Transformers Review: Victory Saber (Robot Master)

Intro:

            Finally, we’ve come to the review that we’ve been waiting for – the legendary Victory Saber. This was the main reason why I wanted to get this set so badly.

            When the odds are stacked too much for Star Saber to handle alone, thanks to the genius mind of Perceptor, Star Saber can call upon his good friend, Victory Leo, and combine with him to form an immensely powerful super robot called Victory Saber.

 

Alternate Mode:

            Both Star Saber and Victory Leo can combine together in their respective alternate modes and form a larger and more powerful aircraft mode.

            I have to admit, the combined mode looks kinda funny, but since that was how it was accurately shown in the cartoon series, then I guess it’s alright.

            In this mode, kibbles are in abundance – especially with the exposed lion head and legs at the back.

            Victory Leo’s humongous blaster can be wielded in this mode as the spacecraft’s primary weapon.

Robot Mode:

            Again, I can almost hear Transformers: Victory theme song playing in my head as I combine both Victory Leo and Star Saber to for Victory Saber.

            The combined mode looks pretty damn good!

            You know how the old saying goes: karma’s a … err… well, you know what I mean… (I’m trying to keep it PG rated here), in the same essence how Victory Leo, in his old form – Super Ginrai, utilized God Bomber as an upgrade armor, Victory Leo get the exact same treatment from Star Saber, although against the conscience of the Autobots Supreme Leader.

            In this mode, the main body of Victory Leo splits into 2 to form the feet for Victory Leo, adding about 2-inches to its overall height, with the wings and arms acting as the jetpack.

            In terms of articulations, Victory Saber retains all of Star Saber’s articulations; but in terms of look, he looks way wicked and cool! I can almost imagine the Decepticons trembling and Victory Saber approaches the battleground.

Overall:

            I like this combined mode. It’s a bit too simple and easy for me, but since this was how it was depicted in the animated series, then I guess I’m okay with it.

            For those who love the character so much, but can’t afford the actual G1 figures themselves, then I guess this is a must-have for you.

            Highly recommended.

            Final verdict: 9.5/10.

 

Transformers Review: Victory Leo (Robot Master)

Intro:

            Victory Leo is the ultimate example of how the mighty have fallen – depending on how you look at it, and which version of his origin stories that you refer to.

            Based on the mainstream continuity, Victory Leo was formerly known as God Ginrai, the Autobot leader that hugely resembled the legendary leader Optimus Prime. While coming to aid of Star Saber in his fight against Deathsaurus, God Ginrai was struck by a blast from the Decepticon’s Emperor of Destruction’s Living-Metal-Destroying Cannon, his physical body was left useless and immobile, and through the brilliance of Perceptor, with the assistance of Minerva and Wheeljack, God Ginrai was given a new body, and rechristened Victory Leo.

            In this new body, Victory Leo was more powerful, and was able to become a power up for Star Saber, in the same vein of how Super Ginrai would power up by using God Bomber.

            The unfortunate side-effect was that Victory Leo became mentally unstable and was easily consumed by his wild instinct as a lion, and frequently running amuck, succumbing to his feral nature.

            He would eventually learn to control his tendencies, eventually assisting Star Saber in defeating the Decepticon forces.

            Victory Leo is sold as a twin-pack, together with Star Saber. So, without further ado, let’s proceed to the review.

Alternate Mode:

            Victory Leo transforms into a predominantly yellow-colored Lion.

            In this mode, he has a pair of huge wings, that supposedly grants him the ability flights, and he is heavily armed.

            In this mode, Leo doesn’t do much. His articulations are quite limited. The shoulders rotate and the elbows bend. The back feet rotate on its axis, and those are practically it.

            One huge drawback of this mode is that, due to the designs of the lower half of the robot, the back legs cannot really stay and lock in together, as depicted in the photo. I just wish that there is some sort of a locking mechanism.

            Overall, he still looks very screen accurate.

Robot Mode:

            In his robot mode, Victory Leo is slightly shorter than Star Saber – about 1cm shorter, kinda like Star Saber’s little brother.

            His head sculpt is okay, but expressionless, with the lion fangs now acting as Leo’s horns.

            Articulation-wise: the shoulders rotate and the elbows bend; the hips swing outward and that’s all.

            Practically, for all intents and purposes, he is a brick. His only saving grace is that he looks good.

Overall:

            Individually, on his own, you probably won’t buy him. Yes, he did play an important role in the original series, but he only appeared in the second half of the series, and on his own, he doesn’t have that much of a play value to him.

            He is only worth it if you already have Star Saber with you, and since this is a two-pack, you won’t have to worry about that.

            Final verdict: 6.5/10.

 

Transformers Review: Star Saber (Robot Master)

Intro:

            In the original G1 continuity, the Supreme Leaders of the Autobots are often characterized as holders of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership a.k.a. Creation Matrix. But ever since the Japanese created their own definition of G1, that concept was eventually abandoned, beginning with Fortress Maximus in the Headmaster series. Although Rodimus Prime was also one of the Supreme Leaders of the Autobot, there was no mention of the Matrix at all, and that trend continued with the subsequent leaders in subsequent series.

            In Victory, we were introduced to another new Supreme Leader of the Autobots – Star Saber. He was depicted as being close friends with God Ginrai – another one of the Autobots’ leaders

            Star Saber was also described as having known Deathsaurus for a long time – since childhood even.

            Star Saber is a Brainmaster – with the smaller robot that was supposed to reside in the chest of the bigger robot, and subsequently forming its face. There is no specific name for the human-sized robot. Star Saber’s smaller robot is called “Brain of Courage”.

            I have been wanting to have the original G1 Star Saber for a long time, and has been on my most-wanted list for quite some time, but since it’s way too expensive for my current budget, I could at least settle for this.

