Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

not the list i was expecting, so how would you rank the combiners themselves?

Hmm, not what I expected but there's nothing wrong with surprises.
Here's my list, which only includes the ones I own:
5.CW Onslaught
I wasn't sure what to put here but Onslaught is really good. The torso is incredibly solid and the robot mode is pretty fantastic. However the vehicle mode is iffy and he isn't as fun to mess with as the deluxes.
4.CW Vortex
A good mold with colors that pop which makes for a really fun sorta-generic Decepticon soldier.
3.UW Strafe
Pretty great figure all around. Probably the least hampered by the gimmick out of any of them. The only issue is that he is a bit fiddly compared to his compatriots.
2.CW Prowl
Way better than the Universe version in my opinion. The deco looks great on the standard but fantastic Streetwise mold. And that headsulpt alone almost makes it my favorite one of the bunch. So good.
1.CW Rook
We all know what makes the mold good to a certain point. I for one dig the knuckle holes, they make for pretty good blasters. But normal fist holes like Strafe would have been ideal. I also have Swindle and Nosecone but neither of them are as fun or look as good as Rook. They're still great though.
So yeah that's my thoughts.

I have to do this list differently. This is going off of what I currently own only.

Top Five CW Combiner Torsos

5. Hot Spot/ Pyra Magna: They stay together better as torsos than Sky Lynx or Motormaster, but are otherwise average. Defensor and Victorion tend to lean forward without PE feet.

4. Optimus Prime: The proportions are wonky, but Ultra Prime's shoulders stay together mostly fine and it stands better than Menasor.

3. Onslaught: The best version of the Hot Spot mold, since, as Bruticus's torso, the shoulders actually secure in place, but Bruticus still tends to lean forward without PE feet.

2. Cyclonus: Would be as good as Silverbolt except it doesn't hide Cyclonus's head as well in Galvatronus torso mode and Cyclonus's chest door won't stay closed. I'm not crazy about the part-forming tail stabilizers/ daggers.

1. Silverbolt/ Scattershot: The best CW torso, IMO, with the best proportions. Stands just fine in Superion/ Computron mode, and the shoulders don't come apart when I try to move the arms.


Top Five CW Combiner Limbs

5. Dragstrip/ Mirage: A simple, easy Indy car robot that works well as an arm, not so much as a leg due to the exposed head.

4. Alpha Bravo/ Blades/ Vortex/ Stormclash/ Skyburst: Works well as an arm or a leg when paired with itself or another aircraft, once you secure the rotors in place between the tail stabilizers.

3. Offroad/ First Aid/ Ironhide: Good chunky arm, decent leg when paired with itself. I think First Aid is the best of this lot and wish we'd gotten a mianstream release of Ratchet in that mold.

2. Rook/ Hound/ Swindle: Best ground vehicle mold, through Swindle and Hound improve on Rook by having less backpack and standard fistholes. Good as an arm or a leg.

1. Air Raid/ Skydive/ Strafe: Best CW limb mold, IMHO. Works great as an arm or a leg, especially when paired with itself or another aircraft.

Kinda disagree on a few things there WJ. I wouldn't say the loss of hand pegs on Rook are a problem -- it just makes him different and stand out from the rest, giving a unique style of play. Naturally the line between that and a negative is fairly blurry and subjective so your mileage may vary, but I don't find it a problem.

As for Dead End not working as an arm... that's a QC problem not consistent across all versions. I admit my Dustup very frustratingly does not stay together at all and my Streetwise has a bit of trouble too, but my Prowl is incredibly solid and stays together much tighter than... I think all of my CW limbs. So I can't hold this against the mold.

Bronzewolf wrote:Sky Lynx???

Sky Lynx is fun, but to me there's one flaw that keeps him off the list: his feet. They make it very hard to pose him, and even getting him to just stand normally sometimes doesn't work, and his back feet slip out from under him a little in a way that leaves his toes pointing up and him standing on his ankles rather than his feet.

DestronMirage22 wrote:Now, a figure that I don't see talked about much is CW Wheeljack. That's a fantastic figure right there. He's pretty much the ultimate CHUG Wheeljack.

