TransFormers: Prime Beast Hunters Ace (Jet) Vehicon

You'd think I'd have learned my lesson, having bought the dinky Legends class TransFormers Prime Beast Hunters Jet Vehicon figure, despite Takara Tomy having released a full-size (Deluxe class) version the year before in their Arms Micron line. Sadly, though, it seems I repeated almost exactly the same error the following year, and picked up this little variant, at a time when Takara Tomy's AM Jet Vehicon General would still have been more cheaply available than it is now.

And the less said about my error with the other Vehicon General, the better.

But, since we're here, let's take a look, shall we?

TransFormers Go! Hunter Soundwave

Takara Tomy's take on the Beast Hunters extension to TF Prime was a bit of a surprise. Most of the beasts/Predacons were incorporated into their TransFormers Go! TV show, but only a few of the non-beast toys made it into the toyline. Shockwave was one, receiving a far better paint job than the Hasbro/Beast Hunters version, and Soundwave was another. While Hasbro's release seemed to channel an old TransFormers Universe toy, Takara Tomy went a bit more traditional...

One might wonder why I'd pick up another version of TF Prime Soundwave when I already have the original TF Prime Deluxe and Hasbro's Beast Hunters version... but remember I also went and bought the Collectors' Club's Old Snake & Advanced Steath BATs set... and read on.

TransFormers: Prime Beast Hunters Knock Out

One of the biggest frustrations with TransFormers: Prime season three - aka 'Beast Hunters' - is that virtually all the regular characters remain the same bar a few isolated changes to their paint jobs, while the toyline just went bonkers, growing spikes and other protrusions all over the place... And yet, where Hasbro had the perfect opportunity to do a straight repaint of a new character, Smokescreen, they dropped the ball. By and large, the 'tooled up' versions of the regular show characters weren't at all appealing to me, but the remake of Knock Out - affectionately known as 'Croc Out' - certainly has its appeal.

TransFormers: Prime Beast Hunters Prowl

Here's what I don't get about Hasbro's strategy: the TF Prime toyline got about a billion versions of Bumblebee, in all different size classes and with several different paint jobs, but Smokescreen - who changed his paint job after only a few episodes from white to blue, and remained blue till the end of the series - never got repainted to match his on-screen counterpart...

...Instead, the mold received a new head, a lightbar, and a new paint job and became Prowl - at once a G1 homage and a reference to the online TransFormers game that was getting a lot of press at the time.

It's baffling to me that Hasbro will miss obvious opportunities, only to bodge together something 'new'... but, hey, Prowl's a cool addition to the TF Prime toyline, even if he never appeared in the show, right?

TransFormers: Prime Beast Hunters Soundwave

Very few of the Beast Hunters toys were of any interest to me - it was good that Smokescreen got released (even if it was only a poor representation of his original colourscheme), but the remolds - in all their gaudy, marble-plastic glory - seemed superfluous because the characters in the TV show didn't change to match. In total, I picked up three: Arcee (because, duh), Knock Out (aka Croc Out, because he did look awesome) and Soundwave.

The original version was eerie enough, being very well executed in plastic despite being so slender and oddly-proportioned. How does a Predator-style drone TransFormer fare once it's had the Beast Hunters wackiness treatment?

TransFormers: Prime Beast Hunters Arcee

(Femme-Bot Friday #17)

In the TransFormers: Prime TV show, when it's in the process of becoming 'Beast Hunters', Smokescreen and Bumblebee get new colourschemes. The former goes blue and yellow, almost a nod to Binaltech Smokescreen in his vehicle mode appearance. The latter reverses his paint pattern and becomes black with yellow stripes (aka Shadow Strike Bumblebee). Observing this, Arcee remarks, pithily "If I reversed my colourscheme, I'd be pink...", guaranteed to raise at least a giggle from G1 fans.

Of course, the toy range did things slightly differently... Most of the toys were at least partially remolded with spikes and other protuberances, which struck me as a bizarre waste of money when new colourschemes would have sufficed in almost all cases.

