| Ruination (Japanese repaint and slight remold of G1 Bruticus) Retail: $5.00 at Family Dollar under name "Quick Change Robot Fighter" - Well, this is my review of the Ruination knockoff I got at Family Dollar. Hope you like it! Ruination is a combiner composed of five components: Armorhide (Brawl), Rollbar (Swindle), Movor (Blastoff), Ro-Tor (Vortex), and Mega-Octane (Onslaught). He is a re-release of the original G1 Combiner Bruticus, so it's kinda cool to have something brought back from the good 'ol days of G1 Autobots vs. G1 Decepticons! Color Scheme= Mega-Octane is a green, white, and black camoflauge pattern with orange and olive gold details. Armorhide is a brown/black and tan "chocolate chip" camo pattern with black and brown details. Rollbar is dark green with a red wash in robot mode. Movor is white and black with purple and orange details. Lastly, Ro-Tor is navy blue and white with orange and red details. Vehicle Modes= Mega-Octane: the leader of the Combaticon group, in vehicle mode 'Octane is a military flatbed truck. He has a cannon attached to the back, which can be pivoted up and down limitedly. You can also attach Mega-Octane's rifle to the top of the cannon, making it a triple-threat. Overall, in this mode, he rolls pretty well and is very sturdy (unlike my G1 onslaught, which is another story). Base Mode: yes, you heard correctly, 'Octane's a triple-changer! To get to this mode, you just pull his back bed/legs apart and to his sides, then pull the truck chassis apart and back to his sides, and attach the ramp. It gives a really cool effect. The rest of the Combaticons can drive up and down the ramp, and the cannon can still be attached in this mode. Cool! Armorhide: a tank. He is very well armed in this mode, with an attachable double-barreled cannon, a tiny gun, and a rotatable turret. This might be my favorite out of the group. Rollbar: a military jeep. He has the initials U.S. and a star on his hood, and is very well detailed (they painted the seats individually, something that's rare). His windshield can also rotate down and you can insert a cannon into a peg behind the seats. Movor: a space shuttle. He is also well detailed. The bootleg has no weapons in this mode, but the wings can fold up or down (normally there would be two boosters you could peg on the wings). Ro-Tor: a helicopter. He has a gun that can snap into place under the nose. His two rotor blades (the main, composed of two, and the tail) spin freely, however, the main cannot be removed as with the regular Ro-Tor. The bootleg also does not contain his tail cannons. However, he is very detailed and has excellent playability. Robot Modes= Mega-Octane: the first thing I must mention is that he is very sturdy (unlike a certain G1 Onslaught I own, the "Mr. Bow-legged"). In this mode, 'Octane is tall (6 in.) and looks very formidable in battle. He comes with an attachable chest shield, which helps his look, but I took the liberty of making him even cooler by adding a Decepticon symbol to his shoulder. You can also attach his main cannon to his back, and his ramp can be used as a shield. On a side note, Mega-Octane has very limited posability like most G1's, which is kinda a plus if you're a first-generation fan, but I can't help but wonder what some people think who have been spoiled on BW ball-joints. Overall, he's pretty awesome though. Armorhide: This is where we see the attack of the big bodies with little heads. In robot mode, Armorhide can carry his small pistol in either hand. However, if you turn the bigger cannon over and stick it on the end of his pistol, Armorhide now has a mega-cannon! (Whether or not this is similar to/identical to DVD's discovery on Armorhide, I take the credit for discovering this myself) Rollbar: Ah, good 'ol Swindle. He was always one of my favorites. One thing I don't think anyone has pointed out is that, if you look closely at Rollbar's head, it looks like he's smirking (in fact, he's the only one of the Combaticons that has an actual face; the rest of them have Prime-like face plates). Such detail and so little a space..... Anyway, I really like the red wash they used for his chest. It makes a nice contrast with the green. You've gotta admit: Rollbar is short and stocky, but lookin tough, 'cause he has a big cannon in his hand. Movor: Movor really takes the cake as far as posability and detail. He has an orange chest that blends well with the black and white used for his body. He can also carry a small black pistol in either hand, and is the only one of the Combaticons to have ball-joints (in his shoulders) making him "the most-posable arms" of the set. Ro-Tor: Not much to say besides what has already been said: limited posability, small pistol. Ruination= this is a Scramble-City type combiner, which means that any of the limbs can be inter-changed with each other. However, the traditional combination is like this: Rollbar is the right leg, Armorhide is the left leg, Movor is the right arm, and Ro-Tor is the left arm. You then attach all these components to the main body- Mega-Octane. Next you add the hands, feet, head, and chest of Ruination, which are olive gold with black outlining on the chest piece. This produces one of the most awesome combiners ever- Ruination, awaken! One of the special features of the CR editions is that their weapons can be combined to form super-guns for Ruination: Mega-Octane, Swindle, and Ro-Tor's guns can be combined, and Armorhide's weapons can be combined. Overall, the bootleg Ruination set is a very good piece. The plastic quality is good, it is pretty complete, and has good playability. Plus, you get an awesome original G1 combiner set for just $5 (certainly better than the store versions- $30 altogether!) A+ |