Cliffbee.com Reissue SixWing Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: SixWing
Series: Japanese Generation 1 Reissue
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Six Robot Gestalt Warrior
Alternate Mode: N/A - Gestalt comprising Chain-Gun, Falcon, Flanker, Missile-Run, Raker & Super Sonic





CHAIN-GUN
Helicopter Mode Height: 2.5cm Length: 6cm Width: 3cm
Robot Mode Height: 5.5cm Width: 3cm (ignoring the rotor on his back)

   An olive green Apache style Helicopter with an orange canopy and teal rotor. While the teal isn't the best choice for a rotor, Chain-Gun has one of the better colour schemes amongst the reissue SixWing set. The olive and orange work well, and since the olive is quite dark it doesn't clash with the teal - the teal doesn't work for realism reasons, but it's nowhere near as bad as some of the pastels used on his teammates.

   The chopper is fairly well moulded, although most of the finer detail is hidden by the olive green. There are stabilisers on the tail and on the side of the main body, with little Decepticon logos stamped on the body stabilisers. These Decepticon symbols look really cool, actually - they're just the right scale to be large wing insignia (like those on the G1 Seekers).

   There's not really any play value here. He does sport two black wheels underneath the cockpit, but the back of the chopper rests on the table so rolling him along is out - it'll only scrape the chest. The rotor turns, albeit very slowly since it's plugged in rather than on any sort of fixed joint. Thankfully it plugs in fairly firmly - sure this limits play value but also means that it's far less likely to fall out and get lost.

   Transformation is pretty straightforward - fold out the canopy to form his boots, fold the tail up over the rotor to reveal his head and stand him up.

   Chain-Gun's olive is still dominant, on his chest, groin, arms and boots, although it's now joined by grey, on his head, shoulderblades, waist and thighs. The orange canopy is now on the front of his boots and the teal rotor sticks out on his back. He has a blue wrap-around eyestrip and delicately moulded nose and mouth. While Chain-Gun's Decepticon symbols are no longer visible, he has well moulded fists which cleverly have digits only visible in robot mode.

   This is one of the better toys in the set, and a large part of that is for the colours. Sure, it's a nice mould, but the olive, grey and orange are all sensible colours, something all too rare in this group.

FALCON
F-16 Fighter Jet Mode Height: 2.5cm Length: 6.5cm Width: 5.5cm
Robot Mode Height: 5.5cm Width: 2.5cm

   A grey F-16 with pink wings and a blue canopy, Falcon has at once the most logical colour for a fighter jet in grey and the worst possible colour in pastel pink. The middle sections of the wings are painted silver with backwards facing Decepticon symbols stamped on them, there's some dark grey paint crudely applied to the thruster at the back.    This is barely an F-16 in truth, the nose and canopy doesn't look much it should, because there's a giant hinge behind the canopy. The back section is broadly accurate, although the level of detail isn't great. There are missiles on the wingtips which are painted silver, and this silver is about the only paint application I actually like on this jet.

   Like his teammates, Falcon has two black wheels under the wings, but there's nothing in front to help out so he'll either tip right back or sag forward. The end result is an unnecessarily poor fighter jet. Granted, the colours are a large part of that, but with the mould problems he has Falcon needed better colours.

   To transform Falcon, extend the nose, flip the canopy back, fold the wings and stand him up. The tailfins and thruster sit awkwardly above his head with nowhere else to go.

   The robot mode's colours are even worse. The torso and head are teal, the arms and thighs pink, the waist and face silver, the eyes red while we still have grey on the overhead kibble and boots. The sculpt on his chest and head is actually fairly good, but like everything else here, it's outshone by the awful pastel colours.

   The boots are a single hollow block, which is pretty disappointing. The feet have a hole that I can deal with, since this hole is needed to clip him into SixWing's thigh piece - but coupled with the lazy thigh moulding the legs looks awful.

   While I quite like the F-16's design, Falcon is probably my least favourite of this set, yet with good colours I'd probably like him a lot more. There are still some mould problems, but with proper colours these would be tolerable.

FLANKER
SV-27 Jet Mode Height: 2.5cm Length: 6cm Width: 5.5cm
Robot Mode Height: 5.5cm Width: 3cm

   A teal fighter with twin black thrusters, twin tailfins, tailwings and swept back wings. There are backwards facing Decepticon logos stamped onto the wings and the canopy is painted blue. While teal is a horrible choice for a fighter, Flanker survives the pastel onslaught slightly better than Falcon simply because the body of the plane is only one colour. That's not to say the colour scheme is great, but on balance this is a better colour scheme.

