General Information:
Release Date: January 2013
Price Point: $10.99 (depending on retailer)
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Accessories: Disc Cases x 2
*Images above with asterisks and text below in italics are from the Toys R Us Web Site:
Autobot Rewind remembers everything. This makes him an excellent spy, though data overload often causes crushing headaches. Luckily, Sunder is there, to soothe his friend's aching circuits with the gentle thunder of the dubstep beats he loves. Pop into some "explosive" Transformers action with these special Autobot Rewind and Sunder figures! These Autobot warriors lie in wait in sneaky data disc mode until an unsuspecting Decepticon comes by. With the push of a button, these Autobot Rewind and Sunder figures come flying out in robot mode! Will the Decepticons be able to handle your lightning-quick Autobot Rewind and Sunder figures? Only you can decide!
Pack includes 2 figures and 2 data discs. Series 01 004 Autobot Rewind & Sunder Ages 5 and up. Transformers and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro.
When the theatrical animated "Transformers: The Movie" film was released, fans were treated to an epic battle between Autobots and Decepticons at Autobot City on Earth. When the time came for Soundwave's cassette forces to attack the communications center run by Autobot Blaster, fans everywhere were delighted by the sudden introduction of the "Autobot cassettes" who had previously been unseen in animated form. Like the Decepticon cassettes this team was comprised of robots that became both robots and animals. Like their Decepticon counterparts they were released in pairs on cards. One of these pairs was Eject (a robot) with Ramhorn (a rhinocerous).
Now over two decades after their initial introduction, the Autobot cassettes have been reborn in a new form as "Data Discs". In data disc form these new incarnations of the former "cassettes" now interact with the Autobot Blaster figure emulating the Generation One play pattern between G1 Blaster and his cassette team. This two pack features the combination of Rewind, the Autobot historian and a semi-new character: Sunder. Sunder traces his history back to the character of "Sundor", released for the "Kiss Players" line in Japan back in 2006. This character is technically part of the "Transformers Animated" canon though he never had a figure in that line. This is the first version of the character however to appear in the "new" Generation One based continuity that includes the "Fall of Cybertron" video game.
In Generation One, the two Autobots Eject and Rewind shared the same sculpt with different colors, similar in concept to their Decepticon enemies Rumble and Frenzy. In this new incarnation, Rewind also shares a sculpt with Eject. You can check out the details of this modified Rumble/Frenzy sculpt in my review for Eject and Ramhorn. The review below will focus on the changes made to the figure for this release.
Robot Mode:
Rewind's colors offer a sharp contrast to Eject. Whereas Eject is fairly light in color with his blue and silver color scheme, Rewind is darker with silver and black plastic as his base colors. These are taken directly from his Generation One incarnation. The arms, torso and lower legs are black plastic while the rest is silver. Gold paint is used for detailing on his chest and near the waist in similar patterns to his G1 counterpart. His visor eyes are also painted gold, distinguishing them from the mouthplate which is painted orange (G1 Rewind's entire face as orange). The "helmet" portion of his head is painted silver to align it with the silver plastic on the figure since it's part of the torso piece that's cast in black. A final touch is a tampographed Autobot symbol in the center of his body in red with a white outline. Overall Rewind looks fantastic. He's got all the right colors to serve as a homage to G1 rewind.
All the joints are nice and tight on this figure, no surprises there. He holds Cyberverse weapons in his hands just fine as well.
Transformation:
To transform Rumble into disc mode, raise his arms up. Push in his feet. Push his arms together, then swing the legs out to the sides. Swing the center section up, twist around the legs and swing them up against the panels formed from the arms.
How well Rewind transforms when deployed from Autobot Blaster's chest is largely dependent on how he lands. If he just lands on his side and rolls off, then he pretty much stays in disc form. If you manage to land him on the back of the disc form and get the button on the back pressed, he (mostly) auto-transforms int robot mode. To finish the transform, rotate the arms down and swing the feet out.
Disc Mode:
In Disc Mode, Rewind is mostly black on the edges with a lot of the silver, gold and black colors concentrated on the back. His Autobot symbol also shows prominently on the back of the disc. in the front, a red-brown color is used as the backdrop for a gold "circuit pattern" detail. This same color combination is used for the center with the Autobot symbol in gold. The red-brown color strikes me as very appropriate. I'm probably reading way too much into it, but it looks very much like the color of an old leatherbound book, like an encyclopedia and that's very fitting for an Autobot historian. The color is also very striking against the black and looks fantastic. For those curious, the "circuit" pattern is the same as Eject's, but flipped horizontally.
Sunder is a curious character. Originally introduced in the "Kiss Players" line as an Autobot who was really a Decepticon infiltrator, the character continued as a Decepticon in the "Animated" continuity. Note: the "Kiss Players" version was actually named "Sundor", with the spelling serving as a play on the name "Condor", G1 Buzzsaw's Japanese name.
In this version, Sunder seems to be a pure Autobot with no hint of being a Decepticon in his write up (see above). His previous toy was based on the G1 Buzzsaw/Laserbeak sculpt, so it's appropriate that the Laserbeak sculpt that was also used for Buzzsaw has been repurposed for use as Sunder. This review will focus on the changes made to the figure for this release.
Beast Mode:
Unlike the dark colors of Rewind, Sunder is a bright, eye catching combination of orange and gunmetal plastic. The orange is a pretty neutral shade, it's not neon or blinding in any way. The orange is directly inspired by the "Kiss Players" version of Sunder who was mostly orange in color. What is interesting is the latitude that redecos get. Since this is the third iteration of this sculpt, Sunder gets the benefit of paint applications that neither Laserbeak or Buzzsaw had. The primary paint color used for detailing is yellow. Parts painted include his beak, the dual blasters on the wings and the vent like details in the middle of his main body. Even his eyes are painted yellow, which really shows a nice level of detailing. The top of the wings are partly painted gunmetal, matching nicely with the gunmetal plastic. To top all this off he has a tampographed Autobot symbol in red with white outlines on the top of his head.
I really love the color scheme on Sunder. The decos on him really help show off the nicely crafted details on this sculpt and it adds a nice visual punch to use yellow (plus it plays into his name as a reference to "The Sun"). The gunmetal color is a fantastic contrast color and serves as a nice "machine like" color.
Transformation:
To convert him back into a data disc, push the head back, fold the tail over it and then push the wings in. To transform him back, press the button on the bottom of the disc and all his parts will spring open. In general, when you drop him from Soundwave's chest (more on that below), the ideal situation would be for him to land on this button and activate the transformation. More often than not however one wing will just pop open with you having to press the button to complete the transformation.
Disc Mode:
In Disc Mode Sunder is still mostly orange but the gunmetal color shows here and there on the sides and in the back. The top part of the disc has a red background with gold on top. On most of the disc the gold forms a "circuit" pattern. This is the same pattern used on Ratbat but reversed. The gold and red combination of colors is very nice and also classically Asian so it appeals to that side of my aesthetic tastes.
Final Thoughts:
This two pack is not as exciting as Eject & Rewind in the sense that both sculpts are redecos. However, it appeals to me because Rewind looks great and is a fun character. I also appreciate bringing in a formerly obscure Japanese character into the "primary" US based ficiton. Add to that a great paint job on Sunder and this set is definitely recommended!
