Blog #418: Toy Review: Botcon 2013 Sandstorm

Botcon 2013 Sandstorm

If you haven’t read my full review of Botcon Toys, Merchandise, and news from Botcon and San Diego Comic Con, click here.

I really like the Machine Wars concept this year.  I’m not crazy about the inclusion of Strika and Obsidian because I really never liked them as characters and they have nothing to do with Machine Wars.  If they had to be included, I would have preferred they be Decepticons instead of Autobots.  Since the toys are both molds that I really like that doesn’t bother me too much though.

What does bother me is ridiculous coloring on some of the toys.  Let’s be honest, the reason Machine Wars was created was so that Hasbro could maintain trademarks.  Some names like Optimus Prime, Soundwave, Hoist, Hubcap, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Starscream hadn’t been used in several years.  The toys were all reuses of existing molds (though a few had not been seen before due to the cancellation of G2).  The art was all reused and didn’t match most of the toys.  I don’t see how you can conclude that it was anything other than a bunch of random toys and art thrown together to maintain the trademarks on the names.  This being the case, it’s clear they didn’t put much thought into the color schemes.  That’s why we have toys that do not match the characters color schemes in any way.  (Even if they are supposed to be different iterations of the characters, they should still have had the correct colors.)  What Fun Publications really should have done is make the “second wave of Machine Wars toys” match the proper color schemes for the characters rather than continue to do them wrong.  Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Mold Used: Transformers: Dark of the Moon Voyager Skyhammer (Repainted with no mold changes.)

Fun Publications did pick some really great molds to use this year.  (Also some not so great ones.)  Dark of the Moon Skyhammer is one of my favorite toys from the Dark of the Moon line and one of the best helicopter transformers ever.  I say that because he does not have the one major flaw that almost all helicopter transformers do, the rotors.  Most toys either have the rotors hanging off the back or turning into a sword, but Skyhammer’s rotors fold around his torso and lock in place.  It’s an amazing design.

Sandstorm was certainly a good choice for the set.  I would have preferred him in G1 colors, but unlike the seekers, Sandstorm is not as widely associated with a single color scheme.  He really looks sharp and is probably my second favorite toy this year after the Rainmakers.

Grade: A

Thanks for reading!