He's got a sword, so I can't help but think of him as being at least partly Prime Wheeljack. Since Prime Wheeljack was awesome, I see no downside to this.

Nik Hero wrote:Someone actually liked that horrible color choice that Hasbro made for Bruticus' head? How is that even possible? It's wrong for the original you and the cartoon alike!

Maybe he likes it on its own merits. A shocking concept, I admit.

Kurona wrote:Kinda disagree on a few things there WJ. I wouldn't say the loss of hand pegs on Rook are a problem -- it just makes him different and stand out from the rest, giving a unique style of play. Naturally the line between that and a negative is fairly blurry and subjective so your mileage may vary, but I don't find it a problem.

As for Dead End not working as an arm... that's a QC problem not consistent across all versions. I admit my Dustup very frustratingly does not stay together at all and my Streetwise has a bit of trouble too, but my Prowl is incredibly solid and stays together much tighter than... I think all of my CW limbs. So I can't hold this against the mold.

I haven't had such luck with the mold. I've got every CW version of the mold including the G2. Even got blue bluestreak. I don't have any of the takara versions of the mold or 3up or Tigatron. I can't think of a single one that the legs stay together in arm mode. That's at least 10 that I can quickly think of so that's 12 of 13 that don't work as intended between the 2 of us. I'll hold that against the mold.

Kurona wrote:As for Dead End not working as an arm... that's a QC problem not consistent across all versions. I admit my Dustup very frustratingly does not stay together at all and my Streetwise has a bit of trouble too, but my Prowl is incredibly solid and stays together much tighter than... I think all of my CW limbs. So I can't hold this against the mold.

We are looking at specific molds here in this list because just looking at the base mold in general wouldnt really give much diversity. So I was really looking at Dead End when answering that question and that is the toy/character that people keep bringing up. And Dead End splitting is a problem with that specific mold in a widespread fashion. There is a problem with the engineering and the pegs that hold it together, something is lacking somewhere. So it goes beyond QC and I 100% hold it against that specific mold.

Burn wrote:Let see the G1 version of this list ...

The next 2 lists are all combiner related and G1 will be featured. Though I found it tough to think of a list just like this one for G1 where its the components. They are all very similar to me and I couldnt tell you what I like of G1 first aid over G1 dragstrip for instance. If you are willing and can do a list of the top 5 scramble city g1 components then my hats off to you and we can feature it as one of these lists

Rodimus Prime wrote:Wow, no Protectobots at all?

If I had to pick one of them it would be First Aid.

Master Force Skyfire wrote:1. Air Raid/ Skydive/ Strafe: Best CW limb mold, IMHO. Works great as an arm or a leg, especially when paired with itself or another aircraft.

WOOHOO glad to meet a fellow believer

william-james88 wrote:If you are willing and can do a list of the top 5 scramble city g1 components then my hats off to you and we can feature it as one of these lists

No thanks, this is your trip, wouldn't want to tread on it.

Well.... I can't narrow it down to 5... or in order





The Rook mold, more specifically UW Roller and UW Swindle. Nothing against Rook, but the Roller paint apps are just so premium feeling. And Swindle is easily better than Hasbro's. More apps, crisp, with more details picked out.



Streetwise, both of 'em. Best car mold, and they wear it better than the rest!





CW Air-raid and CW Strafe. I love the deco on Hasbro's AR, and the mold itself. And Strafe is an excellent retool and has a great head sculpt. I wish he was snow white like Takara's Strafe though.



CW Vortex. He's just brilliant. Toy accurate take on the deco is lovingly eye catching, and he looks properly evil. He's probably my favorite out of the entire UW/CW endeavor.



Out of the torso's, I gotta go UW Onslaught. From a technical standpoint, I adore this mold due to the chest piece locking everything together, which I feel makes him the most solid torso of all. His deco is fantastic, but he narrowly beat out G2slaught. His lack of proper G2 insignias and needing more of that purple camo are the clinchers.



Dezarus is an honorable mention. He's be my number one torso if he were only stable

I found Onslaught only slightly bearable as in it's sort of nifty they were able to retool hot spot into him, but he's pretty crappy over all, especially in torso mode. And they couldn't even give him a weapon other than his back/truck cannon? So Bruticus can either be unarmed, look completely wrong, or you can spend a lot of time and money on digging up shockwave, which is still pretty wrong.

