So here's a toy I wasn't planning to buy at all. They went on clearance at Walmart, and in my current capacity LARPing as the toy department manager, I marked them down to like eleven bucks hoping they would finally sell (there were like six or seven of them languishing on the shelf). We got down to having two left, but today somebody had ripped open the boxes for both of them. I'm not really sure why. They didn't appear to be missing any parts—maybe somebody thought there was a Cyber Planet Key inside or something? I really have no idea.

Anyway, the packaging was trashed, so I taped them back together as best I could, and did a CVP markdown that took them down to about six bucks. At that price, I thought I might actually take one home. Worst-case scenario, I've got some trade fodder or kitbash fodder, or something I can give my grandkid to fiddle with some day, once he exists. I like to plan ahead.

I do own the original Cybertron Override. After kind of hating what they did with Armada and Energon, I was super cautious about Cybertron, and it was that toy line that went a long way towards killing my interest, back then, in Transformers at retail. I picked up a handful of the Deluxe toys when they were available in BOGO packs for ten bucks—I think I got Override and Thundercracker and Skywarp and somebody else that way. I know nothing about the character, other than the fact that she's female.

The toy is pretty much styled in the same manner as I remember from the Cybertron toy line, and it's the same deal with the curvy front fenders turning into a pair of curvy legs. The biggest difference is that the upper body does some new stuff to correct the proportions for robot mode, with lots of tabs to plug everything together into.

The horns on the helmet in robot mode (well, and vehicle mode, since they poke out) seem longer on the package than on the final product. I'm going to go on record as hating Transformers who are not able to figure out how to tuck their heads away when they're transformed. (What about Elita One? I hate when she does it, too.)

Her waist swivels, or it's designed to, but the backpack largely negates that function. It's a shame.

Her kneepads are ridiculously big. And her upper legs are disproportionately skinny, and they look super weird when the giant kneepads aren't hiding them.

I feel like there's an inconsistency in the design philosophy. She's mostly a curvy toy, with shapely legs and toes and lots of sweeping lines in car mode, and yet she's got these boxy shoulders and forearms, which look like they belong on a totally separate toy. There's an incongruity that I dislike. It should either be all boxes, or all curves. Not both.

Back to car mode. It feels incomplete, like whoever designed the front half didn't communicate with the person who designed the back half.

I guess this is what happens when I buy a robot toy and it's a character I don't know about and don't care about. She just doesn't do anything for me.. But, hey, six bucks. Whaddya want.

Zob (also got Shredder and the Triceraton from the TMNT Elite Series by Playmates... I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for Playmates to make a Shredder action figure that actually looks like Shredder)