General Information:
Release Date: July 2019
Price Point: $34.99 (In a box of 10 Micromasters)
Retailer: Target Exclusive
Accessories: None
Official images and text below in italics are from Target.com:
- BUILD THE ULTIMATE BATTLEFIELD: The Generations War for Cybertron trilogy introduces an expansive ecosystem of collectible figures and weapon accessories. (Each sold separately. Subject to availability)
- EXCITING 10pk WITH CLASSIC MICROMASTER COMBINATION: This 10pk includes 5 teams of Micromaster toys that convert and combine to form weapon modes!
- CLASSIC G1-INSPIRED CHARACTERS: Adult fans nostalgic for the original Transformers animation and kids discovering classic characters for the first time can share and experience exciting play patterns across generations
- AWESOME CONVERSION: Each figure in this Micromaster 10pk features simple conversion to micro vehicle modes. For kids and adults 8 years old and up!
- COMPATIBLE WEAPON MODE WORKS WITH ALL OTHER FIGURES: War for Cybertron: Siege figures have multiple weapon ports that enable fans to attach the weapon mode of Micromaster figures
- Build the ultimate battlefield with Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege collectible figures, featuring classic G1 characters. (Each figure sold separately. Subject to availability). Siege plunges fans into the epic fight to survive on the final day of the Autobot and Decepticon battle to control Cybertron. The Decepticon resistance army and the Autobot counter-resistance fighters gear up with the universe's most advanced modular weaponry, including the weapon modes of Micromaster figures - sentient bots that become weapons!
Micromaster figures combine to form weapons to equip other Siege figures (sold separately)!
- WFC-S58 Ricon and Irontread form Dual-Port Scrapgrinder
- WFC-S59 Road-Police and Wheel Blaze form Powershot Plasma Cannon
- WFC-S60 Overair and Ground Shaker form Ultra-Sonic Shredder Blade
- WFC-S61 Slyhopper and Nightflight form Dual-Edged Soundbreaker Sword
- WFC-S62 Cratermaker and Fireline form Gravatronic Rubblemaker Cannon
- Includes 10 Transformers Generations War for Cybertron: Siege Micromaster figures and instructions.
- Figure scale: 1.5 inches
- Ages 8 and up
- Warning: Choking Hazard - Small parts. Not for children under 3 years.
-Transformers and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro.
As part of the burst of new products at Target in late July/early August 2019, Target carried an exclusive ten pack of Micromaster figures. A majority of this set featured redecos and retools of previously released figures. Two of the figures in the pack (Irontread and Ricon) were redecos of the Off-Road Patrol, which was not readily available online (via Amazon) until about two weeks after this set was released. Instead of featuring the "missing members" of the previously released patrols, many of these figures represented characters who originally came with transforming bases in Generation One or Japanese exclusive Micromaster homages.
Unlike other Micromasters in this set, Nightflight is not a Japanese Micromaster homage or a "base commander". Instead, this figure is intended to fill in an "open" slot with the Air Strike Patrol While the Siege Micromaster packs have two figures, the original G1 versions have only two. With Nightflight joinging my Generations shelf, that only leaves Tailwind as the only member of the team who has not been created for Siege.
Packaging:
The Micromaster 10 Pack is packaged in a box with a large window in the front. This allows you to see all ten Micromasters inside. The Micromasters are packaged in robot mode and roughly divided between Autobots and Decepticons. The left side says "Autobots" while the right says "Decepticons", but Ground Shaker and Overair (both Autobots) are near the "Decepticon side" while Nightflight is on the "Autobot side". The "Siege" logo is located towards the bottom and the side of course has the "Generations" logo along with a vertical Transformers logo on the right.
The back of the box features each Micromaster in both modes along with the number of steps to transform them. It also shows off each pair's combined weapon mode, but does not name them (they are however named in the official product description above). In the lower right hand corner is Red Alert holding the "Dual-Port Scrapegrinder" formed by Irontread and Ricon.
Robot Mode:
In G1, the Nightflight sculpt was unique in the Air Strike Patrol (but would later be given a new deco as Airwave). However, for the purpose of this release the designers used the Visper sculpt from the Air Strike Patrol with no tooling changes to create this character. While I would have loved a whole new figure, it makes sense that the designers would pair this sculpt up with Slyhopper so they can form a sword.
Nightflight features light grey, black and darker grey plastic. The light grey makes up most of the parts on his back and the lower legs. Black is used for thearms, thighs and feet. The head down to the waist/torso is grey plastic, but it is heavily painted blue with red on the face and silver on the rocket launcher tubes that flank his head. The wings each have bright red paint on them, offering a splash of color. The blue and the grey colors are callbacks to G1 Nightflight, but the actual shades of those colors from G1 Nightflight differ quite a bit from these colors. They look good, but he is not as instantly recognizable as some of the other Micromasters in the set.
All the joints are tight on this figure, but the legs can pop off if you try to move them around a lot. If you do, just take it easy on them and they should stay on.
Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
- Straighten out the arms and legs.
- Swing the wings forward.
- Connect the tabs on the forearms to the corresponding slots on the underside of each wing.
- Swing the cockpit forward, connecting them to the feet.
- Swing the feet up.
Vehicle Mode:
G1 Nightflight's vehicle mode was a Grumman F-14 Tomcat. This sculpt instead gives Nightflight a Stealth Fighter-styled vehicle form and it looks cool even if it is not "G1 Accurate".
Nightflight mostly shows off the light grey plastic in this mode. His cockpit windows are painted black and there is a purple Decepticon symbol in the front. It's a good looking vehicle mode and you can look at it as the "scifi" form that Nightflight had before he arrived on Earth and "scanned" an F-14 as his alt-mode. Unlike Slyhopper, he does not have a ton of attachment points for Blast Effects, but he does have one. Flip the head around and reveal the attachment point for his weapon mode. Blast Effects will fit inside this, looking like he is using some type of rocket booster.
Transformation to Weapon Mode (Starting in Vehicle mode):
- Swing the head back to reveal the peg used to connect to Slyhopper.
- Connect the two figures.
Weapon Mode:
The Visper/Nightflight sculpt does not have its own individual weapon mode. Instead, you need to attach it to the Storm Cloud/Slyhopper sculpt to form a sword weapon. In this case, Slyhopper and Nightflight team up to form the Dual-Edged Soundbreaker Sword! This is the same design as the sword formed by Siege Storm Cloud and Visper. I love the way this sword looks, and it also pays homage to the swords formed by Mini-Cons in the Armada and Energon. toy lines.
The Dual-Edged Soundbreaker Sword has attachment points on the sides of Nightflight to attach the "wave" Battle Effect piece included with Siege Lionizer. It looks great and really gives the weapon some "life"!
Final Thoughts:
While the sculpt may not be "G1 accurate", it doesn't really need to be since this is "Cybertronian Nightflight" before he comes to Earth. When this 10 pack was originally announced, I had hoped it would include figures to "fill in" the gaps in the Micromaster two-packs in Siege. This figure does just that. I do recommend this entire boxed set since it is a lot of fun all in one package. It is also quite a bargain since ten Micromasters would normally cost you about $50 USD at retail.
Pros:
- Excellent sculpt (hands aside).
- Fantastic deco.
- Fun play value.
Cons:
- Design does not include hands.
- No individual weapon mode.
