Cybertrons

Cybertrons/Autobots
	GC-01 Galaxy Convoy The Autobots' leader gets a very Gundam-style makeover for Galaxy Force. Following on from Robots In Disguise/Car Robots, Galaxy Convoy is a very futuristic firetruck. The cab and bed form the basic robot, and the trailer is added for 'SuperMode'. Bizarrely, the front of the firetruck splits in half and forms the shoulders. The robot's chest is basically superfluous detail as far as the firetruck goes. In standard mode, he looks a little disproportionate - very top heavy and with big, fat arms. SuperMode sorts this out, lengthening his legs slightly, giving him bigger feet, and adding the wings and guns. His arms stay the same length, though, and look rather stubby in any of his SuperModes. Overall, a very detailed and posable model, and the switchable faceplate is a clever move. Rather a lot of the robot is visible in firetruck mode, but it doesn't detract too much. His key-activated gimmicks are in his guns - one sprouts missile launchers, the other opens to become even more powerful... or something.
	GC-02 Exillion Predictably, Exillion has been renamed Hot Shot for the Western market. Can't understand why (other than to keep hold of existing names and/or provide some form of continuity between toy lines) as Exillion is a good name for such a sleek, speedy bot. Like Galaxy Convoy, the front of the car splits to become the shoulders. That's about where the similarities end, though. There are clear elements of homage to the Gen 1 character of Hot Rod, indeed, their was an exclusive repaint available in Hot Rod colours. The production model isn't quite as posable as the version pictured on the box. The hips have a far smaller range of motion and tend to be a little on the loose side. Exillion's key-activated gimmick is pretty dull - car mode sprouts translucent yellow wings.
	GC-03 Vector Prime An ancient transformer from the early days of Cybertron, supposedly. This is an incredibly ornate model, full of molded detail. The only downer is that the demo model has a much better paint job, which showed up more of the molded detail than the final model's dull, off-white plastic. Vector Prime carries a sword and has a Mini-Con partner, Roots, who turns into a small gunship, and can attach to Vector Prime's arms as a weapon. He has the look of a rather portly samurai warrior wearing battle armour. He's very posable, and his 'cape' - wings in his alternative mode - don't even get in the way. Spacecraft mode is just as ornate and impressive as robot mode, though it looks very much like something out of Star Wars or Star Trek. There is a missile launcher on the nose of the ship, but Roots can attach to the top of the nose for extra firepower. As far as I can make out, his key-activated feature is nothing more than a mechanical sound effect, possibly for transformation.
	GC-04 Dreadrock Another one who suffered from a bizarre renaming for the Western market, Dreadrock became Jetfire. He's some sort of military carrier plane going by the underside - lots of cargo space. With a clever transformation, Dreadrock becomes a rather chunky robot with huge shoulderpads - the plane's wings. He's not always entirely stable in robot mode, thanks to the electronics in the tail section, which folds up to his back. The only real problem with this robot is the huge space between his chest (the nose of the plane) and his back, making him look rather incomplete. His key-activated gimmick is a real let-down - the tail guns pop out. Still, the sound effects (which change thanks to an extra button on the tail section) are pretty good... even if it's not quite clear what some of them are...
	GC-05 Jackshot Bought at Forbidden Planet, along with Energon Starscream, Jackshot is one of the very basic Galaxy Force models. In many ways, he seems to be a cross between Brawn, the Gen1 Mini-Autobot, and Marvel's Wolverine. Looking at his vehicle mode, he really should have been called Brawn (with a beige repaint called Outback?), or possibly Hound. The Wolverine connection is unmissable in robot mode - he has claws on each hand, and his head looks quite a bit like the original 'yellow spandex' Wolverine from the comics. Because of his transformation, his lower arms are molded at an angle, which can make interesting poses rather a challenge, but those huge wheels don't help much either. The whole front of the vehicle - windscreen included - goes to make his lower legs, so his knees look really odd. And having such large lower legs coupled with really stick-like thighs doesn't really do Jackshot any favours. His 'ignition' gimmick is a wopping great missile fired from his chest. He looks really odd without it, but the tail of the missile sticks quite a way out of his back in both robot and vehicle modes, so he looks really odd either way. Jackshot doesn't come with any extra weapons - more of a hand-to-hand combat 'bot, I guess - but he does have the option of using weapons from other characters... if his crazy arms actually allow him to aim straight, that is.
	GC-09 Guardshell (Cybertron Landmine) I'm almost surprised that Hasbro hasn't given this fella a Constructicon Green repaint... but, so far, Guardshell remains unique. For a model of this size in the Galaxy Force/Cybertron line, he also has a fairly intricate transformation, with all sorts of little details worked in. The downside to this is that he has some very awkward parts hanging off in awkward places - the worst being the two halves of the shovel sprouting from his wrists. They don't have a huge impact on posability, though, so it could be said that they're 'decoration'. His key-activated gimmick is rather different from all of the other models. Rather than simply plugging in a key to activate something, the key must be turned in the slot in each of the back wheels. This causes small spikes or blades to pop out from the tyres. All things considered, this is possibly one of the most useless gimmicks in the entire line. The spikes can't be much use in vehicle mode (unless they're for extra grip on unstable surfaces), and they're mounted on his back in robot mode. They can swing upward, but they're still behind his shoulders, so I can't see what good they'd be in most situations. Both can be spun using a wheel which sticks out between them, but it doesn't always work as it doesn't always make good contact. Still, at least he's armed with a very large gun, even if it does look more like a piston than a pistol. Guardshell is very well jointed and is a much better model in person than in any photos.
