I just picked these guys up, and first thing I noticed is that size-wise, these are pushing the "mini" envelope. Theyre almost the size of G1 minibots in vehicle mode. The combined mode looks way better, he's taller, he doesnt have clunky scooter parts jamming up his legs, no wing/gimp arms in the way either and his head sculpt is way cooler. He still feels pretty stable too. But why do his elbows bend the wrong way? They coulda reversed this.

Highwire is a total improvement, except that he's not too stable in either form, and they forgot the paint aps on his head and chest. I can fix that though. But his wheel-arm keeps popping off at the last joint. His overall look is way better, kind of reminds me of that goofy kid at the end of the school year who spends the summer somewhere cool and comes back with a new style.

Sureshock looks pretty cool in vehicle mode, the ATV is a good idea. But, the party ends once you hit 'bot mode. His head sculpt always was interesting, I do like that part. But he's got gorilla arms, a skinny torso that makes him look like he's got scoliosis, stumpy legs that end in wheels, and his crotch almost drags the ground. Actually, Im a little jealous of that! But he looks like ass overall in this mode.

Grindor? What can I say? What the hell is his alt mode? Some kind of hover space pod? It doesnt look all that bad, but has kind of a cheap hollow feel to it. Turn it to bot mode, and BLECH! Looks like a Zybot. Remember those plasticky, Remco-made suck-bots from the 80's that could only wish to be as cool as Gobots? Thats what this reminds me of. He's got no legs, his arms look like mechanical chicken wings, and the half-assed way his front splits to reveal his head just sucks. Ok, I understand that when you have to split totally in half to make the combined mode's legs there's gonna be some compromises. Thats a given. But this guy just blows.

Also, I swapped Grindor and Sureshocks names. The colors, and positions on Perceptor make more sense that way, as do the alt modes. A skatebord to ATV is a stretch, but they both have 4 wheels at least. And that hover pod could be some futuristic scooter replacement. Looks like they swapped heads now, but it still makes more sense to me this way.

Overall, they were worth the $7, mostly for Highwire and the combined mode. The bike/ big boy toy alt modes always were my favorites for minicons. A dirtbike on the back of an SUV makes sense, much more so than a tiny little jet. Leave Grindor and Sureshock in alt modes except for when combining. I wish they would have put the same effort into these 2 that they did on Highwire. They started out strong with him, lost a lot of intensity on Sureshock (Grindor to me) and on Grindor (Sureshock), I guess they were completely brain-dead in the engineering department by then!

Great Review.

 

I wish there was more color to some of the robot modes and that perceptor's arms bent the right way, but overall a fun toy.

Grindor? What can I say? What the hell is his alt mode? Some kind of hover space pod?

More a hover board, like in the movie "Back to the Future". In Energon, Kicker rides him like one.

I didn't pick this one up........yet, but armada was pretty good maybe this one wil too.

the combined mode is worth it. I don't even bother with the seperate robots...