Clearly no stranger to irony, not only did Hasbro remold Arcee, but they (sort of) reversed her colourscheme as well...

TransFormers: Prime Beast Hunters Smokescreen

All things considered, I feel that Smokescreen - both in name and character - was a strange late addition to the roster of TFPrime Autobots. The main issue was that he seemed to be intended to out-Bumblebee Bumblebee in the reckless brawling and risk-taking departments. Granted, the Yellow One's partnership with Raf Esquivel toned down a lot of his behaviour, turning him into more of a giant alien robot 'older brother', but contemporary Bumblebees have tended to be daredevils... so why on Earth would we need another?

Furthermore, other than G1 Autobot diversionary tactician (including repaints in the Cybertron and movie toylines), the the name 'Smokescreen' had only been applied to the G2 Decepticon partner to Dreadwing and the bizarre Armada crane-thing. This character in TFPrime may have been a visual homage but, in every other respect, he was more Hot Rod than Smokescreen, even down to Optimus Prime's suggestion that he had the potential to become a Prime.

But enough about the character and the TV show... I'm sure you all want to know what I think about the toy...

TransFormers Go! Hunter Shockwave

It's been absolutely ages since I last bought an official TransFormer on import... The last time I did it regularly was the Galaxy Force line or Binaltech, though I have picked up a few Alternity models. For the most part, though, Hasbro has done a reasonably good job of bringing figures into UK toy shops, and in some cases their products have been preferable to those from Takara Tomy, if only because they're cheaper.

For example, in the main, Takara Tomy's take on the TransFormers: Prime figures has been a bit weird. The initial run of toys were partnered with 'Arms Microns' - a fairly cool extension of the Unicron Trilogy's Mini-Cons - but with virtually non-existent paintjobs supplemented only by stickers. When Hasbro introduced Beast Hunters, Takara Tomy repurposed the remolded Prime figures and Predacons, adding them - somewhat incongruously - to their TransFormers Go! line. Had I the slightest interest in the Prime Predacons, I'd certainly prefer to buy the Japanese versions simply because they look classier. Only one new figure held any interest for me, however, and that was Shockwave. But while Hasbro decked him out in a rather dull, flat purple, Takara Tomy adjusted the saturation to maximum, giving a much more satisfying colour to the Decepticons' imposing cyclops. Thus, TransFormers Go! Hunter Shockwave went onto my Christmas list... and I shall be forever grateful to my girlfriend's parents for picking him up on my behalf.

TransFormers: Prime - An Overview

Thanks to the wonders of the interwebs, I've been able to watch all three seasons of TransFormers: Prime before the UK DVD releases complete even season one. For a glorified toy commercial, it's one of the best TV series I've seen in a long while, and I'm not limiting that sweeping statement to kids television. It's a finely crafted piece of fiction... and, all things considered, if it's a failure as an advertisement, that's all down to Hasbro and the toyline, not the creative team working on the show.

--SPOILER WARNING!--
Events of the TV series are discussed herein

TransFormers: Prime Beast Hunters Jet Vehicon

I don't normally buy the smaller scale TransFormers. Most of them are even more simplistic than Mini-Cons, in terms of articulation if not transformation. However, when it seems unlikely that a particular model will become available in the UK, such as the Deluxe Class Jet Vehicon, and I'm not in a position to pay the exorbitant import prices, I'll sometimes cave in and pick up those that catch my interest.

The Deluxe Class Jet Vehicon looks completely awesome and, despite the fact that Japan (at least) is getting not one but two versions: the standard, 'nameless, faceless mook' variety, and a silver/grey 'General' version, they don't appear to have made it Stateside. I guess there's a slim chance that these (and possibly a Legion Class 'General') might become available at UK retail eventually, since they are part of the Beast Hunters line, but I quickly snapped up this pint-sized purple peon at the LFCC, to see if it's a worthy substitute for the Deluxe.