Did I need a third set of Constructicons? I will have 6 sets of Dinobots when it's all done so I'm still short three.
This is a large construction vehicle. His shovel is articulated at three points. Unlike Generation Toy Scraper, one arm never lags behind the other so is less fussy to manipulate. He rolls very well on large rubber wheels. There is a decent amount of line work and red, yellow, and grey paint.
Transformation is straightforward and simple. I like how the arms slide up on grooves. There are panels that slide out to cover up the grooves, but they are stuck in the open position on mine. The feet and legs are where most of the time is spent.
Shovel is quite tall. Of all the third party Constructicons out so far, he is probably the closest to the animation model. The head sculpt looks wonderful. Line work and paint applications bring out details throughout his body. Red light-piping works very well despite the giant shovel behind his head.
His head is on a swivel and hinge, but there isn't much upward motion. He swivels at the biceps, waist, and wrists. He can also do side crunches. His fingers are all on ball joints. His shoulders are on swivels and hinges and double butterfly joints. His elbows are single jointed and ratcheted. He sort of has double jointed knees. The lower joint seems like more of a cheat for transformation. Both are ratcheted. His hips are universal joints. They are really lose on mine, but I don't think they are the main support for combined mode so should not be an issue. His feet are on hinges and double swivels for tilting, rocking, and swiveling action.
Shovel comes with a rifle and Devastator's chest piece. The rifle has a decent amount of line work, with red paint for highlights. It uses a reverse version of the Masterpiece style tab, where the tab is on the figure's palm instead of the rifle. It's not my favorite connection port, but it works well enough to keep the rifle in place. I could not find a port for it in vehicle mode. Devastator's chest piece has red and grey paint applications and transparent plastic for highlights. I think the chest piece is supposed to connect to ports on Shovel's engine block, but the tension kept causing it to pop off.
Included in the box is a small office envelope that contains two strips of black sheets. I guess you would cut them to size to place under Shovel and Concrete for traction in combined mode. He comes wth a sticker instead of a bio card. It doesn't bother me since I don't take that stuff out of the box.
I did have one issue with my copy. The mushroom peg on his left wrist was a little deformed, preventing his wrist from turning all the way around and causing his fist to fly across the room when I twisted too hard. I had to shave off some plastic before I could push it back into the groove and to allow it to rotate smoothly. It works fine now.
Overall, I'm very happy with how this set is starting out. Shovel looks great, is a wonderfully large size, and is fun to pose. Considering how large the final combined form is supposed to be, I will definitely be using these guys as my Masterpiece Devastator. Bring on the rest.
