Review #70: Takara Legends* Arcee
* "Legends," in this case, refers not to a size class, but is the name of a Japanese toy line.
The fans thought it would never happen... For almost thirty years, Hasbro had teased us with a few token repaints of random other characters, and even given us a half-way decent version of her in a different continuity. But a proper toy of G1 Arcee? Yeah, that'll be a cold day in hell...
Well, Satin must be driving a snowmobile to work, because guess what happened? Hasbro made a Deluxe class Arcee in the Generations line. The fandom rejoiced! But to me... well, I hate to be that guy, but I guess it just wasn't good enough. The mold was great, yeah. But the coloring... well, it looked a bit off. Mainly, there was a heck of a lot of black on her that seemed out of place to me. Fortunately, Takara came to the rescue!
Now normally, even if Takara's deco on a figure is better, the price difference is enough to make me be satisfied with the domestic version of the toy. After all, about $16.00 sounds a heck of a lot better than about $30.00! But, darn it, an actual, honest to goodness official transforming G1-based Arcee toy was almost like a Holy Grail for my collection, and I was going to have the best looking one I could get!
So then, shall we take a look at her and see if she was worth it?
Well, Satin must be driving a snowmobile to work, because guess what happened? Hasbro made a Deluxe class Arcee in the Generations line. The fandom rejoiced! But to me... well, I hate to be that guy, but I guess it just wasn't good enough. The mold was great, yeah. But the coloring... well, it looked a bit off. Mainly, there was a heck of a lot of black on her that seemed out of place to me. Fortunately, Takara came to the rescue!
Now normally, even if Takara's deco on a figure is better, the price difference is enough to make me be satisfied with the domestic version of the toy. After all, about $16.00 sounds a heck of a lot better than about $30.00! But, darn it, an actual, honest to goodness official transforming G1-based Arcee toy was almost like a Holy Grail for my collection, and I was going to have the best looking one I could get!
So then, shall we take a look at her and see if she was worth it?
Arcee rolls along nicely on for thin wheels. For accessories, she has four weapons: a large pink gun, a small grey gun, and two identical clear blue swords. If you want to arm up your Arcee in vehicle mode, you can do so by plugging the guns into holes in her trunk, and the swords into identical holes on her rear fenders. If you want an Arcee with a less cluttered vehicle mode and you don't mind setting the swords aside, you can still find storage for her guns in her undercarriage. (Although they will still stay in place thanks to friction in her tight joints, storing the grey gun underneath has the advantage of also giving her arms something to peg into in vehicle mode.)
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Vehicle mode, in case you didn't guess, has a rating of awesome! Shall we see if this continues into robot mode?
Well, I don't need a Magic 8-Ball to know that signs point to yes! Again, I feel like Arcee jumped right off of the television screen and into my toy collection.
Some may complain that she has a bit of a backpack... if by a bit you mean that she has the majority of her vehicle mode just hanging off of her back. And yes, this is true. The parts that rise up over her shoulders, however, is an accurate part of her character design. And as for the rest of it? A., it really isn't too noticeable when you're not looking at her from behind, and b., well, it has to go somewhere! And Arcee has a very slender and non-kibble filled character design. There really isn't anywhere other then on her back for the parts not used in her robot mode to go! Personally, I am fine with how she was designed.
Some may complain that she has a bit of a backpack... if by a bit you mean that she has the majority of her vehicle mode just hanging off of her back. And yes, this is true. The parts that rise up over her shoulders, however, is an accurate part of her character design. And as for the rest of it? A., it really isn't too noticeable when you're not looking at her from behind, and b., well, it has to go somewhere! And Arcee has a very slender and non-kibble filled character design. There really isn't anywhere other then on her back for the parts not used in her robot mode to go! Personally, I am fine with how she was designed.
She has good articulation. Her head is on a ball joint, and can turn left or right, look up or down, and even wiggle side-to-side ever so slightly. The shoulders are also on ball joints, and can spin freely forwards or backwards as much as the backpack will allow. They can also be raised up to the side at a bit more than a 45 degree angle. Thee is an upper arm swivel, and elbows that give you a nice deep bend on a soft ratcheting joint. There are no wrist swivels, which is always a slight disappointment on a figure that comes with swords, but honestly not too much of a surprise given her slender frame. Another joint that is nice to have but is missing on Arcee is a waist joint, but in this case that would have been impossible to include due to how this figure transforms. Her hips are on ball joints and can move forward or backwards quite nicely. On the surface, it may seem that they cannot move outwards terribly well, having clearance troubles in doing so. But if you pull the leg away from her body slightly along the collapsing transformation joints in her hips, it will free up her hip movement nicely without taking too much away from her appearance. There is a swivel just above her knees. Her knees provide a nicely deep bending joint, and finally, her ankles can bend forward or backwards. All of her joints are nice and tight.
