Dave's Transformers Kingdom Rant: Netflix Spoiler Pack 3

Megatron (Siege redeco with new accessories)
Fossilizer Skelivore (Paleotrex redeco)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/NetflixSpoiler3

I never did find the Nemesis Prime spoiler pack on shelves, nor on
online clearance deep enough to tempt me. But this one I got online for
barely more than the cost of a Deluxe, so basically free spare Megatron, I
guess.

https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/VMegatronS1 - Megatron mold
https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/DeluxeK1 - Paleotrex mold

Technically, Megatron is a redeco of the slight retooling of the mold
done for the Walmart exclusive Netflix release (the one that came with
"captured" Battle Masters), which I didn't get. So I guess I'll have to
compare it a little more carefully to the original.

CAPSULES

I passed on it originally, but later found it for $30 including
shipping.

Megatron: Original mold recommended, but come ON get a new MOLD
already. He's not a Seeker! This is a somewhat sloppy deco.

Skelivore: Original mold mildly recommended. This could have looked
better if they made the clear and opaque purples match better, but it was not
to be.

Set overall: Recommended if you can get it for $30, but no way is it
worth full price.

RANT

Packaging: As with the Ultra Magnus set I got for Siege, this has
Spoiler Packaging, which means various lines in Cybertronian font here and
there. It has the same general "ammo box" look of the Siege spoiler set box,
but with vines growing all over it.
The spoilers are quotes from Optimus Prime ("Take the Matrix, Megatron,
then the AllSpark, may it have mercy on you!") and Megatron ("With the Matrix
in hand, I can win the AllSpark and use it to reshape Cybertron in my
image!") (I added punctuation in both cases, as it doesn't exist in the font
they're using.) Both quotes have Decepticon symbols by them and purple
text. Between them is the film-sealed container of black Play-Doh (the
"compound").
Inside, there's a cardboard tray with the two robots and some of the
accessories plastic-tied to it with holes through the tray. The backing is
basically mold-covered metal with a large crude Decepticon symbol and some
vines. The instructions are a single large sheet folded in four, 7.5" (19cm)
tall and 10" (25cm) wide when folded up. Amusingly, there's two copies of
the massively multilingual warning sheet, one for each figure I guess (or I
just got two accidentally).
Less amusingly, it looks like I'm gonna need to dig around in the
Play-Doh for the Fire Blasts and AllSpark. Also, I just went for my ziplock
bag containing the first set's black Play-Doh and it has hardened...I think
I'll just throw away this batch, if I didn't find anything to do with the
last batch before it hardened, I probably won't use this batch either.
Anyway, the two Fire Blasts and the AllSpark are in a small plastic bag
inside the compound.

Fire Blasts: These are the burst-style ones that came with Slitherfang
and Doublecrosser, cast in clear bright blue. One has a long spike out the
top, the other bursts more widely. Both need space around the stud to stay
attached. The instructions show them as offensive bursts on the backpack
cannons made from Skelivore's parts.

AllSpark: This is a 10mm wide icosahedron (d20) made of glitter-swirled
butterscotch-yellow plastic. One side has a 3mm socket so that it can be
attached to a stud on any compatible figure or weapon, while the opposite
side has a 3mm stud that's counter-sunk into the side so it can rest flat.
As a result, neither of the Fire Blasts that comes with the set can be
attached to the AllSpark's stud, but any of the Fire Blasts that connect via
"5mm peg with 3mm hole down the middle" pegs can do so. "I'm going to
enhance my firepower by jamming the AllSpark onto the barrel of my gun!"
probably counts as Famous Last Words.
The instructions generally show the AllSpark attached to Megatron's left
shoulder 3mm stud.

Matrix Bandolier: A new accessory for Megatron, it's crossed bandoliers
securing the Autobot Matrix to his chest, as seen in the cartoon. It's a
single piece of flexible medium gray plastic with the Matrix part in the
middle being painted with silver handles, gold housing, and metallic blue
interior. It's designed to hook around the outside edges of Megatron's
chestplate, and so can be worn by any of this mold family so long as the
chest isn't too different (and near as I can tell, none of them are different
enough to be a problem). In vehicle mode, it hooks around the underside of
the turret. The Matrix itself is 21mm wide, comparable to other recent
Matrices meant for chest storage in Primes.

