Review: RTS Battle in Space Box Set

Hello Everybody,

Welcome to the first Geek Review. To start it all of I'll be reviewing the Reveal the Shield Battle in Space Box Set. The set includes new decos of Universe Rodimus and Cyclonus to give them more G1 inspired decos. Also included is Cyclonus's target master Nightstick, a chromed Autobot Matrix of Leadership, and a comic box that is based on event in the '86 movie. So lets jump into the review.

 Lets start with Rodimus. 

  Rodimus has a great vehicle mode which is molded to be a Cybertronian sports car, since Rodimus is suppose to be Hot Rod. It has a nice silver painted engine sticking out of the hood that has great molded detail. On the hood is also a painted detail that is meant to represent Hot Rod's hood decal, however the shade of paint used for the hood and the shade used to the decal make it go unnoticed unless viewed from the right angle. Also instead of the dark transparent plastic windows from the previous uses of this mold, the figure has nontransparent windows that have been painted in a very light blue that in my opinion is somewhat distracting. While the original animation model didn't have transparent windows they were more of an off white than a blue, but some points must be given for trying.

From the side you get a great view of his side piping which has become an iconic part of any Hot Rod/Rodimus design. The tire rims are painted in the color used for Rodimus' hands, face, and buzz saw while it is nice that they are painted I would have loved to have seen them painted the same silver as the pipes and the engine. From this view you get a better glimpse at the spoiler which is painted a yellow color, this color is a decent match to his G1 counter part. However, the paint does like to rub/scratch off and has left marks on the top/back of Rodimus. Also in view is the painted flame missile the acts as a rocket boost for Rodimus' vehicle mode. It is painted that same color as his windows and is rounded off for safety reasons

  From the back is just  better view of the spoiler and the flame boost/rocket launcher. Here is you can also see what will become Rodimus' feet with a maroonish rectangle on them.

Heading into robot mode now. It is a decent representation of the G1 character, perhaps just a little bit to bulky in the chest and shins, and just a little too short. However, I can accept these drawbacks for the great vehicle mode, since I use animated Rodimus Minor for robot mode.

  Up close Rodimus' head sculpt is very good. It has a dark gold/bronze head crest with the center of it painted with the same yellow used for the spoiler. He has eyes that are a shade of blue that is a little bit darker than the windows from vehicle mode. All brought together by a very stern look with his pronounced chin. His shoulder points have great detailing and are painted to match his face.

 Moving onto the side we see that the arms are pretty much just the side of the car split off from the bottom half, which make up the legs. Also this figure has part of the side piping to make Hot Rod/Rodimus' arm cannons also it has a flip out buzz saw from the scene where Hot Rod fights the giant octopus robot.

His legs have decent detailing, mainly because it is left over from the car details. 

His legs here have good detailing with the shin panels. His hip area has a good paint app with the maroon/brown. The thigh area is molded in a nice orange color with a good amount of molded detail lines that would look amazing is plucked out with something like a black Gundam marker. Probably my favorite thing about his legs are the car side panels that turn into the skirt armor thing.

The Articulation is good at best. He has ball jointed shoulders, however on mine the right shoulder moves loosely but can still hold poses nicely. I made out easy there since there have been reports of shoulder just being broken on the figure. His elbows have great hing joints that allow them to curve up a great degree. There is no waist rotation and the hips can swing outwards and have limited forward and backward rotation due to the molding of the torso and hip pieces. To make up for that his knees have articulation as good as a decent double joint for being just a single joint. His feet only have a backward rotation due to transformation.


Figure Wrap-up: To end out I love the vehicle mode for the figure, but he looses a decent amount of points because of the robot mode whether it be the off proportions of the chest or the messed up shoulder or the limited articulation. So I give Rodimus 7 Wumbos out of 10

 Next up is Cyclonus

 From the front we see how armed the basic jet is, on the nose he has two guns and than another two located on the wings. He also has amazing translucent orange windows for the cockpit. Also while there is bulk to it the design is really believable for a space fighter, ignoring the panel break for the point of the nose tip that is.

 The vehicle mode is full of detailing lines, that would benefit from a Gundam marker. Everything is a shade of purple, mostly it is a very light purple, with some points being a regular shade of purple. Again you see the nose guns in a silver paint, with the wing guns just molded detail. There is a hole on top of the cockpit for Nightstick to fit into.The main part that makes up the wings are painted to mach the lighter purple and have a very textured feel.

