Transformers: Generations: Combiner Wars Technobots (Afterburner, Afterbreaker, Lightsteed, Nosecone, Scattershot, Scrounge, Cybaxx, Strafe, Computron)

Included are comparisons to the Japanese version, which I will review later.  I will only be talking about the USA version and it’s comparisons to previous releases of the molds.

Afterbreaker

Previous Mold Reviews: Groove (Unite Warriors), Groove

I hate the name Afterbreaker.  He has a new paint job obviously, but other than that, the mold changes from Groove to Afterbreaker are pretty minimal.  He has a new head sculpt and the windshield has been replaced with one to make it look a little more futuristic.  He doesn’t really look much like the original, but isn’t too bad all things considered.  I do like the paint job.

Lightsteed

Previous Mold Reviews: Dead End, Brake-Neck, Streetwise, Prowl, Streetwise (Unite Warriors), Smokescreen, Dead End (G2), Brake-Neck (G2), Dust Up, Bluestreak (Botcon)

Lightsteed?  Seriously?  Frankly, this one is pretty pathetic.  As with most uses of this mold, he has a police light bar, but is not supposed to be a police car.  His car mode is very plain.  Robot mode is not bad looking, but uses Streetwise’s head which looks nothing like Lightspeed.  I am pretty sure this is now the most remolded and repainted mold of all time.  I can’t think of anything that has been used so many times.

Nosecone

Previous Mold Reviews: Brawl, Brawl (G2), Brawl (Unite Warriors)

Everyone knew this one was coming from the moment Brawl came out, but it is just so poorly done.  The drill is too small and he has no guns at all.  They didn’t even give him a new head.

Scattershot

Previous Mold Reviews: Silverbolt, Cyclonus, Scattershot (Single Box), Silverbolt (G2), Cyclonus (Unite Warriors)

With the exception of the pink gun, I like this Scattershot better than his single boxed version.  The maroon instead of the red looks really nice.

Cybaxx

I think this one may have been repainted a few other times, but this was the paint job that came with Cosmos.  As you cans see they really phoned it in as he has virtually no paint job.  Not sure why they bothered including him anyway.

Scrounge

Previous Mold Reviews: Cosmos

Scrounge is an obscure character from the G1 comic.  He does have a new head sculpt, but is mainly yellow plastic with a little orange paint.  Could have used some more paint apps.

Strafe

Previous Mold Reviews: Air Raid, Air Raid (G2), Thrust (Unite Warriors)

Strafe came out really great.  He has a new head sculpt, new wings, and a new jet mode with Strafe’s duel cannons.  Problem is the cannons are not removable.  This would be less of an issue if he came with any accessories, but he does not.  They really should have included Skydive’s original weapon.

Computron

The best thing about Computron is his hands and feet.  They do not use the universal parts.  Instead he has feet that are actually large enough to hold him easily.  He has real transformers hands.  I have always maintained that Transformers do not need open hands or hands with moving parts.  I wish Hasbro would release a set of these hands and feet in the proper colors for all the Hasbro Combiner Wars combiners.  I do not know why he has pink chest armor though.  Also of note, while Hasbro did not bother to give him a more accurate head, they did, accidentally I’m guessing, fix the design flaw with the antennae.

If you have a Silverbolt, you have probably been as pissed as I was trying to get his dammed antennae to stand straight up.  The reason for this is that they are soft black plastic painted gold.  The gold paint on soft plastic makes it stick when rotated in the hard plastic housing.  I took the head of my Silverbolt apart and pulled out the antennae and pushed it back in already in the up position, and it stayed in place when I put it back together.  If I were to transform it, it would have the same issue again.  Computron’s antennae are cast in maroon plastic and not painted.  Hence, they have nothing to make them stick and can be rotated up into the proper position with no problem.  I can’t tell if the plastic is slightly harder than Superion’s antennae.  So, if it is slightly harder (but still soft), then that fixed the design problem.  Either that or it is because they are unpainted and fixing the problem was just an accident.

Overall: Strafe is a pretty great toy.  Scattershot is pretty well painted, and Afterbreaker is okay.  Lightsteed and Nosecone are appallingly bad.  Scrounge is a nice addition and does have new molding, so you can’t go wrong there.  Hasbro seems to have started to do this right and then lost interest half way through.  It’s got enough new molding that I have to recommend it, if only for Strafe, but the Japanese will be a way better toy.

Thanks for reading!