	GC-11 First Aid By all accounts, this one is quite hard to find. Certainly, he'd sold out at all my usual internet-based suppliers, so I snapped him up at Memorabilia, along with Dark Fang Wolf. Transformation is broadly quite similar to Jackshot, only slightly different. His legs are made from the front and back of his vehicle mode (a chunky ambulance), thanks to a clever bit of toy engineering. This makes his lower legs look just like Jackshot's, with the windscreen at the knee. Unlike Jackshot, however, the bonnet of the car/his shins open up to reveal storage space for his two arm attachments - a claw and a hammer. His ignition gimmick is simple, and the spring-loaded action is instantaneous: the back sides of the car mode (or his backpack, depending on which mode he's in) pop open, allowing a pair of guns to emerge. The light piping on First Aid's head is unusual in that the light 'input' is the pair of red bobbles on the sides of his head, rather than a large patch on the back of his head. This means the effect is not as strong as with many of the other figures.
	GC-13 Autolander Also snatched up at Forbidden Planet, but on a separate occasion, after he'd sold out just about everywhere else. Yet again, I paid a premium... so was he worth it? Well, with a rather strange, yet satisfying transformation - simple, and similar in many ways to the Gen 1 Mini Autobots - he has some strange physical quirks. His upper legs are very thin, leading to flared lower legs. He has a very powerful looking upper body, with a heavy chest, huge shoulders (mostly thanks to the vehicle mode's rear wheels) and... tiny forearms. The front of the vehicle sticks up on his back. Autolander's 'ignition' gimmick cannot be used sensibly in vehicle mode - the socket is inaccessible to the key. It's also very, very strange - a sort of energy blade, but held like a gun. Overall, he's a pretty good figure, but his drab paintjob really doesn't suit him, either as a robot or a futuristic dragster.
	GC-14 Fang Wolf (Cybertron Snarl) I hadn't really intended to get this one, preferring the Dark repaint by a huge margin, but I saw this UK version while doing some late night shopping, and it was less than a tenner, so I figured I might as well. If some of the other less impressive toys are equally well-priced, I might snap them up as well. The white plastic used for the majority of this model has a kind of pearly sheen to it, but otherwise looks very cheap and poor quality. The paintwork and overall colourscheme don't really suit the look of the model, and there's no paintwork on the face to bring out the detail. Transformation is quite involved for a model this size, with the front of the wolf turning inside out to become the robot's upper body. There's also the reasonably clever use of the wolf's tail as a gun/sword weapon. The wolf's head becomes the right 'hand' which, while dramatic, seems awkward and impractical. The ignition gimmick is a little weak - the wolf's mouth opens up, but won't stay open as the key doesn't lock in place - but he looks pretty good overall, and harks back to Beast Wars in many ways. One cute feature is the Force Key holder on his thigh... quite thoughtful.
	GC-17 Autovolt Of all the Galaxy Force models, Autovolt is most like the Gen 1/ Binaltech type, where the front of the car makes the chest of the robot, but that's the only real similarity. Transformation is rather more complicated, in fact it's all hindered somewhat by how complicated the process is. Once in robot mode, however, Autovolt is another extremely posable model, with ball joints everwhere. The joints on mine are a little weak, however, so he's difficult to keep standing. The side guns, which can be stowed behind him, tend to get in the way of any dramatic posing of the legs, and weak arms tend to droop. He comes armed with a handgun which doubles as a jet engine or afterburner in car mode, but the spoiler makes the gun look unwieldy. His key-activated feature is a pair of rocket launchers which pop up from his back in either mode - in robot mode, they're another feature which harks back to Gen 1.
	GC-18 Live Convoy Easily the best helicopter-to-robot TransFormer ever. Transformation has been very well thought out. He's so good, in fact, that you can forgive the slightly garish paint job. Orange may be perfect for a rescue helecopter, but it makes him look decidedly odd in robot mode. Thankfully, he's also bristling with features. Rotor blades that spin at the push of a button, a 'working' winch (it only pulls out a short way, and snaps back at the touch of a button, so it's not exactly the safest rescue winch around... it'd probably give its victim whiplash). He's extremely posable in robot mode, too. These features don't get in the way of movement too much, and can even be used while he's in robot mode - the rotor blades become a weapon, and the winch can be used to rescue or to capture. There's only really one downside, and that's the dull and basic key-activated feature - the vents on his engine flip round (in either mode) to become missile lauchers. While they rest on his back by default, they can be lifted over his shoulders so he can fire forwards.
	GC-19 Exigeyser Part of the heavily upgraded 'Vanguard Team', Exigeyser is the powered-up form of Exillion. Of the three Vanguard members, this one sticks out because he's actually slightly smaller than the original. Still, he's heavily armed and armoured, with missile launchers concealed just about everywhere, and a short sword which can be either held in his hands or mounted on his wrists. His transformation is also almost identical to Exillion, but with a few more twists and turns added. He's not a bad figure by a long shot - there's plenty of molded detail and he's far more posable than Exillion... but the fact that he's smaller is just plain daft, when the other two are so big. Additionally, some of the joints feel rather delicate - particularly his shoulders - as though they might break if they're played with too much. Still, it's better than Hot Rod becoming Rodimus Prime, ain't it? The key-activated feature here is also rather disappointing - the rear-mounted (top-mounted in armoured car mode) gun turret opens up to reveal (*yawn*) more missile launchers. It's all vaguely reminiscent of Back Pack...