Not on the list I really like are trailbreaker and ironhide (much better than the CHUG deluxes). Rook's not bad but limb Groove is a lot better. Quickslinger is awesome, almost makes up for that pile of dung alpha bravo. I dig Optimus but that screw up on the hip gears hurts it a lot. I like him better as just OP, he seems a big beefy brawler OP, but UP is cool too. I'm going to cheat and count Blackjack as "torso", I love that guy because without him Menasor is just WRONG. UP can do with out Rodimus, but Menasor has to have a car on his chest!

A good list. I'm really pulling for Jazz being a Combiner. Here is my list

Honorable Mentions:
Since this is strictly limbs and torsos, I'll leave off Shockwave and Powerglide/Viper.

5 - Dragstrip
I felt like I was getting my money's worth and that encouraged me to continue through the line.

4 - Cyclonus/Silverbolt
I liked the stratojet. Not quiet a Concorde, but you can see where it got its start. I wished we had a Decepticon jet group for Cyclonus to command.

3 - Offroad
Reason 1: Ironhide, Reason 2: Trailbreaker, Reason 3: Apple Jack (That last one may be the fan mod in my head.)

2 - Alpha Bravo
I think every fan knew as soon as we saw Alpha Bravo, he was just a pre-deco for Blades and Vortex to come later. I remember him warming the shelf when others like Air Raid and Drag Stripe were snapped up. But he is the best Aerialbot. As a helicopter, he couldn't use the crutch of the plane backpack like the others. And he gave us a taste of what Blades and Vortex would be like; something to look forward to.


1 - Sky Lynx
The only one that made me rush to the store and buy it before they were gone. Part of my love is the change of pace it offered by the end of the Combiner Wars run. Having growing sick of the remolds (Seriously you could make a combiner of only the Dead End sports car clones) This new mold was a need gulp of fresh air. I love the update. I played with the G1 Sky lynx and it is underwhelming. Both halves are simple (Rescue Bot simple) transformations. CW Sky Lynx is a challenge and a delight. And an Autobot dragon the size and scale of Prime BH: Predaking means dragon fights are on.

I've got these CW figures:

Offroad, First Aid, Rook, Streetwise, Ironhide, Prowl, Swindle, Battle Core Optimus Prime, Onslaught, Sky Lynx, G2 Air Raid, G2 Firefly, G2 Powerglide, G2 Quickslinger, G2 Silverbolt, G2 Skydive, G2 Blackjack, G2 Brake-Neck, G2 Breakdown, G2 Dead End, G2 Decepticon Dragstrip, G2 Motormaster, Lighsteed, Strafe, Fellbat.

I keep the G2 Superion and G2 Menasor together since they're complete (thanks Ross/TJ Maxx).

Battle Core Optimus Prime was a gift because my family knows what an Ultra Magnus fanboy I am (Hello white Optimus Prime). I use Rook, Streetwise, First Aid, and Prowl as white limbs.

Onslaught and Sky Lynx were super cheap at Ross so I picked them up anyway.

I need one more limb to complete my own Sky Reign combiner with "red" bots (currently Sky Lynx, Strafe, Ironhide, Lightsteed) that will probably end up being Smokescreen.

I need one more limb to complete my own Bruticus combiner (currently Onslaught, Swindle, Offroad, Fellbat) which will probably be someone else from Bruticus or Liokaiser.

I don't know when I'll ever complete those though since Titans Return has a more fun play pattern for me and my son, IMO.

My Top 5:

5. Strafe: because he's based on the Skydive mold but beyond a simple repaint.

4. First Aid: in this list because the trucks seem to be more stable limbs than any of the cars and it just makes me wish Ratchet or even Medix got proper US retail releases.

