That robot mode is gorgeous. It's really too bad the vehicle mode (which isn't terrrrible) looks nothing like his old Viper form.
(And I know haterz gunna hate, but that original Side Burn toy remains one of my favorite TFs to transform. Yes, it's ridiculously fiddly, but there's a certain joy to be had in practicing it over and over until it can be done smoothly, like a Rubik's Cube.)
(And I know haterz gunna hate, but that original Side Burn toy remains one of my favorite TFs to transform. Yes, it's ridiculously fiddly, but there's a certain joy to be had in practicing it over and over until it can be done smoothly, like a Rubik's Cube.)
It definitely could use some better flames!
Do you still need the degree in theoretical physics to transform him though?
It's his pre-Earth form. He hasn't scanned a Viper yet. That'll be my head canon, anyway.
Darn it, don't come up with such good ideas to make me want this thing.
Oh hey, I got an email while out shoveling snow.
Well, that's a thing then.
Well, that's a thing then.
So was Gears's chestplate coming in the box as an accessory always a well-known thing? Mine just arrived and I thought I was going to have to put in for a replacement at first, until someone else pointed out it's in the box - I hadn't opened it yet so that I could show that it came that way. I just don't recall ever hearing about it before now, though Seibertron had an article about it from mid-March.
It's mentioned on the wiki, at the very least.
Man, we knew Sideburn’s car mode wasn’t going to be any good from Shadow Striker but actually seeing it somehow makes it worse. It’s shaped closer to a shoe than a sportscar and they couldn’t even bother to give it better a flame pattern. The great colors are wasted on it.
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The troll part of me wants to see them go full on Walter P38 upside down and call it a submarine
But that's not happening
Honestly an ER redo with Sunbow colours and a new head would be fine. If underwhelming
Mine arrived yesterday and today.
My preorders from Pulse arrived today. It was probably the one thing that went right for me today too.
It's because the altmode was designed based on Cyberverse Shadow Striker's pre-Frankensteined altmode, but with the addition of Side Burn's exposed engine, creating a single hodgepodge altmode design that Hasbro wanted to use for both characters, and is consequently accurate to neither character.
TBF, one could consider them trying to homage both Cyberverse and the original Shadow Striker, who was a Side Burn Remold, so combining the two isn't completely odd.
But the results are nevertheless unimpressive. So basically the Elita/Minerva/Strongarm situation again.
Indeed. What we have here, in this mold's case, is less of an instance of "G1-ifying" like with the Prime and Animated designs (since the Cyberverse designs, much like those of the Unicron Trilogy, were already pretty blocky and G1-ish in aesthetic to begin with), and more a case of Hasbro taking two different characters (Shadow Striker and Side Burn) from two different series (Cyberverse and RiD 2001) with two completely different designs, and forcibly trying to mash those two designs together, all because of Shadow Striker's original namesake (Universe Shadow Striker) having been made from the RiD 2001 Side Burn mold, despite the fact that Cyberverse Shadow Striker was a name-slap of a familiar trademark on a new character with a completely original design that looked absolutely nothing like Universe Shadow Striker.
This is like if the Legacy Bulkhead toy had instead tried to have a helicopter mode as a second altmode, and had been given a mustache on top of his very Prime-styled robot mode head, in order to cram in elements from Energon Bulkhead just because he was the first Bulkhead, despite Prime Bulkhead being nothing like him in design or character.
It's basically a return of the "Aligned" mindset that gave all us those mashed G1/Movieverse concept designs from a decade ago.
This is like if the Legacy Bulkhead toy had instead tried to have a helicopter mode as a second altmode, and had been given a mustache on top of his very Prime-styled robot mode head, in order to cram in elements from Energon Bulkhead just because he was the first Bulkhead, despite Prime Bulkhead being nothing like him in design or character.
It's basically a return of the "Aligned" mindset that gave all us those mashed G1/Movieverse concept designs from a decade ago.
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