A great wrestler once said, "You all know who I am but you don't know why I'm here."
Now in fairness I'm not a great wrestler and you all know why I'm here.
Now in fairness I'm not a great wrestler and you all know why I'm here.
I'm continuing my look into the Power Core Combiner line with the second Commander and Mini-Con pack, Searchlight and Backwind.
I feel I should start this review with a personal story about Backwind.
Despite him being a wave 1 figure, I REALLY struggled to find this guy.
By the time I'd decided to go all in with PCC wave 2 had been and gone, and only our local (and often missed) Toys R Us had in stock was random to say the least. As a fine example, I got Over-Run (Wave 4 never getting a UK release due to the "naming incident") at an AA before I got Searchlight. He eluded me for the longest time, but of course, I managed to get him eventually.
So onto the review itself,
I feel I should start this review with a personal story about Backwind.
Despite him being a wave 1 figure, I REALLY struggled to find this guy.
By the time I'd decided to go all in with PCC wave 2 had been and gone, and only our local (and often missed) Toys R Us had in stock was random to say the least. As a fine example, I got Over-Run (Wave 4 never getting a UK release due to the "naming incident") at an AA before I got Searchlight. He eluded me for the longest time, but of course, I managed to get him eventually.
So onto the review itself,
Searchlight transforms into a twin rotor rescue helicopter which weirdly has two different rotors. Now I'm no expert but I have Google and according to that most if not all twin rotor helicopters have matching blades. I just wasted 5 minutes of my life googling helicopters for this! Any way.... The helicopter , despite its in accuracy, is a pretty standard scout class vehicle. He's got "2015" printed on the rear panels. No idea why it's there.... but it's there...
He's got a few paint apps in this mode, blacked out windows and a blue stripe down the side. Add a couple of Autobot symbols on either side and that's about it.
In my previous review, remember how I said that some molds were good at hiding the PCC pegs and some were not so. Searchlight definitely falls into the "not so good" category. All 4 pegs are highly visible in this mode. The bright side is they are all pointed backwards which makes them almost look like engines/boosters. He's also got a Power-linx peg under his nose section as a place for Backwind.
He's got a few paint apps in this mode, blacked out windows and a blue stripe down the side. Add a couple of Autobot symbols on either side and that's about it.
In my previous review, remember how I said that some molds were good at hiding the PCC pegs and some were not so. Searchlight definitely falls into the "not so good" category. All 4 pegs are highly visible in this mode. The bright side is they are all pointed backwards which makes them almost look like engines/boosters. He's also got a Power-linx peg under his nose section as a place for Backwind.
Robot mode, hmmm..., where do I start with robot mode.
Ok.
Let's get this out of the way, BLUE PEGS! The pegs are now on his knees and on the large blue "stalks" that are behind his shoulders. Yeesh... Moving on! He's got a decent head sculpt, no light piping though. His chest has some nice sculpted detail and the standard commander flip out power linx port. He's got some nice sculpted detail on his arms and ports on his fore arms for the removable rotor blades, gives him a nice close combat weapon option.
I have to mention his shoulders. Due to how Searchlight transforms his shoulders either have to be swung closer into his chest OR swung out leaving a gap. Now there is an alternative fix. For his torso mode Searchlight has two panels that open out from his chest. These nicely cover the gaps but to me (and Hasbro's instructions, photos etc) these are meant to be saved for the torso mode. It's up to yourselves on this one. Take a look at the pics and make your own minds up.
Ok.
Let's get this out of the way, BLUE PEGS! The pegs are now on his knees and on the large blue "stalks" that are behind his shoulders. Yeesh... Moving on! He's got a decent head sculpt, no light piping though. His chest has some nice sculpted detail and the standard commander flip out power linx port. He's got some nice sculpted detail on his arms and ports on his fore arms for the removable rotor blades, gives him a nice close combat weapon option.
I have to mention his shoulders. Due to how Searchlight transforms his shoulders either have to be swung closer into his chest OR swung out leaving a gap. Now there is an alternative fix. For his torso mode Searchlight has two panels that open out from his chest. These nicely cover the gaps but to me (and Hasbro's instructions, photos etc) these are meant to be saved for the torso mode. It's up to yourselves on this one. Take a look at the pics and make your own minds up.
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Torso mode time.
Torso mode... Searchlight transforms Fairly simply but he does have some issues in this mode. His legs swing around so the knee cap PCC ports point the right way. The blue stalks pull down so they can be used for the arm PCC sockets. His head spins into his chest revealing his (light piping less) combiner head, the previously mentioned chest panels swing out (if you didn't have it that way already). The robot mode arms are where the problem lies. They don't really go anywhere, they don't lock or tab in. They just kinda sit there tucked away. The rotor blades are another problem, with them being attached to the forearms they can be a bit awkward, they never really settle anywhere.
