I grew up on Transformers, but hadn't collected the toys since my younger teenage years. I was recently pulled back in, however, after I saw the Studio Series 86 line, based on the 1986 animated film, which, by the way, is an awesome movie and highly recommended! I'd seen the toys on shelves in previous years, and they definitely caught my attention, but one of the line's offerings made it impossible to continue resisting. You'll see just which one below! This article contains short reviews and pictures of all the figures currently in my possession, in order of when I obtained them.
Bumblebee
Very nice little figure! He's very posable and both forms look great, even if the car mode doesn't hold together quite as solidly as I'd like. It's always kinda splitting open in the middle. Comes with a little silver gun. He was the first one I got from this line. I had already preordered a handful, but I found Bumblebee locally, so he went home with me. I played with him a lot for a while! I hope he wasn't enjoying his only child status, because I was pretty quick to grab more.
Coronation Starscream
I quickly broke one of his pauldrons by storing them in the back of his throne as intended, and one of the slots had a death grip on the peg. So... maybe don't do that. Considering he can barely sit in the throne anyway, I don't think it was worth the price increase to include it, but I do love the crown, pauldrons and big pink cape. The figure looks great as a robot or a jet, though the transformation has a step or two that make me feel like I might break it even more.
Sludge
I adore this figure. He's got a big chunky robot mode and a big imposing yet kind of adorable dinosaur mode. The brachiosaurus does have a hollow cavity in his underbelly with his two robot feet sticking down out of it, but I think the robot mode kinda makes up for it. It's so rock solid that you can't even imagine how it becomes a dinosaur until you put your hands on it and see how the parts move. It's brilliant. His gun is kinda swanky too, with its gold accents. It stores on the aforementioned protruding robot feet in dino mode, but I would've gladly traded that feature to fill in his chest. This figure is known to have certain loose parts, like his "wings" and his legs, but I found a fix for the legs involving a simple cotton swab. Nothing on the wings yet, though. Maybe a little careful heat...? I'm not too worried about them.
Scrapper
Here's one that probably costs a little more than it needs to, but regardless, I'm a fan. Solid articulation in robot mode, cute little front loader mode, and as fans will know, Scrapper can also transform into the right leg (or more accurately, the right foot and shin) of the legendary Devastator, who, when completed, I estimate will stand just over a foot tall. I've heard the increased price on this figure is due to the cost of installing some extra articulation for his leg mode, which will give Big Dev more posability. I cannot wait to assemble Devastator late this year, and in fact, he's why I started collecting this line in the first place. I knew I had to get all the constructicons, so I figured I'd grab some of the other standouts, too. Scrapper comes with a small black blaster and two purple blasters which connect together to form Devastator's giant gun.
Swoop
This dinobot has quite a simple transformation, but it doesn't really need to be more than that. He looks great in either mode, and in pteranodon form, his wingspan is quite impressive. At a whopping 13", it's as long as a fully outstretched Sludge! He comes with two guns to be mounted under his wings or held in his hands, plus two swords, one of which is Grimlock's. The kid in me can't help but wish his guns fired spring-loaded missiles, but the adult in me recognizes that none of my childhood Transformers kept their missiles for very long. Who knows where they ended up... His transformation can chip the gold paint on the pteranodon form's head, as the circular parts on one or both sides may be misaligned with the holes they're meant to go into. That could just a problem with my figure specifically, but it's worth pointing out, I feel.
Snarl
His stegosaurus mode is SO. CUTE. He's so fat and squat that if it weren't for the armored plates jutting out of his back, I'd give him the biggest hug. His robot mode is great too, though I do feel like he looks a bit too similar to Sludge, but that one's on whoever designed the character back in the day, rather than this specific figure. The insides of his legs are hollow and you can see his dino mode's front legs folded up inside, which makes me appreciate Sludge's dino mode even more. He comes with a silver sword that can be stuck onto his back in dino mode, which, like a lot of these alt mode weapon storages, doesn't look good or really make much sense. Just chuck it in a drawer when he's a dinosaur (rhyme!!). Definitely one of my favorites over all, though. He may take up like two or three seconds of screen time in the film that this line is based on, but this figure takes up a lot of room in my heart.