  The side view shows of more of the panel line detailing.

 The rear view is a little worse for the wear than Rodimus, but it is justifiable since those could be extra thrusters. Which would be more matching to the G1 animation model since he is animated to have one large thruster in the back.

 Nightstick does fit on top of the cockpit, albeit a little unrealistically but at least he stores properly.

A quick break in the main review for Nightstick, here is his gun mode all silver painted out for the gun barrels with a black plastic for the tip of the barrel and the rest of the gun

In robot mode Nightstick's upper body is black, with a gray molded midsection, and the legs painted silver. His face really stands out since it is painted with a great gold and red eyes. 

Utilizing a Universe mold just like Rodimus, he benefits from being one of the later molds and is a great one at that. He is very on model for the character he is based on. Most of his body is taken up by the light purple plastic armor with his thighs, upper arms, and hands being molded out of an almost purple gray. His forearms use the normal purple plastics as well as his knees and the round part of his shoulders.

 His abs are painted in the nice silver paint used on Rodimus and Nightstick, the silver is also used for his neck and face. Other paint app highlights are the orange gem-thing on his stomach and the red rectangle above his abs.

 His face sculpt is amazing with an intense look added too by the chiseled cheeks and orange light piped eyes that work fantastically. His head is topped off with the signature Cyclonus bunny ears that are good for only one thing.

Cyclonus has two options for holding Nightstick in gun mode. He can hold him in the classical way, but only in his right hand sing the other is molded in a closed fist.

However, the other way is in homage the the way the Japanese target masters worked. If you rotate his fists in they have holes that match a peg on the back to Nightstick which can be plugged into the holes.

Cyclonus has great articulation, he has 360 degrees rotation from his shoulders with single jointed elbows and a swivel just below the elbow. His hips are on ball joints that are greatly unrestricted as well as a thigh swivel. His knees have about 80 degrees going backward and around 30 degrees forward.


Figure Wrap-up: Cyclonus was my main figure draw for this set, both his modes are fantastic and he comes with the Nighstick target master. Cyclonus get 10 wumbos out of 10.

Now for the accessories, starting with the matrix.

 The matrix is a nice small, static, metallic representation of the matrix. It doesn't open, but it can fit in the hands of figures with pose-able fingers. Unfortunately none of the figures in the box have pose-able fingers or open hand for that matter, and i doubt that the comic can hold it. The holes in the top would be perfect for a little chain or string so a figure can wear it, and it would possibly benefit from being painted.I'll give the matrix 8 wumbos out of 10.

 

 Lastly we come to the Comic

The comic titled Transformers: Rodimus vs Cyclonus, excuse the cutoff. It was written by Simon Furman, Art by Boo, Colors by Josh Burchman, Letters by Chris Moway, Assistant Editor Carlos Guzman, and Editor Andy Schmidt.The comic is based on the '86 movie and takes place after Ultra Magnus is destroyed on Junk. IDW threw in characters, probably on Hasbro's request, that were missing from the movie but are characters with very recent/upcoming figures. The plot is basically Rodimus fighting Cyclonus one on one. Rodimus has the upper hand but then looses it when Cyclonus starts to fight dirty. Cyclonus is then taken care of by Autobots luring Scourge, who was sent on a wild chase for Autobots by Cyclonus, to fight Cyclonus off in revenge. With Cyclonus taken care of Rodimus and the other Autobots land on Junk which is where the comic ends by stating that the rest of the story can be viewed in the '86 movie. While it is a basic comic that was written mainly for kids, unlike the other Transformers comics being written by IDW, the comic does have good art and a decent story. However there were two errors involving Tracks. In one panel they call him Warpath, who could have well been just off screen and in another he is called Lugnut. Why is he called Lugnut? Lugnut is a Decepticon so why would he even be hanging out with the Autobots, I don't know. Anyway the comic recieves 9 wumbos out of 10.

Final Box Set Wrap-up: While Rodimus does lack in some areas and has reported breakage. The set does shine in Cyclonus, the matrix, and the comic. If you don't want the set just because of the Rodimus, pick it up anyway and keep him in vehicle mode, like I do, and enjoy the other parts of the set. In total the set gets 8.5 wumbos out of 10

Thanks for reading everybody and stay tuned for more coming up. The preview Optimus and Bumblebee will be up either later tonight or tomorrow so check back later.