	GC-20 Backgild And speaking of Back Pack, this is his upgraded 'Vanguard Team' form. A huge improvement! Not only does he now have sensible knee joints, but he looks much tougher overall... not to mention better armed. There are a couple of very clever things about this model, the main one being the rotating barrel in the chest which allows the whole missile launcher (made from both arms) to rotate 360 degrees while in vehicle mode, while being perfectly stable in robot mode. He even has some rotation in his neck thanks to some clever jointing. The huge missile launchers on his arms do get in the way of posability, but not half as much as when their key-activated features come into play. His right arm sprouts a huge cannon, and his left sprouts a spring loaded missile launcher. Either basically take their respective elbows out of play, but the overall effect of the spring loading is brilliant. Add to that the posability of the legs and the waist rotation, and Backgild is an awesome figure. And for those who think one can never have too many guns, he even comes with a hand-held rifle!
	GC-21 First Gunner Strangely, the medic becomes a missile carrying armoured car... Not that I'm complaining because he looks great in either mode. The missile may seem a tad unwieldy, but when you take the electronics into account, it's not too bad. The key is used to interesting effect on this model. There is a key port on the missile launcher which triggers one effect - the missile splits open to reveal some sort of communication array (with flashing lights and a weird sound effect) - and there's another port on the robot's wrist attachment which opens it up. By default, it looks rather like a powerful shotgun but, like his smaller original form, First Gunner has attachments stowed in his legs - one is a hammer, the other is a scary-looking claw. The electronics aren't all key-activated. Simply pulling the missile off the launcher triggers a launch sound effect, which is also pretty good. Robot mode is a huge departure from First Aid - he's a big briuser with a huge missile mounted on his shoulder. The head is similar to the smaller form, but looks much tougher and more serious. He's also very posable, though I found the waist a little on the loose side. Still, he's another fine addition to the 'Vanguard Team'.
	GC-22 Sonic Bomber Originally thought to be the powered-up form of Dreadrock, Sonic Bomber turned out to be a completely different character, though he's still part of the 'Vanguard Team'. Loosely based on the A-10 bomber, but given a very futuristic remix. Transformation is a bit more involved that with Dreadrock, as it has to accommodate not only the change from robot to plane, but to an upgrade for Galaxy Convoy, making him Sonic Convoy. While the plane mode looks excellent, robot mode is a bit of a jumble. The shoulder joints are awful and the 'hands' are just a slight adjustment of the six-barrel guns from plane mode. Additionally, there's no useful movement to the feet, making him very awkward to stand in any really dramatic pose, and his legs look spindly. Even so, gimmicks abound for both modes. The key-activated feature is quite simple - the nose of the plane opens up. Within this section, though, there is a battery-activated sound and light effect right at the nose of the plane. Since he has no real hands, his missile launchers - and his twin swords - attach via pegs to the sides of his forearms. The Cybertron (US/UK) version is named Wing Sabre, a reuse of a name from the Superlink/Energon series. Since this model does actually carry swords, it's not inappropriate.
	GC-23 Megalo Convoy You'd expect the leader of the giant planet to be big, and this model does not disappoint. While it's not necessarily one of the largest - smaller than Unicron, and not much bigger than Master Megatron/ Galvatron - he comes with a miniature Galaxy Convoy to put things in perspective. Megalo Convoy is armed with a huge saw/claw weapon which also houses his only key-activated gimmick. Plug in the key and the saw blade opens up (much like Stargate's staff weapons) and becomes some kind of blaster with electronic light and sound effects. His alternate mode has been a source of some ridicule in the fan community. Granted, it's very simple, but it's more than just putting the robot into a weird crouching position. If one assumes that, on Gigalonia, the robots aren't so much 'in disguise' as 'in more practical forms for construction and demolition' it all makes perfect sense - Megalo Convoy is a giant excavator. Unlike the majority of other Galaxy Force models, this one comes with a Mini-Con partner, Horibull (awful name) who turns into a small (though actually the same size as the mini Galaxy Convoy!) dual-drill vehicle which can attach to Megalo Convoy's wrist, or to the tip of the digger arm in excavator mode. He's very similar to Armada Megatron's Mini-Con, but the legs are arranged differently and the model seems more detailed and sharper overall. I'm in two minds about this one - on the one hand, it's a large, very poseable model (though the hands, like Galaxy Convoy's, are rather pathetically simple), on the other hand, it's light on gimmicks for something so small... Surely something could have been worked into the main body?
	Armorhide Currently a US/Cybertron-only release, this is a novel interpretation of the 'truck to robot' TransFormer. Rather than having the rear of the truck becoming the legs, it becomes the arms, creating a much stockier, more powerful looking robot, despite his small size. Quite why this truck comes equipped with a crane is anyone's guess, as it would be more appropriate on a pickup than on something like this. Still, it becomes a huge gun for the robot, so I'm not complaining too loudly. He seems to be rather top-heavy, and his comparatively small feet make him rather difficult to pose in interesting and dynamic ways. Aslo, while his hips are ball-jointed, there's not much useful movement to them, and his waist is fixed. Plugging in his 'Cyber Planet Key' reveals a bank of missiles which are hidden behind the truck's grille. Who needs an engine anyway?
