Generation 1 Series Cyclonus with Nightstick

Height: 15 cm (robot mode); 16.2 x 15cm (vehicle length x wingspan)

Articulation: 17 points total - Swivel neck; 5 points each arm: tripe-jointed shoulder (swivel plus double hinge), hinge elbow, forearm swivel; 3 points each leg: ball joint hip, mid-thigh swivel, hinge knee.

Colors: Molded dark purple, light grey, beige, medium grey, black, clear red; Painted metallic red, silver, dark purple, beige, gold, red.

Accessories: Targetmaster Nightstick.

Release Data: Released with Universe Deluxe Wave 4 in December 2008 at a suggested retail price of US$10.99

Gallery: 44 images.

Author: ExVee


Constructed from the cast-off chassis of deactivated Decepticon warriors, Cyclonus was programmed by Unicron to be loyal only to Galvatron. Powered by nuclear engines, and a small fragment of his creator's supernatural power, Cyclonus wields enough might to sterilize the surface of an inhabited world by himself. He never unleashes this power without his commander's leave, however, and he focuses all of his energy on ensuring that Galvatron is obeyed without question by those under his command.

It's true, a genuinely loyal Decepticon is a rare thing to find. Usually they either fake it until their own situation becomes more favorable, or they're too stupid to know any better. It's too bad that as possibly the only example of such a loyal Decepticon, Cyclonus is blindly loyal to a complete lunatic. Mind, this loyalty is largely exclusive to the cartoon. Cyclonus was a non-entity in the original US Marvel comics, and in the UK run he was an imbecile with an extremely convoluted back story. He eventually died at the hands of a Megatron clone when his head was pulled off by the ears. See what I mean? Convoluted. Awesome, but convoluted.

You have to admire Hasbro's stance on Cyclonus's origins. It's been a matter of sometimes raging debate over what existing Decepticon Unicron made into Cyclonus in the movie's less than distinct rebirthing scenes. The comic continuity sidestepped the entire thing by declaring Cyclonus as being the product of the remains of dead Decepticons. In a recent Q&A answer, Hasbro openly stated that they tend to default to the "more nuanced" portrayals from the original comics instead of the cartoon, and so has been how they deal with the matter of origins. Even Titanium Series Scourge used a very similar wording to explain where he came from.

It doesn't seem it should matter anyway. Even in the cartoon nobody acknowledges Cyclonus's former existence as was done with Galvatron. Thundercracker, Skywarp, the Insecticon clones, they were all dead already, so who cares whose junker body got parted out to build a shiny new toy Decepticon?



Vehicle Mode


While neither mode suffers dramatically for the sake of the other, if forced to choose I would say the vehicle loses out a bit in the interest of fitting the robot mode to Cyclonus's appearance. In general style the vehicle mode follows along the original design quite well, and catches the major detail points. The differences lie in how everything is structured. The familiar forward swept wings are now attached to what essentially are nacelle units with visible separation from the body. Indeed, the tail end of the vehicle mode is characterized by splits and gaps largely necessitated by the roundness of some of the robot parts. In effect there doesn't seem to really be an aft section to the fuselage. It's more like the cockpit and nose are attached to a massive drive section.

From one angle or another everything behind the cockpit looks like an engine of some shape. Ultimately it fits the typical portrayal of Cyclonus as an advanced aerospace fighter often depicted as being able to hit escape velocity without assistance. Unfortunately I find that robot elements are a little too readily identifiable in vehicle mode. There's no better way to phrase this, but the legs stand out the most. Despite best efforts, from top or bottom they don't disguise into the vehicle form very well. Likewise from below the robot torso is fairly evident. Though in a bit of turnabout, the placement of vent structures could suggest Cyclonus has either vertical or short takeoff capability.

There's a good deal of surface detailing for the vehicle mode. The wings and stabilizers feature many panel lines as well as nicely reproduced elevator and rudder detailing. The wings have the details present on the upper and lower surfaces, but the stabilizers have hollow inner facings. The engines are reasonably detailed, though some concessions had to be made for transformation, impacting continuity of details between separate pieces. Of particular note is the pair of smaller thrusters set on the middle pair of engines. Not just that there's small nozzles added, but that the forward portion of this piece also features intake vents. Being that the exhaust is angled slightly upward, I'll just declare these as maneuvering jets. A more clear purpose becomes evident in robot mode.

