They're more than meets the eye... Reinvented!
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Starscream Reimagined as a plane that's not dissimilar to the F-15, RM Starscream is only an improvement on the original in broad terms. Looking at it more closely, there are still many flaws in the design. Sure, the proportions might be (slightly) better than the original Gen 1 Seekers, but the added posability is limited to the upper body. In many ways, this seems to be a model of the TV series Starscream rather than simply a reworking of the original toy - many details look very cartoonish, and it's overall rather plain compared to the original, not least because it doesn't have the stickers. It seems to me, though, that the head is far too small for the rest of the body, and the method of putting the plane's cockpit in the robot's torso is deeply flawed. The worst part about this model is that, despite having legs which extend at the knee, there is no knee articulation, and very little in the hips. Still, he has much more mobility in his arms, and he comes with a pair of chromed missile pods which attach to his chest... that's got to be worth something, right? Um... |
 
These two straight repaints of Starscream were released in a special, Gen-1 style boxed set, along with a metal pin badge of the Decepticon logo. All the flaws of Starscream apply to both of these, although the attachable chromed missile pods actually fit these... leading me to suspect that the pair that came with Starscream are defective in some way. Damned if I can see how, as they look identical... maybe it's the robot that's flawed, rather than his accessories. I bought these because I figured it'd be cool to have the full
set of Seekers... Little did I know that the Classics range, with its
knee
articulation and far superior modelling, was just around the corner.
Still, if you're after show-accurate Gen-1 Seekers, these are as good
as it gets. |
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Lio
Convoy While many TransFormers fans have complained that the Robot Masters line is very much a series of Optimus Prime remakes with a few extras here and there, I for one was extremely happy when this one was announced. Lio Convoy has always been one of my favourites, but I never expected to see one, let alone own one, when RM Lio Convoy was announced. It seemed like the ideal replacement - a smaller scale remake, made using contemporary toymaking tricks. Two versions were eventually released - one plain plastic, and this one, with some parts metallic painted and with a DVD (other specials in the RM line came packaged with DVDs, each one featuring an episode in a computer generated animation based around the characters in the RM line). This is easily one of the best in the line in terms of looks and complexity of transformation alone, add the fact that it's amazingly posable, and you have a real winner on your hands. The only downside is that lion mode is even less convincing than the full size version, and the molding of the lion's face isn't that great. |
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Black
Lio Convoy As above, only Nemesis! It's a scientifically proven fact that black repaints are much more interesting than the originals, and evil black repaints even more so. While the model remains the same, the colourscheme brings out more detail than the original white could. |