Dave's Transformers EarthSpark Rant: Cyber-Combiner Wave 1

Terran Twitch & Robby Malto (Drone and Exo-suit)
Bumblebee & Mo Malto (Sportscar and Exo-suit)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/ES/CyberCombiner1

There wasn't much buzz about these, to the point that the first time I
knew they were coming was when I saw them on the shelf. These may be
replacing the spin-changers at the $30 price point, and it's a rather
surprising (to me) return to Energon-style shirt/pants combiners. In each
set, the human partner is in an Exo-suit that doesn't have a vehicle mode (at
least not officially), just humanoid, shirt, and pants. To their credit,
Robby and Mo aren't just head-swaps with identical Exo-suits, Robby is in a
beefier land-based suit while Mo is in a slimmer flight-capable suit.

(Note, I wrote this review in nothing resembling the order you see
things, apologies if there's weird redundancies or rough transitions.)

CAPSULES

$30 at Target.

Terran Twitch & Robby Malto: More solidly constructed than first year
EarthSpark toys, and much better than I'd expected from EarthSpark. Good
play value, and quality control is passable. Twitch's altmode isn't that
great, not a lot better than the fan mode I worked up for Robby (who's not
supposed to have an altmode). Despite a number of flaws, I really liked this
set as toys, so it gets a Recommended.

Bumblebee & Mo Malto: Bumblebee is a little better than Twitch, and Mo
could have been better than Robby but suffers from some "if they'd only
tweaked the mold here" issues and what I'm guessing are rampant tolerance
failures. Assuming I just got a bad copy, I'd call this even with the other
set, but if the Mo problems are endemic than Twitch/Robby is the safer set if
you don't want to commit to the whole thing.

RANTS

Cyber-Combining: The premise of this assortment is that one Transformer
can combine with one of the Malto kids who has apparently figured out how to
generate an Exo-Suit with their Cyber-Sleeve, or maybe Nightshade built these
for 'em. The toy packaging doesn't do lore. The Exo-Suits do not
technically have vehicle modes, but both toys in each set can turn into the
top half (Shirt Mode) or bottom half (Pants Mode) of a combiner.
Okay, important point to get out of the way - while definitely inspired
by the Autobots in Transformers Energon, the connection system is NOT
compatible with them. It uses just two clips, an outer and an inner part of
the set on each figure. Energon used a more complicated arrangement, and the
two will not snap together (I tried). It might be possible to create a 3-D
printed waist piece to let them connect, but I'm not sure anyone would want
to bother. However, despite the smaller contact area of these connectors,
they're sufficiently solid to do the job. Not having to accomodate the
possibility of Voyager sized figures probably let them slim it down.
Like the Energon toys, they're all rather long-legged and have arms that
are relatively easy to hide away...short, skinny, or both. They all hide the
head away and have the combiner clips behind where the head was, and for
Shirt Mode they have the pelvis split in two so that the regular legs can
become arms. They all have a spring-loaded gimmick that pops out a new head
and chest for the combiner when you pull the pelvis apart (Bumblebee's won't
stay stowed unless his pelvis is fully snapped together). They all have a
way to make bigger feet when used in Pants mode, mostly flipping out
"elevator shoes" but Bumblebee has a different way. When combined, it is
possible to transform them to switch which is Shirt and which is Pants
without disconnecting them.
It's worth noting that, as with Energon, the combinations increase quite
rapidly as you add sets. Each set individually only has two combinations,
where R is Robby, T is Twitch, M is Mo, and B is Bumblebee: RT, TR, and MB,
BM. But when you have both sets you can add in RB, BR, RM, MR, MT, TM, TB,
and BT. So twelve possible combiners for $60, and that's not counting weird
choices like quad walkers or four-armed hovermechs. That's play value. I
suppose if you wanted all possible combinations you'd get two of each set and
add the four double-ups to the mix. I'm sure someone's already done that.