   The jet mode itself is reasonably well moulded for the most part, although the canopy is a painted transformation hinge which doesn't work at all. The engines, thrusters and plane seams are all pretty good for a Micromaster. This is all undone by the wheels, which are as unstable as Falcon's. The transformation is also the same as on Falcon.

   The robot mode has probably the best use of pastel in this set. The teal is restricted to the overhead kibble and boots, while the torso, head and thighs are black. His arms are grey while the mouthplate, waist and sternum are silver. Flanker has a red eyestrip and while his face is simple, the colours work very well, making for a great face. Unlike on Falcon, they've actually done something with that overhead kibble - there are tiny missileracks moulded on either side of his head. Sure, it's still kibble but at least Flanker is making a feature out of it. The boots are almost as bad as those on Falcon, although the feet are slightly better defined.

   While the poseability here is limited to swinging arms, Flanker's robot mode is proof that with some thought, a repaint of a limited mould doesn't have to suck. Okay, so he's nothing special, but is far more focused than Falcon. The jet mode is a little odd in teal, but Transformer jets in odd colours are nothing new, so I'm happy that it doesn't clash with itself.

MISSILE-RUN
B-1 Bomber Mode Height: 2cm Length: 6cm Width: 5cm
Robot Mode Height: 6cm Width: 3cm

   A matte black bomber with blood red paint on the tips of his wings and tailwings, silver cockpit windows and a very subtle red paintwash on the engines, which sit on either side of the tail. There's a large Decepticon symbol stamped onto the middle of the fuselage, which sits on SixWing's chest. This is a nice colour scheme, I especially like the subtle engine paint, and while some hints of pastel robot are visible underneath the tail and some white protrudes from underneath the wings, the plane's colours are great.

   Like his teammates, Missile-Run has two black wheels, which sit underneath the engines, and the front just rests on the plane's belly. He slopes forward very slightly, but not enough to really worry about. He has typical bomber wings, which stick out and sweep back, while the relatively small windows tell us that this is a fairly large warplane (certainly next to fighters, at least).

   Transformation is simple enough, with the tail flipping out to form his boots, the nose folding up to reveal the head and the wings folding back out of the way. Most of the robot is tucked away underneath, which explains why the bomber mode has kibble.

   The robot is slightly taller than it should be thanks to Missile-Run's long thighs. The tail section forms more of a stand than boots, although we're meant to think that it's two separate boots. The colours are quite frankly a mess. The torso is grey but the chest has been painted silver and black, the groin is painted lilac and the helmet black while the face is left grey (which doesn't bring out the face well). The thighs are pastel green, the arms white and the boots are matte black. I don't mind most of these colours, and while the silver, grey, white and two blacks seems like a lot, they would have worked had the pastels been left out.

   While the legs aren't great, the colours are what really ruins Missile-Run's robot mode - there's way too much happening. The robot mode is well moulded above the knees, with fingers on the hands and a face which is sadly ignored overshadowed by stupid pastels. The plane mode is very good, and there's quite a lot of moulded detail again, to go with a great colour scheme. Add to this that Transformer bomber planes are fairly rare and I'd say Missile-Run is good, so long as you leave him in plane mode.

RAKER
Space Shuttle Mode Height: 3cm Length: 6cm Width: 4.5cm
Robot Mode Height: 6cm Width: 2.5cm

   A white shuttle with black skirting, black wings, a black tail and black cockpit windows, Raker's colour scheme is pretty realistic - especially compared to many other Transformers space shuttles. The tops of the wings are painted white with backwards facing stamped Decepticon logos, and there are some seams on the cargo hold. We don't see any NASA badges or anything like that, but there wouldn't be much point in trying at this scale anyway. Of all the toys in this reissue set, Raker is the only one without a hint of pastel.

   For the most part this is a well defined shuttle, and other than the back end being flat rather than having mounted thrusters, it's about as realistic as I'd hope for a Micromaster. There's a single black wheel underneath the tail and two bumps underneath the front most reaches of the wings, on which he rests. The shuttle slopes forward slightly, which is actually how things should be.

   This is probably the strongest vehicle mode amongst the set, and that's not just because of the absence of pastels. There's no kibble, the shape is good and the colours are accurate (ok, the lack of pastels help here). In truth it's better than some of the larger shuttle Transformers, such as Blast Off.

   Transformation is pretty simple - fold down the nose to form his chestplate, fold the wings up and flip over the rear to form his boots. The tailfin will sort of stick out from the single boot-piece, although you can fold down to one side if you prefer.

