Reviews of X-Men Transformers Collaboration X-Spanse Figure from the Seibertron Community
Sunday, April 11th, 2021 11:59PM CDT
Categories: Toy News, ReviewsPosted by: william-james88 Views: 42,833
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chuckdawg1999 wrote:
alekese wrote:Mine arrived yesterday, did a photoshoot today when I saw no one else had yet, although I have since been beaten to the punch for photos, so I went and did a pictorial/text review. I will crosspost to the review forum as well afterwards. Splitting it into two parts because of the 10 file limit. Post 1 is robot mode and leg transformation, 2 will be alt mode and blast effect.
Throughout the review I will be calling him X-guy, because "Ultimate X-panse" is just bad, but I haven't though of anything I like better.
First up is a size comparison with his 'pretool' ss jetfire, and ss86 grimlock. He is taller than both, but only because of jetfire's hunched posture.
X-guy's biggest strength is definitely his robot mode articulation. His arms have 360 wrist swivel, 90 elbow bend, 360 bicep swivel, ~95 in/out shoulder pivot, 360 shoulder rotation, and a ball joint used for transformation that gives ~5 front/back butterfly and 90 upwards stretch. This last one especially allows him to do the hardest letter of YMCA for action figures.
His legs have '360' ratcheting hip rotation with ~95 of front/back clearance between back kibble and belt, his thighs have '180' of in/out pivot on a ratchet joint, but only 100 of clearance before hitting belt. 360 thigh swivel, double jointed knees, both ratcheted, with a collective 90 of front back due to leg shape/knee kibble, 5 past neutral in either direction ankle rocker, with an extra ~2 from the thruster being on an extra ball joint for altmode posing. Transformation joint lets him tap his toe impatiently. No photos here due to how straight forward it is.
Neck has full 360* so long as head's up/down hinge is all the way down or visor is over eyes, otherwise visor antenna lock onto kibble behind the head, locking into place. Up/down has ~10 clearance, eking out an extra ~2 with visor down. Visor rests at slightly below neutral when deployed, allowing him to 'look' down.
This brings us to the torso. Waist has 30 clearance either way before leg hits back kibble. Ab crunch(!) has 10 forward clearance before chestplate hits belt, and left/right spine rocker pin(!) has ~2 clearance at best either direction, but this goes up to ~7-10 when ab crunched forward. It is also loose, at least on my copy, and flops some, although the lack of clearance in neutral posture keeps it from being too annoying. The really impressive thing about both these joints is that they are completely gratuitous; they aren't used in transformation, only for robot articulation. Here are pics showing them off, with the chestplate transformed out of the way.
Most of the figure's transformation complexity is from the leg transformation, with a really clever double turnaround on the leg panels. However, the firmness with which they tab in can make it difficult to untab them to transform in either direction. You will also probably need to sacrifice a small child to get the various ratchets lined up perfectly to get things to play nice the first few times you transform it.
A note for transforming back into robot mode: there is a tab in the inside of the tailfin inherited from jetfire. It is important for clearance reasons that it tabs into its slot, shown here.
I can't attest as to the altmode's accuracy, having not seen the X-Men cartoon in question, but it does compare rather favorably with Jetfire as a more cartoony, stylized take on the iconic SR-71 silhouette.
X-guy is slightly shorter than Jetfire in length, due to the blunter nose. You can also see nearly every shared part, almost all of them part of the kibble backpack. There's the fuselage tail, the central fuselage and it's two 'wings', the shoulder wings, the vertical tailfins and the chunk of fuselage between the wings and the nose. Not seen is the connector that lets the central fuselage fold over the tail panel.
He's noticeably less hefty than Jetfire in hand, owing to having significantly less robot undercarriage. Not having a giant bobblehead, hunchback, and digitigrade legs will do that. This results in a much cleaner undercarriage, both from below and the side.
Probably the biggest real weak point of the figure is the side wings. The friction pegs holding them on aren't as good as they need to be. They wobble in place when touched, and pop off very easily when pressure is put against them. Fortunately, this same flaw means they are easy to reattach. Again, this might be a qc thing on my copy, but that remains to be seen.
