Review: #60
Name: Wreckage
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: 2007 Movie
Year of Release: 2007
Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 2)
Variations: repainted in the ROTF line as Bludgeon
VEHICLE MODE:
Wreckage transforms into a vehicle based upon the M1126 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle. Its an excellent vehicle mode, but the overall shape and colours might make it seem a bit bland.
There are many sculpted details, it's just that you don't notice them much due to the fact that they are not painted. Wreckage has a grey gun in the middle, it can only aim straight, no side to side pivot, since it's part of the Automorph.
Perhaps most surprisingly, all of Wreckage's eight wheels roll. Yes, all of them, separately. However, most of them don't really touch the ground when you roll it on a smooth surface (probably only four does), but on something like the carpet, it's fine.
If you don't look at Wreckage from above, you'll see his hands wrapped underneath. It's easy to see since he has such a high ground clearance.
There aren't too many seams here, most of the panels are fairly large but Wreckage gets away with it.
The robot mode weapons are ingeniously stored inside the vehicle, and it's not a lazy storage point, like underneath the vehicle. The weapons are inside the vehicle itself, but they do poke out. Another eye catching thing is the red square in the middle of the vehicle mode, this is for the torso cannon in robot mode made out of translucent red plastic.
Wreckage's size is decent, bigger than some other Deluxes. A great vehicle mode in the end, but a little bit static. However, we're probably used to this given all the other vehicle modes we get that can only roll.
TRANSFORMATION:
Wreckage is simple, fun and great. It's very interesting, and works very well. It's elegant, I can't believe how simple the transformation is, yet it provided such a well formed robot. The automorph gimmick is nice, but it threw me off the first time, since the chest piece is held in place via tabs in vehicle mode (you have to unpeg it first for a smoother transformation).
Each blade is spring loaded, revealing two transparent red jagged blades. This is a really fun transformation, and going the other way is very intuitive too. There are pegs, enough, but not to the point of too many, that 'shows' you where everything is supposed to go, and creating a very solid vehicle mode. A very clever transformation.
ROBOT MODE:
Wreckage's robot mode is great, with many elements that makes him look good. He's well proportioned and the colour scheme is excellent. The red really stands out here and complements the Artic camouflage really well (surprisingly).
He does look like there are a lot of pieces hanging off, and that is true. He's somewhat of a shellformer, but it's not terribly obvious even after you have transformed him. Thankfully, none of these vehicle pieces affect anything other than the aesthetics (which are good mind you).
A major flaw here is that his head looks down, it's an intentional design but it wasn't executed well here, since it forces him to look too down, so you would have to compensate this by angling the torso up at the hips (which might look weird from the side).
Even though his footprint isn't big, he's very stable (they're balljointed at the ankles too) and you can get him to stand in a variety of poses. His waist looks like it can rotate but it's glued into place.
Obviously, Wreckage's weapons include the two blades, each peg onto a hole on the underside of each arm.
While in terms of ranged weapons, he has his torso cannon, and it looks really impressive there. It would look even better if there were some paint detailing, instead, the details are lost in the transparent plastic unless you look really carefully.
The sculpting of his head is good, but again it's a bit hard to capture on camera due to how he perpetually looks down.
He looks like he has a massive backpack, but it's completely hollow, so it's not bad at all and doesn't really impede anything.
The two blades can also combine into a double bladed weapon, you can attached this to one of the wheels for a wicked spinning blade!
His size is average, although he has a fairly big vehicle mode, his robot mode isn't as big as you would have expected.
Poseability is also good, but he's missing swivels in some places, like his knees and elbows. It is not a great loss since all the joints are still good. Although due to the transformation, he has some weird angles, particularly on his legs.
An excellent robot mode in the end that is a lot of fun to place with.
OVERALL:
Two words, highly recommended. A simple transformation links between two excellent modes. The vehicle mode is a bit static but that's the standard of all Movie toys, while the blades really lift the robot mode up. Definitely worth picking up at normal retail price (always against paying more, but this figure is worth it) and it really throws some latter Movie toys to shame (looking at the ROTF and DOTM toys).
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