Torso mode... Searchlight transforms Fairly simply but he does have some issues in this mode. His legs swing around so the knee cap PCC ports point the right way. The blue stalks pull down so they can be used for the arm PCC sockets. His head spins into his chest revealing his (light piping less) combiner head, the previously mentioned chest panels swing out (if you didn't have it that way already). The robot mode arms are where the problem lies. They don't really go anywhere, they don't lock or tab in. They just kinda sit there tucked away. The rotor blades are another problem, with them being attached to the forearms they can be a bit awkward, they never really settle anywhere.
The arm situation really hurts what would otherwise be a good torso mode. I don't usually have any of the limbs attached to him but he works pretty well with all of the official limbs. He works well with the Aerialbots because of the shared flying vehicle motif, further reinforced by the fact that at one point there was a “7 pack” where Searchlight was packaged in with Skyburst.
Lets briefly talk about Searchlight with the third party limb sets. I'll be honest, before writing this article I don't think I ever combined Searchlight with either of these sets. I never think of Searchlight as my “go to” torso guy.
So for the purposes of these reviews I present my thought on my first time doing this.
Lets briefly talk about Searchlight with the third party limb sets. I'll be honest, before writing this article I don't think I ever combined Searchlight with either of these sets. I never think of Searchlight as my “go to” torso guy.
So for the purposes of these reviews I present my thought on my first time doing this.
With the Iron Army sets he's OK, the extra bulk from his legs helps add some “beef” to the already beefy tank legs. The arms become a bit of a problem. With 4 sets of rotor blades, plus the wings of the the two planes things can get a bit awkward if you're not careful. I always worry about the planes rotors and having an extra pair doesn't help. He's not awful with the I.A sets but he won't be keeping them for any longer than the time I need for this review and the photos.
The Mobine armour is a bit of a different beast. Searchlight was one of the PCC's used when official images of this set first started landing. He was predominately used to highlight the versatility of the Mobine sets. He's pictured with the Mobine legs on his normal torso, using the blue stalks as weapon mounts (Google it....I forgot to take pics!).
Maybe it's because I only have the Chaos version of this set so I'm missing the big rifle from the promo pictures but I'm not a fan of this mode. It solves the arm problem I have with the torso by only using the normal robot mode arms but that makes him look like he's wearing GIANT boots. The weapon pods on his shoulders look good, but it feels like he'd fire once and get knocked on his ass.
Using the “normal”set up he adds some serious bulk to his shoulders and arms but that should come as no surprise as that's what the Mobine is good at doing. Adding bulk.
Maybe it's because I only have the Chaos version of this set so I'm missing the big rifle from the promo pictures but I'm not a fan of this mode. It solves the arm problem I have with the torso by only using the normal robot mode arms but that makes him look like he's wearing GIANT boots. The weapon pods on his shoulders look good, but it feels like he'd fire once and get knocked on his ass.
Using the “normal”set up he adds some serious bulk to his shoulders and arms but that should come as no surprise as that's what the Mobine is good at doing. Adding bulk.
Let's talk about Backwind. I'll keep this brief.
I do not like this Mini-Con. He is the worst Mini-Con out of the entire line. The only way he'd be worse is if they remoulded him in solid plastic instead of clear. Oh crap they did it.... OK he's the second worse. All of his modes are disappointing.
I do not like this Mini-Con. He is the worst Mini-Con out of the entire line. The only way he'd be worse is if they remoulded him in solid plastic instead of clear. Oh crap they did it.... OK he's the second worse. All of his modes are disappointing.
He transforms into a “attachment” for Searchlights helicopter mode, it's got a crane, a Gatling gun and two lights (for searching!).
He also forms some of the clunkiest chest armour.
He also forms some of the clunkiest chest armour.
His robot mode features knees that wont allow them to straighten out and arms that almost reach the floor and then worst of all his gun mode.
It's the worst thing about him. Nothing holds into position, his face stares at you, uurgh it's awful. God forbid any of the joints get loose! I leave him as a piece of armour 90% of the time so I don't have to think about his high level of disappointment.
So here's my Jerry Springer style final thoughts. Searchlight and Backwind suffer a lot from their flaws, Backwind more so, Searchlight really drags this pair out of the mire but even then that only makes them average.
So what's next on my review schedule? There's only one more Wave 1 Commander to talk about, anyone who listened to the early episodes of the Old Oilhouse will know what this means,
NEAT UND TIDY!
So here's my Jerry Springer style final thoughts. Searchlight and Backwind suffer a lot from their flaws, Backwind more so, Searchlight really drags this pair out of the mire but even then that only makes them average.
So what's next on my review schedule? There's only one more Wave 1 Commander to talk about, anyone who listened to the early episodes of the Old Oilhouse will know what this means,
NEAT UND TIDY!
Stu "Darkageis" Murray is a founding member of The Old Oilhouse, a lifelong transformers nut and collector of Sentai and Kamen rider in all it's forms.
He sometimes takes epic trips to Newcastle, and tells tales of these sagas often.
