period, Rhinox was held captive by Megatron and had his spark forcibly removed. The spark was later used to power Tankor, the tank general with hope that the Maximals will be less willing to fight him. But Megatron failed to foresee that Tankor end up being only slightly more intelligent than the rest of the Tank Drones.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

Despite Optimus Primal attempt to reach Rhinox's spark, he was too late as the spark was already tainted by his time inside Tankor, rejecting the Maximals and supporting Megatron's idea of technologically-pure Cybertron....but only the idea, not Megatron himself. This resulted in a fail coup d-etat and Tankor was killed. Rhinox expressed his regret over his actions when Optimus Primal met him (his Spark) one last time within the Allspark.

The widely-inaccurate BM Tankor
Pic Credit : TFWiki

Generations Deluxe Rattrap - Pictorial Review

One thing that I was worried about with the release of Age Of Extinction line : Generations line not reaching Malaysia's shore. It was the case back in 2011 with the last wave of Generations didn't hit the shelves and I got the same feeling this year when even after months it was released, the wave that consist of Deluxe Scoop still nowhere to be seen and the newest wave consisting of Deluxe Rattrap and Tankor might suffer the same fate. Luckily, new stock arrived yesterday with Deluxe Scoop, Armada Starscream, Skywarp, Minicon Assault Team, Tankor and Rattrap altogether in a carton.

Pic Credit : TFWiki

One of the main characters in Beast Wars series and the earliest crew of Maximals, Rattrap is perhaps the most annoying character the Maximals have to deal with, with the constant negativity, sarcasm and being dowright rude to almost everyone even his commanding officer. He's a fine soldier nonetheless, been at the frontline of countless battles between the Predacon and Maximal.

Generations Rhinox - Pictorial Review

Yet another release that caught the fans by surprised, after the release of Generations Waspinator. The Ironhide of Beast Wars era, Rhinox. Thanks to my friend, who's a hardcore Beast Wars collector, for this piece

Pic Credit : Web

One of Maximal's aces, Rhinox is the most dependable of all of them. A mix of Ironhide's brawn and strength with Wheeljack's intelligence, Rhinox are both effective both on field work and as a strategist, pulling the strings to make sure the Maximal won the battle. He's part of the Axalon's crewmember that crashed on earth during the pursuits of Megatron and his Predacons army

Beast Wars Rhinox
Pic Credit : TFWiki.net

Even with the glory of Beast Wars era, Rhinox received a cruel life in Beast Machine era as he and Silverbolt were captured and stripped of their organis bodies and placed into the body of Tankor and Jetstorm respectively

Tankor/Rhinox
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.