	Downshift Every time this character turns up, I wish they'd just call him Wheeljack and be done with it. He was Wheeljack in Superlink, but Downshift in Energon, and now the same 'mistake' has been made with the Cybertron line (this figure, like Armorhide, does not appear in Galaxy Force). Transformation and the overall look of the robot are very Gen 1-ish, but Downshift is far more posable than anything back then. With a couple of minor modifications explained in the fan forums, he can even be given a rotating waist and his head can be raised to allow it to turn more. Shame Hasbro didn't think the same way the fans do. Still, Downshift is excellent as he is, with plenty of range for dynamic looks. His two missile launchers can be held in his hands or mounted on his shoulders (just like Gen 1 Wheeljack)... and even attached to the sides of his car mode! His key gimmick is a strange claw-thing that pops out of the front grille of the car. No idea what it's supposed to do, but this feature is notable because the key slot can be hidden by folding it down flush with the rear windscreen. Clever stuff. The more I think about it, the more the colourscheme and key gimmick remind me of an upgraded Jackshot...
	Blender (Cybertron Quickmix) A surprise arrival, late on a Saturday evening, Blender/Quickmix is one of the last new molds in the US Cybertron series. Transforming into a cement mixer, this robot for some reason makes me think it's a homage to Gen 1's Blaster... Not so much the colouring, or the overall look, but certainly things like the visor on his head the 'door' on his chest and, bizarrely, the microphone and ariel on the left side of his head remind me of the Autobots' Communications guy. He ends up looking suitably odd in both modes but, unlike Moledive/Menasor, at least manages to be recognisable as a specific piece of contruction equipment, and significantly different-looking in robot mode. Furthermore, the awkwardness of vehicle mode doesn't impact on the posability of the robot thanks to some clever jointing, particularly of the feet, which allow good stability in a range of poses. While I like the asymmetry of Blender, the torso ends up looking very flat compared with just about every other character in Galaxy Force. Still, he's a decent figure. His key-activated gimmick is very much like Sonic Bomber's - the cement mixer 'barrel' on the right arm splits open to reveal a missile launcher. Very disappointing, overall. His mini-con partner is a strange kind of laser drill thing with a deeply unimpressive robot mode. He links to Blender quite cleverly, thanks to a cockpit arrangement one the cement mixer 'barrel'.
	Cybertron Smokescreen While Galaxy Force was full of subtle references and homages to Gen-1, Hasbro took it to the next level by releasing this repaint of Autovolt. It's the perfect choice, because this mold is the closest thing in Galaxy Force to a Gen-1 style transformation, and looks pretty good painted up in Smokescreen's trademark red, white and blue. Add the key-activated, shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, and it's surprising they're not doing a whole range of these, as Prowl, Bluestreak and Jazz as well. The only downside to this model is that the head hasn't been remodelled in any way, and is cast in the wrong colour. It really should have been blue... That having been said, it still manages to look pretty good. Additionally, I have to admit that the ball joints on this one are much tighter than on my Autovolt.
	Cybertron Brakedown GTS Perhaps more appropriately known as Galaxy Force Kup. This has to be one of the best repaints of all time - somehow, it's just so right. While the colourscheme doesn't ape Gen-1 Kup completely, it's close enough, and the model in these colours really does evoke the old warhorse from TransFormers The Movie. While the transformation is almost back to front - Kup was a weird 'futuristic/alien' pickup truck, and Brakedown is a serious dragster - it all manages to be completely appropriate. My only complaint on this one - and it's really tiny and pedantic - is that, where the original had parts cast in translucent yellow plastic, the same parts here are cast in opaque black. The upshot of this is that there's no light-piping for his eyes, and the black plastic has been painted red. I'm not sure whether, overall, I like this one better than the original... it looks so different, and in many ways this new colour scheme does work better than the original's dull browns... then again, Autolander is a very different character.
	Cybertron Excellion The closest the TransFormers line has had to a 'true' Hot Rod since the Gen-1 incarnation, this is similar to a limited edition DVD box repaint of Galaxy Force Exillion. The colours aren't quite the same, but the idea is there. Of the Autobot repaints, this one has probably suffered the most through mold degradation - joints are loose, and pieces don't quite fit together as well as they ought, but it's still an excellent vehicle mode and a reasonably poseable robot. At first, I thought his hips had grown a greater range of movement since I picked up GF Exillion, but my attempts to pose him dramatically proved otherwise. While the hips seem to travel more, they and the knees are too loose to stand well in any position other than 'more or less straight'. While I like this mold, I have to be frank and admit that I only really picked this up because it was the last in the rack at Toys'R'Us, and I didn't want to regret losing him later. I'd never intended to go looking for Cybertron Excellion.
	Cybertron Override GTS When Nitro Convoy was first released, I decided that I didn't like the model as a whole... The proportions were off, and the auto-transform gimmick seemed rather pointless. But then the Dark version was released, I picked it up and found that, in spite of some obvious flaws and stability issues, it was pretty good after all. When this version was released in the Cybertron line, it became obvious that my only real objection to the original was the rather clownish colour scheme. This is a fairly effective mixture of more subdued colours that the original with black and silver from the Dark version. While it has all the stability and posability issues of the original and Dark version, this one's 'auto-transformation' gimmick actually works remarkably well - all one need do after pushing the button is flip the front assembly round onto his back and rotate his hips and legs into place. My one other grumble with this figure - and probably all of the key-activated handguns in the Galaxy Force/Cybertron line - is the unweildy nature of his handgun. It fits perfectly in car mode, but it's too large to look good held in the robot's hand.
