General Information:
Release Date: March 2018
Price Point: $19.99 (depending on retailer)
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Accessories: "W-5 Gyro Blasters" x 2, "MTX-S2A Guided Missile Launcher", "MTX-50 Dual-Flank Boost Launcher", "MTX-LR Ion-Pulse Blasters" x 2 and "MTX-M2 Anti-Gravity Cannons" x 2
Official images and text below in italics are from Amazon.com:
- Build the ultimate battlefield: discover an expansive ecosystem of collectible figures and weapon accessories with Siege figures. (Each sold separately. Subject to availability).
- Compatible weaponizer weapons equip other figures: weaponizer figure breaks apart into 6 weapon accessories that can equip other Siege figures (sold separately. Subject to availability).
- Customizable weapon selection: multiple C.O.M.B.A.T. System weapons ports in Bot and vehicle modes allow fans to attach weaponizer weapons to other Siege figures (sold separately, subject to availability) in custom weapon load out configurations.
- Inspired cybertronian Alt Mode: deluxe class wfc-s22 Autobot six-gun toy features classic conversion between robot and cybertronian spacecraft modes in 16 steps.
- Add battle effects: attach fire blasts accessories (not included. Included with battle Masters figures. Each sold separately. Subject to availability) to the ends of weapon accessories to simulate blaster fire coming from weapon.
Build the ultimate battlefield with siege figures. Siege plunges fans into the epic fight to survive on the final day of the Autobus and deception battle to control Cybertron. The Deception resistance army and the Autobus counter-resistance fighters gear up with the C.O.M.B.A.T. (Cybertronian omnifuctional modular battlefield assault Tech) system, the universe's most advanced modular weaponry -- including the resolute Autobot army Sergeant and weaponizer, Autobot six-gun.
Back in 2013 Hasbro and Takara Tomy both released a Titan Class Metroplex figure. While this giant figure did include his partner Scamper, it did not include his other two team members Slammer and Sixgun. With "Siege", Hasbro is taking one step in the right direction to fill in this gap with the release of "Siege" Sixgun! Since much of the "Siege" play pattern revolves around weaponry, having a character who is literally comprised of weaponry in the line makes perfect sense.
Packaging:
Taking a cue from "Studio Series", the Deluxe figures in "Siege" are packaged in boxes instead of the traditional bubble card used for Deluxe Class figures. These boxes are beautiful featuring an unusual shape with one flat side and one angled side. While elements of previous packaging are still found on the boxes (ex: the vertical Transformers logo, the "Generations" logo, a largely black background etc.) there is a lot more added on. First, the background is not solid black. There are designs on it that look like sparks or perhaps embers from flames On the angled side is the character's package art. In this case it shows Sixgun firing the weapons on his back into the air. The figure itself is in robot mode behind a clear plastic window. To the left is a chevron with the character name. Below that is the "War for Cybertron: Siege" logo.
The back of the box features Sixgun in his various modes indicating a 16 step transformation. Off in a corner it show Sixgun split up into weaponry attached to Ironhide.
In a fun extra, shining a black light on the packaging will reveal Cybertronian glyphs. Input them on Hasbro's "Teletraan-1" web site and you get a translation. In Sideswipe's case his glyphs translate to "Metroplex". This is a neat little feature and I think it's really neat. Enter "Metroplex" into the Teletraan-1 site and it comes up with a video of the figure and a background image featuring a metal wall with the Autobot symbol scrawled onto it.
Accessories:
It is a bit weird to talk about accessories for Sixgun since he is basically just a pile of accessories combined into a robot or vehicle, but there are a few pieces that can be separated from the core robot form. The first will be familiar to anyone who has Sideswipe. The "W-5 Gyro Blaster" is the same red weapon that is included with Sideswipe (though the shade of red is a bit different). The blaster has a 5mm peg on the bottom and back. This pieces act as the ends of Sixgun's cannon barrels.
