A significant part of the reason for that is the G1 homages in the Autobot ranks, or the (marginally) superior paint job on the likes of Strongarm... But perhaps the most significant part is the bizarre and outlandish appearance of the Decepticons - it's almost as though they were trying to build on the Beast Hunters aspect of TransFormers Prime, and develop more beast-like Decepticons... Except many aren't robots that turn into beasts, they're beast-like robots that turn into vehicles.
One of my quirky favourites was Bisk, an orange muscle car - not unlike the TFPrime Vehicons - who turned into a lobster-like robot with massive claws and googly eyes. When a repaint was revealed, in a gorgeous shade of blue, and with a name referencing another lobster dish, it immediately became a must-have and, in the end, I was lucky enough to find him in a nearby branch of Asda... So let's take a look
Vehicle Mode:
The only problem with Bisk's alternate mode was the ridiculous colourscheme - bright orange may be eyecatching, but it looked faintly ridiculous on that mold. The deep, sparkly blue of Thermidor is far more fitting and makes for a closer comparison to the largely anonymous Vehicons. There's been a fairly straightforward palette-swap on this figure - orange for blue, cyan for red, burgundy for... weirdly, orange on the front but metallic cyan on the two-part spoiler. The back end has no additional paintwork versus Bisk, but all the windows are painted black, just like Bisk... so, in a lot of ways, vehicle mode is a bit of a letdown... but no more so than any of Hasbro's RID2015 toys. It's a little surprising that there aren't any Reprolabels sets for either Bisk or Thermidor... but then, the animation models aren't exactly covered with details or wacky paintwork... The lacklustre paint job here is as much to do with the simple CGI as anything else.
Thermidor is packaged with the same pair of weapons as Bisk, and they can be mounted in the same two 5mm ports on the front of the vehicle, just behind the headlights. They're even molded in black plastic, just like those provided with Bisk... which is a little disappointing, but does make them completely interchangeable. When they're attached, Thermidor looks even more like a cartoon-style armed-to-the-teeth Batmobile...
Robot Mode:
As with vehicle mode, there aren't any variations in the paint layout, and the only change is a single additional paint application - silver on the belly. Other than that, it's the same faux-windscreen on his chest, with the code sticker in the middle, and pale, pearlescent cyan plastic substituting for Bisk's burgundy on the feet and the upper sections of the limbs.
What's really delightful about this version is the completely restyled head sculpt. It's still lobsterish, but he's lost the googly eyes-on-stalks in favour of a more traditional face squashed in between a massive horn sprouting from the forehead, along with smaller protrusions from his chin and large cheek guards. His eyes are small, beady and largely painted black, but have pale cyan circles indicating his optics, while the mouth is sculpted into an expression that could be a wide grin or a tense grimace. Were it not for the long, rubbery antennae, I'd almost say the head sculpt was intended to resemble a shark due to the snout-like shape of the horn and the way it sprouts from the head just above the eyes.
Thermidor is a great example of how a new head and paint job can make a toy into a completely different character - he couldn't be more different from Bisk. I might have preferred a few more alterations, such as a revised chest plate and different feet but, even with all the same parts, his appearance can be altered quite significantly by simple changes to his posture or to the orientation of the large panels of car bonnet hanging off his shoulders on their ball joints.
It's worth noting that the antennae are just as troublesome in Thermidor's transformation as they were in Bisk's, but I find that collapsing the head back into the torso before getting the legs and feet fully situated seems to be the winning strategy - otherwise the rubbery protrusions are wont to get caught up in and distorted by the structural parts on the underside of the feet.
Of the two, I certainly prefer Thermidor... but there's still something weirdly charming about Bisk's weird googly eyes. RID2015 may not have one of the best stories, but its quirky aesthetic and original take on the look of the Decepticons seems to win me over quite regularly... The only shame of it is that there are several Decepticons in the series that were only made as crummy, simplified combiner components, or in a less than optimal size class, or never developed as toys at all. Not that this line was ever aimed at the likes of me, but it's unfortunate that some of the more imaginative designs weren't given the treatment they deserved... or perhaps it's simply indicative of Hasbro's realisation that some of the CGI would have been impossible to replicate in plastic form.
In any event, Thermidor is another figure that really amuses me, and I'm glad to have the both of them on my shelves.
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