Shortpacked! review: RtS Lugnut, Blah blah glorious! etc Options

[Walky]

Original link: http://www.shortpacked.com/2011/blog/glorious/



Man, y'know what I like? Animated-original characters getting toys in other lines!  You may remember that I was super in love with Revenge of the Fallen Lockdown and his Animated-inspired rivalry with live-action Ratchet.  I also adore that Bulkhead is one of the main Autobots in Transformers: Prime.  And, hey now, look, it's Reveal the Shield Lugnut, everyone's favorite five-eyed sycophant, in Generation 1 style!

Did you know that Lugnut was in the 1986 animated Transformers film?  Well, he was.  Sort of.  According to the comic book that comes with the Rodimus/Cyclonus "Battle in Space" set, which retroactively places him at the Battle of Autobot City, anyway.  That's the kind of stuff I like, the new additions that are presented as if they'd been there all along.



Frankly, after getting your hands on this guy, you'd be happy for him to be in every continuity possible.  Out of the huge box of swag I got on Friday, I'd rank his toy as the winner in all respects.  There's just so much going on with him.  Let's work our way through them.



First of all, I am super digging his alternate mode.  It's a giant war bomber.  Folks tend to describe it as a "WWII bomber," but I can't really agree so long as he has jet engines instead of propellers.  The second best thing about this mode is the amazing wingspan.  Usually, Transformer plane wings are stubby so that they fit into the packaging in vehicle mode or a conservation of plastic mass is attained.  But Lugnut gets around that by being packaged in robot mode and by having his wings transform into his arms.  Often wings just get thrown onto the back of a robot mode as kibble, but Lugnut uses the wings to add to his robot mode mass.   The FIRST best thing about his vehicle mode is the missile that launches out of the back of the tail, which calls back to those World War II-era bombers.  You flip up the little gunpod at the very tip of the tail, and underneath is the missile launcher.  In robot mode, this launcher can point over the shoulder.  ...Or up under the crotch, if you're crude.



How Lugnut gets massive arms out of his wings is inspiring.  His hands transform out of the jet intakes(?) on the wings, the wingtips fold over onto the backs of the hands, and then the wings articulate like arms.  Each hand has two articulated fingers and a thumb.  (He can go grabby grabby.)  It's a feat of engineering we haven't seen before.   Animated Lugnut had a "Punch Of Kill Everything" attack where he'd punch the ground and create a massive crater, and this version of Lugnut tries to borrow that as well.  Both of his fists have spring-loaded punch gimmicks.  You could use this to make his wings even longer, but I don't think it's necessary, and it leaves a few gaps.

(Oh, and his mouth can open and close.)



In my reviews for the past several toys, I've talked about the new, shared "C joint" gimmick, where toys come with clip-on weapons and a number of rungs for those weapons to attach.  Well, Lugnut is the holy mother of this.  He doesn't come with any weapons, but he has rungs hidden all over his body that can accommodate 15 clip-ons.  There's one on the missile launcher.  There's four spread across his shoulder jet engines.  There's two on each of his shins.  There's two each more on the backs of his wrists, hidden under the wingtips.  And there's one more on both of his wingtips.  I wouldn't be surprised if I found even more later, but at that point I'd be put out, 'cuz I'm out of weapons to attach to him.  (I think the next time I get more is whenever Wheeljack comes out.)

To sum up, you have to get this guy.  He's an amazing toy that can do buttloads of stuff and he's an appealing character with a memorable visual design.  Any toy with giant articulated fingers is already going to be near the top of my list, but Lugnut gives me that and so much more.  If you see him, snatch him up.

[Caked-Up]

I must own this figure NOW!!! I have been waiting patiently for him to show up and he will be here tomorrow! This was an awesome review and I did not know that he had all of those clip locations. Great job telling us about his gloriousness!

[Creature SH]

I so wish that I hadn't missed out on my chance to pre-order this fellow.

[Scottimus Prime]

Yeah...dammit, Lugz, show up here, already! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

[Caked-Up]

This figures hugging gloriousness knows no bounds! I feel bad for those who don't own this figure yet and I wish you luck trying to find him. We are in the fourth week of the year and I beleive we have the figure of the year, bar none.

[Pony of Merak]

sigh... If I had a dime for all the cool stuff I won't be buying this year, I'd have my own research foundation. It's an awesome figure but I lack display/storage space, time and money. But the sacrifice is for something I like as much as that.

[Caked-Up]

@Walky: Here is where I found the clip points (alt mode was easier). Wingtips x2, under wing hard points x6, under the fingers on the back edge of the wing x2, engines x4, fuselage x4, and the cannon tip x1. So that adds fOur more for you and his tfwiki.

[Ave Destron!]

swag

I'm prouder than I should be.

[mx-01 archon]

I seem to remember that the turrets on his nose are clip compatible, as well.

[Lothar Hex]

Just got him in the UK and gotta agree with this review completely. Am I the only one that thinks it misses a step in the instructions? Where at the end of transforming him after his head pops up, you have to big his legs/chest up to his neck and lock it in to place? Instructions seem to indicate this happens on it's own, or miss out the fact you have to do it manually.

[Anonymous X]

Just got him in the UK and gotta agree with this review completely. Am I the only one that thinks it misses a step in the instructions? Where at the end of transforming him after his head pops up, you have to big his legs/chest up to his neck and lock it in to place? Instructions seem to indicate this happens on it's own, or miss out the fact you have to do it manually.

I agree with you. I have a RtS Lugnut as of today, and I can't yet get Lugnut into aircraft mode. There seems to be an Automorph step related to the robot head/aircraft front halves, but I cannot 'get' it yet. Plus after what happened to my RtS Wreck Gar, I don't want to go forcing Automorph steps by accident...

[mx-01 archon]

Just got him in the UK and gotta agree with this review completely. Am I the only one that thinks it misses a step in the instructions? Where at the end of transforming him after his head pops up, you have to big his legs/chest up to his neck and lock it in to place? Instructions seem to indicate this happens on it's own, or miss out the fact you have to do it manually.

I agree with you. I have a RtS Lugnut as of today, and I can't yet get Lugnut into aircraft mode. There seems to be an Automorph step related to the robot head/aircraft front halves, but I cannot 'get' it yet. Plus after what happened to my RtS Wreck Gar, I don't want to go forcing Automorph steps by accident...

Posted it in your other thread, too. But yeah, the instructions are a little... off. They're telling you to sink his head into his torso cavity, while the chest plate is still completely in the way.

Unlock his chest plate by swinging his pelvis back, and then have at'er again.

[Caked-Up]

I stated it in my thread as well, but there are two more clip on points in the red translucent plastic on the cockpit flap. They are only accessible in robot mode though.

[CORVUS]

Got mine a few days ago from HTS and I love it.

[Anonymous X]

Posted it in your other thread, too. But yeah, the instructions are a little... off. They're telling you to sink his head into his torso cavity, while the chest plate is still completely in the way.

Unlock his chest plate by swinging his pelvis back, and then have at'er again.

All sorted now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-hotrod.gif) I don't think I've been unable to transform a TF figure on the same day of opening the package since the mid '80s. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif) Well, as I say, if you're going to be flummoxed by a Transformer, it might as well be a freakin' cool one like Lugnut.