Size: Ultra
MSRP: 87$ (club members only)
OUT NOW
Welcome back my patient readers! Or patient reader, more likely: not many people would wait so much, though to get material for this review it was worth to wait a little. Maybe.
As awesome as it is, my self-birthday gift arrived at my door on the very day of my birthday, isn’t it lovely? Ladies and Gentlemen, enter TransFormers Collector’s Club Exclusive ASTROTRAIN, with its own minicon Starcatcher and the TransFormers Collector’s Club Exclusive Team: Astro-Hook, Astro-Line and Astro-Sinker.
Only 2000 of this exclusive were made. Too bad. Well, it’s not my problem :-D
Who said that some trains pass only once in a lifetime?
You already know that Astrotrain is a repainted Armada Jetfire with a remolded head and that TransFormers Collector’s Club Exclusive Team is a straight repaint of Cybertron Giant Planet Minicon Team, so I will just add that this color scheme was originally planned for unreleased Universe Spacewarp, who had Jetfire’s head and a different minicon team, a repaint of the Space Team.
(I found those 2 pictures on tformers.com and tfans.com: kudos!)
Astrotrain’s vehicle mode looks great thanks to one of the best color schemes ever, that includes minicons. This (loudly declared) Decepticon is pleasure for the eye, excluding several scratched paint apps that were originally on mine, blame on whoever put it into the box!
Did you see where did the train go?
Some undocumented features: as you can imagine, Astrotrain retains its triple changer status even in this form.
As you can see, I am joking. Sigh.
Something ALMOST cool is the possibility to combine Astrotrain with… Astrotrain, actually: that would make TF: Classics the first line to have deluxe class minicons.
Now I want a Supreme size one to be put on some real person, maybe a giant Dead End with spikes… yeeeeesss…
Astrotrain, we should jettison some weight. Really.
Most ‘Cons treat minicon as slaves. Astrotrain is different: he treats them like snacks.
That’s the result.
Astrotrain in robot mode starts to lose some visual appeal: proportions are a serious issue here. I personally like Powerlink Jetfire’s robot mode a little more.
In case you were able to get an Umbral Blaster set, please note how Astro-Sinker and Astro-line look nice when powerlinked to it. Actually, Starcatcher’s colors are PERFECT for this, but if you like heavily armed ‘bots the former option is the best.
Astrotrain, Burning Eyes Mode! Gooooooooo!
Just as Jetfire did, Astrotrain combines with any Superbase Optimus Prime or Armada Overload: it’s a pity that we don’t have any Nemesisbase Nemesis Prime or Nemesis Load, but I was able to find a version that was awful enough to be presented here.
In case you didn’t know, it’s the much feared CostCo Exclusive Optimus Prime and Overload set, released in 2004 during Energon.
Astrotrain’s vehicle mode is full of yellow details here and there, so it’s not too bad, overall.
In X-Dimension Mega Funk Robot Mode, the 3 of them don’t look too bad.
As you can imagine, 99.99% of the details are lost on the back.
I mean, who needs LSD after this?
At least now all of my 6 primes have proper pants, and it’s something.
I recognize that some efforts have been made in terms of esthetic appeal: it’s just lame that in “unarticulated” legs mode you get all that lonely purple. Actually, ankles and hips have 4 points of articulation in total, but that’s it. no use for them.
More words that you would like to read.
I have to congratulate with Angie, Brian and the other guys from the club for choosing an Armada toy as their first Club Exclusive item. Being Italian, membership and shipping costs caused me to spill more blood than I wanted, but I am very happy for what I received.
To see one of your favourite figures repainted as an exclusive is cool, to get more minicon repaints is economically painful, but to receive such a set on the morning of your own birthday at the exact time you were born… it’s priceless. Because of this, I give Astrotrain 11 out of 10.
Naaaaah.
Basically: this exclusive can be a pain in the ass to get. I had to become an international club member, that means that I paid 176$ + shipping for this figure, considering I wasn’t interested in joining the club before.
So, this figure isn’t for everyone. I guess that if you collect minicons, like I do, you will just need to buy this set at a certain point: do it as soon as you can, of course.
What’s the difference between a scalper and a pool full of vomit? (Answer next week)
In the end, if you can, buy it, you won’t be disappointed and your shelf will be happy, too. Come on, how often do we hear of unhappy shelves nowadays? If you need some space, you can always sell your Animorphs collection on ebay this summer (TF MOVIE EXCLUSIVE ANIMORPHS MISB RARE NEW!)
On Elohim’s Energon scale, I give TFCC Exclusive Astrotrain 9 out of 10 cubes.
Take care,
Rikkomba
