TOY REVIEW: ROTF DLX ARCEE

 

 

This review is going to focus on ROTF DLX Arcee, which is certainly one of the more unique toys under the Transformers banner. This toy has generated no small amount of heat and scorn from collectors. Some of it is justified. Most of it, however, is not. In my opinion, this is a very creative and fun little toy that strongly challenges notions that Transformers should be limited to a heavily anthropomorphized standard. And—as an aside—the forms that ROTF Arcee and her fellow trimorphic combiners take would seem to be very logical forms for an extraterrestrial strike force heavily dependent on speed, quickness and maneuverability to assume.

 

Arcee’s alternate mode in the Bayverse is that of a Ducati 848 L-Twin sport bike. Just to let you know in advance, I am no motorcycle enthusiast, and know next to nothing about them. With that said, aesthetically, the bike is pleasant enough to look at, and it is a nice alternate mode...but it does have issues. Firstly, the seat and mufflers are attached to a ball joint and do not actually peg into anything. The end result is that this section can be rather loose, so keep the clear nail polish handy. Secondly, the places of attachment for the front cowls are inadequate, so constant readjustment is necessary. Thirdly, the left side of the bike is missing a lot of motorcycle parts. I mean, a LOT of parts. I don't know what they are, but man. This really makes you want to look at this mode from only the right side and serves as the biggest and most unforgivable flaw in this otherwise nice alternate mode, which features very nice molded detailing as well as Cybertronian glyphs placed on either side of the front fairings.

 

Overall, the alternate mode is nice, but presents a few too many flaws for me to call this a GREAT alt-mode. Chromia’s (and, by extension, Elita-1’s) alternate mode is much better executed and solidly constructed.

 

The transformation can be a bit difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing. It should be noted that the toy will not—NOT—bear an exact likeness to the CGI art. Rather, it is an approximation: the arms follow the CGI model only very generally; the chest is shaped differently and even the waist and wheels are not truly CGI accurate. But, there is a sequence of events that will make the base mode work, and look (IMO, of course) even better than the CGI model. A lot of the Arcee’s I have seen look grossly mis-transformed, so that right off the bat fuels some of the derision directed at this toy. Firstly, I stow the kickstand and then I detach the front fairing from the headlight section. I then swing the seat (it’s a two-piece arrangement) and muffler all the way out to the side. Now, the right fairing is attached to the entire wheel assembly. Pivot this down so that the entire assembly is lying flat. Swing the seat and muffler unit forward until it is parallel to the main body and headlights. The wheel assembly is attached—via ball joint—to a hinge joint. Pivot this section down. From here, the two wheels must be folded together to more or less form a single unit (the wheels do not peg into place, however).

 

You’ll note the swivel joint immediately preceding the hinge joint for the wheel assembly. Turn this section completely to the right so that this section is oriented diagonally to the right. Pivot up on the hinge joint until it stops, and then pivot the wheel assembly down using the ball joint. Tilt the fuselage/main body back slightly until you meet the slightest resistance, and split them apart to form a modest “V” configuration to expose the head and sternal assembly. Pivot the neck forward on its joint and then pivot the head up on its ball joint. Pivot the headlights to the right. You’ll note that this section is connected to the left fairing. Split the headlights and rotate the outermost set slightly downward. You can now see the inner arm molded in black plastic attached (weakly, I might add) to a ball joint. Rotate the ball joint INSIDE and then straighten out the entire arm. The left fairing is sitting on the left forearm. Rotate the fairing slightly down and fold it over and around the left forearm.

 

Now, let’s get back to the seat/muffler assembly. There is a section attached to a hinge joint. Pivot it all the way back so that the corresponding peg slides under the right side of the main body/fuselage. Swing out the section of seat bearing the Autobot symbol to deploy the right hand, and then swing down the upper section to close the now-present gap on the right forearm. Rotate the entire upper arm so that the cup for the ball joint connecting this arm to the body faces downward. Rotate the forearm so that the seat is facing down and the muffler is facing up. Rotate the exhaust/license plate bracket and push the lever to expose the blade, if you wish. Tilt the upper torso back slightly, place the wheels of the bot into the sidecar/stand, and you are done.

 

I like this. There is, to me at least, an underlying order with regards to the entire waist assembly that gives it a good range of articulation. The whole setup just makes sense to me, and it is wonderfully creative. It just stinks of an alien robot assessing the good points of the earth vehicle mode they have appropriated and saying to themselves: “how can I make this work in my base mode as well?” It’s a wonder that this doesn’t happen more often in ground-based Transformers (jetformers do this all the time). Of course, the ball joint that support s the entire structure is prone to loosness, but then that is what clear nail polish is for. The overall look and stance works, and you can get some nice poses out of this base mode, thanks to the joint setup. Of course, Arcee cannot stand without her stand (and curiously, the HA version of Arcee—falsely named “Chromia”—can), but that the hey. To get a detailed and realistic alternate mode AND a similarly highly detailed and articulated base mode, something had to be sacrificed.

 

It must be noted that this base mode is not for everyone. It is aberrant and most definitely counter-intuitive to what most would consider a Transformer to be and look like—especially a femme. In short, Arcee is a standard robotic humanoid configuration from the midsection up. From the midsection down, her waist twists down, slightly forward and to the right to form a serpentine configuration. Her main locomotory apparatus is—in lieu of conventional legs—the two wheels from her alternate mode—which, while they may appear to do so, do NOT peg into place. This is one of the two main problems I have with ROTF Arcee’s base mode.

