{"id":22913,"date":"2013-03-08T13:01:06","date_gmt":"2013-03-08T19:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22913"},"modified":"2013-03-08T15:56:47","modified_gmt":"2013-03-08T21:56:47","slug":"vault-review-transformers-prime-beast-hunters-ripclaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22913","title":{"rendered":"Vault Review: Transformers
Prime: Beast Hunters\u2019 Ripclaw"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I just found the second wave of Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters at my local Walmart.\u00a0 I passed on Smokescreen (for now), but decided to pickup another Predacon.\u00a0Lucky for me, I\u2019m much happier with Ripclaw than my two previous Predacon purchases.<\/p>\n

One of the more interesting details about this character is that Ripclaw is actually a female robot.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty difficult to tell just by looking at her though.\u00a0 Her body does have that slight hourglass shape, but it\u2019s mostly hidden under a ton of blue armor.\u00a0 And unlike Arcee, her head really doesn\u2019t have any feminine features.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

She\u2019s still a nicely designed toy with plenty of sculpted details.\u00a0 Her wings are probably the most obvious with their various panels and fake joints.\u00a0 The blue skin of her dragon mode becomes plate armor for the robot.\u00a0 This really gives off the strong impression of a knight, or even a heavily armored space warrior like Samus.\u00a0 She\u2019s also got smaller details like the protective collar around her shoulders, a spine, and jet-like exhaust ports beneath her wings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Her robot head is an interesting piece.\u00a0 Like I said earlier, it doesn\u2019t really look female.\u00a0 They way it\u2019s designed with her mouth and eyes separate red pieces, it really gives off the impression of a helmet more than a face.\u00a0 Either way, it\u2019s still nicely designed.\u00a0 Its wing-like horns and bared teeth really give off the strong impression of a demon bat.\u00a0 The one thing I do find odd is the circle design in her mouth.\u00a0 I have no idea what that\u2019s supposed to be.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Transformation on Ripclaw is easy, but there are a couple of engineering that I really liked.\u00a0 In dragon mode her upper torso is bent back and you have to straighten it for robot mode.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if many other Transformers figures do this, but I\u2019d never seen it before.\u00a0 I also like the placement of her armor.\u00a0 Her chest and neck fold down and behind her to give her those shoulder pads, while the pieces on her thighs fold down to cover the ankles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One thing on this figure that I am concerned about is the use of a very soft and rubbery plastic on her dragon head and tail.\u00a0 The head is the most frustrating part since the lower jaw is a regular hard plastic, while the upper jaw and rest of the head is rubber.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t quite look right stylistically.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The tail is entirely different.\u00a0 It\u2019s a long rubber cord with hard plastic pieces slipped over it.\u00a0 The cord can be stretched to lock into place with the gold tailbone, or it could be left unhooked and floppy.\u00a0 I\u2019m assuming this was created for play value, while the upper head was done for safety reasons.\u00a0 Unfortunately I don\u2019t see either piece aging very well.\u00a0 Rubbery plastic degrades much faster than hard.\u00a0 Plus, both pieces have joints and are that much closer to ripping or breaking off entirely the more the figure is played with.\u00a0 Continue to page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ripclaw has good articulation, even though some of it is hampered by her armor.\u00a0 The jaw of her dragon head, her wings, shoulder armor, elbows, wrists, and knees are all hinge joints.\u00a0 Her robot head seems to be on a ball joint, but it\u2019s limited by her collar.\u00a0 Her shoulders, hips, and ankles are also ball joints.\u00a0 Since the tail is a segmented rubbery piece it can be moved around easily, but it doesn\u2019t really hold its pose.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ripclaw\u2019s paint job is pretty interesting.\u00a0 I really like how they made the dragon mostly teal, while the bot is mostly red.\u00a0 The gold accents are also a nice touch and help to break up the two colors.\u00a0 I\u2019m also a sucker for the gold swirls of paint that were mixed into the plastic for her wings and dragon neck.\u00a0 It\u2019s such a simple effect, but I think it looks cool.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ripclaw comes with one accessory, her \u201cSiphon Claw\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s a three pronged claw that snaps shut when the spike in the middle is pushed in.\u00a0 The handle for the claw is covered by some of the weapon\u2019s body, so you can attach it to her hand or tail and it looks like a natural extension rather than a weapon that\u2019s being held.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty happy with this figure all around.\u00a0 She\u2019s got an interesting and unique design, especially for a female robot.\u00a0 Also, her transformation is more complex than just standing up, but it\u2019s still not overly complicated and can easily be figured out without the instructions.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I do worry about how those rubbery bits will age.\u00a0 I have a feeling it\u2019ll be difficult finding a Ripclaw in good condition ten years down the road.\u00a0 But that shouldn\u2019t stop you from buying her because she\u2019d definitely one of the more unique figures to come out of the Prime line.<\/p>\n

-Vault<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just found the second wave of Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters at my local Walmart.\u00a0 I passed on Smokescreen (for now), but decided to pickup another Predacon.\u00a0Lucky for me, I\u2019m much happier with Ripclaw than my two previous Predacon purchases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[34,35],"tags":[1819,24,1875,1247,1874,2570],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/ripcTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-5Xz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23033,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23033","url_meta":{"origin":22913,"position":0},"title":"Vault Review: TF Prime Beast Hunters Twinstrike","date":"March 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m not really planning on buying all the TF Prime Predacons, but the few that are out have interested me enough that I seem to be heading in that direction.\u00a0 So today I\u2019ve got a little review for a little figure I picked up a couple weeks ago at Target:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/twst1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23082,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23082","url_meta":{"origin":22913,"position":1},"title":"Vault Review: TF Prime Beast Hunters Hun-Gurrr","date":"April 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As fate would have it, a couple days after my Twinstrike review I stumbled across another Predacon on a trip to Walmart.\u00a0 So since I'm still having fun with the little guys, the next figure on the way to completing Abominus is Cyberverse Legion Hun-Gurrr. Unfortunately I don\u2019t have any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/hngr01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22332,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22332","url_meta":{"origin":22913,"position":2},"title":"Vault Review: Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Lazerback","date":"January 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I was surprised to discover the new Transformers Prime Beast Hunters figures at my local Toys \"R\" Us already.\u00a0 After pushing aside the familiar yellow plague that is Bumblebee, my choice of which one to buy was made even easier by the horrible paint job on Soundwave\u2019s face plate.\u00a0 I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/lzrb1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23116,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23116","url_meta":{"origin":22913,"position":3},"title":"March Review Round-Up (March 1st-31st) 295 Links!!","date":"April 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"While life has been trying its best to beat me into submission, a few site features like the Round-Ups have fallen to the wayside. Did you miss it? I\u2019m never sure how useful the Round-Ups are, so give me a shout out in the comments if you'd like to see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25147,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=25147","url_meta":{"origin":22913,"position":4},"title":"Vault Review: Transformers Prime Sharkticon Megatron","date":"October 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"shmg1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/shmg1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22989,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22989","url_meta":{"origin":22913,"position":5},"title":"Transformers Prime AM-32 Stunticon Wildrider","date":"March 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember a time when buying a Transformer was a rare occasion for me.\u00a0 But now things are heading towards the other extreme and I seem to always have a backlog waiting to be reviewed.\u00a0 So I thought I\u2019d make a mini-theme week with a repaint review of my own.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wrid1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22913"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22928,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22913\/revisions\/22928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}