Review: #236
Name: Crosscut
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Generations
Year of Release: 2014
Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 10)
Variations: a retool from Generations Skids, the mold was also made into Age of Extinction Rollbar
COMIC:
Crosscut comes with Dark Cybertron Chapter
7, with apparently the pages out of order (pages 1-4 are slot between pages 20
and 21). One cool fact is that if you’ve
been purchasing every single Deluxe, you would end up eventually having the
complete set of Dark Cybertron chapters.
Anyway, so Chapter 7 continues on the multiple things that’s happening
concurrently and it is quite confusing if you are not up to speed or forgot
what happened in the previous chapters.
It jumps from Ultra Magnus and his team inside Metroplex to Bumblebee
and Megatron battling against Galvatron to Orion Pax in the dead universe. As a freebie, it’s good value since you get a
fully fledged comic issue, with some impressive art and coloring. It sucks that it can’t support itself as a
standalone issue; you really need to read everything before it to fully
appreciate the plot.
VEHICLE MODE:
Crosscut transforms into a fictional hatchback with a prominent Autobot symbol on the hood.
He doesn't have a proper rear window but it's nice that the back of the vehicle is properly sculpted, instead of just an open gap or exposed robot pieces. What's even better is that the taillights are painted so it's not a block of solid colored plastic.
While the original toy was silver, Crosscut is mainly unpainted grey plastic to approximate silver. There is some silver paint but this is due those areas being transparent plastic. It clashes massively with the unpainted plastic, coupled with the swirls in the plastic used, this makes Crosscut quite tacky.
Crosscut is very compact and short. He sits low on the ground too. The only gimmick here is the rolling wheels.
There is a peghole on each side of this vehicle which allows you to peg in his weapons to store it in this mode.
The mold is really good, it's just a shame about the two-toned colors, unpainted plastic and the swirls in the plastic making it seem like it might be fragile.
TRANSFORMATION:
Transformation is quite complex and fiddling with the parts that you have to move around. It is clever too but can feel awkward at times. The legs are fun and is interesting to see how well it folds up when you transform him the first time. The best part might be when you get up to the step to fold down the fenders to reveal his shoulder mounted missile pods.
ROBOT MODE:
Crosscut's robot mode is fantastic, the color scheme just works so much better than Skids did in my opinion.
He carries a fair amount of kibble but it looks worse than it is since all he has are a few panels which sits flush against his back.
The head sculpt is amazing, and probably one of the main things that sold me on this figure.
Crosscut comes up a bit short as well in robot mode.
In the original release of Skids, there were misassembly errors with his thighs, Crosscut has no such issues. Also, if you fold the thighs as far back as possible, he can stand upright quite comfortably.
You might already have noticed but Crosscut is armed to the teeth. Not only does he have the obvious shoulder mounted missile pods, but he has a pair of shoulder cannons too.
Then there are two additional flip out guns on each hand.
Finally, he has a pair of handheld weapons which includes a rifle and a smaller gun.
He can either hold a weapon in each hand.
Or you can combine the weapons together to form a longer and more powerful gun.
You don't miss the silver paint as much here, thanks to the addition of black and red.
Speaking of the red, it is a really nice, rich metallic red which looks stunning. It's so beautiful...
His poseability is excellent, with all the joints you need including a waist swivel.
His shoulders extend from their vehicular positions to give them more range but it is still somewhat restricted. It can also hit the door panels sitting behind them so you'll have to adjust that too.
Crosscut may have long feet, but they stick forwards instead of having a proper heelspur. While this isn't a problem when he's standing in a neutral pose, balancing him in a dynamic pose can be fiddling.
However, all that pales in comparison and this is a fantastic robot mode.
OVERALL:
Crosscut is a fun toy. He looks amazing in robot mode, with all the weapons that he has. The transformation is a little finicky and he can be difficult to balance, however, the positives far outweigh the negatives and he is a worthwhile toy to get.
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