Destrons/Decepticons
	GD-02 Thundercracker For possibly the first time in TransFormers history, Thundercracker is not simply a repaint of Starscream, he's a completely different model. And much smaller, too. While Starscream is some kind of Cybertronian jet, and never gets reformatted to Earth, Thundercracker is clearly a terrestrial fighter jet (something like a Russian SU-35/37). Transformation is similar to some of the Gen 2/Robot Masters jets, not to mention Energon Starscream, but rather simplified for the most part. The feet are very different, though, giving his plane mode proper afterburners and his robot mode tiny little feet. His head in robot mode is also very different from Starscream, and yet still distinctively 'Gen 1 Seeker'. His legs are quite spindly - to make his jet mode look more realistic, and one arm is basically a huge gun. His key-activated feature is one of the more bizarre and, frankly, pointless - it doesn't launch the gun-arm's missle, it simply opens the gun arm up, so that the missle is angled slightly upward! A strange selection of parts (missles on the wings, tail fins, and the smaller 'front wings') have been made from rubber rather than plastic, a cause for frequent complaint in the fan communities. It does rather detract from the image of a well-built fighter plane/robot...
	GD-03 Starscream The latest incarnation of Starscream is possibly one of the most impressive. Based quite strongly on his appearance in the War Within graphic novels, Galaxy Force Starscream is a chunky, well-armed jet fighter. Maybe not as sleek as the Armada jet, but powerful-looking nonetheless. Kind of reminded me of one of the craft from the Nemesis/Gradius series of arcade games. Upon closer inspection, some disappointments emerge. The guns mounted either side of the cockpit don't move, and the robot's arms are extremely stubby. He's not even that well armed, with only one puny-looking handgun. The chest looks as though it was meant to house electronics of some kind - a speaker at the very least - and there's even a battery cover. Unfortunately, the electronics were scrapped. The hugely oversized American version does have light and sound effects, though... but since the robot is about the size of Unicron, it just doesn't look right. Starscream's key-activated feature is a pair of translucent purple blades which spring out from the wing pods.
	GD-04 Land Bullet (Cybertron Crumplezone) From another Batmobile-inspired vehicle mode to a very ape-like bruiser of a robot, Land Bullet is a very dangerous-looking character. He does look rather awkward and top-heavy with such huge arms and such tiny legs but, somehow, it all balances out. Transformation is actually quite clever, while still being very simple, and leaves next to nothing hanging pointlessly around. The head reinforces the idea that he's a nasty character, with a moving jaw which makes him look suspiciously like the Masters of the Universe character TrapJaw. His key-activated gimmick is that his huge jet engines swing round - in either mode - and become rocket launchers.
	GD-05 Gasket (Cybertron Ransack) A very futuristic (dare I say 'Akira-inspired'?) motorbike from the Speed planet, Gasket is another fine example of how posable Galaxy Force figures are now. While he may be very broad shouldered, the overall impression is of a swift and light character, compared to the brawler that is Land Bullet. A simple, yet satisfying transformation with no real tricks leads to a robot with bike parts on his legs and back. I'm not quite sure why the front wheel gets rotated 90degrees, because it's hanging off his back either way. It has been pointed out in the fan community that the mountings for his rear wheel - on the lower parts of his legs - are the wrong way round, meaning the back section in bike mode is raised far higher than it should be, and the wheel rubs against the frame of the bike. While the back of his head is made of transparent plastic for light-piping, his eyes are painted green, negating the effect entirely! His key gimmick, like so many of the smaller GF models, is a gun which flips out from a part which mounts on the rear of the bike. It looks rather awkward as a handgun in robot mode, but just looks daft as tail guns in bike mode... Gasket is the first UK GF model I've bought with an unpainted key:
	GD-07 Flame Convoy Leader of the beast planet, Flame Convoy is a very dangerous looking character. His robot mode is very heavily built - rivalling Land Bullet - with huge crests/horns and a pair of small dragon heads on his shoulders. His only hand-held weapon is a large axe, which is a bit of a disappointment. Also disappointing is the lack of posablilty in this imposing figure. He's not a brick by a long shot, but the limited movement of the elbows and the fact that his large fists won't rotate means that he can't really pose dramatically with his axe. His legs are reasonably posable, and he's quite stable, but that doesn't quite make up for the arms. Flame Convoy's key-activated feature is the pair of small dragon heads, which will pop up in either mode, accompanied by the well-known and loved Gen 1 cartoon transformation sound. An odd choice, all things considered. There's also a button-activated sound effect for his dragon mode, with a flashing light in the head. In dragon mode, the axe becomes Flame Convoy's tail, and is far too fixed to work. While the molded detail suggests many joints, there is only one, making for a very angular tail.
	GD-09 Demolishor While cranes aren't an unusual choice of alternative mode, Demolishor's transformation is very original. Rather than the usual cab-as-chest transformation made popular by Gen 1 figures like Inferno and Grapple, each end of Demolishor's crane truck becomes one arm and one leg of the robot. It's actually vaguely similar to Gen 1 Rumble and Frenzy in many ways. Robot mode is very impressive and posable. While there have been some reports of his groin area being loose and coming apart when posing him, mine has the opposite problem - it's so tight, it's difficult to transform him back to crane mode. As with most of the Galaxy Force line, molded detail abounds. My only complaint is that, in crane mode, the paintwork is sparse. The US version has the stabilisers painted in metallic grey, but the Japanese version is almost entirely baby blue. Demolishor has two key-activated gimmicks - a missile launcher on the cab (very weakly spring-loaded, so it doesn't stay in place when deployed) and a translucent green saw blade at the end of the crane arm (which, on the American version, is made of soft plastic and doesn't lie straight when deployed because the crane hook gets in the way).
