General Information:
Release Date: February 2009
Price Point: $4.99 (varies depending on retailer)
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Accessories: None
Text from Hasbrotoyshop.com:
Team up with AUTOBOT alliance and take on the DECEPTICON forces! This quick-conversion figure is ready for action and prepared for whatever adventure is in store! Battle even the mightiest opponents in robot mode and then convert the figure to totally cool tank vehicle mode and prepare for battle!
I remember the day I was given my G1 Warpath like it was yesterday. My aunt took me to a Toys R Us in Long Island and she told me I could pick up one item only under about $10 at the time. She wanted it to be something educational, but when we happened upon the Transformers aisle, I saw Warpath and Cosmos and I knew I had to have them. I begged for them, using their cheaper-than-$10 each price as a bargaining point. At the end of the day, I walked out of the TRU with Warpath and Cosmos in hand, and they both became the center of many adventures from that day on. It is a real treat to see Warpath given the "new figure" treatment in the Legends assortment. It feels like I'm a kid again getting a Mini-Bot on a toy run!
Robot Mode:
Over the years, there has been a movement towards giving Transformers more humanoid proportions and forms. While some figures clearly went away from this aesthetic (such as Beast Machines Thrust), for the most part the humanoid shape rules when it comes to Transformers. During G1 however it was a different story. It often felt like "anything goes" so long as there were two distinctive forms of some sort. In Warpath's case, his G1 robot mode resembled a rolling battle platform with arms and a head. The front half of the vehicle mode became his "feet", but even in his package art these were portrayed as one piece that he rolled on instead of feet as they were shown in the animated series. Universe Legends Warpath however takes a different path and instead leans towards the characters' cartoon appearance complete with distinctive legs in addition to arms and a head.
Universe Warpath borrows many elements from his G1 predecessor:
- The head design borrows from Warpath's distinctive appearance including visor eyes, a small crest on the top of his head and three horizontal lines on top of another on the sides of his mouthplate. Unlike most Transformers mouthplates which come to a fold in the center, Warpath's is flat in the middle.
- Warpath's chest is mostly made up of his tank turret and barrel. However, whereas G1 Warpath's barrel stuck out as one sold, sculpted piece, Universe Warpath's barrel can retract into his chest or extend out, a really nice touch.
- Warpath's upper arms have parts of the vehicle mode's treads on the back, a feature he shares with G1 Warpath.
- While Universe Warpath has legs instead of treads to roll on, the knee area shares the same triangular shape as the knee section on G1 Warpath, showing a really careful eye to attention on the part of the designers.
Of course, there are some differences in the design update. Universe Warpath features a lot of raised details on his arm, many of which look like layers of armor. His lower arms are treads with the robot fists sculpted in on the ends. On his waist, he has some vertical line details with a rectangular detail in the center. This may have been inspired by a sticker on G1 Warpath with some tech details on it. The legs are fairly thin, giving Warpath an almost lean appearance from the waist down. His lower legs have some nice panel and armor details on them along with foot details on the bottom of each leg.
Warpath is cast in red and grey plastic. His red color seems much more in tune with the red used in the animated series versus the darker red color from the G1 figure. The same can be said for the grey plastic, which is much lighter in tone than the silver used on G1 Warpath. Like G1 Warpath, paint detail is done up in black paint. His treads, feet and eye details are all black. Silver is used on the sides of the treads, most visible here on the sides of his arms. A dab of yellow paint can be found on his chest on the rectangle in the middle.
Warpath has eight points of articulation, which is quite a bit for a Legends Class figure - and for Warpath himself whose G1 figure only had three. This includes two on each arm and ball joints on his hips connecting to the legs. His knee articulation is a bit limited since the treads on the legs wind up against the back of the lower legs, but if you swing them out (which doesn't look bad at all frankly) he can swing his legs all the way back. If you extend the cannon barrel out of his chest, you can position it up and down, but I didn't count that as a point of articulation since it's not technically a part of the robot mode.
I really dig Warpath's robot mode. The detail level, colors and posability make one cool 'bot.
Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
- Extend the cannon out of his chest.
- Swing each lower arm back.
- Swing the robot head down.
- Swing the robot arms up and attach them to the main body using the pegs on the grey sections.
- Swing each tread piece on the lower legs out to the sides.
- Swing each lower leg up against the thighs.
Vehicle Mode:
G1 Warpath was based on the Sheridan ARAAV tank, following the G1 convention of using real life vehicles as the basis for Transformer vehicle modes. However, in this new version, Warpath has a more fantasy based source: the current IDW comic book line. There, Warpath made an appearance as part of Hound's unit. His form had an "H-tank" like configuration that is used here, with the treads in the front separated by a gap instead of the conventional bulk of a tank. The design is more scifi looking and I really dig it. The treads in the front and back follow a trapezoid type pattern, but one has the longer side on top (the rear) while the other has the longer side on the bottom (the front). A lot of the detail seen in the robot mode carries over here, but now we get a better look at the turret which includes some nice circle, vent and raised details. In the center is a hatch where the robot head folds into the tank.
There are no color surprises in this form though you get to see more the grey that makes up the cannon and the black Autobot symbol on the left side is more obvious. The colors work together well both as homage material to the original and as a set of colors that work well together.
I only have one complaint about this figure, and that has to do with its turret. The piece with the yellow rectangle on it is one solid piece with the turret itself, and it prevents the turret from turning side to side. Thank goodness the cannon barrel itself can move! Aside from that however, the tank looks fantastic and appeals to the scifi fan in me.
Final Thoughts:
I've always loved the character of Warpath. His boistrous personality and powerful looking robot and tank modes made him super appealing. I always thought he was ripe for an update and I'm super happy to see him back in the Transformers toy line. Highly recommended!
