Picked up Windblade from a small shop today. Here are some capsule reviews of stuff I've gotten recently:
Windblade: Potential, ruined by Hasbro's cheapness. This is a light, flimsy plane that looks and feels like it came from Big Lots. There's paint on the head, and some accents, but it is so paint deficient that it looks like a knock-off. Thanks to the cheap, thin plastic, it feels like one too. Not quite as bad as Minicon Attack Team, but not much better.
Robot mode is terrific, with only some minor annoyances from things not locking in. The jet sucks. It's an ambitious and interesting design that is sunk by completely inadequate tabs and locks. Trying to fix one dislodges at least two others into a floppy, maladjusted mess. I tried with this for quite some time and could never get it to lock together properly. The transformation actively fights you, and finding the right alignment for both parts of the shoulders is critical (and overlooked in the instructions). I managed something that holds together after lots and lots of fiddling, but even still -- just holding it can twist the main body or knock tabs out of alignment. Attaching the weapon on the jet helps a little with stability, but interferes with the landing gear (two of which are always in 'down' position and look very cheap and unattractive). The jet looks decent, although the red shins scream "legs" and it has large gaps when looking from the top or bottom.
The quality on this is so bad that I may just wait for reviews on everything now that isn't from FansProject. Generations used to be high quality, but now it is really uneven. This, Scoop, Minicon Attack Team, and some of the AoE molds are cheap, knockoff-quality garbage. Everything, from the design to the materials, is a failure because the quality is so poor. It's a nice robot figure, I guess. If you had handed it to me even a few years ago and told me it was a Hasbro product, I would not have believed you.
Waspinator: The best of this lot. Robot mode is great. Insect mode is great if you have blurry vision. It's an interesting, different design that is kind of brought down by a whole bunch of robot junk on the bottom of the bug. The wasp has the right shape, and I appreciate that this is not just the same boring insect design. However, it's a bug on top with a whole mass of robot parts on the bottom.
What's unusual is that Waspinator has a gimmick I love. Usually, I hate them. There's a tab to get Waspinator to flap his wings. It is strangely compelling but what makes it awesome is that the gimmick does not add additional junk to either mode. You can adjust the wings and it works great.
Skids: WhY mY sHouLDers sUcK? Ugh, what happened? Overall, Skids is pretty good. The arms and shoulders are terrible, though. Generations has been so good about making poseable robots, and it's like they just forgot.
Nice, appealing car, and the robot is decent except poseability is severely hampered by the godawful shoulders. I like many of the details, but I really hate this design decision, and it makes what could have been great into a mild disappointment. Also disappointing is the almost complete lack of paint on the entire back of the vehicle. The legs, at least, are poseable, but they are so hollow and unfinished looking.
Tankor, revisited: I have been having some second thoughts about Tankor. As Tankor, it's still a failure. However, I think the real intention was to remake Tank Drone, and this...well, it changes my feelings a little and explains a lot. Tank Drone from Beast Machines kind of sucked. Too small, too cheap. It was a Scout. Generations Tankor is a decent upgrade, sized about right. As an upsized scout, it is not quite so horrible, though it is still mildly disappointing as a Generations Deluxe. Still could have been a lot better.
And, could have been a lot worse. Windblade makes Tankor look high quality.
AoE Deluxe Lockdown: Pretty good, actually. I think this is my favorite of the AoE cars, and that's not meant to be a faint complement. Lockdown is a great looking car and a nice looking robot. Feel free to disagree because I have no idea how faithful it is to the movie because I haven't seen it. That said, apart from the dopey looking head (a line-wide problem) and paneled-over hands, I really have no complaints. Very minimal kibble. There's not a ton of paint, but it looks good with the paint and accents that it does have. Lockdown also has an interesting and enjoyable transformation that is not at all panelmastery. This is how you do tabs and locks.
Lockdown is kind of small, and nowhere near as imposing as either the Animated or DOTM versions. I have no idea what he's supposed to be in the movie. Just in terms of the toy, I rather like it.
I have Jhiaxus, but haven't opened him yet. Nightbeat is, disappointingly, another Bumblebee recolor with the same damn weapons. Better than Bumblebee and more interesting than Goldfire, but skippable. Crosscut (who?) is also skippable because it's Skids all over again. Just choose the one whose color you like better.
I am kind of bummed. Generations seems to be on a downward slide, with a lot of recent disappointments and several sub-par efforts.
Plus now I don't need to stop at a million stores any time I go out in the off chance they have Lockdown, Slog, or Roadbuster.
