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“Don’t Toy With Me”:Transformers Universe ’05 Wave 1

Transformers Universe is a line, which serves two purposes. First of all, it’s a cheap way to make dough and fill up retailer shelf space, since the line is composed entirely of repaints. Second, it’s aimed at the fans, with a story line set in the G1-Beast Machines continuity and featuring a lot of favorite molds. The concept feels a bit like a year-round convention exclusive set . . . well, for the hardcore Trans-loons like me anyway.

The Universe line, however, has been foundering at retail. Sales have been considerably slower than Energon and Alternators and there have been a few ill-advised choices for re-releases. Fans have also been disappointed with the lack of individualized bio cards and unique names, as many of these are supposed to be new characters. This new wave of three deluxe toys is on track to turn that around. A new, brighter, bolder card design should grab the kiddies eyes much better from the pegs and three good molds redecoed well should make fans very happy.

Frostbite was originally the Beast Wars: Transmetal 2 Jawbreaker, a Maximal Hyena. Here re-imagined as a Decepticon, he’s got a bold and frosty color scheme based mostly around white and blue. There was a certain subtlety to the color choices on a lot of the Beast Wars toys, that I’m not sure was really appreciated. You could place any number of toys next to each other, and a simple tone like a silver-gray would still have a wide temperature and tone variation. I dunno, maybe you need to have had a color theory class to notice. Well, Frostbite here really features a return to those less-obvious choices. The blue is a baby blue with a warmth to it, while much of the toy is two different shades of a purpley off-white. Despite this color choice, the robot mode does feel a little under painted and the midsection of the hyena still doesn’t hold together well. Frostbite’s transformation is fairly straightforward except for some flipping around in his torso and detaching the foreleg assembly from his right arm. In robot mode, he’s articulated with a swivel neck, ball shoulders, universal right elbow, ball left elbow, swivel waist (limited), ball hips, and hinged knees and ankles. His weapon is a large a spiny sword produced from his tail. His right arm also features a spinning blade gimmick, which sits on his back in beast mode.

Night Slash Cheetor was originally a Beast Machines: Battle for the Spark offering. Represented for Universe, he’s gold, burgundy, and metallic blue, and gets us a little closer to that show-model accurate Cheetor everyone’s always wanted. There are a few nice paint touches – blue techno-circuitry cheetah spots are a great concept even if the execution doesn’t quite bear them out and there’s some freckles painted on the robot’s face.

Like Frostbite, there isn’t too much complicated in NS Cheet’s transformation. Basically stand the toy up, and open up his chest panels to swap around heads. When Cheetor’s spark crystal is pushed, his arms flail in a slashing motion. A lever on his shoulders deploys swords straight into his hands. The biggest problem with the original version of this toy was limited articulation in the shoulders due to the action feature. It’s still there, but it feels to me like there might be a little more outward give. NS Cheetor is articulated with a ball neck, limited ball shoulders, hinged elbows, ball wrists, ball hips, hinged knees and another below the knees and ball ankles along with hinges on the feet. This one’s going to be a must have for anyone who’s a fan of the “Beast Era”.

Longhorn is derived from the Transmetal 2 Ramulus, one of my top five Beast Wars favorites. The beast mode was fairly unconventional, and the robot uncomplicated. It just made for a very nice toy. In a year when some of the toys were . . . overwrought, Ramulus was a breath of fresh air. Though Longhorn here isn’t the barely-produced green version of Ramulus that I’ve been lusting after, he is a nicely done update. The bright blue with a warm silver and burgundy accents is looking pretty sharp. There are some tolerance issues, with his waist fitting into place in both modes rather poorly; it just won’t stay put. Like the other two figures in this assortment, Longhorn has a fairly simple “stand up and flip a few pieces in the torso around” transformation. His weapon is still kinda useless; the horn assembly detaches from the ram and can be held awkwardly in robot mode. Longhorn’s articulated with a swivel neck, ball shoulders, swivel biceps, double hinged elbows, ball hips, hinged knees, and a below the knee hinge. 

The next main line of Transformers, Cybertron (Galaxy Force in Japan), will feature a few very Beast Wars inspired toys, and this assortment really gets me ramped up for that. I eagerly look forward to reliving my heady college days where I was out looking for new toys instead of, y’know, learning stuff. 

Transformers Universe is available at Toys R Us, KB and Target and online at BigBadToystore.com and Action-HQ.com, which is where I snagged this assortment that will hit the US in a few weeks.

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