The Unlicensed Third Party Transformers Thread

[mikeszekely]

Where there's a Kickback and a Shrapnel, you can bet that a Bombshell isn't too far behind.  So here he is, Dr. Wu's Beetle Horn, their Micromaster-sized version.  Once again, next to the Legacy version for scale.

From the knees up, I think Beetle Horn is coming across how you'd expect.  The silver details on his yellow torso panel are cartoon-accurate.  The rest of the torso goes for purple, as to date I believe only BadCube has tried to pull off Sunbow's bizarre decision to make Bombshell purple in alt mode but gray in bot mode.  His arms, unlike the Legacy toy, are properly solid black.  And his thighs have to circle details on them.  Like Claw Worm, he's got a bug leg molded into his shoulder, but in his case that is cartoon-accurate.  Also like Claw Worm he trades his usual wrist gun/bug leg for a more insectoid bug leg on his forearm.  His remaining bug legs (also part of his shoulder on the G1 toy and vestigially present on the Legacy toy but just kind of vanishing on the animation model) are on his robot legs.  Unlike Claw Worm, though, they're on the backs of his legs, mostly out of sight.

Despite keeping the bug legs out of the way, things do go off the rails a bit on his legs.  There are silver ribbed bits that seem to mimic some molded detail on the G1 toy, but that detail was never stickered or painted, and flat out doesn't exist on the animation model.  And to cap it all off, they painted his feet purple, which is a waste of paint because Bombshell's feet should be black.

Beetle Horn comes with a tiny gun.  Again, the sculpt is a bit soft, due to it's very tiny nature, but I think of the three his gun came out the best.

Beetle Horn's head swivels.  The antenna is down about as far as it goes; it can be aimed upward more.  His shoulders are ball joints that swivel and can move about 75 degrees laterally before his bug legs poke into his collar.  Ball joints in the elbow give him bicep swivels and 90 degrees of elbow bend.  No wrist or hand articulation.  Waist swivels, and ball-jointed hips go 90 degrees forward, backward, and laterally.  His knees bend 90 degrees.  He's totally missing any kind of foot or ankle articulation, and he doesn't have thigh swivels.  Those would be my biggest complaints with the articulation, but his legs are very small, and I might guess that the hinges and mushroom pegs needed for that articulation are perhaps too delicate at that size.

After all, tiny, delicate parts are why his gun doesn't peg into his fist.  Like the other two Insecticons, his gun clips around the fist instead.

Instead of covering his face with the too of his head, Beetle Horn's head swivels so his face is under the alt mode.  His arms fold back, like the G1 and Legacy versions, and his legs fold over his thighs like the G1 toy.  However, first you have to rotate his waist 180 degrees; unlike the G1 and Legacy toys, Beetle Horn's beetle butt is made from his shins, not the backs of his legs.  Panels also open on the backs of his legs.  This gives his legs the clearance to fold the whole way around, but it also moves the rear bug legs into position as well as gives the arms something to tab into.

Aside from the extra purple robot toes and unnecessary silver details on his butt, I think the insect mode comes across pretty well.  The shape of his robot legs is a bit flatter and rounder than the Legacy toy, so the shape feels a bit closer to the G1 toy.  The extra flaps that tab into his forearms blend in well enough that they don't really affect the alt mode shape.  The rear bug legs are a bit more insectoid than the G1 toy/animation model, but I don't necessarily hate that.  I think the only thing I'd really change would be to paint a line over the bug eye to simulate the hinge on the original toy.  To be fair to Dr. Wu, though, I had the exact same complaint with the Legacy toy.

Once again, no alt mode weapon storage, and one again, the alt mode doesn't really do anything.  You have very limited up/down articulation on the horn, and limited swivels on the rear insect legs.  The other four legs are fixed.

Now, it could just be because Bombshell is my favorite of the Insecticons, but Beetle Horn is my favorite of the three Dr. Wu Insecticons.  His articulation is about on par with Claw Worm and a little better than Grasshooper, and his insect legs are a bit more out-of-the-way that Claw Worm's.  I do wish he had a tad more articulation, but that goes for all the Insecticons (and most of Dr. Wu's little guys, honestly), and there are a few odd deco choices, but nothing too egregious.  Another easy recommend from me... assuming his pack in partner is good.  Tune in tomorrow and I'll let you know- for all three Insecticons!

[sh9000]

DK-56T.