Years ago I'd given up on the hope we'd have decently affordable g1 styled insecticons at the scale of other transformers, let alone ones that combine the Toy and G1 toon designs in a way that's really aesthetically pleasing. We technically have them now but 2 of the 3 are impossible to fucking find anywhere other than scalper listings for some reason. Kickbacks have been shelf-warming at any place by me that carries transformers since he came out last year or so. He looked fine but the legends scale engineering and the fake cockpit hinge bugged me enough I held off on getting him. Shrapnel I only ever saw once when I had no money for him, and then I found out the nightmare stories about his shoulder pad pincers turning fucking brown for some people and held off on trying to get him, though I never saw him again after that one time. I found a beat up Bombshell thrown on a shelf somewhere several weeks back and got him, only to later finally get kickback the day before Christmas in one of those discount 2 packs. I've got a surprising amount to say about these guys given their simplicity, both good and bad.
First, my gripes, and I'm starting off with the the aforementioned "fake cockpit" shit on both of them. Their insides are hollow, there's no reason for the designers to omit a feature there's space and sculpting for if you put a fucking PIN in the waist with a point that's clearly meant to hinge you don't just put a blobby facade of gunk behind it and lock it into place! The "feature removal creep" of modern transformers has gotten so ridiculous that at this point they're pulling out zero effort features for some reason and putting fake sculpting in of the features. Another good example of this is the upcoming $200 tidal wave remake where he has a shitty "base mode" added but can't do the base mode thing the original could because his one boat doesn't fold out into a boarding craft like the original. Despite this, there's fake hinges sculpted on the outer ridge of his legs seemingly to trick people into thinking he still has the feature. it's fucking retardedly evil because there's no production cost or durability factor here. Similarly cheap both figures continue the growing trend of "deluxe scaled heads can only swivel now despite having balljoints sometimes". If it's to prevent head theft, it doesn't fucking work. if it's to be cheap? fuck you. BOMBSHELL however has an actual reason for his head being locked to a swivel, and it's mainly due to his transformation and his weird little laser gun hat being tethered to the back of his neck. You can fully pull it down and expose his head if you want but it hinders articulation. My guess is it was done this way to make it so you could turn his head and the laser bomb hat thing would stay pointing in the same direction as his head. Another Bombshell specific issue is the flat yellow paint on the little armpits that get exposed more when he's in beetle mode. it's completely out of place, and in all stock imagery and product shots of him they're the same gold as the accents of the other 2 insecticons. My guess why they changed it last minute was due to Kickback having flat yellow antennae but as a result it looks out of place as hell whether it's by itself or next to the other insecticons, even kickback.
Now for the POSITIVES which are a lot more important with these.
Bombshell was the first guy i got so I've got a bit more to say about him. He's a retool of Shrapnel, not even his own figure, that'd be a gripe if not for the fact the two manage to somehow look extremely different sans their legs and arms. Speaking of the legs I know people that own the full set of these tend to swap out Shrapnel and Bombshell's legs due to "accuracy" reasons but I don't know if I'll do that if i manage to get all 3. I really like that the insect mode legs pop off his arms to give his gun more girth, it's a neat and pretty practical way to clear up kibble. Bombshell being a freaky robotic beetle makes the fact some of his "insect legs" are just blatantly gun barrels less obvious when in beast mode. Bombshell's the least "appearance specific accurate" of the group but the appearance he has is striking in a way I've been displaying him on the shelf in some kind of stoic or walking/gesturing stance when he's up there. genuinely one of the coolest Transformers related figures I've gotten this year. Mild issues and ridiculous laser hat aside he somehow manages to come across as a solid and kinda menacing presence. Would 100% recommend him as either a personal purchase or a gift for someone else.
Kickback is kinda solid yet flimsy feeling at the same time, kinda glad I held off on him but also very glad he stayed readily available till I decided to get him. His grasshopper mode is really weird and the legs don't even lock together like the original g1 figure so you end up with something like the legends class one from a few years ago engineering wise minus the cockpit being open-able. if you've transformed that one this one's basically identical in a way similar to how Earthrise Starscream is just Classics/universe" Starscream engineering wise. Unlike it's predecessor however, 2 massive energon swords are included that can either be put on the sides of his wings as weird cannons or put together and shoved uphis ass in Beast mode to become his thorax. They don't make the back legs more stable as they have nowhere to plug into but they do make them more "stable" in the sense you have something for the back legs to press against instead of each other. They don't have anywhere to go in robot mde, sadly. Thankfully, his gun has a place to go in both Beast and robot mode, something Bombshell unfortunately lacks with his beast mode unless you count only the insect arm barrels and not the silver part of the gun.
I gave kickback Tarantulas' little sawblade weapon for now because it seemed fitting for him to have it, especially with my Tarantulas suffering from loose arm joints. The heads on both these guys are really some masterful stuff in terms of capturing the character's vibes and I'm surprised they color match as well as they do given Hasbro's recent track record with that kind of thing (SEE: the 5 different shades of crimson guard "matched red" in Gi joe classified or the 4 different purples in Kingdom/Legacy Galvatron) Anyways, Kickback's great but kinda janky. Would recommend but preferably at some kind of discount or sale with how these things are creeping up to the $27 territory with their MSRP now. Fuck that noise.
