FansProject City Commander Add-on set

Measurements:

• Gun: 8cm long (Commander Cannon), 9.5cm (UM Rifle)


• Missile launchers: 4 long x 3.5 tall x 1.7cm wide, 5cm long with missile

Colors: Molded white, red; Painted silver, blue.

Accessories: It... is the accessories.
Includes: Missile Launcher x2, Missiles x4, Rifle, Faces x3.

Release Data: Initially shipped in October of 2009 and sold for between $11 and $13 before shipping.

Author: ExVee


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Although this is not the first set meant to enhance Fansproject's City Commander accessory, this is the first such release by Fansproject. A little more than a year after City Commander was originally released to waiting hoards of fans, the original producers have gone back to the beginning and released a new edition of the City Commander trailer set following Nemesis Prime and two kinds of Powered Convoy styled recolors. The new City Commander trailer set comes with a few accessories the original didn't. Proving not to be scummy about the whole thing, they've also gone ahead and produced sets of just the extra pieces for owners of the first edition of the trailer. So this probably isn't intentionally an upgrade set for an upgrade set. There is an appealing meta-ness about that concept though, I have to admit.

For those of you looking at the new release of City Commander with these extra parts, check out our review of the original City Commander for an overview of the trailer.


Gun

The instruction card gives basic names for either mode. CC-Cannon, and UM-Rifle. For purposes of the review I'll drop the prefixes; "Rifle" will refer to the mode intended for unarmored Magnus, and "Cannon will refer to City Commander's mode.

Like the trailer itself, this weapon is a reimagined and modernized take on the G1 Magnus toy's rifle, which had pegs on the top and bottom to be held differently for armored or unarmored Ultra Magnus. For this take, Fansproject got a bit clever. The weapon now transforms, and beyond that has a very basic form of auto morph using two geared pieces. Starting from Cannon mode, if you turn the grip and stock it pushes on the "hand guard" extending the barrel and rotating the Rifle's grip out. Unfortunately it is slightly less elegant going back, as you have to return the butt of the Rifle back to its original position as a separate step before transforming the gun back to Cannon mode. It's an extremely minor complaint though, and does not at all impact how impressive this accessory is.

The Cannon's grip is shaped specifically for use in City Commander's fists, and sits down in there very snugly. It takes a good bit of wiggling to remove it from my toy, though individual tolerances may vary slightly. Being that the Cannon is small and light, it is no problem for Magnus to hold, unlike the trailer cannon that was previously the armored form's only exclusive weapon. The weapon is just the right size to look proportionate, and so is physically and visually a better fit for the toy.

For the unimproved robot mode, the Rifle also works, but maybe not quite as elegantly as for the armored mode. The fit in the hands is more loose, which only makes sense since it's being required to interact with a toy Fansproject didn't produce so the variance in parts fit will be more drastic. It might also be affected by the forearm preventing the grip from sliding all the way into the fist. I'm less concerned about this anyway. For one, I doubt owners of the City Commander unit will be leaving their Magnus unarmored in robot mode much, plus the toy already has two weapons of its own. I really don't think anyone would make the case that this is an essential function of the accessory. Besides, Magnus holds the Rifle well enough as long as you're not holding the thing upside-down or something.

Another trick this weapon does is stowing in armored or unarmored robot mode. There's a small tab on one side of the gun that is meant to slide into a groove on the toy's leg panels. Only trick here is that it only stores well on unarmored Magnus in Cannon mode. In Rifle mode, the barrel bumps into the table surface if the tab is slid down far enough to catch. This of course has a tendency to knock the gun out of the groove. Of course, armored Magnus is elevated enough that this isn't a problem, but he also can't use the Rifle. besides the grip peg being even looser in the City Commander hands, the stock sticking way out behind the peg stops it from fitting with the large, blocky forearms.

Speaking of storage, while the new release of the trailer is designed with a special connection for the gun, all hope is not lost for owners of the original. The grips are small enough to be able to fit in the exposed fist holes on top of the trailer. I find the Cannon works better since it has greater clearance and a tighter fit. So long as the gun being off center doesn't bug you it can be stored just as well as if it was the new release trailer!


