Her transformation is simple and both robot and bike modes are quite convincing. There are one or two drawbacks, though... although robot mode is incredibly poseable, the front of the bike just hangs off her back, looking completely out of place,  and she's incredibly small. Then again, all the Energon toys are tiny... vehicle modes tend to be on a par with the Gen 1 Autobots.

Her Energon weapon, some kind of bow, is rather large - almost as big as she is - and doesn't look entirely convincing, and the little 'Energon Chip' seems to have a lens intended to enlarge the Autobot symbol in the recess in her chest... but it doesn't work.

The Energon weapon also attaches to bike mode, sort of like panniers, only more dangerous.

In Japan, Arcee is known as Ariel

This is a limited edition repaint, one of 3,000 in the world, and it was bought for me as a birthday present. For the time being, I intend to keep her in her packaging but, since this is the Japanese packaging, it would be far easier to bring her out without destroying the packaging than it would be on a US or UK release.

Transformation is quite simple, and has a surprising feature whereby you twist the chest round and the head automatically turns with it. Unfortunately, due to a feature of the transformation, his head won't turn in robot mode.

His Energon weapon comes in three parts - a staff/rifle, and two 'blade' parts. These parts all fit together to form a large spear/lance weapon. All three parts also attach to Skyblast in jet mode, making him look even more sleek and dangerous.

While the storage of Downshift's feet may come straight from the Binaltech project, everything else is barely upgraded from the basic models in this range. If it weren't necessary for the 'Superlink'/'Powerlinx' feature, there would be no need for the levers which move the car's roof and windscreen down over the backs of the legs.

Downshift's Energon weapons are a pair of guns. One is a missile launcher which looks like a modified exhaust system, the other is some form of double-barrelled shotgun. The pegs are quite awkwardly placed for using them individually, but both can plug into the car mode's detachable spoiler, to make a very strange looking double weapon. I can think of better ways of handling his guns, but it's certianly original.

No Energon chip with this fella though...

Transformation is reasonably simple, though some parts are a little flimsy - particularly the joints of the spoiler which ends up on the robot's cuffs. Stowing his hands is quite clever, but the handling of the legs makes them look far more stubby that they actually are. His knee joint is in roughly the right place, but the grille and bumper from the truck come right the way up his thighs.

With both Rodimus and Downshift, the 'Superlink'/'Powerlinx' feature has something of an impact on the robots, both individually and when joined. Neither suffers dramatically as the legs, but Rodimus looks very awkward as the torso. The feature itself is quite ingenious, though it often ends with huge amounts of robot parts hanging off the back of the linked robot.

Rodimus has only one weapon, a missile launcher, which can plug into the truck's spoiler, looking like a large jet engine, as it's projectile is molded like a flame.

Rodimus also came with no Energon chip.

Transformation is ridiculously easy for something so large, nowhere near as complicated as Unicron. The crane/claw truck barely does anything, and the most complicated part of the battle cruiser is making the foot. The two halves then just plug together, and a little HeadMaster figure turns into the head. Robot mode is surprisingly posable, though the movement of the left arm is hindered somewhat by the missle launcher on the shoulder.

Being such a big fellow, it should come as no surprise that Omega Supreme has some electronic lights and sounds, though they're fairly minimal and quite disappointing. A button on the left forearm activates a laser blast effect from his fingers, and the movement of the cannon sets off a firing sound effect. The right side has no special features.

No Energon chip with this big fella.

Transformation is very simple, and the model is very, very chunky. This one, above all others in the Superlink/Energon line, seems to suggest they were aiming at a much younger audience.

The biggest disappointment is that the model has been greatly simplified, in that the clicking part of the neck arrangement - possibly intended to sound like machine gun fire - has been removed (though the ridges in the lower part of the neck remain). Criminally, the electronics have also been removed, meaning no cool battery-powered sound effects. The battery compartment has even been glued shut... It's almost tempting to get the original cheaply, and steal the electronic parts from that. And in a bizarre twist of fate, the US/UK version - Energon Ironhide - still has the electronics! As far as the model itself goes, the arms - or, more specifically, the hands - could have been much better. Jointed hands from a Binaltech model could easily have been fitted and/or the hands could have been stowed in the wrists while in vehicle mode. Much of this model suggests lazy design... especially when you consider that the head is completely visible in vehicle mode!

Still, the new colour scheme makes for a huge improvement. That, and the fact that he was on sale at Forbidden Planet, conspired to make me part with some cash... And this one comes with an Energon chip and an axe made up of a crane arm and two halves of a tyre. Um. Yeah.

It's a very clever bit of toy engineering. The vehicle mode's shovel becomes the lower part of the legs having flipped round to the back of the vehicle - the spiked roller from the back of the vehicle is behind, and activates the stomping sound effect when it's rolled along. With a couple of tabs connected to the outer part of the roller, the 'feet' stomp up and down in time to the sound effect.

One of the more subtle gimmicks of the vehicle is that, as it's rolled, the shovel will lift up and down slightly thanks to an oval 'wheel' on the inside of one of the treads. The only downside is that his sound effects sometimes crash... though this may just indicate that he needs new batteries (3x GPA76 cells).

