So I bought Legion Class Arcee and Ratchet on Wednesday. Legion Class toys are the smaller price point in the Cyberverse arena of Transformers toys. They’re tiny and very simple and there are playsets for them. And I got an Arcee because I was wondering about her scale and I got a Ratchet because I’m weak and I like Ratchet.
Arcee’s a motorcycle on the show, but she’s a Deluxe Class toy the same as the cars and planes, so of course her scale’s a bit wonky. And so I picked up Tiny Arcee to see how she’d compare to the other toys. Maybe she’d be a better Arcee than my admittedly awesome Deluxe Class version! And, as expected, she’s a way better scale versus the cars in vehicle mode, but about half as short as her cartoon’s robot mode. See, in the show, she grows between modes. A lot. Very much a lot. Her motorcycle mode’s as large as her shin. It’s kind of annoying.
Which, as it turns out, puts her Legion motorcycle at perfect television scale with her Deluxe robot. Huh.
Her transformation is pretty sweet for such a small toy. It reminds me a lot of Animated Prowl in its elegance. And like Animated Prowl, one wheel ends on one leg and one wheel on the other, with the arms pointing out the rear of the motorcycle and motorcycle kibble ending up as wings on her back. It’s fun to do and she fits in your pocket.
Ratchet is way more pedestrian. The back becomes legs and the sides pull out to be arms. He’s basically a Micromaster.
Both Ratchet and Arcee come with rubbery translucent pink weapons. These weapons are covered in pegs and pegholes so that you can combine them in various ways, and the toys themselves have multiple pegholes. In theory, if I had more than just these two Cyberverse toys, I could combine my pile of weapons into a superweapon, or many superweapons, or just load up one toy with all of them.
so how does mini-Arcee compare with the other Autobot deluxes (and voyagers)?
how tall is she in robot mode and long in alt mode? (you did mention scale, now I’m wondering too)
Her bike mode is pretty much in scale with Deluxe cars. I picked her up to put next to the cars when I have them in that mode, and If they’re in robot mode I use the deluxe.
I’ve been out of the loop on Transformers for a while, but I caught the Transformers Prime miniseries in the UK and got suckered in by the fact that Jeffrey Combs was voicing Ratchet.
I haven’t bought any action figures since I was a kid, but I’ve been toying with the idea for years of getting some and doing the odd little diorama / display to supplement the LEGO Star Wars things people keep buying me at Christmas.
Long story short, I’d be interested in hearing about the scaling of mini-Arcee versus the other Autobots in robot mode too. Plus, you mentioned figures of the humans as well – (Miko instantly made me think of Robin as well!) – how do they scale up with the Deluxe and/or Legion figures… or are they massively overscaled for that sort of thing?
The humans are too tall to be in scale with the Deluxe toys. Jack’s a head too tall to be in scale with Arcee, and way too tall to be in scale with anybody else.
Legion Arcee’s motorcycle mode is close to being in scale with the humans, but is a smidge too small.
Due too my constant need to catch up with IDW TF comics these Cyberverse are all im getting and from what ive seen so far they dont appear to disappoint
I’ve constantly wondered about Arcee’s transformation-growth. I’m pretty sure the others do it too, but it’s easier to see a semi-truck hiding the components needed to become a towering Optimus Prime than it is to see an approximately human sized motorcycle become the very tall Arcee.
Of course, seeing these toys makes me wonder when the stores near me will get any Transformers: Prime toys. My oldest son is going to be asking for Arcee when they do.
Tonight we got out without the boys and actually found the Transformers: Prime toys in 2 stores (Toys R Us and Target). The Cyberverse ones seem so tiny and fragile, though. I know that the simple transformation should make it easier for my younger kids, but they look like limbs might snap off if you don’t hold it extra-careful. Maybe I’ll wait for a deluxe Prime Arcee to get in stock. (My oldest loves Arcee. Her and Wheeljack.)
I’m pretty sure you’d have to be the Incredible Hulk to tear a Transformers toy. For decades, Transformers have been built to withstand pretty much anything. Limbs aren’t designed to be unbreakable, but they are designed to be able to pop off and reattach, which subverts the possibility of breakage to begin with. This is done for safety reasons, because if something snaps off like a shard, that can do some nasty things to a kid’s throat on the way down the esophagus.
Long story short, no, these toys aren’t fragile.
Those are lookin’ nice! I’ve been wanting to cut my Transformer buying down, and I was hoping those little ones would be able to wet my thirst for ‘em while being cheaper. The thing that took my attention first were the weapons; sounds like they’re a lot like the Energon weapons that drew me into that toyline back then (heck, Energon were the first TFs I had bought since Beast Wars). I’m a sucker for translucent weapons, and the ability to combine them just makes it better.
So, not entirely related (more like distant cousin twice removed from the topic) but it is about a very cool transformer, so I thought you would appreciate it.
http://m.kotaku.com/5882515/the-nes-zapper-becomes-a-transformer-a-bright-orange-megatron
My good friend’s (Mike Lombardo) good friend (‘Baron’ Julius von Brunk) created a lego Nintendo gun that is a transformerr. BOOM, fandoms collide. Thought you might like it.
My (very modest) collection includes a 3 1/2 inch Cyberverse Ironhide that’s as detailed and complex as any fullsize Transformer I had as a kid. Being childishly pedantic, after reading the “Scale” article on tfwiki I like to face him off against a Deluxe Decepticon jet.
Rereading this post, it occurs to me that I care way less about scale in the toys than I do in the fiction. (Probably a combination of the fact I care about the fiction way more, and the fact that I grew up with G1, where the concept of ‘scale’ was laughed at in a way that makes Arcee’s size changing look like a trick of the light.)
It amuses me that Bumblebee’s car mode is bigger than Starscream’s jet mode, and smaller than Arcee’s motorcycle mode, but…