Wreck-Gar
I'm not sure how, but this Junkion somehow manages to pop despite his colors being fairly dark. His robot mode looks wonderful, and his motorcycle mode isn't too bad. His beard looks like it might be put on a little wrong, but it's the same way in stock photos, too... so, I dunno. His nipple gun things are on ball joints, which is very funny. I'm guessing that's so you don't accidentally snap them off, since they're really sticking out there. I also like that you can insert his wheels on either arm or leg in robot mode. It's a cool look. I will note that the long red spikes coming from his limbs seem to be notorious for bending. The one on mine's right arm has a slight bend, but supposedly a little heat will fix it up. He comes with some sort of pinwheel blade, and if he gives you any trouble, try talking TV with him so that he doesn't use it.
Kup (Buzzworthy Bumblebee)
Reviews I saw praised this version of the figure for being more movie accurate, but the only differences between it and the standard version are some of the colors. I have to say, this is another very impressive figure. The robot mode looks just about spot on, the truck mode is solid and fits together very well, and the transformation is... well, it's a little weird. There are a few thinner parts that had me worried, but they seem to be made of a more durable plastic, so you can click everything together without too much fear. He includes his blaster and, probably my favorite accessory so far, his container of energon goodies. I only wish that his hands were made differently so that the container could have been a little more accurate, instead of having a peg on the bottom which makes it look like it's just sitting on his fist. That's my only real complaint about the figure though, so he doesn't really need to bribe me with treats to earn my goodwill. He's so good that I'm genuinely considering grabbing the other version just to have. Oh right, he also has detachable limbs, so you can recreate the scene of him having just been dismembered by a robo-squid, if that's your kind of thing.
Arcee
I had a rough experience with this one right off the bat, as I bought her new, and right out of the package, her right arm immediately fell off at the elbow and wouldn't stay on. I more or less fixed it with a little heat, but it's unfortunate to have a figure where misshapen plastic goes beyond cosmetics and actually hinders the toy. The transformation is a bit fiddly and she has a lot of very thin pieces of plastic which feel like they could snap at any moment. The fin on the rear of her car mode often falls off during transformation, but thankfully it pops back in place. So long as the tabs don't break, at least. As you can probably tell, Arcee is the most delicate member of my collection thus far. On top of that, her robot mode has a pretty hefty "backpack" which I feel detracts from the overall look, though to be fair it does compress down in fairly clever ways. Her car mode has some gaping holes in the top, and various limbs dragging on the ground underneath if you're not careful. In robot mode, though, she looks mostly pretty good. I get that her feminine silhouette means that a lot of her body can't be particularly useful in her transformation, and that's not the fault of this figure's designer(s), but it's still a shame that like 98% of her car mode is strapped to her back. I got my Arcee pretty cheap, but at or above MSRP, unless you just gotta have her, I'd probably think twice. She includes a blaster which fits in her hands a little strangely and stores in her car mode's undercarriage, but it doesn't like to stay in.
Blurr
This is a figure I was so neutral on that I had trouble writing about him. After making the effort to spend more time with it, though, I've decided that my feelings are indeed neutral, but leaning a little more positive. I don't love his transformation which does some of the same things that made me dislike Starscream's, I think his face mold makes it look like he has a huge bottom lip at certain angles and he, like Snarl, has big, unsightly cavities in the insides of his legs. That said, over all I like the way he looks in both modes. I'm happy with his articulation in robot mode. I like how his bench seating folds out of his torso in car mode. He's also the only modern Transformer currently in my collection who has light piping in his eyes, which is a nostalgic feature to me. He's also packing a big white rifle, which is cool. Not counting the combined form of Scrapper's guns meant for Devastator, it's the largest gun for a figure of his size I have so far. He's not a bad little bot. Oh right, and I forgot about his little welding tool arm attatchment. I only put it on once and it was super tight. It went straight into the drawer after that.
