Post by iTransfan on Sept 19, 2009 17:26:00 GMT
Nexus Maximus started as a long term project for the Transformers Collectors Club back in 2005. In each year during this project, a single unit was to be sent out to subscribers for free if renewal or joining for the first time was met by a certain date, and thereafter available on the club shop. In this endeavor, 2 Autobots and 3 Decepticons were sent to subscribers, yours truly among them. Also, in each year was a comic that was told in 6 parts and would fill in each universe that each Autobot or Decepticon came from. The story has, so far spanned 4 different continuities, Cybertron, Classic, Transtech and Shattered Universe. We shall look into the backgrounds for each universe before we check out the prizes.
YEAR 1 - SKYFALL - Autobot - Cybertron
Skyfall returns to Cybertron from Velocitron, knowing that he has been there but has no memory of the planet. He goes to Cybertron looking for the gaps in his memory banks, is attacked by (Dark) Skorponok who is looking to feed on his energon. Rescued by Vector Prime, Sentinel Maximus and a crew of Autobots.
YEAR 2 - LANDQUAKE - CYBERTRON
Like Skyfall, Landquake has very little memory of his past. Was with a group of Decepticons who were capturing mini - cons, who Vector Prime argued would turn the tide of the war for Megatron if he failed to collect the Cyber Planet keys. For this task, he called 2 champions of Cybertron to this dimension, Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus(R.I.D). In the battle for the mini - cons, Skyfall and Landquake meet and reason that their similarities and their meeting was not of chance. During the battle, they disappear from the battle field.
YEAR 3 - BREAKAWAY - CLASSIC
Skyfall and Landquake appear in South America in the middle of an Autobot/Decepticon engagement. Both seperate, Landquake yielding to Megatron understanding what any Megatron is capable of and Skyfall to be taken in by Optimus Prime. With both sides having examined Skyfall's and Landquake's energy signatures, they fight again in South America. Cliffjumper, is reluctant to believe Skyfall's story of time and space travel and follows him. When Skyfall and Landquake re - unite, they find the chamber underneath the battlefield where they find Breakaway. Upon reactivation, Breakaway urges the amnesiac bots to follow him, that answers can be found beyond the portal. Cliffjumper follows them, only to be seperated.
YEAR 4 - TOPSPIN - TRANSTECH
The three amnesiac bots arrive at the Nexus, a version of Cybertron that has not seen war, led by Optimus Prime and Megatron. In the meantime, Skyfall disappears, into the clutches of Shockwave who was going to experiment on him. Alpha Trion, who becomes aware of that one is missing, agrees to help Breakaway and Landquake, telling them that Skyfall is the key to their past. Here is where Topspin meets the crew, similarly missing his memory. In the process of getting Skyfall back, Skyfall is badly damaged as Alpha Trion takes the bots to his universe.
YEAR 5 - HEATWAVE - SHATTERED UNIVERSE
Having arrived back on a war ravaged Cybertron, Alpha Trion's plan becomes clear, he wants both the Autobot and the Decepticons crushed below his feet and he needs the space hopping amnesiacs to do it. He has called Autobots and Decepticons to his calling. The amnesiacs escape and evade capture from Computron to get to Megatron, the leader of the heroic Decepticons. Megatron introduces Heatwave to the group, a dedicated and brave warrior. It is at this point that Cyclonus, a liutenant of Megatron attempts to assassinate Megatron "for the glory of Alpha Trion". This arc has not been finished yet, but I can guarentee that the unity of the 5 memory wiped and universe skipping warriors will win the day.
That's the rough background, sorry if there are any gaps and correct me please if I got anything wrong or left anything important out. Now, onto the review.
SKYFALL
Skyfall was the year 1 'bot, was a repaint from the Superion Maximus and Skyshadow/Terradive, and in my configuration forms the left leg of Nexus Maximus. Robot mode is a basic, like all of the limbs for this creation. He has ball joints at his knees, hips, shoulders and elbows and 90 degree hinges at his ankles giving him a good deal of poses for a small figure. He has a visor that doubles as a gun turret in vehicle mode and can be used as battlefield goggles if you so wish. Most of him is transparent red and blue plastic with the exception of thighs, hip joint and biceps and the head has piping for the eyes, which seems to be standard fare these days. As for weapons, he has his blaster. Not much but then again he isn't much of a fighter and his function remaining a mystery. Decent enough. Skyfall's alt is a little like the A10 Warthog plane.
