Hello and good day Transformers fan. It has been a while since I posted a TF review. Well, glad that I can find time again to do some review. Today I'm gonna do a review on a 3rd party figure. This will be my 2nd X-transbots figure and the name for this figure is- ARKOSE ( Not Beachcomber ). I guess they choose the name Akrose because it is a name for a type of rock, so I guess it fits Beachcomber's personality. Beachcomber is not a very popular character in the TF universe or series, he got the most screen time in the season 2 episode "The Golden Lagoon" He is basically a minibot and is not really a fighter. He will try to avoid any confrontation and he loves nature. He is a geologist ( can hear Sheldon Cooper shouting at the back "geology is not real science!" LOL ) and likes to explore earth's natural wonder. His alternate mode is a dune buggy.
Here are some pictures of Beachcomber in season 2, taken from the episode "The Golden Lagoon"
Being a nature lover, he can analyze how animals communicate and talks to them.
Well, now you know the reason why the episode is called "The Golden Lagoon"
First lets take a look at the packaging. He comes in a box very similar to MP series, featuring him in both robot and alternate mode.
Back of the box, we can see some of the other figures produced by X-Transbots.
Some bio about Beachcomber.
Side of the box
Bottom of the box
Just a comparison between AKROSE's box with a normal MP car box. It is just slightly smaller.
And here we have a look at Akrose out of the box. He comes in his alternate mode. Features accessories such as his weapons, 3 birds and an extra face-plate.
And X-transbots company always provides us with gimmicks from the Transformers series. You can change Akrose's hand to become gold similar to the golden lagoon episode.
A closer look at his weapon. Not very G1 accurate, but still looks quite decent. Just the grey color as a whole.
He does comes with a collector's card.
Back of the card, we can see some bio and stats.
It is true that he has very weak firepower lol. Probably should get an upgrade, you're in a war man.
And of course he does come with an instruction manual.
Instructions are quite easy to follow. Transformation is average difficulty. Some part that bugs me while transforming this figure is that the railings on top of the dune buggy can easily be detached and fell off. The engine of the dune buggy needs to be rotated and go under the railing during transformation, which makes me a little frustrated. Other than that, the transformation is quite alright.
Here we have Akrose or not beachcomber in all his glory. At first glance, the figure actually looks very nice, pretty much how I imagine beachcomber should look like. Body parts are in good ratio with each other. Paint job is above average, colors are correct, Plastic quality too is above average and he does have some parts which is die-cast. A good weight in your hand. I guess he is the best Beachcomber figure we have to date. And of course the Autobot insignia is not included. Sold separately ;)
From the side his backpack does look a little to bulky and I really wish that the engine for the dune buggy (backpack in robot mode) can transform in some way to make it less bulky and less kibble on the figure.
From the back we can see his backpack, and some nice detailing on his legs.
There are 2 grey rods jetting out from his heel that kinda spoil the aesthetic look for the figure, although it does help to provide more stability. I do wish there is some way to fold it up on another hinge to go up and fit at the back of his legs. Just a thought.
Next we take a look at his head sculpt. I think it is quite G1 accurate and no complains there.
Just a close up with his front view
The back of the head look a little too flat for me, could have been more spherical, you know, like all heads do :) But after taking a closer look back at the G1 series, X-Transbots are actually very G1 accurate in designing his head. Even though the back of the head is already slightly flat, the back pack does impede some head rotation movements.
A close up view of his upper body. I don't have anything to complain about his upper body from the front. Design is pretty near G1 accurate, love it.
His lower body looks OK from the front, but wish there is some way to hide the headlights though.
Again, the back is spoiled by the back pack.
His head can be rotated 360 degrees around but as I mention earlier, the backpack does impede some of the head rotation movements.
Only able to look down minimally, about 20 degrees.
Able to look up to about 35 degrees.
Even with his big shoulder wheels, he can abduct his hands to 90 degrees.
Decent range of movement.
A full 360 shoulder rotation.
Elbow flexion is about 170 degrees.
Has the standard biceps swivel, allowing him to some rotations.
No individual articulating fingers, his thumb is static, and all other 4 fingers move as a unit.
His wrist is able to rotate a full 360 degrees. He also has an extra swivel at the forearm region, allowing an extra 360 degree rotation.
Full 360 degrees waist rotation. Pretty standard these days.
Can perform an almost perfect split.
Hip flexion is about 130 degrees.
Hip extension is about 90 degrees.
Knee flexion is about 90 degrees.
Internal thigh rotation. See how the rod at the bottom of his feet gets in the way?
He does have some internal tilting of his foot.
Tip of his foot can be bend forward, but not the whole foot.
The annoying rod like thingy
You can change the face plate of you want to by just simply removing the original face. pops out easily.
Not really a fan of the alternate face sculpt. Prefer the original one
Well he does comes with 3 birds as his accessories. You can place them on either side of his shoulders and his hand.
You can change his hand into gold color like in the G1 episode. Just a little gimmick. My advice is that, don't change the hand! It is super hard to get it off. My fingers are aching after removing the golden hand to fit back his original hand.
Golden finger......
I'm rich!!!!
Would like to apologize for my misinformation of his leg. The grey part should be down at his feet like this, and not at his knees.
A little posing time
Next we move onto his dune buggy mode. Well personally I'm not very familiar with dune buggy but I guess it does look kinda decent. The tires are plastic, not rubber tires, and he does roll around quite well.
Front view.
Side view.
Back view.
Top view. What I do like about his vehicle mode is that there a nicely detailed seats and steering wheel, and his bling bling engines.
See what I mean about the railings popping off.
Some size comparison with MP14
He does scale well with minibots. Here he is with MP Bumblebee
With exhaust
With his body from X-Transbots, Apollyon
Here he is with MP Ironhide.
With MP Hotrod and MP bluestreak.
With MP Skywarp.
And here we have Beachcomber in his G1 toy. Actually I do think he looks quite decent for a G1 toy.
Summary:
PROS: Above average paint job and plastic
Die-cast
G1 Accurate Beachcomber
Decent amount of accessories
Scales well with MP series
Decent articulations
CONS: Railings falls apart easily, sometimes causing frustration during transformation.
No rubber tires
Giant backpack
Giant back pack that impedes head rotation
Ugly heels
Golden hand is tight!
Thank you for reading folks!