            A shout-out to fellow collector Farid, for selling to me this twin-pack Star Saber/ Victory Leo set to me, which I once showcased in the Transformers 30^th Anniversary Expo in Genting Highlands.

            This review will be divided into 3-parter: each for Star Saber, Victory Leo and the Victory Saber combined mode.

            This entry will obviously focused on Star Saber.

Alternate Mode (Saber and V-Star):

            Since this is the Robot Master version of this character, which is obviously way smaller than the original G1 mode, there is no “Brain of Courage” mode.

            The smallest robot mode available is Saber. Saber transforms into a small red color jet.

            It looks quite good and quite accurate to its original cartoon depiction, which is always nice.

            In this mode, the back portion of the jet, called V-Star will pull an Optimus-trailer, and disappear from sight.

            More often than not, in the original series, Saber would stand on top of V-Star and use it as a glider to charge into battle.

            In robot mode, Saber is a miniature brick. The shoulders and hips swing forward, but the knees swing the wrong way.

            Combining Saber in jet mode with V-Star, you finally get that iconic spacecraft mode that is iconic to the character.

            On top of the jet mode, there is a divot to store the blade of the sword.

            Overall, it’s a neat alternate mode.

Robot Mode:

            Transforming this figure from its jet mode to robot mode, I could almost hear Transformers: Victory theme song playing inside my head.

            The robot mode looks very slick and smooth, as if paying homage to another popular Japanese Super Robot – Mobile Suit Gundam.

            Star Saber’s head sculpt does look similar to God Ginrai’s face designs, but with different color schemes.

            In this mode, Star Saber isn’t much a brick as his original G1 action figure. The shoulders are on ball-joints, so they can move in all direction. However, due to the design of the shoulders, they do have limited range of motions.

            The elbows bend, and most importantly, Star Saber also has a waist joint!

            The hips are on ball joints, and as such, they can swing forward, albeit limitedly. There are no knee joints, but the toe flaps can move downward, mostly due to transformation joints.

            I like the robot mode. The articulations notwithstanding, it’s a wonderful looking robot.

Overall:

            Overall, this Star Saber action figure does stay true to its animated depiction. It’s good to finally have a version of Star Saber in my collection.

            Highly recommended.

            Final verdict: 8.5/10.

Transformers Review – Beast Megatron (Robot Master)

Intro:

            When Beast Wars was first aired, fans were wondering about the direction of the series. The character names were similar to those that came before, but did the similarities ended there, or were there something more than meets the eyes (pun intended)? As the series progressed, it was eventually revealed that all of the Beast Wars characters were descendents of the original G1 Autobots and Decepticons, although no familial relationship.

            The character Megatron was undoubtedly one of the more exciting characters from that series. Beast Megatron, or for the sake of differentiating him and the legendary Decepticon leader, was an egotistical Predacon leader, had great ambitions of being the ruler of the universe, eclipsing even his predecessor namesake. In fact, he chose that as mentioned in the Covenant of Primus, about the coming of a great destroyer bearing that name, and Beast Megatron believed that he was that destroyer.

            After I’ve gotten the Robot Masters Optimus Primal figure back in 2005, I knew that I just had to get Beast Megatron as his sparring partner. So when the opportunity presented itself, I knew I just had to take it.

Alternate Mode:

            Beast Megatron transforms into that iconic purple Tyrannosaurus Rex, and to be honest, I kinda like this mode.

            In fact, I have to admit, it was one of the better modes amongst all other Beast Wars action figures. 

            As far as I am concerned, he is almost screen accurate, in terms of designs, except for the colors though, since I feel that the on-screen Beast Megatron had a darker shades of purple. From his massive jaws, all the way to his diminutive forearms, which always tickles my funny bones, evoking memories from an episode where he desperately tries to dislodge a time bomb at the back of his head.

            Articulation-wise: his mouth opens and closes, but instead of the norm of having the lower jaw moves, Beast Megs has his head moving instead; the shoulders of the small forearms are on ball-joints, though the movements are limited by the designs; hips are on ball-joints; the knees bend; and finally the 3-toes plates move downward. It’s kinda ashamed that the tail doesn’t move, but I could live with that. 

From left: Beast Megatron and Optimus Primal

            Overall, I kinda dig this mode.

Robot Mode:

            The transformation from T-Rex mode to robot mode is kinda simple, and you probably won’t even need the instructions for that.

            I also like the head sculpt, which is a clear homage to his G1 namesake. 

            The robot mode feels kinda buff, as if Beast Megs really work out a lot – broad shoulders and all.

            On his left shoulder, there is a Decepticon logo instead of a Predacon’s, which is kind of a letdown. However, this is understandable since Robot Masters was a standalone series in its own right, where characters from various Transformers series and universes converge. 

Beast Megs has the T-Rex’s head as his right hand and also an actual left hand.

Articulation-wise: the head is on a ball joint; inner shoulders hinge; right outer shoulder swivel; the right elbow (T-Rex’s head) rotates on his neck joint, and the mouth now acts as a hand; the left outer shoulder swivels and rotates, and the elbow bends; there is also a waist joint; while from the hips downward, the articulations are identical to his T-Rex mode. 

From left: Beast Megatron and Optimus Primal

            I kinda wished that his left wrist would rotate – is it too much to ask?

            The tail piece can now be wielded by his left fist as some sort of a weapon, which I have absolutely no idea what it is.

            Anyhow, overall, I think it’s a neat robot mode.       

Overall:

Well, I have to admit, I kinda like this figure. In fact, I even prefer him to the Robot Master Optimus Primal figure. He has a more exciting transformation sequence compared to his opposite number.

Highly Recommended.

            Final verdict: 8.5/10.