Dave's Transformers R.E.D. Rant - Wave 5

Knock Out (TF:Prime)
Ultra Magnus (G1, sort of)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/RED5

Knock Out is new, Ultra Magnus is just a redeco of wave 1 Optimus Prime,
the kind of "naked Magnus" we used to get a lot.

https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/RED1 - Optimus Prime mold

CAPSULES

$20-23 price point.

Knock Out: A little flat-chested, and the back wheels don't stay in
well, but otherwise a faithful design with good accessories. Recommended.

Ultra Magnus: Original mold was recommended, this is a somewhat lazy
redeco, however. I mean, if you're going to make just a redeco of G1
Optimus, go for Nemesis Prime or Toxitron, not just another naked Magnus.
Points for the amusement value of not just leaving out the Matrix, but
calling attention to it on the box, though. Mildly recommended.

RANTS

Packaging: Same as previous waves. Knock Out must be horrified to see
his paint flaking off.

DECEPTICON: KNOCK OUT
Assortment: F0744
Series: Transformers Prime
Accessories: Big drill, small drill, trident/shock prod, buzzsaw, option
hands.

Packaging: No ties, but the wheels that go on his back are in the tray
separately above his head. They don't stay in very well, I might have to
glue them at some point.

Robot Mode: As is generally the case in this line, the figure hews quite
closely to the animation model, although the chest has a touch more flatness
to it. They do a good job of meshing the red and gray plastics and paints,
to the point I had to look quite closely in some parts to tell if something
was painted or not. The hands are a bit small, but that was a problem in the
animation as well.
A leggy 6" (15.5cm) tall in mostly bright red, lightish gray, and black.
Bright red rigid plastic is used for the upper torso fenders, the upper
underside of the forearms, the pelvis, and the bulk of each boot. Bright red
rubbery plastic is used for the head, the shoulderpads, the forearm door
panels, and the shinguard/ kneespike parts. The wheels (back and inside the
feet), back wheel struts, and strangely enough the regular hands are black
plastic. The rest of the figure, including the toes, is made of slightly
flexible light gray plastic.
The hands are painted somewhat gloppy gloss light gray. The gloss light
gray is also applied non-gloppily to a the bit of upper arm that's on the
shoulder piece, details on the top layer of shoulderpad, and the spikes
overlapping to cover the wheels inside the boots. The rest of the top layer
of each shoulderpad is painted matte black, which is also used on the knee
spikes, a triangle in the small of the back, some strips on the feet, the
inner grooves of his upper torso gold vent section, and several details on
the head (eyes, mouth, top of helmet stripes). The face is otherwise very
pale warm gray with red irises on the eyes. The very pale warm gray paint is
also used on the center of the abdomen, the upper forearms (the parts that
aren't red plastic), and flanking the knee spikes. There's white details
printed on the lower layer of shoulderpads and the lower outer corners of the
chest near them. The upper torso vent details are painted gold, as are the
wheel hubs and rings on the inner faces of the elbows. The chest headlights
and the borders of the windows on the forearm doors are painted silver, the
windows themselves are semi-glossy black. Door decals in a shattering
pattern are printed in a fade from pink to light purple on each door.
The neck is either a restricted ball joint or a wobbly swivel, I wasn't
going to risk breaking the toy to try popping the head off. Swivel waist,
and the abdomen hinge actually works well on this one (in part because
there's no removable chestplate). The shoulders are universal joints,
there's swivels just below the shoulderpads, the elbows are double hinges,
and the wrists are the standard plug-in universal joints used on other
R.E.D. figures. Ball joint hips, upper thigh swivels, universal joint knees
with the swivel part in the boot end so it's not very useful. The toes are
on universal joints. The wheels inside the boots spin freely, the ones on
the back turn but have too much friction to really spin.
The default hands can hold things, and there's 3mm sockets on the
undersides of the toe tips. The backpack wheels plug in via nonstandard
pegs.

