Cliffbee.com Wingstun Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Wingstun
Series: Robot Masters
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Inspector
Alternate Mode: Saab Grippen Jet



JET MODE
Height: 5.5cm Length: 12cm Width: 8cm

   A pine green fighter with some brown swirly camouflage, bordered by grass green, Wingstun has some yellow on the edges of his wings, white missiles moulded onto his wingtips, black along the central spine and a transparent orange cockpit. He has a Destron symbol stamped onto his nose, which is bordered with silver, as well as bigger ones (facing backwards) on either wing. It's a very busy colour scheme but it fits together very well, which is unusual for a toy featuring so many colours. I probably could have done without the yellow, but it doesn't at all bother me. The jungle camo (as I shall call it) works really well, and they've made sure it lines up with itself at seams, including the section where the tail slides during transformation. His undercarriage is silver, and tends to disappear next to the greens and brown, which is a good thing. I'm not sure why a Saab fighter would need jungle camo, but this is such a nice repaint that I don't care.

   Wingstun has quite a few plane lines that his complex paint mask conceals, so on closer inspection he looks even better. All three wheels can retract (though none roll). There's a fair bit of kibble underneath - it doesn't really hurt from above, though you can see his limbs from the side. The visual impact is negligible, thanks to the choice of silver for his robot-only bits. This is the first time we've seen the missiles on the wings painted on this mould.

   There's really no play value in this mode - it's all in the transform and the robot mode. But there's not really anything wrong with it. The wheels retracting is all I really ask of a basic jet, motionwise, so on the whole it works as a jet. The colours work really well, better than on any Hasbro release of this mould. The kibble is dealt with well, it might as well not be there. A great jet mode, the only real flaw I can find is the yellow - and that's hardly worth worrying about. At any rate, the Destron symbols overshadow the yellow.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Theoretically, push down on the nose and that's it. In reality, you have to fold up the landing gear first. Once you've done that he does essentially transform. The tail section actually slides up when it transforms, which is kind of cool. Position the arms and legs, and remove the two halves of his gun from inside his legs. Give Wingstun his green staff.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 10cm Width: 8cm

   Again the base colour is pine green, and the jungle camo is repeated in this mode - it's done symmetrically on his forearms and shins, and is continued underneath his wings which _really_ impresses me. The head, central shins, hands and cuff-fins are black, as well as his groin, which is the tip of the jet's nose. The shoulders and thighs are silver, as well as the rear wheels visible on his shins. The eyes are the same orange as on his cockpit, and against a black head the lightpipe works very well - it's glowing now and there's not even a light source behind him! The small Destron logo on Wingstun's nose is now on his groin, making him the first toy of this mould to have an insignia in robot mode. The staff is transparent green, and while it doesn't match the orange it goes well with the pine green plastic, so this colour works quite well. Like the orange, the transparent green illuminates quite well. This is a great robot mode colour scheme, the transparent colours and appealing camo really work well.

   This mode is quite poseable. The hips, knees, elbows and shoulders are ball joints. The head is, too, but it's almost immobile since the metal rod that his chest swivels down on is pushing up behind it. Good play value and a lot of poses are possible.

   The gun is a long grey shotgun rifle. It looks nice, and you can remove the silencer from the front to give him a pistol, if you like. They've had the sense to leave it just green, rather than adding camo to it or anything weird like that. It's actually possible for him to hold both the front and rear handles on the gun. It'll point to the side, and you can't turn his head to face that way, but it still looks quite impressive, like he's on guard or something. Of course, Wingstun has two weapons and so he can't double-grip the rifle if he wants to hold his staff.

   The staff is a new addition for the Robotmasters line - all the repaints in the line have new weaponry and Wingstun's can actually link up with some of the other Destron weapons. The boxart shows him grasping it mid-shaft, but he holds it at the end of the shaft, making it more of a lance than a staff - there's a handle halfway up that's only for looks. I just tried this thing with Grand Convoy, and the main shaft fits into his fist (albeit very snugly). The staff has a trident at the top, making for a rather menacing lance, so it's a worthwhile addition.

   I'm glad they added the new weapon, since this is now the fifth version of this mould I've bought. It's a good mould, but fifth time round I need a reason to get the toy. Of course, this colour scheme is really nice and I'm sold on that alone. Still a poseable toy, Wingstun has two cool weapons he can wield.

VARIATIONS

   None as such, but he's a repaint of MW Thundercracker & Skywarp, BWII Dirge and Skyfire of RiD. The staff is new to this toy, and like Skyfire, a slight jointing problem in the torso has been corrected.

OVERALL

   By now a well worn mould, but I'm very pleased that Wingstun brings something new to this mould. I'd even go as far as saying that this is the best version yet - better than even Dirge, thanks to the attention to detail in the paintmask and the correction of the torso hinge. The colours are great and the jungle camo works well. The lightpipe works amazingly well and it's still a very playable toy - I'd recommend Wingstun even if you have this mould already - 8.5/10

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