TF Review: Energon Perceptor

Energon Perceptor

I was originally reticent to buy this, but due to the recent lack of new toys (I haven't gotten anything since Arcee in June), I gave in. Definitely an improvement over the Armada Perceptor team!

High Wire:

Vehicle Mode: High Wire is my least favorite of the Perceptor team and the main reason why is also one of my main complaints about the Energon line...things don't lock into place and he ends up looking more like a pile of plastic pieces than a sleek dirt bike. The colors are okay, but the entire bottom of the bike is white and it kind of looks dull. When you get it semi into place, it does look nice, but it would have been so much nicer if it was able to lock into place.

Robot Mode: Another case of a decent, but not great idea that just fails in the end. One of my main problems with it is that unlike the picture on the box, the entire top half of the robot mode is unpainted. Sometimes they are able to pull this off, but on this toy, it just looks unfinished. Again, like his Armada predecessor, High Wire has one arm that is just a bike wheel. Kind of disappointing, but I do like the other arm, which has an exhaust pipe that doubles as a possible gun. He doesn't stand up well, but ends up being decent, not good. Oh and he loses points for falling over easily.

Sureshock:

Vehicle Mode: First thing first, unlike High Wire, Sureshock holds together rather well, much to my relief. He's a dirt bike and a definite improvement over his Armada alt-mode. His colors are the same as High Wire, white, dark blue, and Orange, but he adds gold for the “windshield.” It's definitely sturdy looking, and everything pegs into place nicely. A very nice alt mode, especially compared to High Wire.

Robot Mode: Another toy which falls over rather easily. And again, the robot mode is a bit of a disappointment. The main problem is his center, which is too thin and too white. He has color carried over from his alt mode, which is nice, but it's not enough. His upper parts are too bulky in comparison to his thin middle. Better than High Wire, but that's damning with faint praise.

Grindor:

Vehicle Mode: The best of the three and it's also the most futuristic (or Cybertronian) of the three. Also the most colorful as he is mostly orange with some of the dark blue and gold (and white for the hover fans) his “brothers” have. In the cartoon Kicker uses him as a hoverboard, but he does look built to carry people inside him, despite the fact that his size would make that a bit difficult!

Robot Mode: Once again, it's a bit of a disappointment. A bit too bulky and the hover fans turned arms are too small for it. Not much else to say, but at least he stands up well and is colorful.

Perceptor (Combined Mode):

*sigh* Without High Wire attached, he's almost perfect. It's a little hard to get his legs (Grindor) into place to look decent and the arms formed from Sureshock's bend the wrong way, but besides that he looks nice and the colors definitely come through on him. You can even turn the hover fans from neat “flairs” on his legs to guns pointed at enemies.

Then you attach High Wire for the head, but it adds backpack kibble, which weighs him down and makes him hard to pose. And the head is hard to get into the exact place to make it look straight and therefore not goofily looking into another direction. Plus High Wire's legs are supposed to be posed nicely behind his head, but it doesn't work that way.

If you get the head on right and fiddle with the kibble, it's a decent combined form and definitely makes up for the deficits in the robot modes. And it's a clear improvement over the Armada Perceptor.

It's not a toy I was dying to get, but it's definitely not my favorite. I'd say it's a B, but more because I'm focusing on the good parts instead of the annoying ones.