So a surprise package showed up on the weekend - mostly because packages really don't get delivered on weekends around here. Turns out it was the Legendary Heroes - Maschinemensch that I ordered on Show Z, and completely forgot that it was already shipping.
This is one of those Third Party Transformer toys, and if memory serves me correctly Newage has made an entire line up of figures that effectively fit into what Hasbro classifies as their Legends size. The difference is while a Hasbro Legends sized figure is made with the basics in mind, these figures tend to cram in as much as they can.
The price is both expensive and not expensive. Show Z had this for $40 USD shipped, which isn't bad for a Third Party figure but as mentioned, it's tiny. Not sure how much of that $40 is affiliated with shipping, but lets presume $10. So for $30, you basically get a well accessorized Legends sized figure for the price of a typical Deluxe:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 4 x Hands (Open Palm, Weapon Gripping)
- 2 x Face Plates (Normal, Goggles)
- 1 x Rifle
- 1 x Large Pistol
- 1 x Small Pistol
Vehicle mode is alright. I mean, it doesn't have functional doors or anything like that, but it does the job. They even managed to squeeze in an instrument cluster into the thing, which is nice. In terms of kibble management, it's not exactly MP in terms of complexity, but it does get the job done, and there are no panels or other miscellaneous loose parts to take into account.
It would have been nice to have permanently attached hands that could open and close, but I can see how making something like that would be tough. I guess they could have stuck with closed fists, but having the option for two types of hands does allow for a wider variety of poses.
Conversion to robot mode is actually satisfyingly complex, resulting in a figure that has a very impressive range of articulation, almost rivaling that of the MP itself. Instructions can be a bit confusing, but at least I never felt like I was breaking the thing while trying to figure out what I was doing wrong - this figure is solidly built.
Other than the aforementioned hands, the only thing missing would be the shoulders. Otherwise, you get some stuff that you normally don't on a figure of this size, including double jointed knees and elbows, thigh twist, ab crunch, and mid shin.
What this all means is that you can get the figure into a wide variety of poses that I don't think I've seen any mainline figure be able to pull off. Even most MP figures would not feature the necessary joints, particularly the ab crunch. Examining what we've been given, I think the only thing that would have been nice to see tweaked would be to somehow actually get more range of motion out of that ankle joint.
There isn't much actual paint on the figure, but for the most part it's clean and not over done or splotchy. With regards to Build Quality, the figure is very solidly built. As mentioned above, I really didn't feel like I was going to break the thing. Joints are solid, not being loose and capable of holding poses. There were no poor finishes on any of the parts, nor were there any misaligned or improperly inserted pins, which given the small size of this thing, speaks volumes for the QC.
Overall, a very impressive product with some minor short comings. Bottom line is if you want what is a G1-esque Arcee that can generally outperform most of what's out there, well then this figure is definitely for you. The question is whether or not you respect the engineering and production values enough to drop the money, or would you prefer something bigger.
Because I highly doubt anyone is going to look at this figure and say it flat out sucks.
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