 

The other regards the entire left arm. The left arm is a gangly affair, poorly constructed and noticeably longer than the right, which is difficult to articulate at the elbow in any fashion other than extending the arm fully out and to the side due to the nature and configuration of the right forearm. But I can live with that. The left shoulder consists of the headlights, front windshield and handlebars. Remember how you split this arrangement into two halves to facilitate her transformation? Well, the finished product looks unfinished. The whole left shoulder is a hollow recess, with the bicep and forearm connected to the shoulder by way of a single ball-joint, which will pop off at the slightest provocation. The molded robot details on the left arm look very cool, and it is sheathed in bike mode kibble, the fender, with the front disc brakes hanging off the elbow. The fenders are capable of rotation, but where they rotate to and why eludes me, so I leave this in its initial configuration.

 

The disappointing aspect of the left arm and shoulder is that fixing it does not seem like it should have presented the designers with particularly difficult problems with how to organize and stow the kibble. The shoulder should be capable of articulating the headlights in a more fully horizontal configuration, but you can’t do it on the toy without throwing off the chest (more dedicated pegs would have helped this toy a great deal). Moreover, doing that now places the left arm very far away from the body. The only remedy for this, outside of modification, is to pivot the headlights down to not quite vertical and leave it there. This configuration is much more natural, and greatly improves the potential for cool poses, as well as making the left shoulder a lot more palatable, which leaves me to believe that my interpretation of the CGI is in error, as every aspect of the toy simply refutes a more horizontal configuration of the left shoulder. In any case, I do wish that it were possible to stow the disc brakes.

 

The right arm has limits in poseability—namely anything that calls for the arm to flex. Due to the nature of the right forearm, full extension forward is not possible. Your best poses will come with the arm stretched out to the sides. The right shoulder offers full rotation, and the retractable blade is carried on the right forearm, with the exhaust system giving the appearance of serviceable cannons.

 

Arcee’s neck is articulated, capable of fore and aft positioning, and the head (with its wickedly cool sculpt) is ball-jointed for full rotation and downward tilt. The eyes are set up for piping, but the pipe on mine is very weak. The upper torso is connected to the serpentine waist by way of a ball-joint. Some of the rotation is limited here, with most of the rotation going to the left side. There is a dedicated point of attachment on her back attached to a hinge joint. This is facultatively there for the sole purpose of facilitating the combination sequence with Chromia and Elita-1 (yes…in the Bayverse, Chromia, Elita-1 and Arcee are, apparently, a shared-consciousness, trimorphic combiner. I have not yet bothered to attempt the process yet). The serpentine waist is composed of struts, rods, pistons, gears and various fuselage bits that offers quite a bit of poseability:

 

---there is a swivel joint in the waist that offers full rotation;

---this is connected to a hinge joint that can be pivoted down (as part of the transformation);

---this is connected to the wheel/legs via a ball joint that offers limited rotation (again, to the right);

---and this is connected to a hinge joint that can allow you to pivot the wheel/legs completely behind the body

 

The wheel/legs themselves can be rotated slightly to the right, helping to give one the sense that this legless Transformer is actually one of the fastest and most maneuverable of the bunch. But, this is not the virtual world. This is the real world, and Arcee cannot stand in base mode without her sidecar/stand. I won’t hold that against the toy, because physics are what they are, so this is a non-issue to me.

 

Unconventional? Yes. Poorly constructed? In the left arm (specifically, the left shoulder), yes. But, overall…I like this concept overall, and I really like this toy, warts and all. As a matter of fact, I really, REALLY like this toy. The final product is distinctly otherworldly, alien and yet…somehow, very feminine in the stance. Someone put some time into this concept, and the idea of 3 legless femme Autobots forming a motorcycle gang is cool by me. The serpentine overtones are especially cool, as well. But this toy just isn’t going to be for everyone. It’s too far out there for some, and too delicate for the rest. I give the alternate mode a 7 (should’ve garnered a 10, but one side is missing a whole suite of parts) and the base mode garners a 7.5 (due to the lack of a peg system for the wheel/legs and the seemingly unfinished left arm)., with the added statement that this is (for me) one of the most imaginative and one of the more fun figures the Bayverse has produced—in spite of its limits.

I have the toy myself, and I can't help but wonder how many of the robot mode's flaws were possibly only there to accommodate the theoretical combined mode that Hasbro wimped out and didn't finish. Unfortunately it's (obviously) a question we'll NEVER get an answer to.

 

Honestly though, this is a really good review, and mirrors what I thought of the figure when I first got it. The toy is definitely an interesting entry into any transformers collection for novelty if for nothing else, and I agree whole heartedly with your scoring.

 

Of course my interest in the design has cooled somewhat with my growing disinterest toward the entire movie arm of the franchise, so TODAY I might rate the figure more harshly. But that is just a personal gripe and bias of my own; it reflects nothing on the quality of this review.

 

5 Stars! :thumb

Thanks, man. I appreciate it. I've got a handful more figures I feel like reviewing in the very near future--branching out into G1, Masterpiece and Animated...but I've got one more Bayverse toy to do up before I post those.