3. Offroad: maybe because he's a new team member.

2. Rook: just because of how unique the toy is with the fists in robot mode and the available ports in vehicle mode.

1. Sky Lynx: he's awesome as a torso and even though his feet suck in Lynx mode, he's just different compared to all of the other Voyagers.

really don't see how dragstrip makes this list, as much as I'm a fan of F1 transformers because of:
A) 4 ugly screws showing on the front of robot mode
B)his overly visible grey chest connector piece
C)As Mirage there is no way of flipping the front of the car down for a torso to use the figure the other way around due to his arms being backwards with out customising.
He does fit nicely as a limb with out any bits protruding compared to some of the others though.

Deluxe Groove is really nice in robot mode with the light piping and that it can be used in other (unofficial)ways as a gun/chest piece etc and the twin guns with transparent plastic on an accessory is a nice touch and makes them look decorative on a combined form too.

I'm really not a fan of the swindle (especially as hound) mold either with the arms being kibble from most angles in vehicle limb mode even if they are not protruding and the the windshield nearly always falls off during transformation on mine from what I remember.

blackeyedprime wrote:really don't see how dragstrip makes this list, as much as I'm a fan of F1 transformers because of:
A) 4 ugly screws showing on the front of robot mode
B)his overly visible grey chest connector piece
C)As Mirage there is no way of flipping the front of the car down for a torso to use the figure the other way around due to his arms being backwards with out customising.
He does fit nicely as a limb with out any bits protruding compared to some of the others though.

Well at least for the C part, its why Dragstrip is the main dude defining this mold. Mirage is just a redeco and didnt really go into my train of thought. I was mainly thinking of Drastrip. And the grey chest connector piece is visible on most bots so they all suffer from it in some way or another (unless they are replaced by fake kibble, which also loses points in a different way).

Deluxe Groove is really nice in robot mode with the light piping and that it can be used in other (unofficial)ways as a gun/chest piece etc and the twin guns with transparent plastic on an accessory is a nice touch and makes them look decorative on a combined form too.

Yeah in robot mode he is cool, aside from the pretty large backpack. But in motorcycle mode there is no effort to hide the arms/hands unlike the Swindle/hound molds which at least has a roof covering that part

not sure which one is my favorite to be honest

william-james88 wrote:Well at least for the C part, its why Dragstrip is the main dude defining this mold. Mirage is just a redeco and didnt really go into my train of thought. I was mainly thinking of Drastrip. And the grey chest connector piece is visible on most bots so they all suffer from it in some way or another (unless they are replaced by fake kibble, which also loses points in a different way).

Combiner wars Prowl managed to hide it so it would have been nice to have a flip down silver chest part some how or even making the grey part being bright silver (if it's going to be noticeable might as well go all in )to be suggestive of the G1 toy but with the the 4 screws I don't think it would have helped either way. He was my first CW figure and was committed to storage in wait of the other stunticons to be a limb (which never happened)where as hiw wave mates aerial bots were good enough in robot mode to stay on display.

Yeah in robot mode he is cool, aside from the pretty large backpack. But in motorcycle mode there is no effort to hide the arms/hands unlike the Swindle/hound molds which at least has a roof covering that part

Swindle just isn't even any resemblance of a Jeep or even any earthly vehicle to me, I think CW first aid with a slight remold to look like animated Swindle vehicle would have been a better choice in the long run (bar making classics hound a CW figure some how )

Nice list, nice list.

I tried to flip Dragstrip's body, so that he has his hoody as chestplate. Looks better than the connecter, but the arms look silly reversed.

My favorite Combiner Wars figure is Dead End, I just like the G1 character and he looks very good. Depressing down to earth, average soldier guy.

Second is Wild Rider (that afterwards released guy), almost the same but his head is awesome.

I like Takara United Warriors Blastoff... 's head. I only like the head, Takara messed up, his robot mode is silly. Bought the Hasbro version of him to switch the heads and... completely different balljoint Might have to slice off Hasbro one's head and 3d print a new balljoint, put on the Takara head... way to much work.
G1 Blastoff is one of my favorite Transformers ever.

Agree with Onslaught, face looks amazing, altmode is good. For me nostalgia, he was the only combiner leader I had as a kid.

I like Rook, I even bought 3 of the same WeiJang oversized KO voyager sized versions as generic enemy army builder. For reasons.
I don't like his headsculpt, not my thing.

