I guess I keep forgetting how time passes on, and that Transformers Armada, released by in the early 2000s, is now considered a retro series. It was the first of a three series arc, though the Hasbro naming convention didn't help. Most of the toys were forgettable, especially having come off the engineering marvel that was the Car Robots line, but we did get a pretty awesome Prime, though the toy really needed imagination to power it.
Much to my surprise, Legacy Evolution is bringing back Armada Optimus Prime as its Commander Class release, this time with actual functional legs on the Super mode. So far photos have been promising, and I'm looking forward to when the figure is released over on this side of the world.
But a few years back, Fans Hobby had already thrown their hat into the Armada series race with THEIR version of Optimus Prime, the MB-15 Naval Commander. The figure has been reissued a few times since its release, and I figured its most recent reissue would be a good time to see what they did, and determine if the Hasbro version had copied any of their homework.
I was actually really excited to have finally found an opportunity to get something of this calibre from Fans Hobby. They have released several figures with combining trailers in the past, including that Power Baser I keep eyeing, so this was also a good opportunity for me to see what the company was all about.
Naval Commander is an homage to the fact this is from the Armada series. I imagine that is why the packaging effectively is a recreation of the American packaging rather than the Japanese Takara release.
Contents of this set are as follows:
- 1 x Core Figure
- 1 x Trailer
- 1 x Weapon
- 1 x Mini Robot
- 2 x Trailer Pods
- 6 x Projectiles
- Alternate Super Mode Ears (Short vs. Long)
- Alternate Super Mode Eye Lens (Red vs. Transparent)
Here's the set in its most standard arrangement If you're familiar with the original toy, you'll recognize many visual cues that were featured on that toy. The core figure has an alt mode of a Tractor with a very distinct silhouette, relatively squat and long with that trademark blue and red. The trailer is also visually distinct as it's one of the few Prime/Convoy trailers with tank treads - the only other one that comes to mind is Star Convoy. Proportionally it appears that the Tractor is longer than before, something that I noticed on the new Legacy version as well.
The Trailer does not have any of the motorized functions the original toy had, so it's all manual.
Also, while there are probably metal components in this thing, it's not one of those figures that overtly features die cast metal.
Windshield of the Tractor features a fancy decal of some sort with some sort of tech design. I don't recall this on the original toy so it's likely something fancy they put on to spice things up. Also, for those wanting a more classic look, the stacks can be moved from the back of the Cab to the sides.
When it comes to the Trailer, yeah the top mounted cannon is nice, as are the removable pods, but the real winner when it comes to glow ups are the addition of these two lovely missile launchers. There's two of them, mounted on parts with good articulation so you can aim the things. The best part is that they are spring mounted, something that's disappeared from American toys due to child safety laws, and there is also the issues associated with loss of the spring tension when storage is done improperly. I just wish the set came with 7 of these rather than 6, because I can't load the launchers and the gun at the same time.
I didn't take a picture of it, but it's a good time as any to mention that another neat feature is that the cannon actually has an extendable barrel, so it looks even more ridiculously large
The trailer can assume two different non Super modes - Extended Trailer, and Base. I've never really been a fan of Trailer modes as it were because ultimately they're just random panels and parts that are arranged in a vaguely base looking form, so it's more like random extra play value to me. Having said that, I will credit Fans Hobby in their efforts to recreate the double decker panel thing that was on the original to, which was original there to show off the auto transformation more than anything.
I'd also like to point out that I love the knee cannons, which are of course, an homage to the ones on the original toy. These are certainly more functional, though sadly do not feature any spring mounted missiles.
Transformation of the Tractor into robot mode is certainly more involved than it was back in the day. As with the Trailer, transformation involves many small panels and manipulation that you're never going to see on a mainline figure, and to be honest, I'm not sure Takara has the QC to pull off even on the Masterpiece line. It's really weird to say that a much larger multimillion dollar company can't offer the same QC on their luxury lines.. but I truthfully can't see it. In terms of tolerances and all that, this thing is on Soul of Chogokin level of excellence.
The core robot stands about 8 inches tall, and of course has many homages to the original design. Articulation is naturally better than the original toy along with improved proportions, with the figure even having a functional waist this time around, albeit one with very limited range of motion. Overall, I'd say this figure has the articulation of the Deluxe Class Armada Prime, which would still meet modern expectations of a Deluxe figure. Shoulder design is unfortunately quite limiting, and its too bad they didn't sneak a pull out shoulder joint into the design, which for this figure really isn't too much of an ask I think. Between that and the limited waist and head movements, you're still pretty much looking at fairly static poses.
The mini robot is a vast improvement over the original Sparkplug, and features a more elaborate transformation. The end result, however, is still kind of "meh"... but it's a much better "meh". Range of motion is actually pretty good, really only lacking actual wrist movement. The proportions just look wonky.
Like with the original toy, the mini robot can be attached to the larger figure in vehicle mode, though there are fewer ports on this toy compared to the original toy.
Conversion the rest of the way to Super mode is a pretty involve process, but it does result in a nice beefy figure that is approximately 12 inches tall. Again, form is very much an homage to the original toy, which is something I expect the Hasbro one will probably be better at, seeing how they don't need to worry about making things look just off enough not to get sued.
It's nice to finally see Prime with a working pair of legs with the various panels and other parts of the trailer forming a skirt around the main moving parts, which will be interesting to compare against the Hasbro version when the time comes.
I didn't put on the optional ears and eyes, nor did I test the electronics.
Super mode can be made further badass by deploying its secondary weapons. The pods on the lower legs can be relocated to the shoulders.
Joints for the legs are really well made, and are robust enough to handle pretty much anything you can throw at them. Ankles, much to my delight, appear to have been reinforced to deal with the fact that this is a big boy. Also much to my delight, there's a fully functional waist joint, and there's some ab crunch as well built into the waist part. The weakest link, quite literally, is the connection between the upper and lower bodies. They're not terrible, but compared to everything else the strength of that connection is quite flimsy, having only three points of connection via a tab and slot system.
The upper body shot here is a good example of things I don't expect to ever see on a MP, nor would I ever hope they would actually get it right, though I question the sanity of the designer.
The roof of the Cab on the Tractor actually features panels you can pop out and fold to increase the size of the Super mode chest. It's somewhat of a pain to align all the pieces but as you can see it's a wonderful fit. What isn't as obvious is the white parts on the shoulders. There's a small gap there that is filled in by the smallest slotted piece of plastic, which you can barely make out in the photograph.
From a Paint perspective, there's a few tiny things here and there, but overall the paint work is very well done. It's more a surprise to me that there's actually far less paint on this figure than I thought, but when comparing the price and what you get to a nicely painted MP figure, I guess ultimately budget wins out. Build wise, there's really not much to be unhappy with, beyond the weakness of the Super mode connecting joint. It's truly spectacular how well this figure is made and how well all the parts move together. Material wise, to my touch it's pretty much the same stuff that Takara is using on their MP line, so this is definitely not Dollar Store toy material.
After playing with Naval Commander, I'm quite impressed with Fans Hobby and what they're doing. Mind you, I understand this is one of their higher end offerings, but I somehow doubt their less opulent figures will not have these excellent production values. It's still an expensive figure by mainline perspectives, pretty much costing what a Titan does, but if you appreciate MP level transformations and glowups, then this figure isn't that bad of a buy - it's just unofficial. Furthermore, they've announced they will be doing a version of Jetfire and Overload, so things are about to get crazy in here.
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