	GD-13 Ramble Drones Although three colours are available - red, blue and yellow - I chose to ignore the latter. Considering the name is eerily close to Gen 1 Soundwave's pet thug Rumble, I - and, I suspect, many others - decided to get the two more appropriate colourschemes, as Rumble and Frenzy. Obviously it's the same model, transforming into a rather impressive spider tank. Equally posable in either mode, Ramble is quite brilliant for his size (about 4 inches in robot mode). The cannon is pretty cool, and houses his 'ignition' gimmick... an energy blade. While there are some photos of Ramble holding this blade in his hand, think carefully before removing it, as the tab holding it in place will break, and every time the key is plugged in after that, the blade will fly off like a missile.
	GD-14 Master Galvatron When I first saw the pre-production, all-grey Galaxy Force Master Megatron model, my first thought was that they'd made another Batmobile. The car mode really did look like something that would turn up in one of the Batman movies (pre Batman Begins, obviously!). The aircraft mode seemed bolted on and poorly thought out, possibly even an accident of design. Robot mode seemed interesting, if a little awkward... and then I saw the colour version. It looked terrible, with its greys, purples, oranges... Not the sort of Megatron we're used to. Then this limited edition Master Galvatron repaint was announced - sleek and sexy in silver, grey, black and red, suddenly he seemed powerful and menacing again (the colour scheme is very Gen 1 Megatron, after all) - and suddenly I was interested in the model. What I hadn't realised was the extent of the use of rubber parts. The shins, the wrist pieces (which form the nose of the car/plane), the horns and all the spiky pieces are far too flexible, and feel cheap and poorly made. The paint job does make up for most of this, though. There are three key-activated features - engines that spring up in either vehicle mode, and two different weapons for robot mode. The gun is a huge disappointment after some earlier Megatron/Galvatron weapons, and it's made from one of his wheels. The wrist-mounted spines are pretty dangerous looking, though... even if they are just rubber.
	Hardtop Quite a strange and original mold, this. Very soon after Hardtop came out, it was given a yellow repaint, Swindle. Other than the colours, literally nothing was different, which seems to be the way with Hasbro's take on the latest series of TransFormers. Hardtop is not the most appropriate name, since his alternate mode is a kind of open-topped dune buggy. Still, he has an enormous cannon attached at the rear, so maybe that makes his top 'hard'. Upon transforming him for the first time, I was fully expecting the shoulders to be fixed because of the way he transforms... but, no, his shoulders are on ball joints, just like his hips and knees. Although some of these joints are a little loose, he's quite a dynamic figure. I don't quite understand why Hasbro decided to paint over the light-piping for his eyes. Seems like a waste of transparent plastic to me, but what do I know? Other than that, his colourscheme is military green with minty highlights, purple bits, and a dash of Decepticon Purple. Considering this was a Hasbro-only release, they haven't skimped on the paintwork. His key-activated feature is a fliparound barrel for his gun. As standard, it's quite a short, single-barrelled gun. Stick in the key and it becomes a longer, double-barrelled gun... Weird.
	Shortround Most people immediately saw a homage to Gen 1's mini Autobot Seaspray when the prototype turned up on the internet. Sadly, what we ended up with is a very awkward-looking Decepticon who turns into a very well-armed hovercraft. While transformation is very satisfying, it leaves him with ugly great arms which end in claws rather than true hands. Due to the nature of the elbow joint, he can't bend his arm if he's holding his gun straight, so he has to hold it sideways, and look like a gangsta. Worse still, his character bio describes him as a geek... Whoever writes these things these days really needs to come up with something a bit more sensible - bad enough that Megatron/Galvatron has become a 'criminal'... if his legions now boast a 'geek', no wonder the Autobots keep winning. His key releases a pair of molded (that is, non-firing) missile launchers from the hovercraft propulsion fans.
	Skywarp If it seemed strange than Galaxy Force Thundercracker was a completely different mold to Starscream, then it's even stranger that Hasbro's Cybertron Skywarp should be a repaint of Thundercracker. But that's not the only strange thing - Skywarp has always been a black jet with purple higlights... Now he's a purple jet with white highlights and a darker purple pattern on his wings... Making Thundercracker seem all the more realistic by comparason. I do quite like this mold, but the choice of colours for Skywarp is completely wrong. Robot mode is as before but, while Thundercracker just looked skinny, Skywarp's purple and white colourscheme makes him look as though he's heading for Mardi Gras. The key-activated feature is, naturally, exactly the same as the original... even the same colour of translucent plastic has been used for the missile!
	Moledive (Cybertron Menasor) Quite why Hasbro lumbered Moledive with the ame of the combined form of the Stunticons from Gen 1 is anyone's guess, but they've done a reasonably good job of producing a figure that Takara didn't bother with. Many of the usual Hasbro complaints - poor paint applications, poor QC - really don't apply here. 'Menasor' is a sturdy, well-decorated model. As with the Megalo Convoy, though, he really doesn't have a particularly convincing alternate mode - a wierd drilling rig - with very little by way of actual 'transformation' to get there. This has been explained away as the Gigalonia TransFormers no longer being 'robots in disguise' as much as they are simply construction robots with more practical work modes. His Mini-Con partner is quite a strange one - a bulldozer with a cargo bed, which seems like a strange mixture of functions... Maybe Gigalonia is big (ahem) on multi-tasking? There are a couple of Mini-Con ports on the main model, but only one actually does anything - the drill in the right arm extends, and the translucent blue claws are released. The left arm contains the one and only key-activated feature - light and sound effects in the other drill. While the simplicity of the transformation and the unrealistic alternate mode are off-putting, the robot mode - particularly the impressive and unusual head sculpt - make up for it, and despite its awkwardness, it's a very poseable figure.
