Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Review: [Hasbro] Transformers Power Core Combiners Stakeout with Protectobots
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Hasbro |
| Origin Series: | Transformers: Power Core Combiners |
| Scale: | Non-Scale |
| Height: | Scout-size Robot Mode: Approximately 13cm tall Combiner Robot Mode: Approximately 17.5cm tall |
| Original Price: | 20 USD |
| Figure Box: |
Similar to all other 5-packs, Stakeout gets an actual box rather than blister cards, and having a little similar design to the Revenge of the Fallen and Generations packages Stakeout sports a very cool artwork and yeah, I really love these box arts of the PCCs since they all look so friggin' awesome for some reason even though the figures themselves can barely catch up to the awesomeness that is the box art. XD
| Figure Details: |
As Stakeout is part of the wave 3 releases, he is another recolor, and this time of the decepticon smolder, but as opposed to Smolder who looks like a firetruck, Stakeout's variation does make him unique for some reason, since even of they are using the very same mold, he 's done in a very decent way that his overall alt mode begins to look like an ambulance of sorts. It's overall a pretty clean finish except that the front part of the vehicle can't actually lock on together in a very tight manner thus making a very ugly seam in there which isn't all convincing that he's a robot in disguise XD But yeah that's a little nitpicking on my part but yeah, aside from that the fact that you could see his head on the back, his alt mode is pretty amazing and none the less unique as stated above.
And since he's a repaint of Smolder he does hold a powerlinx port on top as well, so yeah, you can basically port other Minicons (in this case, Chopster's repaint, Razorbeam) or even MechTechs from the Dark of the Moon line.
While overall his Robot mode does look a little odd in proportions, I actually like this mold a lot and since I needed Autobot Drones anyway and do not want another minicon turning into an Axe, I grabbed Stakeout when I saw him randomly in stock as the last one. Of all, I love his head the most since it kind of gives off a Samurai-ish head and while his shoulder pads might look off a bit, I actually works for my personal preferences and overall just gives an overall Hulky look thanks to have big his arms are and how short he is and even his legs I think but yeah, I do dig the mold a lot. Probably the best comment I can ever give to any Power Core bot modes is that thanks to his color scheme, his Power Core pegs actually blend in totally with his design thus making it look like a normal armor piece instead of some out of place gimmick parts.
He has a flip out minicon port in his chest so you can equip him with any minicon armor of choice.
And like all 5-packs and the wave 3 release; he does have drones with him which are another bunch of recolors; this time from Bombshock's Combaticons and Skyburt's Aerialbots. A breakdown of his drones would be a Mobile Artillery drone, a Helicopter drone, an APC drone, and a Fighter Jet drone. Which forms his arms and legs in torso mode later on.
So now for the torso mode, overall I love the torso mode, his head especially looks fantastic for me a really good torso mode head and though he has a small torso and wide shoulders it still looks nice compared to having wide gaps in between the legs like some of the Torso modes. As for his overall blend, he does have that syndrome where the other arm is bulky and while the other is extremely thin but yeah doesn't really look that bad but the helicopter's paint scheme does kind of get off since the green and the blue of the others do have a nice blend on them with Stakeout's white but yeah, red is throwing me off XD but still the Torso mode looks neat overall, just my personal tastes I guess.
A problem on the Fighter Jet leg though is that it's not completely flat and the "toes" of it's limb mode are pretty much spring powered so it doesn't really give him a pretty good balance and in most cases, you have to do something to his joints to make sure he stands properly.
| Articulation: |
First Articulation discussion goes to the Scout Bot mode.
Though ball jointed as it is clearly seen from the back of the head details, it doesn't really work that well and if it does, you'd probably have to apply a little force to use the ball's functions to make hi look upwards and certainly not downwards, the only real thing you can do with him is swivel to the left and right though by opening up his chest and raising the panel or sliding it down a bit, you can actually get Stakeout to look up or not whether the ball jointed neck is functional or not.
For his arms, he has a hinge-swivel mixture of joints but his hinge is double jointed actually so you can raise his arm sidewards in two different manners, and his elbows are double jointed where in the bottom tip is a ball thus give you a swivel motion as well in exchange of not having a bicep swivel.
His hips use the same joints as his shoulders but the hinge is single jointed this time so it should work the same as a ball joint. He has thigh swivels and very flexible knee hinges thanks to his leg design and so he can kneel properly.
While not sporting his own weapons for accessories, he does have a very good play factor thanks to his good articulation points and as I said back in the details section, he does have a very hulky appearances thus even punches, kicks and whatnot poses work on his pretty well and he can even friggin' do a HULK SMASH! :))
Meanwhile, do note that he has 5mm ports on his hands so you can pretty much give him accessories for fun which in this case is Razorbeam, again, in his Axe mode and Topspin's MechTech blaster.
Now to the torso mode; while basically his neck and leg articulations are the same, the major difference as all Torso modes, are the arm articulations, since basically, it's a brick in all senses where he can only swivel his drone arms on with the combiner peg and for Stakeout, instead of raising upwards (well he can a little), it's more of sliding his arm in wards for claw slashing action! But yeah, what's really neat about Stakeout is that you have an option so unlock his shoulder pads from the back and once unlock it does give superb articulation as opposed to any other PCC Torso which becomes the biggest strength of Stakeout (or Smolder in a sense).
By going out of what's in the book, Stakeout becomes one of the most poseable Torso modes ever produced and thus this gives him overall wow factor in the articulation factor of a Torso mode. And even though I actually said I didn't like the Helicopter arm, I actually appreciate its inclusion for the poseability area since it's a good support kneeling poses due to it's length and it does allow you to do that Ironman pose, lol!!! And lastly despite the balance issues this guy has, he's pretty amazing as he lift up another torso mode without even falling down so yeah pretty awesome. This Torso mode is really something and probably my most enjoyed Torso mode play of all.
| Final Thoughts: |
If there was one real PCC I'd recommend for Torso display, it's this mold, either Stakeout or Smolder will do; it's a preference if you want a minicon or drones to come along with it (given that you have other drones if you get Smolder) Certainly is amazing enough for me in many ways but going back to the main topic, is Stakeout worth his price? Then, I'd have to say yes, very much worth it, out of my 3 5-packs right now, he's the most decent one among them given the playable factor of the figure. But he might be pretty hard to find as wave 3 5-packs are probably are the rarest around here (aside from wave 5).
| Rating (Out of 10) | |
| Details | 9 |
| Articulation | 8.5 |
| Price | 10 |
| Overall: | 9.17 |
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