Now for the accessories. He comes with 5 accessories: two pink blast effects compatible with 5mm ports (but not 3mm pegs like wfc blasts) resembling psyonic copies of Psylocke's psiblade and Wolverine's claws respectively, two plastic slugs of Wolverine and Sabretooth, and a small piece resembling Psylocke's 'psionic butterfly' aura. I didn't bother photographing anything other than the blast effects, because there isn't anything the stock photos don't show that's worth/easily photographable. The figurines are flexible enough that I suspect they are molded from the same pink flexplastic as the blast effects. but given that they are literally completely coated in paint, this is unverifiable without doing irreversible damage. Despite resembling the aura that surrounds Psylocke's face, the small plastic piece is too small to do the same for X-guy, and is only good as a belt for the slugs, as seen in stock photos. I also did not bother photographing the packaging or instructions.
The blast effects are meant to tab in to 5mm ports on the back of each hand. His hands themselves are not sculpted in a way that lets him hold weapons. Due to the pliable plastic used, the effects are uncooperative in being pegged in anywhere. Also of note is the correct orientation of the arm panels, mistransformed in stock photos.
There is storage for the two blast effects in both modes. In altmode, there are two 5mm ports in the armpits where the instructions tell you to put them. There are also 2 5mm holes on each foot, allowing for these or wfc effects to be used as thruster fire. (not shown) There are also 3mm holes on the side of each effect, allowing them to peg onto the 3mm posts on the landing gear at his waist.
All in all, a fairly large and fairly respectable leader class figure, with above and beyond articulation, marred by qc issues. If you were able to get him at discount for standard leader price or below as I was, it is definitely worthwhile. Whether it is worth the 30% Collaborative markup is up to personal preference.
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Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 12th, 2021 @ 4:38am CDT
I even mailed the news staff and everything.
Here it is again.
Some weeks after, EMGO has his review as well.
Guess that Chuck's reviews will always have some special treatment at Siebertron.
Posted by Burn on April 12th, 2021 @ 6:10am CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:Guess that Chuck's reviews will always have some special treatment at Siebertron.
Seibertron.
If you're gonna criticise the site at least learn how to spell it correctly.
Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 12th, 2021 @ 6:16am CDT
Burn wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:Guess that Chuck's reviews will always have some special treatment at Siebertron.
Seibertron.
If you're gonna criticise the site at least learn how to spell it correctly.
Urhhg.... Why I keep switching the "e" and the "i" in English words?
But seriously, many news have been slipping through the cracks recently. Maybe that's why for the recent News Staff recruitment drive.
Posted by ZeroWolf on April 12th, 2021 @ 6:17am CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:Burn wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:Guess that Chuck's reviews will always have some special treatment at Siebertron.
Seibertron.
If you're gonna criticise the site at least learn how to spell it correctly.
Urhhg.... Why I keep switching the "e" and the "i" in English words?
But seriously, many news have been slipping through the cracks recently. Maybe that's why for the recent News Staff recruitment drive.
Well if you have time on your hands
Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 12th, 2021 @ 6:20am CDT
ZeroWolf wrote:Well if you have time on your hands
I'd honestly love too, but I refuse to go to Facebook and Twitter. All I'm willing to do is monitor YouTube.
So I think that disqualify me.
Posted by Burn on April 12th, 2021 @ 6:24am CDT
Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 12th, 2021 @ 6:44am CDT
Burn wrote:Because other parts of the internet don't exist outside of social media and YouTube?
Well, one must have sleuthing abilities to find info outside the mainstream.
Clearly not my case. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Posted by Tuned Agent on April 12th, 2021 @ 9:54am CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:Burn wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:Guess that Chuck's reviews will always have some special treatment at Siebertron.
Seibertron.
If you're gonna criticise the site at least learn how to spell it correctly.
Urhhg.... Why I keep switching the "e" and the "i" in English words?
But seriously, many news have been slipping through the cracks recently. Maybe that's why for the recent News Staff recruitment drive.
To be fair, "Seibertron" doesn't exactly follow normal English spelling conventions ("I" before "E", except after "C").
Or maybe it does, and the "S" functions an a "c" due to how it's pronounced? English is a weird language. Now time to go look up the answer, 'cause this question is going to bug me until I do.