Treadbolt has only one Mini-Con activated feature - the missing missile - but another two Mini-Con ports on his shoulders.

His Mini-Con, Rollbar, is a simple redecoration of the original, and has quite a strange transformation - much like Binaltech Grimlock and Wheeljack, the vehicle's seats become the robot's feet.

Also in common with some parts of the Energon/Superlink line, Bulkhead's robot mode owes much to Mobile Suit Gundam - the legs in particular have very MS-like proportions and styling, and the hips have similar armour-flaps (the helicopter mode's wings), upon which are mounted twin missile launchers. This in one of the few disappointments with Bulkhead, as these and the rotor blades make up the whole of his armaments - no handgun of any kind. He does come with a drone thing, with which he can combine in both modes - the helicopter gets extra guns and thrusters, the robot gets huge pincered armes and shoulder cannons.

Other than this, he's an excellent model, marred only by poor quality control - his upper legs have been attached backwards, so the screws are showing at the hips, and the detail is at the back... Though it may be possible to fix this.

As mentioned above, as well as being a strange walker thing, the drone can combine with Bulkhead in two ways. Fold in the legs, and it's a gun/thruster pod for the helicopter. Leave the legs out and plug it onto the robot's back and it's and extra pair of very large arms and twin shoulder cannons.

The drone houses some basic electronic lights and sounds - the square green button on top activates the cannon fire sound and makes the guns flash red. Underneath, two recessed round green buttons play two different transformation sounds. Not quite sure I understand that layout, especially considering that connecting the two in either mode will activate the gunfire, intentionally or otherwise, but it's nice to have these little gimmicks all the same.

In Japan, Kicker was a Microman figure, with amazing articulation... This version is very much cut down in terms of joints, probably to comply with western toy safety standards. Oddly, though, neither were quite the right scale to sit on Highwire without looking like children who shouldn't be riding motorbikes.

While the bike undoubtedly looks great - the scope for extra detail was not wasted - Highwire's robot mode looks even more awkward than before. On the upside, he has one arm that ends in a hand (stowed in the bike's exhaust), but that other 'arm' is still just the front section of the bike... and I'm not sure a wheel like that is much of a weapon. Still, his awkwardness is somewhat endearing...

Like CM, the gestalt robot is awkward to say the least. More articulated than a Gen 1 gestalt, but that's not saying much. Superion has knees, but no elbows, and the construction of the feet makes any kind of posing a difficult prospect. Worse still, while CM has claws approximating hands, Superion appears only to have guns on the ends of his arms. While CM's elbow articulation seems more by luck than judgement, Superion certainly has none.

The use of soft rubber for some of Afterburner's parts reaches a new low - the crests on either side of Superion's head are made of rubber, making them feel very flimsy and cheap. Overall, though, Superion is a pretty decent model, far beyond his Gen 1 gestalt namesake in every respect.

Transformation between the three modes is quite complicated considering the size of the model, and some of the plastic feels dangerously flimsy. The wings are made out of rubber, which doesn't exactly speak volumes for the quality of the figure, but it is very poseable. Strangely, his feet seem as though they were attached upside down - that is, his 'toes' turn upward. However, since the detail is on the underside - which is the visible side when he's Superion's body - it's reasonable to assume that this is not the case.

One very curious fact is that, like Steamhammer, Afterburner is completely unarmed... and, while the limbs have Energon Stars (or whatever the Superlink equivalent was), he has nothing. This feels like an oversight, but he could just as easily use Energon weapons from other models.

The biggest disappointment, however, comes from good old 'hollow body syndrome' - because his arms fold into the middle in jet mode, robot mode looks like a shell, with a huge gap between the nose of the plane and the robot's back. A pair of curious flap things at his sides do nothing to improve on his solidity.

Keeping the purple/grey/silver colour scheme of Gen 1 Shockwave, this fellow transforms into a strange cannon on tank treads, and a kind of satellite/base thing. Neither of these modes are particularly exciting, but the robot head actually isn't as obvious as I'd been lead to believe.

Robot mode is where it's at... Obviously, the huge gun arm isn't posable and looks rather odd... and, to be honest, the shield thing on the other arm looks odd as well. All things considered, though, he's very posable and the overall design of the figure is good. Close enough to Shockwave to act as a homage, but different enough to be unique.

This toy didn't come with either an Energon Chip or any Energon weaponary... whether this 'oversight' has been corrected in the US version, I don't know... but I was pretty disappointed that there wasn't a chip at least.

Strangely, while the US release may be lacking the transparent parts so popular in the Energon line, he doesn't have the battle damage that remains in the Japanese version. I had thought that the whole point of this character was that he was a fully repaired and upgraded version of Starscream... but apparently not.

Both plane and robot modes are adequate, but not thoroughly convincing. The plane's wings are angled downward, so it'd never make it off the ground, and the robot's arms look terrible to accomodate the transformation. Still, he is incredibly posable, and the Gen1 homage is even more obvious in robot mode.