Missile Launchers

This might be the main draw for people to the addon set. The business of reproduction G1 Magnus missile launchers has increased since the original release of City Commander last year since it was one major design element not reproduced in the trailer set itself. These parts are not actually original to this set or the rerelease of City Commander. They were first made for the TFCon exclusive Powered Commander recolor, and then the "D.I.A. Commander" version designed to be used with the Henkei recolor of Classics Prime.

These pieces are not in fact missile launchers at all. They lack any kind of mechanism for firing the missiles - not even a button is present to give enterprising consumers a chance to add their own springs and put somebody's eye out. The missiles are removable, though, all the better to lose them! But no, for one it's surely easier to make launcher and missile separate pieces than to mold them all together and have to paint part of it. As an added bonus the missiles are really difficult to remove without some kind of tool to pop them loose.

The launchers fit into existing holes in the sides of the shoulder pieces. I can only imagine the rage and outcry if they made these pieces only compatible with the new release. Again, a measure of non-scummy-ness. They fit securely enough into the shoulders that they won't readily fall out. They don't fit as snugly as I'd prefer, though it might be better than a very tight fit and potential risk of the peg shearing off.

Just as they use existing holes to attach to the armor mode, the launchers can attach to the trailer. Small tabs on the front corners of the trailer now fit into grooves on the launchers, letting them hang securely from the sides of the trailer. Apparently later versions make it possible to store these inside, or to attach to the sides using the pegs instead of the tab method.


Faces

Seemingly a late addition to the sets was additional face plates. This was a function added with Shadow Commander which had the option of the City Commander face or a faceplated version. While we don't get the Shadow Commander face in this case, we do get two completely new faces plus a variation of the standard face. Instead of the pale blue eyes the original used, the new version has white eyes. Maybe it's supposed to be better contrast since an early complaint was that it looked like the eyes weren't painted due to how close the blue looked to the silver face.

The first new face is the familiar City Commander face, except with an open mouth. I dub thee "Dull Surprise Face." The other new face piece is made to resemble unarmored robot head. I don't really get why this would be desired, but I'm sure it appeals to somebody. I would actually probably be more behind it if City Commander's head was just a helmet that fit over the regular Magnus head the way the original toy did. But I'm quirky like that.

For owners of the original City Commander, it's very difficult to remove the original face. What Fansproject did for subsequent sets was to make the face the tiniest bit narrower so it can slide out of the helmet more easily. if you want to play Movie Prime and make original City Commander "give you his face", you'll need some pliers to pull it out. The new faces are easier to swap, though, but if you intend on changing them very often I'd recommend carefully filing a little from each side of the original face until it can be changed easily. You'll damage the paint if not the plastic if you repeatedly use pliers to yank the face out.

You better find a good place to keep the extra faces, too. I discovered that an SD card case fits them quite well, but you will absolutely lose these if you don't keep them someplace safe.


Closing Remarks

It may not be a substantial upgrade, but it does fill in some elements that were noticeably absent from the first release. I'd even say the missile launchers are secondary to an exclusive weapon that the toy can actually hold.

The same level of quality is present here as was in the original trailer itself, and with fewer pieces the risk of getting a defective product seems diminished, though I'll extend the same caution as I did with the original City Commander: Make sure you're buying from a reputable seller who can and will provide replacement on the chance you do come across a problem.

This pricetag on this set is very approachable, though it can be deceptive. With the average cost of shipping being close to the price of the set, the seeming value quickly diminishes if you order this on its own. Still, it could have just as easily been two or three times the price, so I'll take small favors wherever possible.

Like City Commander, I'm giving this a Very Good, and probably would have been an Excellent if the Rifle played a little better with Ultra Magnus. Like I said before, that's a very minor issue and probably not something most people would find fault with. It's a good value and does well to finish out the City Commander you bought last year. And if you're just getting City Commander for the first time with this rerelease, you're getting an even better package than us early adopters did.

-ExVee