Hello and good day Transformers Fans! Today I'm gonna do a review on a 3rd party figure from Perfect Effect, their take-on IDW's Fotress Maximus/Warden. Fortress Maximus is a headmasters in the G1 series. His head which is Spike transforms into Cerebros' head and in turn Cerebros transforms into Fortress Maximus's head. I did not get this guy initially when it was released as I don't read TF comics, so I don't know much about Warden but after seeing so many reviews saying how awesome this figure was I finally decided to get him and see him for myself. And my verdict for this figure--- WOW!
Got these pictures from the internet. This is how he looks in the IDW comics. Not a battle fortress / city size super robot like I use to know.
Well, lets take a look at his box. Designs are pretty straight forward with Warden in front with his big @$$ gun.
Side of the box.
Back of the box featuring his various forms. Honestly, the back of the box looks a bit messy to me, its just too complicated because they tried to squeeze everything at the back.
Warden comes in his Robot mode and the content basically has 2 layers. The 1st layer consist of Warden, his small blaster, his big canon and his tank tracks.
The 2nd layer consists of his stance, 4 missile launchers and a chest piece or connector.
The main parts for Warden.
OK, lets head on to the robot himself! Warden!
First we have a look at his basic robot design, without all his backpacks or accessories.
At first glance, he looks really awesome. The design, the details, the color, the body ratios, they are all amazing. I feel that the colors match and compliment each other and I do really enjoy the jade green colors over his chest, abdomen and knees. The sphere around his abdomen is a nice contrast to the usual Transformers boxy designs. He looks very cool.
He does weight a bit more than I've expected as he has multiple parts with die-cast.
( Yay! Die-cast! Yes! )
Side view looks nice and clean. Well, we did remove everything LOL
Back view looks nice and clean. There are some hollow parts at his back and legs, but its not a big issue as it will be covered up later.
Taking a closer look at his head sculpt, wow! we can see the G1 Fortress Maximus's head sculpt design here and it looks very-very good. There are some nice detailing, the color is amazing and I really love the head sculpt.
The amount of details for his head is absolutely amazing.
There is minimal upwards and downwards head tilting for him.
( As with all other headmasters figures, guess that's the biggest flaw that they must address for headmasters figures.)
He has about 40 degrees head rotations to each side.
The base where the headmaster attaches won't allow a full 360 rotation, But you can force the issue and make him do a full 360 if you want.
Shoulder has a full 360 degrees rotation, pretty standard.
Shoulder abduction
There is another hinge joint around his shoulder where you can straighten his arms.
Or move it all the way up along with his shoulder abduction.
His shoulders can also move forward and backwards to some degree.
Here is a picture showing his shoulder moving backwards. This is made possible by his double hinge joint shoulder.
Here is a picture featuring his shoulder moving forward. Well I know its not very clear, but its there.
He has some nice elbow flexion to about 120 degrees.
His biceps swivel allows full 360 degrees rotations.
His fists rotates a full 360 degrees.
His hands opens up as a whole unit, and his thumb is static. No individual articulations.
He has a nice ratchet waist joint rotation, a full 360 degrees.
And the most awesome part of his articulation is his abdomen where he can flex forward and backwards. Very-very cool feature. He is the first TF figure I owned that can perform an ab crunch LOL.
Well, you can call it a bowing posture if you like.
He can bend backwards.
Now we all know who will win the Cycbertronian limbo contest. ;P
Perfect split? No problem!
Hip flexion is almost to about 90 degrees.
Hip extension is about 90 degrees.
Knee flexion is 90 degrees.
His feet has some internal and external tilting for some extra stability.
Feet downwards tilting.
He can tip-toe :)
Feet upwards tilting.
His feet can also be rotated all around, a full 360 degrees.
The thing that I've noticed after I got this figure is that apart from his good paint job and die-cast, there are also nice details all around the figure. One of it is the shoulder or underarm region. Reminds me of Starcraft's Tychus marine suit, the front part of his suit.
Here is a picture I got from the net. Notice his chest piece?
The other nice design that I like is the jade green sphere design at his abdomen. I'm not sure why, but it really caught my eye.
The center of his chest also has awesome detailing with a translucent red plastic showing even more details behind the red crystal
The legs have a very complex design, not as a downside, but it really does help the figure to be more aesthetically pleasing.
The back of the legs has a hollow part which makes it a little sad as it is an almost perfect robot, but its not the end of the world. The official design is similar to the picture below.
You can also flip the parts inwards like this picture if you wish to. It does help to cover the hollow part slightly.
Warden actually comes like this originally out of the box, with his backpack on, but for reviewing purposes I removed it for a clean core robot look.
The backpack has 2 missile launchers on either side.
The launchers / pods can be rotated slightly facing upwards if you want.
Side view for his backpack. Not a very huge thing, still an acceptable backpack size. The backpack is actually Fortress Maximus's face in his commander mode. i.e the big head.
Looks nice from the back. It covers up the hollow part at the back and also gives it a vent-like design at his back.
Next we are going to combine his tank tracks at his back, and to do so, unplug his missile pods from his back and plug them on either side of his legs.
There is also an extra piece which you can attach to his chest as an upgrade to make him look more buff.
Chest piece on. You can hardly notice the difference as the color and design blends in so well. And I've also attached his tank tracks in this picture.
Well, here is how he looks like with the tracks on his back.
His blaster can also be attached to the back of the tracks.
Just peg the gun in. It fits nicely.
He also comes with 4 more missile pods where you can attach it to multiple places on his tracks.