I was very lucky to find him in Forbidden Planet and, yes, I payed a frankly extortionate price for him. He's not available from my usual - reasonably priced - suppliers, though, so I guess it was worth it. I just wish he'd been a bit bigger...

Oh, and this guy came with an Energon chip and an extra Energon weapon to go with the standard rifle and sword combo. Why he was packaged with Insecticon's spike, though, is anyone's guess...

Panther mode looks pretty decent... Given the size of the panther head, though, it would have been nice to have a mouth that opened.

Ravage's Energon weapons are basically a missile launcher and a gun sight. Look closely, though, and you'll notice that the sight is a clear homage to Gen 1 Megatron's Fusion Cannon. The two pieces can be plugged into Ravage's shoulders in both panther and robot modes, or they can be combined into a single gun for him to hold in robot mode.

Transformation is fairly simple, with the wings becoming legs and the head splitting in half to become the arms. Which is where things fall down, as the robot mode has claws instead of hands. While this may suite the character, the mold detail on the inside of the claws is hopeless.

His Energon weapons are a couple of blades which attach to the sides of his bird-mode head. They also act much like tonfa in robot mode, or they can attach to each other to form some kind of throwing weapon. Oddly, while the Autobots tend to have red Energon equipment, there's no consistency with the Decepticons/Terrorcons.

Another oddity is that Divebomb only has a Decepticon insignia on his Energon crystal socket, while Ravage has that, and one printed on his shoulder.

Oddly, there are two different versions of both Megatron and Galvatron, the other being about 10-15% bigger and with a slightly different paintjob... Slightly better, in fact, but let's not get too picky.

In common with most of the Energon range, his transformation is very simple, and his head is fully visible in plane mode. While the robot looks pretty good, the wings and the nose of the plane hang off his back (though the nose does store his sword). What's really rather cool about this model is the suggestion that this reincarnation of Megatron/Galvatron is so powerful, he uses his Armada tank mode as an arm-mounted weapon. And he's not lacking in weapons - shoulder cannons, wings bristling with guns, and an extra Energon sword.

This model has some pretty good electronic sound effects in the tank, too. Just a shame the Armada version's light isn't also present.

Robot mode looks particularly Gundam-inspired, particularly in the legs. Transformation is complex, but quite satisfying - a far cry from some of the simplistic ones like Galvatron G. Also, somewhat surprisingly, given his size, he comes with electronic sounds, powered by a pair of AAA batteries in his backpack. They amount to one sound for the deployment of an extra pair of cannons, and one firing sound. Both can be activated in either robot or boat mode.

His 'hyper mode' also flips out the arm-mounted launchers, so they're out on wings. As a boat, Shockfleet's hyper mode turns him into a hydrofoil.

While the obvious complaint with this model is the boat mode kibble - the whole front of the boat trails from his sides on a pair of ball joints - they work quite nicely and can be posed either for show or for added stability. Shockfleet is a unique figure, and easily one of the best in the Energon/Superlink line.

His alternate mode is a heavily armed submarine but, due to very clever design, his silhouette is VERY shark-like. The front of the submarine can open up to reveal two torpedo launchers, aside from the cannons which litter his front end. In robot mode, most of this armament hangs off his back, but the sides can still open and twist round to give him access to the torpedo launchers. This is very useful, as he came with absolutely no Energon accessories. Apart from the things on his wrists, which may be guns of some kind, robot mode is essentially unarmed until the torpedo launchers come out.

With no 'Powerlinx' requirement, all of the Decepticons in this line are far more posable than the Autobots, and Sharkticon is no exception. Some of his movement is limited by the requirements of transformation, but he still has quite a range.

As with all the Energon models, despite the complicated mechanics of transformation and combining, Steamhammer is a very posable model, and manages to look impressive in all modes.

Once complaint I'd have is that - aside from his shovel arm - he has no weaponry, and didn't come with an Energon star, despite having a socket for one. This is only a minor disappointment when offset against his other features.

The strangest thing about Steamhammer is that his speciality is supposedly communications and codebreaking... so why on Earth is he one of the Energon Constructicons?

Carrying on the convention of giving inappropriate names to the models, we have a crane called Wideload. Why they didn't give that name to Bonecrusher (below), or even Sledge (the other version of that same model) I'll never know... Surely there are better names for a crane than 'Wideload'... then again, the other one is called 'Duststorm', which is probably even worse.

Robot mode is very posable, though the ball joints on the hips are a little on the weak side. The long crane arm has been done better elsewhere...

Transformation of this one is very clever, in that the legs of the robot swing right round from one end of the vehicle to the other, and he still has a rotating waist!

Can't figure out what his weapon is supposed to be... Perhaps a form of scythe?

Constructicon Maximus (can we just call him 'Devastator'?) is far more satisfying a gestalt than any of the Gen 1 gestalts, particularly the original Devastator. While he still doesn't have elbow joints (except if you cheat with Wideload/Duststorm and forgo stability in favour of posability), he does have articulated knees, hips, waist and shoulders, so he could never be called a brick.