	Cryo Scourge (Ice Convoy?) While I'm normally not one for buying gratuitous repaints, Cryo Scourge stood out from the crowd a little. Essentially an icy reworking of the Flame Convoy/Scourge mold, Cryo Scourge comes painted in cold colours, and with clever use of translucent plastic for the dragon's claws and the robot's axe blade. In the main, the choice of colours is fantastic, though the paintjob on the head of mine is a little on the sloppy side, but the silver face shows up much more detail than the metallic purple of the original. Aside from the paintjob, this is exactly the same model, even down to the light and sound effects - they didn't even change the colour of the light, let alone the sound of his roar! His bio explains this to some degree, saying that 'prolonged exposure to the freezing waste of deep space has irreversibly mutated Scourge. No longer a flame-spewing monster consumed by his passions, he is now a creature of ice and cold... His breath, once a raging firestorm, is now creeping cold that sneaks into joints and mechanisms, destroying them from within.' It then makes a mockery of this by describing the 'blazing eyes and dragon scream' which make up the lights and sounds... Hum. This is almost certainly one of Hasbro's better choices in the Cybertron line, and Cryo Scourge looks far better than Takara's decidedly odd-looking Sky-Lynx repaint of the Flame Convoy mold.
	Cybertron 2-pack Starscream Or, as mine shall be known, Cybertron Thrust, as the colour scheme fits the Gen-1 character reasonably well. This is quite an odd repaint in many ways. Some areas are now deep red where they used to be off-white, what used to be red is generally silver, and the highlights in metallic orange are still metallic orange... But now, his transparent parts are a strange, UV-Glow effect cloudy translucent purple. In its own way, it looks great... it's just not Starscream. I'm very fond of this mold, despite the difficulty in posing him well. It's nice and bulky, very powerful-looking in robot mode, and yet manages to look sleek and fast in jet mode. Still looks rather too much like the fighter from the Gradius series, but that's no bad thing. The strange cloudy plastic used for his blades, cockpit and missile are an odd choice but, in the right light, they do look rather like they're responding to ultraviolet light. The other part of the 2-pack, Vector Prime, is much the same as the Japanese version, but stark white rather than pearlescent grey, and a much darker brown has been used... so it's almost as if they simply increased the contrast on him. Since he's effectively the same, though, he'll remain in the packaging. I may use the sword for something else, and I may repaint his Mini-Con as a 'Nemesis' version... or perhaps try to think of something more original.
	Swindle A repaint of Hardtop and, frankly, the only one if the two that I'd originally intended to buy. I'm still not quite sure why I bought Hardtop, as the colourscheme didn't appeal to me... But there we go. The most interesting difference in the decoration of Swindle and Hardtop is that Swindle has a Decepticon logo on his chest in robot mode, but Hardtop doesn't. Other than that, the pattern of their paintwork is slightly different.
	Giant Planet Mini-Cons While not, strictly speaking, truly Decepticon, these three are mischief-makers - inhabitants of the Giant Planet who destroy rather than build, and raid for supplies. They are also a prime indication of how far the toy designs and toy making has come, even since Armada. While the Recon Team and Race Team are nothing special - the latter being a slight remolding of a trio who originally appeared several years ago in Armada - the Giant Planet team are something special. One land-based, one sea-based, and one who flies, each with a deceptively simple but very effective transformation. Certainly Deep Dive has huge flaps on his shoulders as a symptom of slightly questionable design, but Overcast could be considered to be a miniature Dreadrock/Jetfire. Longarm is the weakest of the set, but even he is a fresh approach to an old Mini-Con, rather than a straight repaint.
Planet X
	GX-01 Noisemaze Transforming from a sleek and dangerous-looking spacecraft into a rather demonic robot, Noisemaze is a nightmare vision of a robot. Worse still, his loyalties are questionable. By default, he displays the Autobot insignia... but plug in his key, and he becomes a Decepticon with crossbow-style weapon. Sadly, mine has a key which won't stay in place so he flops back to being an Autobot... While small, the amount of molded detail on Noisemaze is staggering. Paintwork is appropriate all over - none wasted, none 'missing', making for quite a beautiful (if demonic) robot and spacecraft. Cleverly, his wings can detatch to become swords. The only downside - on mine, at least - is that the ball-jointed hips are very loose, making him tricky to stand. This is fixable, though. One other point of interest is that his robot 'face' is basically a blank area of translucent orange plastic... catch the light in a certain way, however, and a firey face seems to appear...
	GX-02 Soundwave The enigmatic Decepticon communications expert returns with a Gen 1 colourscheme and a futuristic stealth jet alt. mode. There are many references to the original Soundwave, particularly in the very familiar head. Transformation is rather complicated and, to be honest, doesn't work perfectly. The legs never seem to go back into the position they were in straight out of the box, so the whole body of the plane is loose and won't stay together. Robot mode is mostly satisfying, though. Personally, I'd say the legs and arms are rather thin, and the number of obvious aeroplane parts - the wings on his back, the nose hanging off the right arm, and the cockpit (working as a shield) on the left) make posing rather difficult. Also, the tilting joints below the knees are a little weak on mine. His only key-activated gimmick is a real treat for Gen 1 fans, though. Just like the original tape deck Soundwave, his chest opens up to release one of three 'Hexagon Units'. One transforms into his handgun, another becomes a shoulder-mounted weapon, and the third becomes his sidekick, Killer Condor (or Laserbeak, if you prefer... and, frankly, I do!). On the one hand, the homage is brilliant... but I can't help but think he wouldn't be half as good if it weren't for all the Gen 1 lookalike features. The big question is whether or not there will be any other Hexagon Units... and, unfortunately, the answer is probably 'no.'