The cockpit canopy is segmented into several transparent red panels, including a pair overhead. While there is a cavity within the fuselage, it's sadly much too small for Nightstick or even the smallest of Mini-Cons to be able to fit into. Probably the one thing that would ever make me wish this toy to be a Voyager. The transparency is a single piece of clear red plastic fixed to the interior of the canopy. Were it possible to put a pilot or passenger inside, the plastic is clear enough that you'd be able to see it along for the ride. As befitting a fighter craft, Cyclonus carries a selection of fixed weaponry. There's a set of machine cannons fixed to the nosecone, and along either side of the fuselage is a grouping of three smaller guns. Although that's the heaviest fixed weaponry carried on the vehicle mode, there's a 5mm peg hole just behind the canopy where Nightstick or any other compatible accessory can be mounted.

Naturally Cyclonus comes with a set of landing gear. From my observations they seem tricky to use. The rear landing gear are extremely stiff and difficult to manipulate at first. You will almost certainly need a small tool to help prying them loose. Thankfully after a few movements they begin to loosen up and you'll be able to get them out somewhat easier. The nose gear isn't quite as stiff, and has more space to grab so it won't be nearly the problem for you. Fairly often I'll see photos of Cyclonus dragging along the surface with his kneecaps V/STOHL thrusters and forward landing gear. It seems like the issue is in the way the legs click together for vehicle mode, and if you don't get it all the way in, the entire underbody of the vehicle mode will not sit correctly. There's a nice little 'pop' sound when it fits together just right. In fact, as long as everything's plugged and snapped together the way it's meant to be, the vehicle mode is fairly stable. The confluence of joints in the rear end can make it slightly fiddly, but in general it's probably not going to pop apart either of its own will or under the rigors of normal play.


Transformation


The really clever bit here is all the little clever bits. Nothing here goes exactly like you expect it will. It's a fun mess of little surprises the first time you transform Cyclonus, and thereafter it's a simple, natural feeling progression from one step to the next, no matter which way you're transforming the toy. Just remember that nosecone has to be folded away before you lock the shoulders into place.


Robot Mode


The animation models for the third season G1 characters really had a distinct appearance from the previous two years of character design. Everything was a little more rounded, more typically humanoid. This was mostly a result of the character models being developed alongside the toys they were meant to depict, instead of simplifying existing toy designs for really cheap ease of animation. Of course, a slight disparity existed between the final toys and the animation models. Thanks to modern technology that disparity is greatly reduced. Of course, Cyclonus is not a direct match for the G1 cartoon appearance, but the important things have survived. Some color variance exists, for the sake of the toy not being an unbroken sea of purples, and I'm extremely okay with that. But things like the torso, forearms, and parts of the legs having a more natural, rounded shape has found its way to this toy. The things that set the movie-original characters apart are all present in this Cyclonus.

The transformation forced some limits to the toy. While articulated quite well, the way the arms extend during transformation seems to have prevented a bicep swivel from being used. There's also no waist joint, and while that might have been easier to address than shoehorning a swivel into the upper arms it also feels very unnecessary. The knees are mildly restricted, not quite reaching a full 90 degree bend. The shape of the thigh prevents greater range than that. If so inclined someone could likely shave down the offending piece and get a slightly better range of motion. In truth, the only one of these restrictions that bothers me is the lack of bicep swivel, and that ends up as not being a huge issue either.

Cyclonus has very strong lightpiping for the eyes, and gets a good glow even without direct light. The major failing here is that the toy's face is not painted. It's molded in the same silvery-white plastic as the wings and a few other parts, and the detail visible depends heavily upon how the light strikes it. Make no mistake, Cyclonus has a very well sculpted face, but much of that ends up lost. It's a very similar case to Classics Starscream. Because of the way the mold breaks down, Cyclonus ends up with an unusual number of pieces almost entirely painted over. The entire helmet and most of the forearms are painted in a purple which matches really well to the purple plastic. Beware though as this could be a place for quality control issues to slip through, and only the forearms are at all visible when in packaging.