The other weapon you can detach from the arms or hands are the two "MTX-LR Ion Pulse Blasters". While not exactly the same in detail, these are essentially meant to be callbacks to G1 Sixgun's arms, which were just cannons with no hands. In this version of the character they can be attached to the arm so they are independent of the forearms. Each Ion Pulse Blaster features a peg in the back and one on the bottom.
All four weapons mentioned above have tips that allow you to attach a Blast Effect.
Robot Mode:
Generation One Sixgun was literally made up of six weapons and the result was a rather odd looking robot who had two giant blasters as arms (and no hands). Still, he had some cool design elements including two cannons on his back and a head with a sleek looking design. For this new incarnation of the character, the designers took core elements of the original Sixgun and turned it into a proper looking robot. In that respect the designers did a fantastic job. Like his G1 counterpart, Sixgun is composed of several weapons (the exact count you can fudge, but from one point of view it is six weapons). Two large blasters form his legs and feet, missile pods form the torso while there are two cannons mounted on his back. Since this version of the character does have hands, he has two blasters that he can hold that call back to his original "blaster arms". On top of all this, the head design is a more modern and sleek take on the head design from G1 Sixgun.
All that said, the Hasbro and Takara Tomy redesigned key elements of Sixgun to make him look sleek. The arms are not just blasters, but instead they have wings and hover fans on them. Also, the middle of the chest is now a cockpit from his vehicle mode and not just part of a tower like the G1 figure (though their shapes are similar). These redesigned parts really help give him a dynamic look. Indeed, I prefer having the arms attached with the wings facing out to the sides go give him a more dramatic silhouette (you will see this in some of my photos).
The sculpt is not all Sixgun borrows from his G1 counterpart. His colors also come from that version of the character. The parallels are not 100% exact, but they are very close. His legs and the cannons on his back are dark red. Meanwhile the torso piece is mostly white plastic. His arms are a mixture of white and black plastic but add on the blasters and the forearms at least look mostly black. The deco on this figure includes liberal use of black and silver plastic. Black is used to paint details like the insides of the missile pods and the fan blades in his arms. Silver is used for detailing such as the cockpit on his chest, but it is also used for battle damage on his arms and legs. The amount of silver "battle damage" paint is just right. It offers some nice nuance to the deco but it does not overwhelm the primary colors. The face has white on the mouthplate and light blue on the eyes. The finishing touch is a small Autobot symbol on the chest printed in red. From a deco standpoint this figure looks really cool.
There are twenty points of articulation on this figure. This includes four in the arms and five in each leg. He also has head and waist articulation. There is also a port on the back that allows you to attach the figure to Bandai stands. To truly make this figure part of the "Siege" play pattern it needs lots of weapon attachment points. Fortunately there are plenty to go around. There are two 5mm pegs on each shoulder and one on the side of each legs. There is also a 5mm port behind the elbow. This is not your typical connection point, but it does allow you to connect his blasters, partially replicating the look and feel of G1 Sixgun's arms. On top of all that Sixgun has five attachment points for Blast Effects. Attach them and it looks like Sixgun is taking weapons fire. The two on the bottom of his feet make him look like he's flying. I love this feature on "Siege" figures and it works great here.
Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
- Attach each of the black blasters to the ports behind the elbows.
- Detach the ends of the barrels on the back and attach them to the tops of the shoulders.
- Detach the arms.
- Turn the robot head around.
- Swing up the white panel on the back to cover the face.
- Swing the cockpit panel up.
- Swing the missile pod sections of the torso up.
- Detach the head/torso section.
- Swing the four cannon barrels on the back up.
- Rotate the lower body around.
- Swing the robot legs up at the hips, connecting the thighs to the tabs on the back piece.
- Bend each leg at the knees.
- Swing the robot feet back.
- Attach the arms to the central torso piece.
- Attach the torso/arms piece to the main body.
Vehicle Mode:
G1 Sixgun did not have a vehicle mode, so this is a new form for the character. The vehicle looks like a VTOL fighter. There are some nice details including the hoverfans on the wings, the missile pods and back cannons pointed forward and thrusters on the back of the missile pods. The best part is, this is one of the few vehicles in the "Siege" line that looks purely Cybertronian. Many of the other vehicle forms in the line look more like Earth modes with a touch of scifi flair. This reminds me of something that would have been made up for the G1 Marvel comics back in the 80's and I love it.