Victorion is underway, decided to get her because I need as many fembots as possible and it's a fembot combiner.
Reason why I didn't get it as soon as she hit online shops is, I don't like the color. It's terrible, lavender, fading sub colors.
If it was hard red with solid green or army green, would've been better. Megatronia has a way to high contrast.
And they didn't use good molds.

Concluding, Combiner Wars is my favorite line. I love combiners, I love Transformers all being about the same size. I love army builders. It's amazing this stuff. Titans Return is also amazing with the little dudes, excellent figures. Hasbro is on an epic win rampage for the past years. I don't even mind 3 step changers, Transformers RID, movie mess. Combiner Wars/Titans return make up for everything and more.

(well, gonna be a Victorion pre-review preview offtopic thing now)

So offtopic from here on out (sorry, I'm one of the biggest Slowpoke's out there, just started collecting Exo Squad):

What my choice for Victorion would be:

1. Team Leader is good, good choice.
2. Combiner Wars Groove (the deluxe one) And fix her up with a Transformers Prime Arcee headsculpt. Slender some parts up a little to make her a bit more ladylike and your done.
3. Combiner Wars Rook mold. Sorry but I want a big girl on the team. Slender the arms up a bit, maybe thicken up the hips if possible. Give her a pretty chubby face and a decent boob-plate (I think there's space for that)
4. Combiner Wars Firefly, slick jet already slender. Fix a way to get a chest panel on there for curves. Change the wings and cockpit a bit and make her War For Cybertron Slipstream (love that character in Escalation!!!)
5. Dead End mold, G1 Arcee her a bit up or First Aid mold and make her a female medic. But for the love of Primus, fix the front of that vehicle to make it a van and not a jeep thing.

Colorwise... Blue, red, orange and pink or something, I don't know. Victorion is to monotone with bland shades, Megatronia is too black/contrast.

That's that.

Reminds me, I also need to get Megatronia -_-

As a very happy owner of Victorion, I will say her colours look much MUCH better in person -- the red in particular is much more solid and might be what you're after.

I think the colours on Vicky could have been much better. Had they gone with a more muted, rusty red, more teal overall (preferably closer to what was shown on the poll) and included some silver/white on the figures themselves rather than just on the combiner kibble she would have looked a bit less...loud. As it stands the colours aren't awful, especially compared to the prototype images which just looked OH GOD NO, but I'm still glad I got Megatronia.

In terms of the molds I would have picked, I'm honestly OK with what we got. That said I reckon Flowspade/Dustup is the weak link in the set, by virtue of the fact that outside of the chestplate and hands she looks very, very manly. The headsculpt doesn't help, I will say. Still, despite my initial disappointment when the set was announced (and believe me, I'm still irritated that the new norm for fembots seems to be retools of males- the girls deserve their own molds!) I am pleased to say I was mostly wrong about them.

On topic, I will say Skydive is an underrated mold. His jet mode is a bit questionable, but the robot mode looks great IMO. Also he makes a truly excellent Seeker with Shapeways bits:

blackeyedprime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Well at least for the C part, its why Dragstrip is the main dude defining this mold. Mirage is just a redeco and didnt really go into my train of thought. I was mainly thinking of Drastrip. And the grey chest connector piece is visible on most bots so they all suffer from it in some way or another (unless they are replaced by fake kibble, which also loses points in a different way).

Combiner wars Prowl managed to hide it so it would have been nice to have a flip down silver chest part some how or even making the grey part being bright silver (if it's going to be noticeable might as well go all in )to be suggestive of the G1 toy but with the the 4 screws I don't think it would have helped either way.

The problem with Prowl is that he loses points for fake kibble. That flap always feels like a cheap way to reproduce a look and while it ends up better than the likes of PRID Cliffjumper and DOTM Voyager Sentinel Prime it's still within that range, especially since POTP Jazz proves that you can still have the actual front of the car become the chest and still be a combiner. I actually wish, like Seibertron himself, that Prowl was redone to be more like the Jazz mold. The dead end mold also has the feet chopped off look while Dragstip uses the spoiler to make the feet which I always found clever in a simple way.

Dragstrip? Naw!