Well, there you have it, his full burst mode. Up till now, you would probably be thinking that he will be back-heavy and tends to fall backwards like any figure would considering the weight he his carrying, but not Warden. After everything has fit onto him nicely, he can still stand straight nicely and still perform poses. I think this is a very awesome feature for this figure. The smart design and intelligently placed die-cast parts helps in his extraordinary balancing act. Kudos!
Side view for his full burst mode. Looks amazing.
From the back, he does look a little like Doctor Octopus LOL
For display on his stance, you insert a black piece onto his 'butt'
Then attach him to the stance for extra stability. Not that he needs it, but just an extra touch.
There's our poster boy!
Wow..... just Wow!
You cannot put a price on awesomeness.......!
Next we will have a look at the little guy, his headmaster. In the G1 series, this little guy will be known as Spike. And that's what I'll call him from now on. :)
Though a small figure, Spike does have amazing details.
Side view.
Back view.
The principle for PE's headmaster and Fansproject's headmaster hiding the robot face is the same.
As the headmaster stands up, the face is automatically hidden by parts of his forehead covering his eyes and most of his face.
He has the best articulation among all the 3rd party headmaster/powermaster I've owned, and I'm more impressed with this figure because of this little guy.
Other than performing a full 360 rotations over his shoulder, he can abduct his shoulders! Wow!
He has elbow flexions.
And another cool part for Spike is that he has some degrees of hip abduction.
Man, he is awesome!
Hip flexion is a standard 90 degrees.
Have you seen any headmaster figures perform a stunt like this?! I mean, he is really incredible! How cool is that?
He does have knee flexions.
Saving the best for last....... he has light-pipping!!!
Posing.... like a boss......
This is what Spike do on a warm sunny Saturday :)
A little comparison with Fansprojects's Function-X series and Warbot series.
They do look nice together don't they?
All hail headmasters!
Long live headmasters!
Well, since Spike is the main character for the day, this gives him the privilege of bullying the other headmasters haha!
Burn! baby burn!
NExt we move on to his transformation into his tank mode. You basically flex the whole robot onto itself, then you're pretty much done with his transformation. Its like Warden is doing a crazy hard yoga pose.
This will be the back of the tank
Here he is in his tank mode. Basically his robot mode is the squarish boxy thing on top of the tracks, with his canon attached on top. His tank mode is basically the figure's biggest flaw for me.
I would not say that it looks very bad for his tank mode, his tank does look cool with his awesome canon, but it is a little disappointing for several reasons.
1. He just transforms into a log to be attached on the tank tracks and sandwiched by his canon. Not saying that the thank does not look cool, just that I've expected more as they've set the bar so high for his robot mode.
2. The front part where his headmaster sits is not very secure and stable, sometimes pops out if you fiddle with it too much and it requires his missile pods to stabilize it.
3. The big canon also does not peg in well, and without the support from the other 2 missile pods, it will just wobble around.
4. A lot of parts-former. I'm not really against parts-former, but he does require a bit too much pieces to be attached here and there.
Back view in his tank mode.
Some good points for his tank mode is that:
1. Although he is a parts-former, he does look like a very cool Cycbertronian tank.
2. His tracks are mode of rubber and they actually roll!
A little close up to see poor Spike cramped into a tight space. Doesn't look comfortable at all.
A little close up.
Top view.
A little size comparison with MP-14 Red Alert.
He we have him in his scout tank mode. Nothing much to say, its just the tracks with some missile pods attach to it.
A nice effort to add in some re-play value.
Side view.
At least this time Spike looks a bit more comfortable with the wind in his face,
His other mode is the commander mode where he transforms into G1 Fotress Maximus's head.
Side view.
Back view of the head.
Front close up.
Well, I have nothing to complain for this mode as it looks absolutely spot on. This is the Fotress Maximus I know. I think it is really well done. The face, the head sculpt, the color, the weight it feels in your hand, all of it is excellent. Very nicely done for his commander mode. I guess we can consider Warden as a triple changer now :)
The best part is that this head can actually fit into a G1 Fortress maximus toy! Wow! Sad thing is that I don't have a Fortress Maximus toy to show off that ability.
Just a picture from the internet.
Past meets present
Next we have a look at his weapons. Initially I thought that his giant canon is his only weapon, but it turns out that this grey piece is also his weapon. Well, it looks more like a turret than a blaster, but it will suffice.
You can see the black handle at the back
The other weapon is of course his giant canon. The design for this baby is very very amazing with all the details, the sheer size and it has awesomeness written all over it.
This canon can also be used my G1 Fotress Maximus toy as a gun if you want.
The silver bottom part of his canon can be flipped to the back to make the canon even bigger.
OK the moment everyone is waiting for, posing time!
I need to stay fit and look attractive
He is the 1st figure I own that can literally perform an ab crunch.
High and mighty
I can almost hear him say:" Hastalavista, baby..."
We have some size comparison with MP-10
I've Pre-ordered the upgrade kit which makes him taller and will be the same height as MP10. Hope it arrives soon.
He looks like a tiny little boy beside Ultra magnus.
About the same size as Badcube's Wardog.
Here he is with MP Smokescreen.
And here he is with his fellow Autobot Headmasters Function X-1 and X-3
Arise Forticus Maximus Prime...... (OK that didn't sound right...)
Pros: Excellent plastic quality, excellent paint job, he has die-cast, superb articulations, great detailing, his headmaster has the most articulations thus far with light-pipping, a triple changer, lots of accessories, and he has a big @$$ canon.
Cons: No individual articulating fingers, parts-formers ( tank mode ), needs a better secondary weapon. Mine doesn't come with collectors card T_T
Thank you for reading.
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