   The robot is mainly black, with a white chestplate in the form of the shuttle nose (and cockpit) while the boots are also white at the front, which is the base of the tail, Raker's head is black with extensive silver paint on his face. The black and white colour scheme is fairly sparse, but if the alternative is pastel hell, sparse isn't so bad. The face is well sculpted although it's really not suited to a Decepticon, with a nice heroic crest on his forehead.

   The arms are the front sections of the shuttle wings and sit very close to to torso, which is the nose and canopy. There are fists moulded on the insides of the arms, which you'll only really see if you lift the arms. The single wheel sits between his knees, which looks a little strange, as does the tailfin between the boots. There are no real feet here, which isn't immediately obvious since the tail draws your attention away. Despite the flaws this is one of the better robot modes in this set, and Raker's shuttle mode is great, making him my favourite of the set.

SUPER SONIC
Concorde SST Passenger Jet Mode Height: 2.5cm Length: cm 7Width: 4cm
Robot Mode Height: cm Width: cm

   A white Concorde with lilac wingtips, blue cockpit windows and some mauve undercarriage junk, Super Sonic is spared the worst of this set of repaints, although I have to say that I'm not sure if mauve and lilac would ever make it onto a passenger jet. This colour scheme isn't an eyesore, but I really don't think much of the secondary colours. He has violet Decepticon logos stamped on either wing, facing backwards. While he lacks moulded cabin windows, there are seams on the fuselage and wings. Super Sonic has two black wheels underneath the wings and mauve false wheels underneath the fuselage itself. Two front wheels on a Concorde might be a little silly, but in mauve the wheels are the last thing you'll notice.

   Transformation is pretty standard Micromaster - fold over the back to form boots and fold the front down as a chestplate. Super Sonic gets the extra step of folding the wingtips _up_, so that they form quasi-kneecaps.

   The end result is a very awkward robot that looks like it's been stretched on the rack. Super Sonic looks like he should be playing basketball (possibly at the Gay Games in these colours). The boots, chest and head are white while the arms are mauve and the thighs black. The face is painted dark blue, a colour that masks a reasonably good facial sculpt. There's some lilac on his boots and black on his elbows, while the blue cockpit windows sit on his chest.

   The boots sit further forward than the rest of the toy, and while he'll stand without any trouble, he looks incredibly awkward. The only useful poseability here is in the arms - which can lift up, but need quite a bit of force to move.

   Super Sonic is quite disappointing, he's a bad Micromaster and a rather ugly Concorde in the reissue colours. I really don't see why they felt the need to use both mauve and lilac on the one figure.

COMBINED MODE
Height: 17cm Width: 10cm

   A rather muddled mixture of teal, navy, crimson, purple, lilac, white, pink, black, grey, mauve and olive green. I don't know how else to say it - this is an ugly robot. The central chest is the black Missile-Run, Super Sonic & Raker form the arms, Flanker & Falcon the legs and Chain-Gun forms a backpack. While the upper body has a concentration of whites, blacks and purples, the legs have are mainly green and grey with some pink and purple. The gun and head are navy, there's a silver mouthplate and red eyes. Of course you don't notice most of the finer details since the colours are so overwhelming.

   The overall mould isn't bad here, there's a definite Superion tribute in the mould, which would have looked good in colours similar to those on that gestalt. The chestplate _does_ work, since it's the black top of a plane, and the stamped Decepticon logo is nice.

   Play value is pretty much what we'd expect - the arms swing at the shoulders and the head turns. There's a plane that can be formed from the add on pieces (chest frame, thighs, feet, hands, head & gun), but in purple and navy with an orange window, it's nothing to get excited about.

   Really the best aspect of this combined mode is the mould - the combination itself is as clever and well-though out as the other Micromaster gestalts. The visual impact of this mould is lost amongst the colours, and only the chestplate really works, although the predominantly white arms work okay. The legs are a mess and really there's just too many strong colours here.

VARIATIONS

   The original SixWing from 1992 was an Autobot only available as a giftset, while the reissue was sold as individual toys. Aside from Raker the reissue's repainting is extensive. I consider the two released to be different sets of toys since there's a faction change. To make things even more confusing, the reissue had white chase variants, which were Autobots. I have only Falcon amongst the chase series. Hasbro repainted the mould under the Universe label as Superion, in much better colours.

OVERALL

   SixWing is perhaps the least appealing of the five reissue Micromaster combiner teams, mainly due to the horrible colour scheme introduced. Sure, SixBuilder was also recoloured, but he wasn't doused in pastels. What really annoys me is that some of the components themselves have two or three pastel shades. Raker and Missile-Run are the best of a bad bunch, and are worth picking up on their own, but unless you especially like Micromasters the entire set won't have a lot to offer. While Takara's reissues are usually well done, they really dropped the ball on this one - 4/10

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