	Unicron Not really a Planet X-er, Cybertron Unicron is said to be a 'seed form' of the Chaos Bringer. Transforming into a small, strangely insectiod tank, very little of the original giant is recognisable - only the gaping maw, seen devouring planets in the movie. Robot mode is much more familiar, though the impression of power has been dramatically reduced. The head is almost the same, but with skeletal features; the shoulders hark back to Armada, and are similar to GF Master Megatron/Galvatron; the clawed feet definitely evoke the original; the spines on his leg plates are much like the spines formed from the original's planet mode ring... but his size and skinny look suggest he's been stripped of his former glory. Even this Unicron seed has a key-activated feature, though it's very disappointing and prone to malfunction. The gaping maw on his chest opens up to reveal a three-barrelled gun. The malfunction is that, upon pulling out the key, the doors don't always close properly. It's a decent enough model, I suppose, but why is it Unicron? With a different head and colourscheme, it could be anything.
Exclusives
	Dark Ligerjack Exclusive to Japanese Toys'R'Us stores, according to the packaging, this is a black/grey/metallic turquoise (typical 'Nemesis' colours) repaint of Ligerjack, the upgraded Beast form of Jackshot. I never really intended to get Ligerjack, as it's quite an ugly model in both modes, but this dark repaint manages to make him look quite impressive. The main flaws in this model are in the articulation - paricularly that of the upper arms, which is decidedly awkward - but they tried to make up for this by including a gimmicky third mode of transformation - a claw which can attach to Master Megatron/Galvatron, in the same was Ligerjack attaches to Galaxy Convoy. While the cartoon shows this claw mode with real fingers, the toy has none, and looks very odd. Ligerjack even keeps Jackshot's 'Wolverine' claws, this time as his key-activated gimmick, meaning he looks even more like Marvel's favourite short-arsed Canadian nutter, only now with a large pony tail. The only other gimmick is a push-button 'roar' (so far, so Lio Convoy), with a battery-powered sound effect...
	Dark NitroConvoy While the original colourscheme looks rather garish/clownish, the Dark version is pretty fantastic. All the usual Nemesis colours - black, grey, silver and metallic turquoise - are present, making the vehicle form every bit as Batmobile as Master Galvatron, and the robot form that much more formidable-looking. The autotransformation gimmick is pretty weak. Push a button on the nose of the car, and some parts spring out, leaving the legs to be done by hand... Unfortunately, the spring loading works all too well when transforming him back to vehicle mode, and it only really stays solid once it's all done. Can't be sure how this compares to the original in terms of the joints and posability, but the feet - particularly the heel pieces - are quite loose, and the arrangement of the feet is such that he's never entirely stable. The key-activated gimmick here is a large and unwieldy pair of gun turrets. They work perfectly for vehicle mode, where one gun pops out either side of the cockpit... but as a hand-held weapon in robot mode, it's just too bulky. Overall, though, the black repaint wins out again... It's very stylish, suits both forms, and improves greatly on the original colourscheme.
	Black Fang Wolf The Toy's Dream Project black recolour of the white Galaxy Force original, this is actually a very cool model. The original colour scheme did it no favours. There is a huge amount of molded detail in both wolf and robot modes, but the overuse of dull white plastic on the original meant most of the unpainted detail was lost, particularly on the robot's face. Not so with this one, where the detail leaps out of the darker plastic, and the unpainted areas look just as good as the painted ones. The choice of colour, too, is much better - silvers and yellows complementing the greys and blacks far better than the blue paintwork on the original. One fairly significant difference between this and the original is that the light piping on the head has effectively been removed - the back of the head is clear grey plastic, but the eyes are painted yellow. I can understand not wanting clear grey eyes - they'd be a bit bland after all - but then why not choose a different colour for the clear plastic... like red, as with most 'Nemesis' versions?
	Soundblaster Yup, a black version of Soundwave. He is, therefore, more sneaky and dangerous than the original... Or so I guess. Aside from a new paintjob, this is exactly the same as Takara's GF Soundwave, but somehow the build quality is much improved. SW's head was a little loose and prone to lolling, SB's isn't half as bad. The legs don't seem as loose, and the heel pieces certainly aren't... which means he's far easier to pose in an interesting way. It's a very interesting model, very detailed and intricate, a perfect update for a much loved/loathed and highly sought-after Gen 1 character. Rather a shame that TakaraTomy aren't planning any more Hexagon Unit sidekicks, but it's certainly given kitbashers something to aspire to.
Planet Cybertron
	Primus Almost certainly every fanboy's dream, ever since Armada Unicron turned up on the scene... But, whereas Unicron suffered from the Armada line's tendency towards chunkiness, Primus is a whole different kettle of fish. With far more molded detail, and more extensive paint work, Primus is a beautiful figure to behold. Factor in the electronics which, unlike Unicron, feature sounds, and he's a must-have model. Some versions of this model (not the version available at Toys'R'Us in the UK, as far as I can tell) came with a free gift, in the form of a damaged and disembodied Unicron head, modelled on the Armada mold, but missing half the face, revealing a strange, Terminator-style metallic skull beneath. Frankly, I'm not that upset about missing out on that, because it looked rather crappy and pointless. What I am upset about is missing out on the Japanese version's Generation 1-inspired box art, which looked fantastic. Thanks to a new display cabinet, Primus is finally on show in all his glory. I haven't yet tried to transform him back into Cybertron, but I've seen enough images to know that he's strangely garish in planet mode because of his light blue/dark blue/grey colour scheme.