I recently took the bullet and decided to buy the Constructicons set designed and manufactured by Maketoys, of whom I believe to be an independent company comprising of Transformers fans passionate about the popular cartoon / comic series. I say "passionate", because I believe that only those who care a great deal about their product can come up with such a masterpiece. The engineering, and attention to the overall design and proportions of each individual Constructicon member, and not just Devastator, is nothing short of amazing. I salute the designers at Maketoys for their effort and ingenuity.
The irony, of course, is that on the most perfect piece of Devastator ever mass produced, to date, there isn't a single Decepticon insignia. But even though there isn't any official logos to mark this Giant, trust me when I say that it more than deserves the recognition of Transformers fans for being better done than most (if not all) of the crap produced by the Industry Giant, Has-blow. I guess, suffice to say, that if there is any irony here, it is that the licensee to this great franchise, is making such low quality products, compared to some unknown 3rd party company out there. This piece by Maketoys really puts shame on Has-blow... there is no other way to put it.
Another noticeable effort at creating the perfect Devastator is by another 3rd party company called TFC Toys. Though I do not own a set, their Hercules set has been reviewed quite extensively online, and I was not impressed enough to spend so much money on it, unlike Maketoys' Giant. It probably is the best Constructicons out there ever mass produced, when it was released. But since it preceded Maketoys' release, personally I think that it is an inferior product. Bigger is not always better, and in this case, the Giant sports much better detailing and proportions, that what it loses in size is more than made up for by its overall appearance.
The following photo review attempts to show some comparisons between the Maketoys Giant (2012) and the original Generation 1 Constructicons (1985) that were actually adopted from the Diaclone series. Of course, over the course of nearly 30 years, toy design has made a great leap. Rather than to show how the Giant is a vast improvement to the G1, it is meant to show how the former has evolved as a modern day interpretation of the 80s classic.
The packaging of the figure is quite weird. I am not sure how they were shipped cause I bought them from a local shop. But underneath the nice glossy packaging that showcases the actual photos of the figures on the box, the inserts are kept within a brown cardboard box. Usually, my other toys are packed on inserts, within the nice box, and with the brown cardboard box on the outermost since it is the most hardy and most wouldn't mind it getting damaged. Another issue I had was that the figure was packaged as Devastator, though it is separated midway along its torso. This isn't much of an issue if the instruction manual for the transformation sequence of each robot also began in their combiner mode, so to speak. Honestly, I had great difficulty learning how to transform Scrapper and Long Haul...
Purple and green construction vehicles... they are robots in disguise, but hey, their colours really give them away...! In the 2 sets of photographs above, showing the Constructicons in vehicle mode, notice how the add-on parts that form Devastator are being 'carried' by the team members. In G1, you can see the chest shield very clearly on Scrapper (loader), while the fore arms are equiped with chrome drills and are almost foreign objects attached onto Bonecrusher (bulldozer) and Scavenger (excavator). The head and neck are on Hook (mobile crane), hips on Long Haul (dump truck) and big ass gun on Mixmaster (concrete mixer). Now, in the Maketoys Giant, we can only see the 2 forearm attachments, disguised as what I think look like mobile diesel genset trailers, being dragged by Scrapper and Mixmaster.
First up, we have Hook, that transforms into a mobile crane. Like the G1 figure, the crane is extendable, but unlike the G1 figure, The crane portion of the figure can be detached and used as a weapon, some kinda battle axe. I'm not fond of attaching all the guns of each member onto the crane and calling it a weapon, and it isn't something that is true to the comics / cartoon. It is just an additional accessory that is could work, i suppose, like some kind of makeshift weapon. Therefore, to me it is non-existant and not photographed for this review.
The designers at Maketoys does make it a point to maintain the proportions of each member of the combiner team, without them being too bulky or sacrificing their articulation. Long Haul is the only member that appears to be a little on the bulky side in robot mode, but still, it is nicely done without being too top heavy. Long Haul transforms into a dump truck, and on its back in vehicle mode, we can store the chrome pipes and also the chest shield that is attached to Devastator. His transformation sequence is somewhat complicated, but I would rank him no. 2 right after Scrapper, in terms of complexity. Long Haul forms the abs and hips of Devastator, and I like how the designers shifted his wheels to the sides of his hips (and Devastator's), which looks great.
Mixmaster looks nice in vehicle mode, but while in the G1 version, the rotating drum that mixes the concrete does rotate, whereas in the 2012 makeover, the drum stays put. I don't think that it is something to complain about really, but I am sure some would prefer if the drum turned. The end of the vechicle where you would pour the concrete powder into becomes a projectile launcher in the G1 version. This remains unchanged for Maketoys version, which I think is great because it has become a very distinct feature of Mixmaster in robot mode. Maketoys, however, created a flip down hatch that covers the missles on top of Mixmaster's head, which, when flipped down, doubles up as an aiming visor the covers the eyes of the robot. Nice detail!