Be mindful of the fists during transformation. While there is no risk of breakage or other badness as is often the case when I call out a caution, in this case it's a matter of how they're designed to rest. In many cases people push the fists around as far as they'll go, which is incorrect. In fact, you should make sure the cuff sits flush. If you push the fist all the way, the vehicle thruster block will stick out a bit and look ugly. The correct stopping point is just before that. All the flat surfaces of the wrist will remain level when you have it right.

As I mentioned earlier, the maneuvering thrusters had a more apparent use in robot mode. Here they form the "calf" on the toy's legs. In this mode the thruster nozzle points mostly down and a little back. This is a good orientation for rocket-assisted jumps or other short flight in robot mode. Indeed, the ridged shape of the entire back of the lower leg could be seen as more thruster venting for hovering/flight. Plus, Cyclonus totally has bell-bottoms.  The toy's feet are cut in such a way as to favor a slightly spread stance, though if you want the legs perfectly straight you won't notice a big difference in how the feet look. Ankle articulation is entirely limited to the hinged halves of the feet, and is mostly irrelevant for posing.



Nightstick

Normally this would be the Accessories portion of the review...

Besides the fact of transforming into a gun, this Nightstick shares very little with his prior toy incarnation. Essentially every detail is different, and conforms to neither the original Nightstick nor Fracas (Fracas was the basis for the cartoon and original comic model of Nightstick and vice-versa). Nightstick is about the best you could hope for in a modernized take on a Targetmaster. Nightstick has articulation at the shoulders, elbows, and even independently articulated hips, though the same pin runs through both legs making it hard to move one without the other. He can also bend just above the waist on a transformation hinge. Nightstick is almost exactly the same height as the original Targetmasters, though is proportioned much less like a person in a robot suit. In contrast to the original Nightstick, Universe Nightstick is largely purple instead of black and grey. That's because unlike in 1987, this Nightstick is gang-molded to parts of Cyclonus.

Transforming to gun mode is very simple, and involves folding Nightstick in half. You can optionally flip his feet up and bend the elbows, but you're effectively finished after you flip the barrel around.

Nightstick has a 5mm peg to fit in Cyclonus's right fist, or the hand of any compatible figure. However, there is one connection exclusive to Cyclonus. On Nightstick's butt (that is, the back end of the gun of course) is a small tab. The thruster side of both of Cyclonus's fists has a slot that fits this tab, allowing Nightstick to plug directly into either the right or left wrist of the toy. This is the only way to equip Nightstick to Cyclonus's left arm, as that fist has no hole. This method even allows Cyclonus to dual-wield if you have another Targetmaster or compatible gun for the right hand. Bizarrely, this style of Targtemaster use comes from the Japanese-exclusive Headmasters series. Wherein Cyclonus was not a Targetmaster. Bwuh?

The gun mode is a bit more convincing than the G1 Nightstick, owed mostly to the increased number of hinges allowing a slightly more elegant layout of the gun form. The biggest failing point is that Nightstick's face is plainly visible from the top of the gun. While Nightstick can be mounted atop Cyclonus's vehicle mode, it looks extremely tacked on and completely wrecks the lines of the jet/spacefighter. Even an underbody mounting point could have been better. I generally opt to just leave Nightstick off in vehicle mode.


Closing Remarks


Cyclonus is a really solid and well-engineered toy. Probably the best example of this iteration of Transformers Universe so far. It almost makes me wish Galvatron had been developed for the 25th Anniversary sub-branding and then maybe it could have retained the space cannon mode.

Despite there being a few bits I would have liked to see done differently, I have to really acknowledge that Cyclonus is a great figure, especially considering he comes with a little buddy toy that ate into the moving-parts budget. It pulls off a whole lot with the fixed resources that were available, and that's worth points any day. And if these colors aren't to your liking, remember Takara will be releasing Cyclonus in their Henkei line in January 2009 with a more cartoon-inspired coloring. Assuming you can stomach the chrome.

In any case, Transformers Universe Cyclonus is simply Excellent, and no matter what colors it comes in you need to catch at least one version.

-ExVee, 12/23/2008