Review: #415
Name: Steelbane
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: The Last Knight
Year of Release: 2017
Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 2)
Mold Status: new
DRAGON MODE:
Steelbane transforms into a dragon with wings attached to his forelegs.
At first glance, this mode looks good but once you pick it up or even just see it in person, it is a huge mess that doesn't hold together well.
The torso is gappy with the robot sword only helping somewhat to cover the gap.
The head is on an angled balljoint so it still has a decent range of articulation. The mouth can open and close and impressively, the tongue inside is painted red.
In terms of size, above is a comparison against Age of Extinction Scorn, Steelbane is a lot more hollow and flimsy in comparison, unfortunately.
The head and tail is formed by the robot legs so they have plenty of joints, just that like the rest of the figure, the loose joints let it down. The robot feet visible on the neck and tail is forgivable given the transformation scheme...
He is somewhat poseability, your biggest enemy is the loose joints. It is also somewhat unforgivable the various hollow gaps in the limbs. Part of the wings are also soft plastic which is prone to warping straight out of the package.
Steelbane's dragon mode is all looks and no substance, and even then, it doesn't look too great at a more than cursory glance.
TRANSFORMATION:
There are some interesting steps such as how the robot legs split apart and rotate to form the dragon's neck and tail. The loose joints and inability for any piece to lock together make the transformation a floppy mess. It's disappointing that the designer did not add in simple tabs or clips to hold some of the pieces together since inadvertently, while moving one piece you will move another piece that you didn't want to.
ROBOT MODE:
Steelbane's robot mode carries on the knight motif that started with Age of Extinction and it looks great here, but like all the other robot designs from the movie, it is moving to being much more organic rather than mechanical.
His biggest piece of kibble are the wings on his back but they are adjustable.
The headsculpt is great and one of the most heroic ones we've had in a while.
Size-wise, he is a little bit shorter than your standard Deluxe, not helped by the light weight of the figure.
Steelbane suffers from loose joints here as much as dragon mode, made worse by some bits having joints that are too tight like his ankles, which make him hard to balance.
The torso also does not like to stay in place, preferring to slide back up for transformation. It looked like the wing assembly and the torso were designed to clip together but in actuality, they don't.
He comes with a sword that has a lot of rune-type sculpting.
The wrists have swivels which is perfect for the sword-wielding bot. He lacks heelspurs which is a huge negative since he keels over backwards easily.
The wings can be spread to however you like to make him more formidable. The shoulderpads are much more versatile than expected. There's plenty of paint applications but just in the ugly green-ish color, this figure would be excellent if it was painted silver or cast in black plastic.
A robot mode that's like the dragon mode, it looks great but becomes a mess once you pick it up.
OVERALL:
Steelbane in theory isn't too bad. Unfortunately, the figure itself is hampered by terrible quality assurance resulting in many loose joints causing it to become a floppy unstable mess. The usage of soft plastic for the wings and part of the torso really hurts. All in all, if you can find him really cheap, then he is worth purchasing, otherwise, best to leave him at full price.
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