Scavenger is up next. While there isn't much to say about him in vehicle mode, I must say alot of thought went into the transformation of the tracks into legs. For one, you will notice that the tracks are brought closer to one another at the hips in robot mode, and much further apart when in vehicle mode. I really like the detail that the designers used to transform the tracks in order to achieve that. Another thing that is quite consistent with Maketoys' Constructicons in robot mode is that the feet portion is ball jointed and able to turn and rest firmly on the ground when the legs are posed slightly apart. This is a remarkable feature that makes the robot mode look natural in wide stance. Scavenger's arms are able to transform themselves so that Devastator arms can be attached to him, as though he's been given Hulk gloves on Christmas morning...! You can see, however, that his arms transformation is really him doing a "chicken wing" stance, and then holding on to the gestalt's forearm attachments. Good effort still, I must say.
Bonecrusher wears the same pants as Scavenger does. Well, the tracks details are identical, giving the robot identical looks waist down in robot mode. I guess it was important for the designers at Maketoys to create exact looking tracks, so that when combined to form Devastator, the two tracks, so visible at the gestalts shoulders, look balanced. You will notice that in robot mode, Bonecrusher carries what seems like swords on the sides of his waist. True enough, the handles of these swords are able to be removed, forming very long and narrow "cups". I wondered why they designed like this, but the instruction manual actually described how these "cups" can be inserted with a typical 1/144 scale gundam's light sabre plastic! Well, again I think it is great effort that the designers thought of it, and Transformers does sometimes use light sabres in their fights (the most classic being Megatron vs Prime in the movie, where Megs used a light sabre to injure Optimus). However, I had hoped they included the purple (or yellow) translucent plastics so that us collectors don't have to go and hunt for one amidst our gundam toys (if we own any to begin with)!
And last but not least... Scrapper! Scrapper's the hardest to transform amongst all of Maketoy's Constructicons, imo... I think it is because of the tight spaces without any room for maneuvering the parts around that gives me so much trouble when transforming him. I usually just separate him at his ball waist joint and transform his upper and lower bodies separately, before attaching them back together. The leader of the Constructicons transforms into a decent looking robot, but when complete, the transformation sequence renders his head immobile becuase the loader trunk has been flipped behind his head and obstructs its movements...! Mine can only look at eye level or downwards all the time. You can see from the photo showing Scrapper in robot mode below that the chest shield transforms into a shield that can be held by most of the Constructicons in robot mode.
And now... when your powers combine, I am Captain Pla... wait. I think they just go "Constructicons, UNITE!", or if they are in Japan, GATTAI~~~! The 6 robots combine to form Devastator, and this Maketoys' version measures 11 inches to top of head. In my mind, I always perceive Devastator with visor for his eyes, as that was how he was portrayed in the old 80s cartoons. However, Maketoys did provide with another version which has 2 separate eyes instead, complete with openable mouth and drop down visor. I think the two-eyed version is a homage to the comics.
What I really love about this Devastator is its Dreamwave / IDW comic proportions, which are somewhat bulkier and heavy looking. Another thing I love about Maketoys' Devastator is the articulation. The original concept of the Transformers toy is really not hard to deduce. There are toy cars in the market and there are toy robots. If we can make a car change into a robot somehow, the kids are going to get a 2-in-1 toy! Great idea! And, if we can make 6 cars (or later on, 5) merge into 1 big robot, you get a 13-in-6 toy! Fantastic! Only problem is, the giant robot in combined mode usually doesn't have great articulation. For the G1 version, only the arms moved, and only at its shoulders. But for the Maketoys' version, you can move almost all of the standard points of articulation in a typical action figure: ball-jointed head, shoulder swivels forwards, backwards and sideways, elbows hinged, wrists rotates, fingers articulated (single jointed hinges), torso turns at the waist, hips swivels forwards, backwards, and sideways, knees hinged, ankle ball-jointed (again, so the feet remains flat on the ground with wide stances). And, to top things off, the proportion of the robot form is well maintained despite all these articulations integrated into it.
If you're impressed that the robots combine so seamlessly, check out their individual firearms. The 6 pieces of guns combine to form Devastator's big ass gun. Staying true to the G1 version, you can tell that the gun comprises of 2 main parts: the barrel and the body, but coupled with Dreamwave / IDW influence to get a gun on steroids that is in line with the overall proportions of the gestalt.
Just this morning I was looking at my Devastator and my wife caught me and asked "What're you staring at?" and my reply was "Awesomeness". I'll admit that it is an expensive figure, but personally I think it was worth every cent. I will continue to support whoever produces such Transformers of high quality and I do hope Maketoys continue their R&D into other gestalts like the Stunticons (Menasor), Combaticons (Bruticus) and Predacons (Predaking). The day these get made into IDW / Dreamwave comic style will be great for all TF fans, to say the least.
