Needlenose showed up in mailboxes two weeks ago, and we're starting to get the second Figure Subscription Guy in mailboxes today, so I figure that means he's free game to talk about now. (The order of delivery is supposed to be kept hush so to allow folks a small surprise when theirs arrives.)
Anyway, Needlenose (and all the other guys in his "wave" of subscription service guys) was created out of one of my wet dreams, I'm pretty sure. A buncha 1988 Decepticons who combine into a larger robot? Heck yeah. It's weird that Fun Publications keeps on making these toys that are clearly just for me, given how prone I am to talking shit about them. I'm starting to think all my actions are consequence-free! What an awful thing to learn.
Needlenose is a straight redeco of Combiner Wars Firefly. (well not THAT straight, 'cuz Needlenose has a husband) It's a redeco that works pretty damn well, probably because of how distinctive Needlenose's color scheme is. If you have a gray jet guy with a yellow face and lavender arms, you've probably got a dead ringer for Needlenose.
Nearly the whole toy is gray plastic. Only one sprue is not gray plastic, and that's where he gets his blue elbows, knees, and crotch from. Everything else is gray plastic painted over. The blue nosecone? Paint! The blue legs? Paint! The entirely lavender arms? Paint! This is some strong dedication to making Needlenose look as much like his original toy as possible. Plus the green stripes? Metallic. It's pretty.
Needlenose was a Double Targetmaster, and so he comes with redecoes of Generations Scoop's Double Targetmaster guys. I understand why this is so, and I suppose it would be worse if they weren't included here, but... man, I hate this tooling with a passion, whether it be with Scoop or Adventure Roadblock or the BotCon 2015 versions. Why? The plastic tolerances are always such that the 5mm peg piece is 300% more likely to pop out of joint than fit into anybody's fisthole. It is an extreme annoyance.
And good news, we're getting these guys again with Spinister in some number of weeks!
grmghgrmgl
The inclusion of these guys also means he's got twice as many weapons as he has hands. The toy already comes with two weapons -- the Fist/Foot dealie for combined mode and the smaller weapon -- and now there's these two other guys. The two guys can combine into a single weapon, but he's still packing way more heat than is convenient.
I shouldn't spend so much time talking about my hatred for the Double Targetmaster dudes. I do really like this toy.
