Toy Review: Transformers Age of the Primes Onyx Prime (Leader)

Review:  #892

Name:  Onyx Prime

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  Age of the Primes

Year of Release:  2025

Size Class:  Leader (Wave 2)

Mold Status:  new

BEAST MODE (QUADRUPEDAL):

Onyx Prime, one of the original Thirteen Primes, has a mechanical beast mode.  He actually had multiple beast modes, the first of which is a quadrupedal.

He has a bronze color scheme, which is okay... depends if you like this color or not, but it does give the figure an older rustier look to it.

Since he's a Leader classed figure, he is heftier than a Voyager, and many of his limbs are chunky.  He may not be that much bigger than a Voyager like his price point suggests, but he is larger and more complicated.

The head sculpt is decent, and the mouth can open and close.

Articulation is limited in this mode, while his limbs doubles as the robot arms, they're jointed in a way that it doesn't work too well in beast mode.

The robot weapon can peg onto his back but the peg is not great, so it's not as secure as you would like.  One of this acts as the tail.

A beast mode that's good to look at, but can't really handle play.

TRANSFORMATION (TO SIX-LEGGED MODE):

It's really simple to get Onyx Prime into the next mode, as you need to fold the front legs forward, while unwinding the second pair of hooved legs onto the side.  Everything else stays the same.

BEAST MODE (SIX-LEGGED):

Onyx Prime's second beast mode is a six-legged thing.

He's super similar to the quadrupedal beast mode, just that you can see his front legs are now jointed right underneath the head, to create space for the second pair of legs, which are hooved.

He doesn't gain any height or width, as it is literally just an extra pair of legs.  His articulation is even more limited in this mode as a result.

This is an extra option that doesn't compromise the figure at all, so even though it's 90% the same as the other mode, it's a nice addition.

TRANSFORMATION (TO CENTAUR):

The rear to pairs of legs basically stays there, but you lift up the front section so that it creates an upright torso.  This is also where you realise that the wings are two big pieces of big plastic that's jointed at the back.  It's actually quite impressive.  Otherwise, you fold the beast mode back, get the robot mode head out, and rearrange the front pair of legs into the arms.

CENTAUR MODE:

This is a super unique mode, and admit it, it was pretty cool and unexpected to see this mode when the figure was first revealed.

This mode is like halfway step to his robot mode, so it's actually fairly clean, the only real kibble is the dragon mode's head hanging off his back.

The other really cool thing is his head in this mode, it's like this demonic / beastly head that looks ferocious.

He actually gains quite a bit of height in this mode, and his wingspan gives him an impressive presence.

Although he's not as bulky as you'd expect.  Look from the side and you can see the wings are attached via a "stem", basically a thinner piece of plastic.  His front hooved legs are also hollow, and as he is so "spread out", he feels lighter than he should.

He has plenty of articulation though, basically the same as his robot mode, so full movement of his head and legs.  Although given his quadrupedal nature, there's more to consider when posing him.

He comes with a weapon that's a combination of his tail (unfolded), and his spear.  Together, they form a bow and arrow weapon.

Onyx Prime can hold it in his open hands, via a tab and corresponding slow inside his fingers.  He has open hands, and this makes it feel like he doesn't hold his weapon properly, even though the tabs security do hold it together.

It's rare that we get such a unique mode, and this is the perfect combination of a creature that's a mix between human, beast, and mechanical.

Even though the transformation is a bit boring, it's makes up for it with its commanding presence.

TRANSFORMATION (TO ROBOT MODE):

You just need to straighten the lower body so that you get the upper and lower torsos aligned.  Straighten the rear legs for the robot legs.  Fold the hooves back over his shoulders, and then pop the face mask for the head up to reveal the robot face.

ROBOT MODE:

After the stunning centaur mode, the robot mode can feel quite normal and underwhelming.

It's not bad, and you can see how much it resembles the other modes.  He still has the huge wingspan that's the defining feature of this toy.

It's amazing at such a difference it makes when you flip up the mask to reveal the robot head, it's not as evil looking anymore.

He is tall and big in this mode, but as mentioned earlier, thanks to some hollow parts, and how "big" he is relatively to the amount of plastic used, he doesn't feel premium or hefty for his size.

Articulation is great, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrist, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

His main weapon is a spear.

He holds the spear the same way as the bow and arrow weapon from before, via a tab that you peg into his open hand.  The same issue occurs in that he doesn't appear to be properly holding onto it.

The bow is still available here, which you can peg into his other hand.

The figure is plagued with quality control issues though, so you'll have to strike it lucky to get a figure completely free from loose joints, or pieces that pop out at the slightest touch.

There's nothing inherently bad with the robot mode, just that as what is usually the centrepiece of most figures, he's not really that stunning.

OVERALL:

Onyx Prime has a lot of potential, and his centaur mode comes close.  However, the figure overall feels under-engineered.  There's a distinct feel that the designer had a lack of interest and tried to get it out of the way as quickly and lazily as possible.  You can't feel any passion that was put into this figure.  As a result, while he's not bad, he feels underwhelming and generic in most modes, only the centaur mode makes him worth getting, but even then, you might have to think twice.

