Review: Battle in Space - Rodimus vs Cyclonus 2 pack

£21.99 Argos.


The 'Generations' line is dead in the UK. It's lucky then that everything that was going to be in the Generations line is now in the 'Reveal the Shield' line (ie rub sign), like this twin pack we have here.

Hot Rod - sorry, Rodimus - and Cyclonus are essentially updates of the figures originally released in the 80s to coincide with the animated movie. Both these 'updates' have also been released before, but in their 80s 'toy' colours. Here they are in the colours actually seen in the movie.

Cyclonus starts life as a purple Decepticon and transforms into a futuristic plane. He's a pretty good figure, although when in plane mode the legs are a bit...odd. But then the original figure was equally a bit odd.

Hot Rod... Oh, Hot Rod. What went wrong? I like the brighter colours compared with the previous release. I like the yellow... No, that's part of the problem. The big yellow spoiler isn't yellow, it's some other colour painted yellow, and not very well at that. The hands aren't really grey either, they're painted in a horrible thick grey paint. And that windscreen? You'd never know it, but there are seats underneath. You can't see them because someone decided to cast that whole top piece in solid red plastic and then paint blue windows on.

It's all a bit cheap.

Okay, these are minor niggles and the kids love to play with them, but Hot Rod just looks cheap. Like I've picked him up from Poundland or something.

The other problem is that - unlike their 80s counterparts - my kids can't transform them properly on their own and come up to me every few seconds to do it for them.

In a nod to it's original figure, Cyclonus comes with a targetmaster (small robot who turns into a gun) and - in a nod to the film from which the characters originate - a small matrix. Sadly Hot Rod can't hold it in his hands so it's kind of useless.

Finally, the set comes with a comic specially created for the set written by Transformers Comic Writing King Simon Furman. The story is set between scenes in the '86 film, but has the characters drawn like the modern toys.

For 22 quid the set isn't bad, and is a great way to convince children to put aside their Bayformers and watch the classic film. I just can't get over the fact that Hot Rod is a little...cheap looking.