{"id":30512,"date":"2020-03-17T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T04:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=30512"},"modified":"2020-03-20T04:13:12","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T08:13:12","slug":"transformers-2-studio-series-chromia-arcee-elita-1-52-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2020\/03\/transformers-2-studio-series-chromia-arcee-elita-1-52-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Transformers 2: Studio Series Chromia\/Arcee\/Elita-1 (#52) review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? Because it's got nothing on the tragedy of Movie Arcee the Combiner.<\/p>\n

Chromia, Arcee, and Elita-1 are in hot pursuit of Decepticons.<\/i><\/p>\n

All three of these characters have had figures before - multiples, in fact, in at least three different scales - but they've always been sold separately; there was a Target-exclusive multipack that would have featured all three of the bike sisters plus a repainted Sideways to depict the scene where they chase him and he gets cut in half, but that set was cancelled. Now we've got the Studio Series<\/i> line, bringing them out in a single three-pack. Probably because properly scaled versions would be too small on their own. Let's look at them in the order they're named on the instruction manual.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Arcee has been getting toys since the first movie<\/a>. She'd been in the script, so she got a concept design, and when the movie was huge, Hasbro scrambled to find anything they could turn into plastic for a demanding public. By the time of the sequel, she'd undergone a \"combiner retrofit,\" which split her mind into three bodies... at least, according to the script. The toys treated them as separate beings. Whatever the case, \"Arcee\" got a much different body, trading her two legs for a single lower appendage with wheels for feet. Her new body is thin and twisty and spiky, and has a large gun for the right hand. She won't stand on her own, so the set includes a grey stand to keep her upright (though black would have blended in with the tires better).<\/p>\n

Revenge of the Fallen<\/i> Arcee<\/a> had one of the most notoriously awful conversion schemes in Transformers<\/i> history. The Studio Series<\/i> version is slightly better, but is always going to be hampered by having to match the movie. A lot of the steps in the instructions are unclear, but they'll get you close enough to finished that you'll be able to figure it out from there. Arcee's altmode is a Ducati 848. In the movie, the robot was pink and the bike was red; all the previous toys have opted for red, but this one goes pink.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Chromia<\/a> was the blue femmebot (usually<\/a>), and has a robot mode that's distinct from her sister: he spine is straighter, her kibble ends up in different places, and she only stands on one wheel, not two (though the toy still gets a display base to make sure she even can<\/b> stand). Her arm remains a giant gun, however, with the blasters made out of the bike's exhaust pipes. Alternately, you can plug in the included sword, if she's feeling stabby. Like Arcee, Chromia moves at the neck, shoulders, elbows, and a few joints in the waist. The arms pop off easily, especially when you're transforming her (all the bikes, honestly), but reattaching them is not hard.<\/p>\n

Chromia's conversion is just as odd and fiddly as her sister's above, and the instructions are just as unclear. It's not Hasbro's fault, really - these toys are so small (Chromia, for example, is 3⅜\" in robot mode, and 2⅞\" x 1¼\" as a bike) that every piece on them that moves is tiny tiny tiny, and thus hard to illustrate. Her altmode is a Suzuki B-King with particularly nice detailing on the brakes and engine. It looks like the rear wheel should come up closer to the back of the bike, and that there's just a molding error keeping it from going as far as it should, but that's accurate to the real motorcycle.<\/p>\n

<\/a>And now, finally, Elita-1. She got a toy<\/a> from the first movie, but it was just a repaint. Then she got a toy from the second movie... and it was also just a repaint<\/a>. She's been a repainted Chromia, she's been a repainted Arcee, but finally, after a full decade, she gets a mold of her own! Like Chromia, she stands on a single wheel, rather than two - the other one ends up on her left hand, while her right has a bit of a blade. A pointy shard of the bike's frame pokes up off her left shoulder, and both handlebars are tucked above her right. There's a weird spike sticking straight out of her foot-wheel, like she's a Ben-Hur<\/i> chariot or something. Good on Hasbro for finally delivering this girl, way later than they promised to. Because all three bike-bots are different molds, all three of their display stands are unique.<\/p>\n

By the time you get around to converting your third figure from this set, you'll really have a feel for it: having to swing both waist joints 180° is weird at first, but it begains to feel natural after all these attempts. Elita-1 is an MV Agusta F4, done for the first time in the proper purple, rather than bronze. While her robot mode was most similar to Chromia, her motorcycle mode is closer to Arcee - you know, almost as if they were sisters with a common set of traits, but distributed in such a way that they're all their own entities.<\/p>\n

...at least until they combine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You'll recall that the original plan for the three Arcees was that they'd be able to combine into a single, larger form. It was cut from the movie, but Hasbro said the toys would be able to do it. There was nothing in the instructions, but they repeated that directions to do so would be published online. Then Elita-1 turned into a repaint of Chromia, and the idea seemed to be scrapped, leaving nothing but fan modes<\/a> to fill that gap. Well, once again, the instructions for this set do absolutely nothing to mention a gestalt form, but there are a couple conspicuous notches where the others' support stands can attach to Arcee, and why would that be if not for combination purposes? Let's see what it can tell us.<\/p>\n

Since the stands aren't interchangeable, that means Arcee has to be the \"base\" of the combined form: everybody else plugs into her. That also explains why one of the set's accessories, a shoulder pad in \"Chromia\" blue, is designed to go on Arcee's arm and not on Chromia. A pink gun that's far too big for Arcee normally will look better once there's some more bulk on her, and Chromia's sword can be plugged into the left arm, as well.<\/p>\n

Chromia's stand has a hook that slides into a shaped notch on the back of Arcee's leg (A), and a small bump at the far end of it matches a tiny hole on Elita-1's waist (B). Meanwhile, Elita-1's stand has a tab that fits into an otherwise-unused slot between Arcee's shoulders (C), a hexagonal peg that can plug under Elita's headlight (D), and you can slide Chromia's waist into it from the side (E).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, there's nothing saying this is what the designers intended, and it doesn't look at all like the concept combined mode<\/a>, but all the pieces are used and all the girls are combined. Plus, it's funny that Arcee is mostly in robot mode, Elita-1 is mostly in bike mode, and Chromia halfway in between. Play around with them, see if you can come up with something better. (For instance, flipping Elita's seat up makes her look less \"unchanged,\" which I only thought of after<\/b> taking these photos. Derp. Still doesn't stop her looking like an afterthought.)<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

$20 for three Legion-sized toys seems steep, but you're getting them all in one shot, all three of them have unique sculpts (for the first time ever) and they can kind of combine, beating Studio Series<\/i> Devastator to the punch! It's a winner!<\/p>\n

<i>And now, some more OAFEry:<\/i><\/H5>