Packaging: This year's EarthSpark toys finally give us a separate
faction symbol for the Terrans. It's more of a human-head-shape version of
the Autobot symbol, but different above the eyes, and in light blue.
These are in windowless open-front boxes made of significantly more
robust cardboard than Studio Series uses (no accidental tears on these
babies), with the standard pseudo-rounded lower right corner of EarthSpark
toys. There's no hangtag, these are purely shelf-sitters. 9" (22.5cm) wide,
8" (20cm) tall, and 2.5" (6.5cm) deep. The trade dress is the light blue
with yellow-green accents of first year EarthSpark packaging, and the inner
tray keeps the "simple display globe and Autobot symbol" pattern in shades of
purple with white. There does not appear to be any new art, so no hint of
how the Exo-Suits are going to look on the show.
Along the left border of the front window are five hexagonal insets
under the claim "5 WAYS TO PLAY." There's vehicle and robot modes for the
Transformer, a single hex with the Exo-Suit, and then pictures of both
combiner modes. There's a "CYBER-COMBINER" logo in the top center, featuring
an octagonal loop of two arrows around the name, with the character names on
either side of it. The left panel has slightly larger pictures of the two
combined modes, the right panel uses existing character art of Bumblebee and
Twitch as relevant. The back has an even larger set of pictures of the
combiners, and smaller insets of the individuals (same as those on the front,
and about the same size). The upper right corner of the back has the logo of
the Transformer in the set, which is also used in the upper right corner of
the front and behind the right side character art. So, this is where the new
Terran symbol shows up. (Note: I keep typing "terrain" and then having to go
back and fix it, don't be surprised if I missed fixing one.)
The figures are strapped in with plastic ties, which mostly keeps them
from moving, although they're stretch enough you can open BB's chest and
store his head. The instructions are loose behind the inner tray...I
wouldn't recommend trying to get them out through the holes in the inner
tray, though.

General Quality Comments: EarthSpark's first year toys tried some new
ways to economize, including a ball joint that reportedly wears out fairly
easily as it gets rubbed smooth (I never had trouble, but I also didn't take
the time to endurance-test the joints in the way a kid would just do
naturally). A few of that type of joint, if noticeably smoother and
therefore probably less prone to wear, are in these toys, but there's a LOT
more pinned joints than were typical of first year ES toys. There's still
obvious shortcuts and "cheap-outs" in the designs, but these just feel more
robust. While not up to the standards of the Generations toys, it's a step
up, at least with these guys. They do not feel brittle in the way that a lot
of older EarthSpark toys do. While still clearly being the economy line with
a higher profit margin, this feels improved.

TERRAN: TERRAN TWITCH
Assortment: F8438
Altmode: Drone
Transformation Difficulty: 9 steps from robot to drone
Previous Name Use: EarthSpark
Previous Mold Use: None
GHOST Affiliated: No

Packaging: Three ties hold the robot to the tray on the left side,
although even after they're cut it takes some work to get the backpack wings
out through the gap in the inner tray.
The box back render has the root joints of the back nacelles in clear
plastic, the actual toy has them as dark gray...perhaps the original plan
failed a drop test.

Robot Mode: Rather bigger and brawnier than her usual design, since all
of the figures need to be about the same height and of similar builds. She
does still have the chipmunk cheeks that give her a babyface. The wing
nacelles are completely made of cloudy clear yellow plastic, oddly enough.
It does suffer from the usual hollowness of the non-Generations lines,
although the fold-out combiner feet fill in the backs of the boots at least.
The skinny wings are entirely missing.
5.5" (14cm) tall in mostly red and black with bits of yellow and bluish
silver. Red plastic is used for the head, most of the upper torso and the
backpack, the upper arms, the fists and that end of each forearm, thighs, and
the outer shells of the boots. Faintly metallic black plastic is used for
the wing roots, shoulder joints, the non-fist halves of the forearms, inner
torso, pelvis, hip joints, knee joints, back of the boots, and feet. The
combiner clips behind the head are also black plastic. The nacelles on the
back and the ones on the boots are made of cloudy clear yellow plastic.
The inner thighs are painted a bluish silver, while regular silver is
used on the face. Metallic black paint is used on the intake vents on the
chest and around the central "eye" of the drone, as well as details on the
shins. Bright yellow paint is used on the eyes, the central chest lamp, and
details on the shins.
The head can nod down on a transformation hinge, making it the only one
of the four with any real neck articulation. (None of them have waist
joints, due to the need for the pelvis to split apart for Shirt Mode.) Ball
joint shoulders, hinge elbows, pinned universal joint hips, hinge knees that
bend both ways (another Shirt Mode requirement). The toes fold up for
transformation but the soft-ratcheting hinges do allow for stable poses. The
lack of thigh swivels really hurts general articulation, though. The main
nacelles are on ball joints, and each is made of two disks connected by a
swivel joint, so that the wingtip parts can be swung around for different
modes.
The fists can hold 5mm pegs, and there are 5mm sockets under the toes.
There's 5mm pegs on the backs of the boots, these go into the toe sockets in
Pants Mode. There's also 5mm sockets on the fronts of the main nacelles.