4.5/5
LANDQUAKE
Of the 5 figures in this set, Landquake, the release for year 2 and hailing from Bruticus Maximus and Blight/Kickback, is possibly my favourite. Again, as a basic, plenty of ball joints here, at the hips, knees shoulders elbows and 120 degree hinges for the feet, allowing a little more in poses than skyfall. He sports arm blasters on each arm and his combiner part as a hand weapon. Also, I think the treads as a cape on his back are cool, and add a pompous look to his rather hard up character. Mostly transparent red plastic with mostly purple and grey plastic for the arms and thighs while lower legs are also transparent. He breaks a little from Skyfalls colours and it pretty much makes him stand out because of it since the others are mostly uniform. By far for me, the best of the set. Landquake transforms into a heavily armed tank.
5/5
BREAKAWAY
The year 3, again taken from Superion Maximus and Treadshot/Windrazor, showed some reverse colouring from Skyfal. Transparent red plastic and regular blue plastic for the weapons (which also have clear grey plastic), upper arms, wings and thighs. Breakaway also has his take on colours as silver pain is on his legs to avoid being bland and black on his feet and on top of his head. My gripe with this is the blue paint on his face, it clashes too much with the plastic for me and should have been silver. Again, ball joints at the hips, knees, shoulders and elbows and hinges at the ankles can make for some nice poses. It didn't impress me as much as Skyfall and Lanquake before him but Breakaway is still worthy of this set. Breakaway changes into a sleek fighter jet.
4/5
TOPSPIN
The year 4 release, again hailing from Bruticus Maximus and Blackout/Stormcloud, was a piss poor effort compared to the opes that came before him. While the paint apps are nice, silver surrounding the edges of the cockpit, at the knees and on the toes, the use of clear plastic was reduced. Most of his torso, arms and legs are not clear like previous entries. This holds back the entire look of the combiner for me. His range of poses, like all the others, is excellent. Ball joints at the knees, hips, elbows and shoulder and the hinge joints at the ankles offer as good a range of poses as of the other units with exception of Landquake. It's a good take but the change of the plastic dynamics ruins it for me. Topspin transforms into an attack helicopter.
3/5
HEATWAVE
I awaited this figure, again hailing from Bruticus Maximus and Barricade, with held breath. I was not disappointed. Heatwave comes equipped with no weapons like the rest of this motley crew. He is also the only deluxe of this set. He has plugs on his forearms and at the bottom of his feet which the rest of the collection can connect to him. He also sports a red Decepticon logo since he resides in the Shattered Universe.
He has 90 degree joints at his hips, elbows, shoulders and knees. His shoulders can rotate 360 degrees as can his knees and upper arms. He is predominantly standard red plastic but his torso sports clear blue plastic. Lots of colour on the robot mode with silver and yellow spots on his feet, silver on his shins and brushes of silver on his forearms. His face is black and the yellow of his optics for high contrast. I like this one, and it was somewhat a return to form after the disappointment of Topspin. Heatwave's alt is a surface to air mobile missile battery.
4/5
COMBINER NEXUS MAXIMUS
First, Nexus sports a new head compared to the Bruticus head.
Mostly red, with black face and yellow optics and I must assume that the yellow accents on the side of his head are audio recievers. The range of poses, as anyone who got the Energon combiners or the more recent Classic/Universe/Revenge of the Fallen sets, drops somewhere close to none.
While not as static as G1 combiners, there is very little room here. Most of it comes from the connectors and Heatwave's hips. The little that can be moved is limited. He has no elbows. There is also a balance issue. I have Nexus Maximus in this configuration because it was the most stable to stand him with. I tried as many combinations for the legs and this one worked best. Just don't expect much from it at this point. The look however is decent, although the amount of standard plastic on Topspin is a heavy drawback for me. I can understand it for Heatwave, but Topspin was just lazy.
OVERALL
I liked each part individually. They each matched eachothers schemes loosely and had their own individuality. The new head for Nexus Maximus is nice but I honestly think that the central part should have been a repaint of Steamhammer from the Constructicon Maximus/Classic Devastator mould. Overall, each part was solid and not bad combined up but it needs something like the Fans Project Aerial Team Appendage Kit to make improvements.
4/5 - It loses the point for Topspin ruining the combined look and the instability combined up.