Accessories and Option Parts: Other than the shock prod (which is black
plastic) all the accessories are hand-replacements made of light gray
plastic. Yeah, the regular hands are painted black plastic, but the option
hansd are gray plastic (albeit a slightly lighter shade than the figure's
light gray plastic). There's nowhere to store unused weapons on the figure,
they just sort of vanish into trailer-space when not in use.
There's a right hand fist and a left hand open and relaxed as option
parts, all made of light gray plastic as noted.
The shock prod is about 4.5" (11cm) long, a single piece of slightly
flexible black plastic. It can be held two-handed in the default hands, but
you need to feed it in from the top as the gap between thumb and fingers is
kinda small on both hands.
The drill lance is a spiraling cone 2.5" (6cm) long if you don't count
the peg where it plugs into a wrist socket. It turns reasonably freely, but
does not actually spin. It replaces either hand equally well, although in
the cartoon his right hand usually did the tool transformation thing.
The buzzsaw is another hand-replacement item that looks like a mix of a
saw and a turbine fan. The blade wheel has a diameter (including teeth) of a
little more than an inch (27mm).
Finally, there's an auger-style drill that looks like it's flanked by
two fingers, and it's the only one to have any paint, with some bright red on
the "palm" part. The auger part is an inch (2.5cm) long, the whole thing is
a little longer, 1.5" (4cm) if you count the peg.

Overall: Aside from the slightly flattened chest, it looks good and
comes with a good assortment of tortu...er, medical tools. And it's an
interesting choice for Prime's second R.E.D. figure, I guess it's been just
long enough for nostalgia to kick in.

AUTOBOT: ULTRA MAGNUS
Assortment: F0745
Series: G1
Accessories: Same as Optimus Prime, but no Matrix.

Packaging: One double tie around the waist, a rubber band to hold the
chest closed, otherwise just held in by the blister shape.
The back of the box has insets showing off various features (the energy
axe isn't quite the same color as the real thing), and a shot of the chest
open to reveal a lack of Matrix. So, not only does he not have any of his
heavy lifter armor, he doesn't even have the Matrix. So sad.

Plastic Colors: Most of the figure is made of white plastic that looks
like it's suffering a slight case of photodegradation yellowing. The chest
windows are clear deep blue plastic. The hips, thighs, knees, and gas
tank-ish details on the outer boots are slightly silvery gray lpastic. The
fists and head as more flexible and less yellowed white plastic.
The energy axe is made of transparent slightly teal-ish blue plastic,
and does better resemble the box renders if there's a strong light behind it.
Its base sphere is thicker and looks to be a darker blue simply because less
light gets through. The option hands are made of the same plastic as the
regular fists. The rifle is rubbery black plastic.

Paint Apps: There's white paint on the chest window borders, and yellow
on the roof lights on top of the chest front. The mask, forehead tablet, and
toe tips are light blue. Gray paint is used for the upper face, the inside
empty Matrix chamber inside the chest, the ribcage stripe, and the small
stripe segments on the back. Weirdly, the forearms stripes are slightly
metallic gunmetal, not gray to match the other stripes. The abdomen grill,
shoulder smokestacks, borders of the shin details are also gunmetal. The
oblong not-vent shapes on the shins seem to be painted bone white, I guess
that's easier than just getting the gunmetal in the recesses. A seafoam
green is used for the belt details, the forearm ||> bits, and some small
details on the small of the back. The molded Autobot symbol on the front of
the left shoulder is painted red with gray gaps, and the robot eyes are red.

Mold Differences: None, other than the missing Matrix.

Overall: I mean, it's okay. But after the visually dynamic and
not-overused transfiguration sequence Megatron, I'd hoped they'd do something
more interesting with this mold than just another naked Ultra Magnus deco. I
suppose I do have room for this on my Magnus shelf, though.

Dave Van Domelen, dunno what if anything will be in wave 6....