EDIT: Seibertron is normal English spelling, as the biggest exception to the "I" before "E" rule is if those letters combine to form an "A" sound, which is how Seibertron is pronounced. Not that it really matters, because there are plenty of English words that don't follow these rules anyway. English is a weird language. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Posted by ZeroWolf on April 12th, 2021 @ 9:55am CDT
Posted by Sabrblade on April 12th, 2021 @ 10:08am CDT
The full rhyme goes "I before E except after C or when sounding like 'ay' as in 'neighbor' or 'weigh'." Seibertron follows the lattermost rule.Tuned Agent wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:Burn wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:Guess that Chuck's reviews will always have some special treatment at Siebertron.
Seibertron.
If you're gonna criticise the site at least learn how to spell it correctly.
Urhhg.... Why I keep switching the "e" and the "i" in English words?
But seriously, many news have been slipping through the cracks recently. Maybe that's why for the recent News Staff recruitment drive.
To be fair, "Seibertron" doesn't exactly follow normal English spelling conventions ("I" before "E", except after "C").
Or maybe it does, and the "S" functions an a "c" due to how it's pronounced? English is a weird language. Now time to go look up the answer, 'cause this question is going to bug me until I do.
And, well, the "Sei" part isn't even an English word anyway. It's Japanese for "celestial body" transliterated into Latin script.
Posted by Tuned Agent on April 12th, 2021 @ 10:16am CDT
Sabrblade wrote:And, well, the "Sei" part isn't even an English word anyway. It's Japanese for "celestial body" transliterated into Latin script.
Interesting.
Posted by Rodimus Prime on April 12th, 2021 @ 10:20am CDT
Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 12th, 2021 @ 10:54am CDT
Rodimus Prime wrote:And most of this has nothing to do with the mediocre figure this thread is about.
Ouch....
Like Gigawatt, it's clearly not worth the full asking price.
Posted by ZeroWolf on April 12th, 2021 @ 11:13am CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:Rodimus Prime wrote:And most of this has nothing to do with the mediocre figure this thread is about.
Ouch....
Like Gigawatt, it's clearly not worth the full asking price.
Those with him in hand seem to say different mind. Some of his asking price is more then likely due to licensing costs for the Marvel branding. Just because hasbro may own the marvel toy license doesn't mean they could have done this crossover willy nilly...
Plus looks like this and Maverick have proved the theory that not all crossovers are going to get supplemental material like gigawatt and Ectotron got.
Posted by aronjlove on April 12th, 2021 @ 11:23am CDT
ZeroWolf wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:Rodimus Prime wrote:And most of this has nothing to do with the mediocre figure this thread is about.
Ouch....
Like Gigawatt, it's clearly not worth the full asking price.
Those with him in hand seem to say different mind. Some of his asking price is more then likely due to licensing costs for the Marvel branding. Just because hasbro may own the marvel toy license doesn't mean they could have done this crossover willy nilly...
Plus looks like this and Maverick have proved the theory that not all crossovers are going to get supplemental material like gigawatt and Ectotron got.
I love the crap out of mine because he is such a stocky figure with great articulation and balance. Coming from an SS figure the transformation is fiddly with panels and stuff but heck yeah was he worth the price to me. And I've not seen any complaints from those on Twitter who also picked him up, consensus there was this figure is pretty cool.
Sure, he ain't for everyone, no figure is. And the licensing definitely added to the cost, but holy crap I got a Cyclops lookalike robot!
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on April 12th, 2021 @ 12:25pm CDT
ZeroWolf wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:Rodimus Prime wrote:And most of this has nothing to do with the mediocre figure this thread is about.
Ouch....
Like Gigawatt, it's clearly not worth the full asking price.
Those with him in hand seem to say different mind. Some of his asking price is more then likely due to licensing costs for the Marvel branding. Just because hasbro may own the marvel toy license doesn't mean they could have done this crossover willy nilly...
Plus looks like this and Maverick have proved the theory that not all crossovers are going to get supplemental material like gigawatt and Ectotron got.
Don't forget poor Maverick was supposed to be released alongside Top Gun 2 which got pushed back due to theaters shutting down. Perhaps it might get a re-release when (if) the movie releases.
Posted by transformnerd114 on April 12th, 2021 @ 1:00pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:The full rhyme goes "I before E except after C or when sounding like 'ay' as in 'neighbor' or 'weigh'." Seibertron follows the lattermost rule.Tuned Agent wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:Burn wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:Guess that Chuck's reviews will always have some special treatment at Siebertron.
Seibertron.
If you're gonna criticise the site at least learn how to spell it correctly.
Urhhg.... Why I keep switching the "e" and the "i" in English words?