This mode shows off all the same colors as the robot mode. The white and black parts are focused on the wings and cockpit, with the rest mostly made up of red. You also get to see a good amount of black and silver deco in this form as well. I really love the way the various colors contrast against one another.
There are six 5mm pegs in this form, allowing you to add more weaponry to Sixgun. Thanks to two of his weapons pointing forward, you can attach Blast Effects to the weapons on the wings and the four weapon barrels under the cockpit. On top of all that, there is a 5mm port under each wing, allowing for even more weaponry to be attached! I love loading up Sixgun with weaponry. It's fun and looks super cool.
Weapon Modes:
In many respects, Sixgun is basically a glorified weapons pack (I mean, he's much cooler than that but still...). You could easily break him up into separate pieces that act as weapons for other figures. However, the instructions included with Sixgun actually provide three suggested weapon forms. Here is a rundown of each. I recommend starting by separating out all the parts into individual weapons to start.
Defensive Loadout
Attach the small red blasters to the legs, forming the ends of the barrels. Attach those to the sides of the cockpit/wing section. Now take the red piece with the back cannons on them and swing the hip connection pieces out to the sides. Connect the arms to them. Then attach the black blasters to the top of the arms. Attach that to the part formed by the cockpit/wings/blaster section. The result is a back pack that you can connect to the back of any other "Siege" figure. The result is a gigantic back pack. What's funny is, it is called a "defensive" loadout but there is a lot of firepower on this flight pack. It is rather heavy though, so be warned, you'll be doing a good amount of adjusting to have figures stand with it attached.
Offensive Loadout
This loadout largely depends on parts being separated. The blasters that form Sixgun's legs become weapon platforms for a figure to stand on. The cockpit/wing section forms a missile launcher to attach to the side of an arm. You can also attach the red blasters to the ends of the missile launcher (I neglected to do this in my photos). The piece with the four weapon barrels on it can be attached to the back of a figure. Then you would attach the arms with the black blasters attached to them. This time out the name makes a lot more sense. All the attachments serve as offensive weaponry and the four cannon barrels in the back can be interpreted as a rocket pack. On top of all that, it is much easier to balance a figure with this loadout.
High-Precision Launcher Gauntlet
This is an interesting weapon as it only utilizes two pieces of Sixgun. The first is the cockpit section. Fold the cockpit down, then the missile launcher sections. Then flip up the rear half of the cockpit section. Now take the part with the four weapon barrels on it and flip up the 5mm peg in the middle. Swing the main piece down, then rotate the thigh connector pieces around. Now connect the piece with the cannon barrels to the cockpit section. This forms the gauntlet. You attach this to a forearm, covering up the forearm.
This is perhaps my favorite of the three suggested weapon loadouts. Transformers traditionally have all sorts of weapons or even characters who become weapons. However, they rarely become armor or gauntlets. Not only that, I love the way the missile pods wind up on the sides. This is a very creative use of these parts and I think it looks fantastic. That said, it is pretty heavy so it helps to have something attached to the other arm to balance it out.
For those wondering, Sixgun has standard 5mm pegs, allowing you to attach the various weapons to Titan Class Metroplex. The scale does not quite work out to allow Metroplex to use Sixgun as his primary weapons (he is far too small). However, they can be used to bolster his existing weaponry.
Final Thoughts:
I would be remiss if I did not point out that some fans have reported some quality check issues with this figure. Some have reported the various limbs barely hold together. Others reported parts oddly glued in place that shouldn't be. That said, I actually opened two of these and both had tight joints and no parts were improperly glued, so your mileage may vary.
Sixgun is a great combination of a good sculpt, cool deco and play value. I love the way the figure pays homage to G1 Sixgun while still doing something new with the character. Highly recommended!
Pros:
- Fantastic sculpt.
- Cool deco.
- Great play value.
Cons:
- Fans expecting this to serve as a weapons pack for Titan Class Metroplex will be disappointed.
