General Information:
Release Date: September 2014
Price Point: $14.99 (Depending on retailer)
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Accessories: Rifle, Blaster
*Images with asterisks and text in italics from :
Crosscut isn't known for his accomplishments in battle, but his role is no less valuable to the Autobot cause. The ambassador's vast knowledge of languages and civilizations enables him to forge alliances across the universe. The Autobots can establish footholds on other worlds without firing a shot. Convert, arm and attack with all the Transformers action you can handle! This Crosscut figure is fierce in robot mode, and he carries a powerful weapon into battle against Decepticon foes. When he needs to chase down the foe, he can convert to muscle car mode! Whatever mode your Crosscut figure is in, his enemies will think twice before taking him on! Transformers and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro.
Back in the early 2000's, Takara began to release a flood of "Generation One" molds as reissues. While this alone made many fans happy, they then took things one step further and released several of these 80's sculpts as new characters, some based on color variations of the figures that were seen in the 80's when the line between Diaclone/Microman/Transformers toys was still a bit blurry at some stores and you could find say, a black "Ironhide" toy that was totally legitimate right alongside a "real" red Ironhide toy. Among these characters was Crosscut, a redeco and retool of Skids featuring a different head sculpt with a color scheme based on one of the original Diaclone toys that shared the sculpt. He even included "Clutch", a small scooter that had come with the Diaclone versions of Skids, but was not included with the "Transformers" release.
With last year's release of a new Skids figure, it was no shock when Hasbro announced the sculpt would be given a new head and new deco and released as an updated version of Crosscut. This incarnation of Crosscut has also appeared here and there in the current IDW Publishing "Transformers" titles. You'll definitely want to read my Skids review to get a good sense of my thoughts on the design of the figure/sculpt. This review will focus on the changes made to the figure for this release.
Robot Mode:
I've often said that if you use dramatically different colors, a sculpt can look completely different up front even if you only change one part like the head and that is certainly the case here. Instead of the blue and silver colors used on Skids, Crosscut is mostly silver and black plastic. These were the two primary colors of the 2002 version of the figure so it stays consistent with the original Crosscut. Silver is the dominant color with black used for smaller parts like his elbows, weapons, waist and thighs. The paint colors used on the figure include metallic red, silver and yellow. My favorite of these is the metallic red, which is a wonderfully deep and eye catching color. You'll find this on his feet, waist, hands, chest, head and the shoulder based missile pods. Silver is found on the sides of the wheels and yellow is used for smaller details like the eyes, headlights and the "missiles" on the missile pods. Right on the middle of his chest is a large, red Autobot symbol. This is one of the most eye catching color schemes I've seen in a while. It's not super intricate (meaning not every nook and cranny has some type of deco on it) but it is dramatic and very effective.
The other change in the figure is the head sculpt. Based on the Diaclone "Honda City R" head sculpt, this features a helmet section with a crest that has a ridge running down the center. He has two eyes and a nose leading to a very "G1" style mouthplate that's just flat without a ton of extra details slapped on top of it. The sculpt looks great and you can tell the designers had the original Crosscut toy on hand when they designed it. Also, thanks to the "mouthplate" design, it gives the look of the sculpt a very different "feel" than Skids, who has a much more human face with a mouth.
All the joints on this figure are nice and tight. You do have to play with the legs a bit to get him to stand, and now that I'm reviewing this sculpt again I find myself wishing it had a small heel piece in the back, which would add stability. This isn't a deal breaker however. He can stand and pose just fine (all my photos do not involve any extra support for the figure) it just takes a bit of effort to get there.
Crosscut shares all the same weapons as Skids. He has a rifle and a smaller blaster, both of which combine into a larger weapon by inserting the smaller weapon barrel into the back of the larger weapon. His shoulder panels swing forward to reveal missile pods and each forearm has twin blasters on them that swing out into a "deployed" position. In addition to all this, he also has shoulder cannons that swing out from the back of the figure. Even the "G1" version of the character was heavily armed, but it was said in his original profile that his weapons were all defensive in nature. Since this version's profile isn't that specific, let your imagination fill in what he may be armed with!
Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
- Detach both weapons and set them aside for now.
- Swing both of the wrist weapons together.
- Swing the rocket panels up.
- Swing the back panel down and push the shoulder cannons back.
- Rotate both feet around.
- Point the feet up.
- Swing the feet up to the sides.
- Rotate the waist around.
- Connect the two legs together, then swing the lower legs up, forming the rear section of the vehicle mode.
- Swing the top of the chest section forward, swing the robot head back.
- Rotate the doors down, lining them up with the side windows.
- Swing the front of the vehicle/chest piece up.
- Rotate and move the arms to the sides, attaching the small tab on the forearm to a corresponding slot on the side of the figure.
- Swing the windshield piece forward.
- Swing the side panels down.
- Each weapon can be attached to the holes above the rear wheel wells.
Vehicle Mode:
The original Crosscut was a "Honda City R" sub-compact car in his vehicle form. Because of its boxy design, many people mistook it for a mini-van. This new incarnation of Crosscut is more of a sports car/hatchback styled vehicle. It's a sleek looking mode, but its wide body and low design do echo the design of the original making it a really cool update in my book.
In this form, Crosscut is mostly silver. This is the same metallic silver from the robot mode, but seeing all the silver parts together like this really gives you a look at how gorgeous the color is. It's not a flat color but a nuanced one that seemingly has "waves" of silver running through the plastic. It looks fantastic. The wheels are black and the windows are painted translucent dark blue - another eye catching color. These colors are all call backs to the original Crosscut who was also mostly silver in vehicle mode with blue windows.
The paint colors used on this mode include silver, red, black and yellow. The silver is mostly used to paint the edges of the side windows which are cast in translucent blue. The windshield wipers are also painted silver, which is awesome since this detail is often sculpted, but not always painted. Silver is also used on the sides of the wheels. The front, back and sides all have black details on them. The black colors in the front and sides recall similar details on the original Crosscut. The headlights and rear lights both have yellow on them. Metallic red is used on the grille area and for half of the rear lights. The rear lights in particular are notable first, because rear lights are often ignored when it comes to deco on Transformers and second the red/yellow combination matches the rear lights of the original Crosscut. Finally, the large Autobot symbol from the robot mode is front and center on the hood of the car. Overall this is a gorgeous color scheme and is one of the most "completely painted" vehicle modes I've seen in a while.
Both weapons can attach to ports above the rear wheel wells. You can use other weapons there as well to give Crosscut some offensive capability in this form.
Final Thoughts:
Crosscut is an awesome redeco/retool. He's one of the prime examples of how to pull off a homage, redeco and retool all in one figure. I was very happy to see how many deco points there were in vehicle mode and the new head sculpt is stellar. Highly recommended!