But seriously, many news have been slipping through the cracks recently. Maybe that's why for the recent News Staff recruitment drive.
To be fair, "Seibertron" doesn't exactly follow normal English spelling conventions ("I" before "E", except after "C").
Or maybe it does, and the "S" functions an a "c" due to how it's pronounced? English is a weird language. Now time to go look up the answer, 'cause this question is going to bug me until I do.
And, well, the "Sei" part isn't even an English word anyway. It's Japanese for "celestial body" transliterated into Latin script.
I've always pronounced it as: "Sigh-Ber-Trawn". Y'know, like "Cybertron" the planet? Has it actually been pronounced: "Say-Ber-Tron", as in saber; a sword, this whole time?
Posted by Sabrblade on April 12th, 2021 @ 1:10pm CDT
It's the Japanese name and the Japanese say it as "Say-ber-tron". The name "Cybertron" was already taken as the Japanese name for "Autobot", hence in Japan the Cybertrons and Destrons come from Planet Seibertron, rather than the Autobots and Decepticons come from Planet Cybertron.transformnerd114 wrote:I've always pronounced it as: "Sigh-Ber-Trawn". Y'know, like "Cybertron" the planet? Has it actually been pronounced: "Say-Ber-Tron", as in saber; a sword, this whole time?
Posted by william-james88 on April 12th, 2021 @ 7:46pm CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:OVER A MONTH AGO, I pointed out the Prime VS Prime review that was completely ignored.
I even mailed the news staff and everything.
Here it is again.
Some weeks after, EMGO has his review as well.
Guess that Chuck's reviews will always have some special treatment at Siebertron.
There was a lot going on at the time and it got lost in the shiffle. And yes, Chuck does have special treatment since he is an active member of our community, as is Alekese and as is you, hence why I was happy to news your review of Arcee. We will always try our best to support our community.And in this case, since we had not newsed a review all along, I just newsed the ones that were by our members.
Posted by william-james88 on April 12th, 2021 @ 7:50pm CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:Well if you have time on your hands
I'd honestly love too, but I refuse to go to Facebook and Twitter. All I'm willing to do is monitor YouTube.
So I think that disqualify me.
No worries, we get plenty of mail sent to us that someone would be a big help if they simply kept an eye on our inbox and newsed what they could. And if you'd find reviews first, you could news them. Or news your own.
I know you are a great and passionate guy so if you want to help out, each out to Zerowolf. It will be fun to be colleagues.
Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 12th, 2021 @ 7:59pm CDT
william-james88 wrote:I know you are a great and passionate guy so if you want to help out, each out to Zerowolf. It will be fun to be colleagues.
Just helping out with the inbox would be indeed something that I can do.
Well, why not?
Posted by TAAO on April 13th, 2021 @ 8:33pm CDT
Posted by Gauntlet101010 on April 14th, 2021 @ 7:36am CDT
Gotta say, I do like him. But those tiny wings.... man. something must be done because they don't even sit correctly in vehicle mode.
Other than that it was like I expected. It's not as exciting as Gigawatt, but more exciting than Maverick. Now I kinda wish I picked up one of the older Marvel Crossovers. But their vehicle modes were so out of scale compared to TFs it held me back. Oh well.
The mini figures and the Psylock effect are a total waste of time.
Posted by aronjlove on April 14th, 2021 @ 8:26am CDT
Gauntlet101010 wrote:Got X-Spance in the mail the other day. I was unsure as to whether I'd get him, but I ultimately did.
Gotta say, I do like him. But those tiny wings.... man. something must be done because they don't even sit correctly in vehicle mode.
Other than that it was like I expected. It's not as exciting as Gigawatt, but more exciting than Maverick. Now I kinda wish I picked up one of the older Marvel Crossovers. But their vehicle modes were so out of scale compared to TFs it held me back. Oh well.
The mini figures and the Psylock effect are a total waste of time.
Yes.
Posted by Sabrblade on April 14th, 2021 @ 9:58am CDT
Posted by Emerje on April 14th, 2021 @ 10:59pm CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Yeah, Gigawatt and X-Celsior (I am not calling him by his dumb real name) are the only two Collaborative figures I've picked up. Maverick looks too dull and, while I like the first two Ghostbusters movies, I just wasn't enticed by either version of Ectotron.
Same and for the same reasons. However the leaked Batmobile and JP T-Rex could be enticing enough for me to bite.
