Welcome to The Chosen Prime: Raging Bull

I look to TFC Toys for some fun and playable figures. Raging Bull is no disappointment in that regard.

As a vehicle, Raging Bull resembles a slightly larger Masterpiece Sideswipe or Tigertrack. The panel lines are cleaner in some places and messier in others when compared to the MP cars. The flame decos are tampographed. Unfortunately, his doors and canopy don't really open so getting the Transtector inside is a bit cumbersome. The windshield wiper is on a swivel. He rolls fine on his rubber tires, but parts of the undercarriage do touch the ground.

Transformation is pretty simple. The only problems I had were with the taillights popping off when you extend the panels they are attached to and with the door panels popping off their ball joints. I do wish his backpack locked together a bit more tightly. The Transtector figure goes inside his chest and is pushed up through the neck to complete the face. It's an interesting gimmick, but is ultimately more troublesome than it is worth. It also removes his head articulation. Masterpiece Star Saber handled this in a far better manner. Going back to vehicle mode is simple as well.

Robot mode follows the aesthetics of their most recent combiner figures. The paint application is markedly improved though. Red, blue, and metallic silver paint highlight all the line work. I especially like the head sculpt. I've always found robots with mouth plates to be a lot cooler than ones with actual mouths. The light-piping doesn't work all that well for some reason.

If you use the alternate head, his head will be on a moveable ball joint. He can look straight up, but not down at all. His shoulders are on ratcheted swivels and hinges. He can raise his arms out and up well past 90 degrees. He swivels at the biceps, wrists, and waist. His double-jointed elbows can perform full curls. His hands are fixed in an open grasp. He has ratcheted universals for hips that allow him to perform full side and front splits. His thighs swivel up at the universal joint, but are not limited by their sculpt. He has ratcheted double-jointed knees that can curl to 90 degrees if you only use the upper ratchets. His feet are on separate ball joints for the front parts and heel spurs, each on articulating armatures. It's not a design that I like because it is very finicky to get him to stand without leaning to one side.

His accessories include a pair of rifles, a sword, an alternate head, and a bag of parts. The rifles are blue plastic with red paint and minimal line work. They use standard 5mm ports and fit well in his hands. From the box art, it looks like they fold out to form the parts of his combiner feet. There are not enough pieces provided to form a complete foot. The rifles are also identical molds instead of mirrored pieces so I wouldn't be able to form a complete foot even if that missing piece had been provided. I'm hoping this is not a packing error with my copy. Once the missing pieces are provided (presumably in one of the remaining two figures), all the rifles should be mountable on the roof of the car. The sword is blue plastic with black and metallic silver paint. The standard port also fits well in his hands. It can unfold to form half of a combiner sword.

The alternate head does not transform. It also has blue light-piping and red and metallic silver paint. The default head has perhaps the tiniest figure yet, even smaller than the one that comes with MP Star Saber. The Transtector only forms the lower part of his face. For articulation, his arms and legs are on swivels. He fits inside the vehicle, which has room for one more. I will probably leave him in the box and stick with the alternate head.

Most of the parts in the bag should have come pre-assembled and mounted on the figure, but instead we have to do it. The sideview mirrors will probably require a dab of superglue. You have two options for the headlights - mounted down or up, which require the assembling of six additional tiny pieces and superglue. I prefer the mounted down look, but they don't go in flush. The taillights go in easily, but may also need a dab of glue. There is also a combiner piece that I haven't really figured out what to do with yet.

Raging Bull is going on my Masterpiece shelf next to Masterpiece Star Saber. He doesn't quite have that Masterpiece aesthetic, but he's close enough. It's too early to tell how well-made the combiner mode will be. I'm simply enjoying this as a standalone figure. Although their Old Soldiers line was a huge disappointment, I'm glad TFC Toys was able to refocus on these smaller but more enjoyable figures. I'm looking forward to the rest of the set.