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She can use her four weapons in a variety of different ways. The obvious one would be to hold them in her hands. There is also a hole you can tab her weapons into on the outsides of her forearms or on her hips. Finally, there are holes in the protrusions over her shoulders that you can plug her guns into to emulate shoulder mounted weaponry.
At this point, I should talk about the hands a bit... You may notice in the above photos that when she is holding something in them, whatever she is holding does not peg in very far. In the Hasbro version of this toy, there have been two confirmed variants: a closed fisted version where you can fit her weapons all of the way in, and an open fisted version with an extra bit of reinforcing plasitc in the palm that unfortunately prevents you from pushing things all of the way into them. And, alas, it seems Takara used the open fisted version of the mold for their Arcee. Obviously, the weapons fit in far enough where she can hold them, but they do look a wee bit awkward. I do wish that Takara has used the closed fisted version... but I'll take the open fists if that is what was necessary to get this better coloring of the figure.
Speaking of the coloring, just to give you a better idea of the domestic alternanitive, I scowered the web for a few pics of that version to show you. The best ones I could find come courtesy of David Willis of Shortpacked! and Dumbing of Age fame. (To see more of his photos and read his own review of the figure, you can click here.)
Speaking of the coloring, just to give you a better idea of the domestic alternanitive, I scowered the web for a few pics of that version to show you. The best ones I could find come courtesy of David Willis of Shortpacked! and Dumbing of Age fame. (To see more of his photos and read his own review of the figure, you can click here.)
Looks like Willis ended up with the open fisted version even on the domestic release!
If this coloring had been the only option, I'd have gotten it and I'd have learned to like it... But really, all of the black on her just does not at all say "Arcee" to me! I was very happy to have had the Takara alternative. I will say this for the domestic version: I like the coloring on the guns better. But if I had to choose between better coloring on the guns and better coloring on Arcee herself... Well, given which version of the toy I am reviewing, it is obvious which choice I would (and indeed, did) go with!
Now for something I don't do very often: a few comparison photos with other figures. First up: the "placeholder version" of Arcee that I reviewed previously, made from a modified version of Transformers Animated Arcee.
If this coloring had been the only option, I'd have gotten it and I'd have learned to like it... But really, all of the black on her just does not at all say "Arcee" to me! I was very happy to have had the Takara alternative. I will say this for the domestic version: I like the coloring on the guns better. But if I had to choose between better coloring on the guns and better coloring on Arcee herself... Well, given which version of the toy I am reviewing, it is obvious which choice I would (and indeed, did) go with!
Now for something I don't do very often: a few comparison photos with other figures. First up: the "placeholder version" of Arcee that I reviewed previously, made from a modified version of Transformers Animated Arcee.
My old Arcee was a fine placeholder indeed, and I will always have fond memories of her in my collection. But frankly, I have no regrets about replacing her! The new version is most definitely an improvement.
The other figure I thought I'd show her with? Well, Arcee is but one of three female Autobots to get figures released in recent memory. One of them, Chromia, I don't have much interest in getting. (Not that I'd turn my nose up at her if, say, I came across her on clearance somewhere.) But the other one? Well, obviously Windblade was the subject of my last review. Let us see how this pair of Autobot ladies look together!
The other figure I thought I'd show her with? Well, Arcee is but one of three female Autobots to get figures released in recent memory. One of them, Chromia, I don't have much interest in getting. (Not that I'd turn my nose up at her if, say, I came across her on clearance somewhere.) But the other one? Well, obviously Windblade was the subject of my last review. Let us see how this pair of Autobot ladies look together!
Now don't worry! Obviously, they are on the same side, so they are only sparring in that second photo! This pair does look good together.
To the right, a photo of Arcee with a standard sized DVD case to provide a sense of scale.
So, bottom line? This is a great figure of a character long overdue. If you call yourself a Transformers collector, you need to own at least some version of her. Myself? The Takara deco looks a heck of a lot better to me, and if you have the means you should import one. If you happen to be on a budget, or if the black on the domestic version doesn't bother you as it bothered me... well, then, save yourself some money and you will still get yourself a fine figure with the Hasbro release of the mold. (And you may end up with better hands, to boot!) But either way... get yourself an Arcee! Review added 11 March 2015 by Yotsuya. Comments are welcomed! |