252-2
Hasbro- Transformers- Thrilling 30: Whirl
Rating of worst to best of the Transformers movies continued; see review 208-2, 213-2, 217-2, 223-2, 226-2, 230-2, 234-2, 239-2, 243-2, 246-2 & 249-2 for previous instalments:
Transformers Movie Rating #4: Transformers: Age of Extinction: The Ugly
As I said at the start of the AOE review it does some things really well and some things really bad and it does not get any worse than Shane ‘the boyfriend’s’ impromptu ‘legal lesion’ regarding the Romeo and Juliet law that protects him from daring/sleeping with Cade’s underage daughter. Like, what the actual hell? I get that this is a real law to protect high school kids from undue prosecution for dating while close in age, but is a multi-million dollar summer blockbuster about transforming aliens, originally based on a kids toy line really the right place? really? I suppose it might go hand in hand with all the other cliche American garbage that fills this movie though. Of course it can’t be a Michael Bay movie without teenage girls in jean shorts, American flags and racial stereotypes, but thankfully they got that pandering taken care of in the first half, before they got to pandering to the Chinese audiences. And speaking of the pandering, could the product placement be any more on the nose. I get there there is a lot of money to be made, but it’s just so in your face in this movie. The Pill by beats? Budweiser? The weird Chinese milk? With all this advertising they may as well have done commercial breaks throughout the movie.
Pros: Overall I love that they released an updated version of these G1 characters as they are extremely unique to the line. I’m not going into the history too much as there are so many better resources for that, but as a high level, the G1 Transformers were an amalgamation of 3 or 4 existing different Japanese toy lines rebranded for the North American audience hence the overall different look of all the different toys. Netflix’s “The Toys That Made Us” has a pretty decent episode on this If you have not seen it already. As for Whirl (and the forthcoming Roadbuster) it’s my understanding that the G1 figures were originally made by Takatoku Toys (now Bandai) and had a very unique look that I liked a lot. This new updated figure certainly pays homage to the original figure with a Blue Cobra style helicopter, skinny body type and one eyed head sculpt that reminds me of the Iron Drone army that Iron Man battles in Iron Man 2. Extra points from the Macross style GERWALK mode that the OTHER Bandai figure (Jetfire) is probably better known for
Cons: I have wonderful childhood memories of sitting around the christmas tree, basking in the afterglow of an 80’s action figure haul, working diligently on opening my new toys assembling what came in pieces and HAPPILY applying stickers to the figures and I LOVED every minute of it. Fast forward 30 years and while I love opening and assembling my new toys I absolutely HATE applying stickers. Call it my shaky old man hands or my terrible old man sight, but it's just not enjoyable for me. Am I in the minority here? Outside of the “work” needed on this figure, its overall pretty great so limited overall cons.
