Toy Review - Generations Autobot Scoop

Series - Generations
Sub-line – Thrilling 30
Wave: Wave 8 - 2014
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here – Not yet :(
Approximate Retail Price - AU$30
Approximate Size – 13cm
Allegiance – Autobot
Alt-mode – Front payloader
Main Features/Gimmicks – Double Targetmaster, light-piped eyes
Main Colours – Orange, black & yellow
Main Accessories – Holepunch, Caliburst (evidently meant to be Tracer, but name has been changed for trademark reasons), exclusive variant of More Than Meets The Eye #23

PROS
+ A well sculpted figure with nice paint apps. Scoop has shed his previous G1 blocky body for a more 'buff' appearance. Looks like ol' Scoopie's been hittin' the gym. ;) Even his tyres are beefier!
+ Nebulan partners look really nice and have improved transformations over their G1 counterparts (though that's not hard :p). They are also similarly 'roided up. ;)
+ Has "Kung Fu Grip(TM)"! The hands are sculpted with an open grip, but is still able to hold 5mm post weapons. He also has 5mm compatible ports on the outer forearms if you want him to hold the weapons like his G1 namesake, and there are also ports on the top and sides of the vehicle's rear section. There isn't any port on the front of the vehicle though.
+ Holepunch and Caliburst can transform into either two separate guns or combine into a larger gun, just like their G1 counterparts. Their handles also fold away in humanoid mode.
+ I quite like how the driver's compartment covers up the head like the G1 toy, and the clear blue windows that allow the robot head to look out of his own driver's seat is a cute touch. :D
+ The bucket is also able to tuck itself in quite well against the robot's back, concealing the driver's compartment; whereas G1 Scoop leaves the compartment exposed and requires a recess at the back of the bucket to fit around the compartment, which is still quite good by G1 standards, but it's interesting to see how toy designers are using better methods of doing this (which is all part of the fun with collecting Classicsverse toys IMHO :)).

CONS
+ There's a massive unsightly gap in the front of the vehicle just behind the bucket. :(
+ The vehicle mode isn't quite as solid as the robot mode, being rather reliant on a series of tabs locking into small slots. This in itself isn't an inherently bad thing, but the tabs need to be flawless to work. I have one tab that's too thick on its end, and won't lock in properly (I think I'll need to file it down). So the transformation has a very low tolerance for QC errors. :/
+ The handles on the Nebulans are prone to coming off, although they're easy enough to put back on.
+ The shoulders don't lock in. Pushing down on the chest prevents the shoulders from popping out completely, but they still roll back and forwards by a few degrees. Alternatively you can hold down one shoulder while moving the other, because they're both connected together.
+ The head looks nothing like G1 Scoop. The helmet appears to be a completely different design, and the face has two eyes instead of a single visor. The colours are also completely different -- whereas G1 Scoop has yellow head and white face, Generations Autobot Scoop has an orange helmet with a grey face. I prefer the yellow helmet on G1 Scoop as it helps to break up all that orange. Similarly the bucket is all orange, lacking any yellow to break it up. Although the stock photography on the back of the card shows the bucket being half yellow, so it seems that Hasbro was intending on putting in more yellow into the toy but for whatever reason it didn't happen with the final product. The end result is that the toy is a tad too orange and does need some more yellow contrasts.

OTHER
+ Generations Scoop uses a "banana yellow", which doesn't look bad per se, but I personally prefer G1 Scoop's more golden yellow. But the banana yellow doesn't look bad, just different. :)

OVERALL
This toy appears to look better in robot mode than vehicle mode. In all it is a good toy and a nice update of G1 Scoop. 8/10.
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PHOTOS

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Picked up mine on the weekend and have to say that I rather like the robot mode. Very nice indeedy. I would have liked a few more applications of paint to break up the orange and banana yellow.

And Boy howdy it is most banana yellowy!

Vehicle mode loks nice, but the scoop part is designed to sit in a specific way and it you try to have him point in down to bulldoze some stuff, it shows the gap and doesn't sit well. ON the plus side though, it is in a scooped position, so having him carry things in it is pretty easy.

I don't have any attachment to Scoop as a character, but I DO LURVE me some ~Masters, which is why I got him.

While Holepunch and Caliburst look nice in robot modes, as well as looking very much like updated G1 dudes, their weapon modes are a bit bleurgh. Currently unsure as to why, but for some reason to me, they just don't quite do it. I suspect it's because of the legs not doing anything, and as a result you end up with some long weapons. The combined mode isn't that crash hot either. Sure the originals were pretty basic, but after being impressed with Cosmos and Swerve's buddies Payload and the other guy, I expected hem to look a bit better for weapons.

It looks like the weapon mode has been sacrificed for the aesthetics of the robots, but with Targetmasters, I think the weapon mode should come first.

It's an OK toy. I like it. But it isn't as wonderful as some of the others from this latest Generations line.

I was really looking forward to this figure as Scoop was one of my fav and most played with G1 toys when I was a kid. So my hopes were quite high.

Overall this isn't a bad figure, they have made the Targetmaster partners far more poseable with moving arms, they can still combine which is pretty cool and the two of them add a lot of play value.

Scoop himself? Well... he's ok. Not a brilliant Generations toy, if it wasn't for the bucket at the front the front of the vehicle would look horrible. Preferred the colours on G1 Scoop to this guy as well. The head is different but I wasn't a massive fan of G1 Scoop's bonce so I can live with the change. Not bad proportions in either mode, but neither mode takes your breath away. The transformation is fairly similar to the original toy which I'm not sure if it is a good thing or not.

Overall not a bad figure, glad I got him, but even gladder I didn't pay a lot for him either ;) And as always it's nice to get a free comic :D

Did a review for my blog with a bunch of pics here. Have changed my opinion of him slightly having spent more time with him. Which essentially comes down to; nice robot mode, disappointing TM partners and too much orange!!

Linky to post here, share and enjoy!