Review #34: Classics Warpath (Deluxe & Legends)
Tall & Small Month #3!
Today, we're looking at a somewhat unique character. Usually, any Transformers who turn into militaristic vehicles are Decepticons. (Yes, yes, Hound was an Army Jeep... but I'm talking fighting vehicles, here. Like... say... tanks!) And usually, any Transformer with an overly belligerent name... like something that would have the word, "war," in it? Yup, you guessed it. Decepticon! But here, we have the exception to the rule. This guy's a tank. He loves fighting. He can be violent. Yet he is also down to his core an Autobot, and is happiest blasting Decepticon scum out of the sky.
He is Warpath. |
The first of these two figures to be released was the Legends scale one in 2008 in the Universe toyline. While usually one thinks of tanks as big things, the Legends scale seemed apropriate as in the G1 days, Warpath was a mini-vehicle. His tank mode here was okay, if not beautiful. The body of the tank is, if a bit gappy, fine. The treads, however, are a very unpleasent example of the "h-tank" design (as also mentioned in this month's Megatron review) which I often see as a toy designer being lazy in not finding a way for the arms and legs to connect together into a single tread on each side. Legends Warpath features articulation on his turret, where the tank's barrel can be raised upwards.
The Deluxe figure came out a few years later in 2011, in the Generations toyline. He is also an h-tank, but of a less obnoxious design. He's actually pretty decent looking. Color-wise, he's also a deeper, richer looking red then his smaller counterpart was. He also features better articulation as not only is his barrel capable of being raised (although, admitedly, to a slightly lesser degree then the Legends figure) but the turret can also be rotated 360 degrees.
Although Deluxe Warpath doesn't come with any 3mm clip weapons of his own, he does have four attachment points for them on his vehicle mode, one atop each of the treads. His original deco featured a few nods to his character's unique speach patterns with the lettering on the sides of the front treads: "K4-90W" ("kapow!") and "Z0W-333" ("zoweee!"). These were both covered up by the stcikers that Reprolabels released for this guy, however.
In place of that lettering are stickers with some nice artwork reminiscent of WWII style artwork. On one side is a cute little tank zooming along followed by a cloud of dust and the words, "On the path to war..." On the other side is some pin-up style artwork of Arcee sitting side-saddle atop a tank barrel, and the word, "KA-BLAM!" Also supplied by Reprolabels was an Autobot symbol on the top of the turret and some markings on each side of the front of the turret that indicate how many Decepticons Warpath has tended to.
The Deluxe figure came out a few years later in 2011, in the Generations toyline. He is also an h-tank, but of a less obnoxious design. He's actually pretty decent looking. Color-wise, he's also a deeper, richer looking red then his smaller counterpart was. He also features better articulation as not only is his barrel capable of being raised (although, admitedly, to a slightly lesser degree then the Legends figure) but the turret can also be rotated 360 degrees.
Although Deluxe Warpath doesn't come with any 3mm clip weapons of his own, he does have four attachment points for them on his vehicle mode, one atop each of the treads. His original deco featured a few nods to his character's unique speach patterns with the lettering on the sides of the front treads: "K4-90W" ("kapow!") and "Z0W-333" ("zoweee!"). These were both covered up by the stcikers that Reprolabels released for this guy, however.
In place of that lettering are stickers with some nice artwork reminiscent of WWII style artwork. On one side is a cute little tank zooming along followed by a cloud of dust and the words, "On the path to war..." On the other side is some pin-up style artwork of Arcee sitting side-saddle atop a tank barrel, and the word, "KA-BLAM!" Also supplied by Reprolabels was an Autobot symbol on the top of the turret and some markings on each side of the front of the turret that indicate how many Decepticons Warpath has tended to.
Moving on now to Robot mode...
Legends Warpath makes for a cool little robot. He has Warpath's look down decently, from a nice head sculpt to the character's distinctive turret chest. He has decent articulation for a Legends Class figure, with ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and ball jointed hips. The knees have a hinge in them as well, but because of how the leg transforms they only bend ever so slightly in the proper direction. The Deluxe figure looks even better, featuring the same design highlights mentioned above concerning the head and chest, and adding to that some very nice feet made from tank treads that are nicee and wide, making for some exceptionally stable standing ability. He features for articulation a swivel in his neck, shoulders that rotate 360 degrees and also can raise outward 90 degrees on a seperate joint, an above-elbow swivel, bending elbows, ball jointed hips, an above-knee swivel, and bending knees. |
He features a few shoulder mounted weapons, folded in from their vehicle-mounted positions on the sides of the turret. On one side is a little four-barreled gun battery, on the other side is a spring loaded firing missile. The missile originally extended through the back of it's launcher to an absurd length, since I have no children whose throats I can irresponsibly fire the missile down, I have clipped it down to a more aesthetically pleasing length.
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Deluxe Warpath came with no seperate weapons that he could hold, but his hands do feature rather standard 5mm peg holes, so if you wish him to have something he could make due borrowing many other guy's weapons. Alternatively, if you have a 3mm clip-on weapon you want him to feature, two of the atachment points I mentioned were on his vehicle mode end up on his robot mode one each on top of his forarms. (The others are on the front of his legs, and theoretically something could be mounted there as well, but it would likely be an awkward atachment point to utilize in his robot mode.)
In addition to the stickers mentioned in his vehicle mode (all of which are still nicely visable in his robot mode) Reprolabels also adds a bit of chrome detailing to his robot mode. There's one chrome sticker on the inside of each forarm, and a third one on the center of his belly.
In addition to the stickers mentioned in his vehicle mode (all of which are still nicely visable in his robot mode) Reprolabels also adds a bit of chrome detailing to his robot mode. There's one chrome sticker on the inside of each forarm, and a third one on the center of his belly.
Maxwell Smart smugly looks down upon Warpath and Warpath from his DVD case in this size comparison photo.
So, how do these two figures do? Both are decent representations of Warpath. They both have nice robot modes, especially the Deluxe, but even the Legends Class one is a nice figure for his scale. As far as the vehicle modes go, I do have my previously mentioned bias against "H-tanks" type tanks, but even though he is one the Deluxe figure here manages to pull it off as well as you can. The Legends one? Not so much. His "H"-like treads are almost obnoxiously so, and although his tank mode looks pretty good aside from that detail, with the treads the whole thing seems to visually fall apart. The Deluxe figure is highly recomended. The Legends one... recomended if you can find him for a decent price, especially if you feel you're more likely to display him as a robot. But don't go too crazy looking for him. He's okay, not a bad figure by any means, but not quite the home run (even adjusting expectations for scale) that his larger version is. Review added 12 August 2012 by Yotsuya. Please comment! |