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Hideboh Tap Dance Hero (Vita)

Hidenboh Tap Dance Hero is a rhythm game for the Vita and was only released in Japan. There was no English translation, so everything is in Japanese, but given it is a rhythm game, it isn’t too hard to figure out the menus. There is a story mode, and you can use something like Google Lens to get an idea of what it is about, since it’s told in a visual novel format.

It has a shortish story mode where Stan is hoping to become great at tap dancing. A fictional version of Hideboh (given that Hideboh is a real person that the game was based upon) appears, and along with Airi and a robot, they form a trio group, learning tap dancing and facing off against others, ultimately performing in a competition. It is a simple story and one that’s frankly not that interesting, but it introduces the game to the player and gives it some sense of purpose.

The rhythm game aspect is decent, considering all the inputs are regulated to the touch screen. As far as button prompts go, it is quite simple, with only two styles, tapping the screen, and sliding your finger against the screen. Weirdly enough, the prompt for tapping has three different styles, but then again, there’s only so much variety it can give you using touch screen only.

Given that it is exclusively using the touch screen, it is somewhat lenient in its timing and the rating it gives you for successfully completing the prompt. This is good because the lack of tactility doesn’t give you much to go off if you’ve succeeded or not. Furthermore, your fingers are constantly covering up the screen so in faster songs, it will obscure the next prompt.

The story mode only takes about five or six hours to complete. A lot of those hours are visual novel scenes. The rest are short sections, they’re short because due to aligning it with the story, it represents Hideboh teaching sections of the songs to the characters. Thus, you’re learning a song that’s split into three parts, before you then play the whole song together. This makes it easy to lose interest.

The story ends up being very mediocre in the end as there is a lot of fluff to drag it out, However, the difficulty does get harder towards the final few chapters, and this is where the flaw of the game comes in. By being purely touchscreen, it is too easy to obscure notes and can be hard to tell where the new ones start, especially on the faster beat maps. The result is that there are times when you’re not able to see when a drag prompt ends and the next one starts. Compounding this issue is the lack of tactile feedback from taps.

Once you’ve finished the story mode, the only content left is Arcade mode. Story mode only touches upon roughly half of the songs on offer, and Arcade mode is where you get to play the rest. There is a total of 30 songs across three difficulties, which is a decent amount of selection. Only the songs from the story mode will have the characters dancing in the background, whereas the other half have generic backgrounds. While the same issues persist, such as needing to memorize the beat maps as they are nearly impossible to reach fresh without having already played it, at its best, the beat maps do correspond in time with the music and is a lot of fun.

Overall, Hideboh Tap Dance Hero has an interesting concept and is initially fun. However, it’s a bit too generic in its story and its gameplay. Basically, the only actions are tapping and swiping. Even though there are something like five different types of button prompts, four of them are still just tapping at the right moment. You can’t help but feel that this game was developed in the height of the touchscreen craze and the gameplay suffers from it, lending to some higher difficulty if you’re into testing your skills.

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Toy Review: Transformers Generations Studio Series Starscream (One) (Deluxe)

Review:  #891

Name:  Starscream

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Generations - Studio Series

Year of Release:  2025

Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 29)

Mold Status:  new

JET MODE:

Based upon his appearance in the Transformers One movie, Starscream transforms into a Cybertronian jet, that has some resemblance to the War for Cybertron / Fall of Cybertron games.

The jet is okay, despite being a tetrajet (meaning that there is some bulk above the wings), there is a still a huge amount of undercarriage kibble, and the back looks messy.

Also despite being a jet, he isn't as big as you'd think he would be.

The robot weapon, a gun, stores underneath the cockpit / fuselage.

He had the potential to look a bit bland, but the beige works well enough with the red, although a bit more blue wouldn't go astray.

It's a decent enough jet mode from mode angles, just that it's a bit bulky underneath.

TRANSFORMATION:

He has a forgettable transformation scheme.  The back are the legs, and the arms are underneath the wings.  So he transforms similar to a lot of previous Starscream toys.  The cockpit folds down and this is probably the most important part as the cockpit tip folds into his torso, and you reangle the air intakes on either side.

ROBOT MODE:

Starscream's robot mode is quite slim looking, and almost lanky.

He had some kibble on his back, but not too much.

The head sculpt is okay.  An issue with a lot of the Transformers One toys are that their head sculpts are very neutral and robotic, whereas in the film, they're a lot more expressive.

He's tall, but lanky, in this mode.

Articulation is okay, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles.

He comes with a pair of guns.

They're both molded awkwardly, either the barrel is not big enough, or that it's abnormally tall for a gun.

Both guns can store at the same time on his back.

It feels like he's on high heels given how his feet are designed.  He also has a pair of nullrays on his shoulders that uses 5mm pegs to stay on.  The guns can combine into a bigger gun too, but that looks pretty awkward.

He also lacks much flatter than the movie, but using shiny paint would have blown the budget on this figure.

It's still a good robot mode, albeit the generic feeling can be strong.

OVERALL:

Starscream is a solid figure.  He's not amazing but he's not bad.  He doesn't do anything that will particularly surprise or amaze you.  He does his best to represent the character model from the One movie and that's it.  Considering some of the power he displayed in the movie, this figure can feel like it doesn't have enough bulk.

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