Hopefully this doesn't get merged, but here it goes anyway. :roll

 

Though I officially was finished with Energon, I decidely against my better judgement bought the Highwire, and Kicker set for completion purposes. As expected the set isn't all that amazing or great but surprisingly it's not that bad. Kicker is roughly GIjoe scale, and has decent articulation but not much more. The Figure looks horribly rushed, and slapped together, and the paint apps look sloppy, and lack any real detail. The head sculpt is by far the worst, and looks like it belongs on a $ store military/space action figure which is just embarrasing on Has/Taks behalf. Highwire however redeems the set, and actually made it worth buying. In alt mode he looks good, and has enough detail, and paint aps to make him stand out well enough, and the bot mode is a vast improvement over his minicon counterpart Articulation is limited but at least Highwire's given knees, a rotating waist, and a ball joint arm, in the shape of an exhaust pipe. Head is an overall disappointment, since it's undetailed, and has no movement/rotation. Not a must, but a neat edition to the ranks of Energon.

 

Now onto Cybertron. :clap

 

Today I unexpectedly found nearly every figure in the first wave cept for Optimus Prime, but since I had to moderate spending I settled on Hotshot, Thundercracker, Overhaul, and Ransack. :thumb

 

Hotshot is by far the best mold Hotshot has seen yet in his Transformers career. The Alt mode looks altogether amazing, and the colours INO work really well for this mold, and car design. Personally I think the ignition chip feature is pretty lame and really doesn't do a whole lot to enhance either mode but at least it doesn't restrict articulation in anyway. Movement uses ball joints for both the forearms, and the upper legs while the knees are hinged, and the shoulders can either be raised or tilted upwards for a number of various poses. The headsculpt is fairly well done though the transparent raised visor, and yellow side pieces are gaudy, and offsetting. In addition to the planet key he also comes with a nifty transparent yellow projectal launcher which for the first time Hotshot can actually hold, and aim properly. Overall a great deluxe and a must have in any TF collection. :thumb

 

Thundercracker, oy this mold's got issues and that's putting it mildly. Personally I hate to put down anything this early in a new line but I really don't like his one. The alt mode looks fantastic, with it's colouring, and detailing including rubber missils lining each wing, and lowering landing gear but that's all Thundercracker has going for him. The transformation is decent, however Has/Tak really dropped the ball when deciding what to do with the arms. The left one works alright Because all it has to do is swing into place, and it's fine. The left one containing the rocket launcher is a real WTF. It swings up from the underside of the fusalage, and is suposed to clip into place between the top of the lower cockpit, and backside, and apparently it's supposed to stay in place. This transformation offers no stability whatsoever, and with the weighing down of the cannon and the addition of the cyberkey can flop down at any given time. This altogether cheapens the figure, and makes posing decently nearly impossible. Legs are also a bother because though he's given knees the balljoint legs can do much more than a painful variation of the splits. Other than that  when compared next to Hotshot he's tiny. I won't discourage anyone for getting this one but I just find Has/Tak couuld've done much better with this one overall.

 

Overhaul, and Ransack. Saved the best for the last. First off, if you haven't seen how  tiny the Scout class figs are you won't believe how freaking tiny they are when you do. They're even shorter than Energon basics though not by much. Either in alt mode or bot mode these little guys rock. These are by far my favorite Cybertron figs yet, and I encourage everyone who's a TF collector/fan to get em. The detailing, and paint aps for a toy this size is simply amazing as are the head scuplts. Along with Thundercracker they both use light piping for the eyes which looks really good. Ransack is by far the best I've seen for articulation, and though Overhaul isn't bad, the transformation of his arms severly restrict movement. Again I'm not a big fan of either cyberkey gimick but as with Hotshot they don't get in the way of the outstanding articulation. Very cool figures IMO and I can't wait to get Scattershot, and Clocker, and any others in this class. :thumb (note: from what I've seen so far Ransack is the only one who doesn't have a painted key)

 

Well that's my review, and so far with the exception of Thundercracker the lines looking to be really good IMO. :thumb         

Lucky.

 

 

I wish I had some Cybertron here. I'm glad to see Hasbro isn't screwing the Canadians. :thumb

 

 

Would the Kicker set be worth it if I had no interest in Highwire and just wanted a GI Kicker?

Thanks. I'm sure it won't be long before Cybertron hits your area, Personally I was really suprised to see it had shown up already. I was hoping to find a couple of alts though I'm not complaining.

 

As for the Kicker/Highwire set.

 

:lol

 

Sorry.  :redface Initial response. I'm not sure why you would want a Kicker, but seeing as you also collect GIjoes it's expected. As I've said he's not a horrible figure but not the greatest. Articulations about the same as a GIjoe, though what they did for the knees is just bizarre. If you don't like Highwire my only sugestion is if you buy the set just leave it in alt mode because as a motorcycle it's fairly sturdy, has a kickstand for posing and should also work well for a GIjoe accessory. Scale should be pretty close though I may be wrong. As for quality I've heard some report that he breaks apart easily but I guess time will tell. Oh and for some reason or othe he has energon chip port on his back. :wtf

 

Hope that helps you out some. :thumb

It does help, I'll wait for clearance. I want Kicker for my comic. I'm sure you can see what use he would be. :D

I kinda figured. :thumb

 

I going to feed mine to Alpha Q. :eplus

Though I officially was finished with Energon, I decidely against my better judgement bought the Highwire, and Kicker set for completion purposes. As expected the set isn't all that amazing or great but surprisingly it's not that bad. Kicker is roughly GIjoe scale, and has decent articulation but not much more. The Figure looks horribly rushed, and slapped together, and the paint apps look sloppy, and lack any real detail. The head sculpt is by far the worst, and looks like it belongs on a $ store military/space action figure which is just embarrasing on Has/Taks behalf. Highwire however redeems the set, and actually made it worth buying. In alt mode he looks good, and has enough detail, and paint aps to make him stand out well enough, and the bot mode is a vast improvement over his minicon counterpart Articulation is limited but at least Highwire's given knees, a rotating waist, and a ball joint arm, in the shape of an exhaust pipe. Head is an overall disappointment, since it's undetailed, and has no movement/rotation. Not a must, but a neat edition to the ranks of Energon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

BTW I'd just like inform you that this Kicker is all Hasbro's doing. Takara used a completely different mold for their Kicker that was based off a Microman. Pics can be seen here: http://www.tfkenkon.com/collection/act221/

 

I think the things you heard about Kicker breaking were about the Takara version which I've heard many times breaks easily.

THe Takara MM Kicker definitely breaks easily. In fact, my Kicker, as well as most of my friends', was broken straight out of the package. The material they made the knees out of is horrible.

:eek

 

Sorry should've reread my facts.

 

takara's definitely looks a lot better as far as paint aps, and detailing but who'd guess Hasro's would be better in structure/stability. Mine has already fallen twice, and is still in one piece. Proof I guess that this is indeed a solid figure, and well worth the price over Takaras. Now if only Hasbro had sprung for the sword.

i'm really happy w/ my kicker hiwire set. i do have some microman figures but because they are so frigile i leave them in thier box/cards.

 

having the hasbro version is better in the long run......and where microman has the paint apps the hasbro kicker has those details actually sculpted out.

 

if i was to have a perfect kicker it would be one w/ the hasbro body and the microman head, and no force chip plug on the back.

 

if you have been thinking of getting a kicker get the hasbro version. all in all the micro man one is just a generic microman body with a paint job. the hasbro kicker is a completely new original mold of kicker.