Emerje
Posted by Sabrblade on April 14th, 2021 @ 11:02pm CDT
Do you mean the thing labeled "Project Bat"? Apparently, it's not a Batman thing, but is speculated to instead be a Dracula thing (possibly a retool of TR Mindwipe).Emerje wrote:leaked Batmobile
Posted by Emerje on April 15th, 2021 @ 12:01am CDT
Sabrblade wrote:Do you mean the thing labeled "Project Bat"? Apparently, it's not a Batman thing, but is speculated to instead be a Dracula thing (possibly a retool of TR Mindwipe).Emerje wrote:leaked Batmobile
Is there a Dracula movie coming soon? That's such a strange and random thing to do a crossover with. My interest has plummeted.
Emerje
Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 15th, 2021 @ 4:41am CDT
Emerje wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Do you mean the thing labeled "Project Bat"? Apparently, it's not a Batman thing, but is speculated to instead be a Dracula thing (possibly a retool of TR Mindwipe).Emerje wrote:leaked Batmobile
Is there a Dracula movie coming soon? That's such a strange and random thing to do a crossover with. My interest has plummeted.
Emerje
My interest would have taken quite a spike if Hasbro would have finally partnered with DC. But I'll gladly take a Draculaformers.
However, my interest is flatlining because I'm sure the damn thing will be overcharged at more than double the price of a normal toy of it's category.
Only the X-Men bot have kinda broken the rule by "only" having a 20$CAN markup over the normal SS leader. I'm not holding my breath for "Dracula".
Posted by ZeroWolf on April 15th, 2021 @ 4:48am CDT
Unless of course, we're way of base and it means bat as in baseball bat
Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 15th, 2021 @ 6:00am CDT
ZeroWolf wrote:If speculation is true about mindwipe then looking at Gigawatt's price is possibly the way to go. It's universal who own the monster license isn't it? Remember when they tried to make the dark universe a thing Though a Draculotron might be fun, question is, what about the other monsters?
Unless of course, we're way of base and it means bat as in baseball bat
Well, they could dust off the old X-Over Hulk and turn him into Frankenstein's monster for once. ER Arcee could be The Mummy and she would "transform" into her sarcophagus. Fishman could be anyone.
Posted by ZeroWolf on April 15th, 2021 @ 7:12am CDT
-Kanrabat- wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:If speculation is true about mindwipe then looking at Gigawatt's price is possibly the way to go. It's universal who own the monster license isn't it? Remember when they tried to make the dark universe a thing Though a Draculotron might be fun, question is, what about the other monsters?
Unless of course, we're way of base and it means bat as in baseball bat
Well, they could dust off the old X-Over Hulk and turn him into Frankenstein's monster for once. ER Arcee could be The Mummy and she would "transform" into her sarcophagus. Fishman could be anyone.
That Arcee idea is amazing, especially if they based the look in the Tom Cruise movie.
Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 15th, 2021 @ 7:24am CDT
ZeroWolf wrote:That Arcee idea is amazing, especially if they based the look in the Tom Cruise movie.
Hell yeah!
And the inside of the sarcophagus could be painted and sculpted as "evil aura" effects.
Posted by TF-fan kev777 on April 15th, 2021 @ 7:30am CDT
ZeroWolf wrote:If speculation is true about mindwipe then looking at Gigawatt's price is possibly the way to go. It's universal who own the monster license isn't it? Remember when they tried to make the dark universe a thing Though a Draculotron might be fun, question is, what about the other monsters?
Unless of course, we're way of base and it means bat as in baseball bat
Could they possibly be trying to tie it to a 30th anniversary of Bram Stokers Dracula? released in 1992?
Posted by -Kanrabat- on April 15th, 2021 @ 8:11am CDT
TF-fan kev777 wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:If speculation is true about mindwipe then looking at Gigawatt's price is possibly the way to go. It's universal who own the monster license isn't it? Remember when they tried to make the dark universe a thing Though a Draculotron might be fun, question is, what about the other monsters?
Unless of course, we're way of base and it means bat as in baseball bat
Could they possibly be trying to tie it to a 30th anniversary of Bram Stokers Dracula? released in 1992?
I don't think so. Hasbro have a contract with Universal wile the 1992 movie (the best ever IMO) is Columbia. So expect the Universal Universe to be represented.