DECEPTICON: MEGATRON
Assortment: F0969
Altmode: Tank
Transformation Difficulty: 20 steps (new instructions add 3 steps, although
one is on how to add the Matrix)
Previous Name Use: Yes
Previous Mold Use: Yes
Weapon: Unnamed, but same as in Siege

Packaging: Four ties on the robot, plus the backpack needing to be
worked around a bit to get it through the hole. Two ties on the
sword-cannon, two ties on the main cannon, one tie on the Matrix bandolier.

Color Swaps: The light gray gets replaced by medium gray with a little
bit of metallic sparkle. Most of the black stays black, but a few bits
become silvery gray instead: heels, the joint bits on the sword, and the
hinges attaching the shoulders to the torso.

Paint Apps: There's only silver splatter on the pelvis, and there's a
lot of it. Incontinent Megatron? Trouble Washing His Hands Megatron?
Starscream Spittle Megatron? (And this is new, not a holdover from Siege.)
Anyway, most of the rest of the "messy" paint is dark silver, which has an
airbrushed sort of edge on the chest, upper arm fronts (although it has a
very sharp boundary with the unpainted upper arm back halves), forearm upper
face, helmet front, shin fronts, arm cannon barrel, tank cannon barrel, tank
front deck, and front fenders. The toes may have been intended to have fuzzy
edges, but seem fully painted, and the face is fully painted dark silver as
well. There's black paint on the top of toe details, and black printed
impact and clawmarks on the chest (neither is very convincing). There's dark
red paint on the fronts of the biceps, the eyes, and just tiny bits on the
fronts of the abdomen and shoulder roots. The center of the chest has a
scratched purple Decepticon symbol, the buttons on the belly are painted dark
blue, and a vent at the bottom is painted yellow.

Mold Changes: TFWiki says this version of the mold is tweaked so that
the ankles are easier to unsnap and have stiffer hinges once unsnapped, but
I'm seeing no difference between this and my original Siege Megatron.

Other Notes: The bandolier looks pretty good on the robot, kinda dopey
on the tank. The overall scheme looks like they were in a hurry and just
waved an airbrush over it a few times, though.

Overall: Given what I paid, I consider this a freebie that came with
Skelivore and the accessories. And that's about what yet another copy of
this mold is worth to me.

PREDACON: SKELIVORE
Assortment: F0969
Altmode: T.rex skeleton, weapons
Transformation Difficulty: 32 steps from robot to dinosaur
Previous Name Use: None
Previous Mold Use: Gen:K

Why purple? Because the robot head becomes a mace, and Megatron gets a
purple Energon mace. So, all of Skelivore's weapon modes are purple
Energon.

Packaging: Six strings on the robot, two on the tail weapon.

Color Swaps: The light tan plastic is replaced by clear purple (grape
lollipop color), and most of the brown plastic becomes a warm violet opaque
plastic. However, the robot hip joints, elbow joints, the spine (mace
handle), and the left arm bit that's the base of the tail in beast mode are
black.

Paint Apps: Mostly silver. The head spikes, teeth, the forehead grille
under the helmet, the spikes on the chestplate, the dino teeth, and
airbrushed along the edge of the "axe blade" pelvic keel/right shoulder piece
and the bone details on the left shoulder (tail root). Darker silver or
gunmetal paint is on the robot faceplate and the cat ears of the chest
plate. The area around the robot eyes and under the forehead grille is
painted black, and the eyes are metallic blue. The Predacon symbol printed
on the chestplate is silver. Oddly, the inside of the lower jaw is painted
black.

Mold Changes: None that I noticed. The swivels at the robot wrists pop
out pretty easily with this combo of plastics.

Other Notes: While the original mold has some minor issues with looking
coherent, the arbitrary opaque versus clear parts really hurt the overall
look, especially since the opaque violet isn't even the same shade as the
clear purple. If they'd made the opaque plastic more bluish it might have
worked better.

Overall: Kinda strange that this mold got two reuses, while Wingthing
wasn't reused at all. But I guess Megatron would be attracted to the idea of
wearing what looked like the skeleton of Beast Megatron. Anyway, it was a
decent idea, but the execution could have been better.

> Set Overall: Definitely not worth full price unless you somehow managed
> to never buy the Siege Megatron and its redecos/retools.

Literally me. Only had the G2 Earthrise redeco, so this was my first experience with the Siege mold. Got it on sale but feel like it would have been worth full price.