Review: #880
Name: Hook
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Studio Series
Year of Release: 2025
Size Class: Commander
Mold Status: new
PACKAGING:
For the 2025 Commander in the Studio Series line, it is a two pack with Hook and Long Haul.
Together, they come with extra pieces to make the combined mode of Devastator. Given inflation and better engineering of each of the individual figures, they couldn't fit it within the budget of a Titan class this time around.
VEHICLE MODE:
Hook transforms into a green construction crane vehicle, with various purple highlights (including his windows).
This neon green color scheme actually works (and tend to only work for the Constructicons). There is a small gap at the back, which is customary for this figure since that's where the head pokes through in robot mode...
Hook is approximately Voyager class, but he does feel a lot more solid and hefty than a mainline Voyager, which helps to justify being part of a Commander pack.
The robot gun can peg quite flush onto the side of the crane arm.
The hook itself it on another arm that can extend, although it can be tight to extend and retract, so you'll need to be careful not to damage it.
A quick shot of Hook with Long Haul...
...and because they put the extra combined mode pieces as a separate piece that Long Haul can tow, Long Haul himself is the same size as the other members of the Constructicons this time around.
Hook has six rolling wheels, which is quite impressive, and the hubcaps are all painted silver too as a bonus.
A solid vehicle mode. He's can look simple, but that's because he's based upon the G1 version and aiming for show accuracy.
TRANSFORMATION:
Transformation is simple, and feels more like a refined version of what we already had before. The front extends to form the legs, the arms unpeg from the side, and the back collapses down so that the robot head can poke through.
ROBOT MODE:
Hook's robot mode, considering that he has to combine (and folds in two places as a result), is not too bad.
He's chunky and blocky though, that's for sure, and he has a huge piece of kibble on his back, being the rear of the vehicle plus the crane arm.
The head sculpt is good.
He's not quite as taller as your typical Voyager though, but he still feels solid and hefty in your hand.
A comparison against Long Haul who looks stockier and wider, despite being a similar height.
Articulation is good, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles.
He has a small gun for a weapon that he can hold in his hand.
The gun can store in the same place as on vehicle mode, which is the crane arm on his back.
The set also comes with Devastator's chest plate (split into three pieces) and his hands, which can all double as weapons.
First are the sides of the chest plate, which can be held as swords.
The middle of the chest plate is like a giant gun.
While the two hands / forearms are missile launchers that can either be pegged onto the forearm or held in his hand.
It's a lot of flexibility that the figure benefits from. There are some flaws though, such as the weird elbow design (the hinge is on the side of the joint, rather than the middle), and his lower legs are very chunky to the point of feeling awkward.
It's still a good update to the character, and hands down the best rendition yet though.
COMBINED MODE:
As mentioned, the set only comes with Hook, Long Haul, and some combiner parts that form the lower torso of Devastator. Perhaps the weakest part of the set is that the combiner parts does not have a token "base mode". So it's either the trailer, or the combined form, which means if you wanted to display Hook and Long Haul in their individual robot modes, then the trailer doesn't do anything.
At least you can form the torso of Devastator from just this set alone, he'll just be missing his limbs. Interesting, you cannot attach the chest plate now, because they actually attaches to the arm components instead (Bonecrusher and Scavenger).
However, even getting into this mode, you can start to see the scale and how big this Devastator would be (i.e. not as big as you would have expected).
OVERALL:
If you want to form Devastator, you'll have no choice but to get this set anyway. Hook is a nice figure, and Long Haul is so so. The strength of these two alone may not be able to justify the set, you'd really want to have to complete the Constructions for this set to make sense.
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