Bot Reviews: Transformers: Generations Selects Deluxe Centurion Drone Weaponizer Pack

One of the design themes of the whole War for Cybertron trilogy has been arming up your figures with extra weapons and gear, through special weapons ports on each larger toy. To that end, the Trilogy’s seen the release of a bunch of different, creative ways of delivering those accessories, including Weaponizers, Modulators and Fossilizers (full-sized robots that break apart into weapons and armor for other figures), and Micromasters and Battlemasters (small robots that combine or change into weapons and accessories for the larger figures). This whole time, HasTak’s been jumping through hoops to find creative ways to sell accessories, rather than just offering a bunch of them in a box. That’s probably because accessory packs aren’t really a thing in Transformers. GI Joe did a lot of them back in the day, but they seem to be an artifact of the 80s. On the other hand, 3D-printed accessories and upgrade sets for mainline Transformers are big business in the world of unlicensed Third-Party products, so that could be the thinking behind this new pack of accessories.

But even though it’s targeted strictly at collectors looking to upgrade their Earthrise collection, and only available online through Hasbro Pulse (with no Canadian in-store release in sight), it still seems like they didn’t want to just sell them on their own, hence the inclusion of a deluxe-class figure, the Centurion Drone, which I’ll get into first. 

Centurion’s a weird, deep cut. These non-sentient drone warriors briefly appeared in IDW’s 2006 Stormbringer miniseries, as a minor threat employed by a band of rogue Decepticons. 

The real reason this figure exists, though is that he was originally released in Siege as Trypticon’s companion robot, Brunt. 

But the original Brunt was a tank without a robot mode, so the designers decided to give him one, swiping the Centurion design for it. So, we had a Brunt with a purple Centurion robot mode, and now we have a Centurion with a silver Brunt tank mode. This tooling was also given a new head, and released as Powerdasher Zetar, whom I’ve previously reviewed, and rather liked, so I’ll focus on the differences here.

Robot Mode 

Centurion is still a very different-looking Transformer, between its clampy hands, and boxy proportions. But the funny thing about it is how much a new set of colors and a different head changes the vibe.

Zetar’s friendly drill-face and yellow colors made him seem very non-threating. Centurion’s flat grey tones, and Cylon-esk face with a blank red visor make him look super-menacing.

 

Instead of a Cybertronian, he feels like something that exists in the background of Terminator, or a PS2-era mech combat game, or an older science-fiction production.

Unfortunately, the other thing he looks like is quite dull. Most generic d-lister Transformers still have a specific quirky vibe to them, and for lack of better terms, this guy doesn’t.

They clearly tried to make his deco a bit interesting, picking a good silvery-grey, strategically dotting him with red running lights, and throwing in a tiny bit of black and brown, but he still looks extremely plain, and kind of uninteresting. 

Still, on a construction level, he’s still really impressive, in that he’s solid and stable, despite breaking apart for his main gimmick. His lower legs can still come detached a bit too easily, but overall, he actually feels a bit tighter than Zetar did. On the poseability side, he still comes with better-than-standard Siege jointage, ankle tilts and all. 

For accessories, he comes with the same two-part laser weapon as Zetar, though the instructions actually acknowledge it this time. It’s meant to be mounted on his back, facing up, or mounted on the side of one of his claws. He’s also still got extra mounting points on his lower legs, if you want weapons on your weapons robot.

Vehicle Mode

Once again, Centurion’s a pure partsformer, coming apart and re-assembling into his tank mode, in a transformation that still manages to feel quick and satisfying. I’ll say one thing for this alternate mode: Zetar felt like he couldn’t really decide what his vehicle mode was, but Centurion is a sci-fi laser tank through and through. 

It sure is a tank, is about all I can say. It rolls on four small wheels, with a turret that raises and rotates, and a few weapons mounting ports on the front, top and sides of the turrent, as well as the sides of the treads.

There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just even less interesting than the Stompy Drone Robot that is the robot mode. It’s practically a piece of scifi background scenery. 

Weapons Loadouts

Rather than naming them this time, the instructions just tell you to tear him to pieces, and then show you two possible configurations, using Siege Refracktor as the model. They’re the same configurations as Zetar, and both still work really well. In fact, they’re probably the most interesting modes this guy has.

First, we have a loadout that adds a swivelling shoulder cannon, a big arm-mounted, chaingun-like laser turret, a shield, and some platform boots.

Then, we have a slightly-topheavy but still-useable mode with two extra shoulder-mounted claws (which come out a bit less poseable than I’d like), as well as a smaller hand laser and shield.

Both are pretty cool modes, and as before, you’re encouraged to come up with your own configurations.

In fact, his dull metallic grey color scheme is actually a bit of a benefit in this form, since it means he matches with almost any figure, without clashing.

I like to pair him up with Earthrise Skywarp or Thundercracker, since I think his greys match well with the bits of silver on both of them. 

Overall

This is such a strange figure, in that there’s nothing bad about the design, and he makes for a good weaponizer, but he’s just….really boring. The flat grey, the nothingness of the character and design, it just lacks the kind of personality most Transformers have. That being said, he was leaked long before the accessory pack itself was shown off, and I remember saying “why would people want this guy?” up until the pack itself was revealed, so it’s clear what the real star of the show is here. So, let’s get into it. 

The Accessory Pack

I’ll start off by saying that the packaging for this amuses me for personal reasons. The accessories themselves are kept in a separate cardboard container with a flip-out lid, and this container is the exact same size and shape as the boxes of Chinese food I’d order from a place near where I live, that tragically closed this year (RIP Sun Win). I’ll assume this stuff is marginally worse for me if I eat it, though. These accessories aren’t named anywhere in the packaging or instructions, but fans have been able to ID them well enough. They’re all intended to go with released or upcoming Earthrise toys (though Siege toys can do, too, in a pinch), and are all really narrowly focused on being things from the original G1 cartoon, typically from the pilot miniseries, More Than Meets The Eye. They also seem to have been mostly uniformly cast in grey plastic, with paint to pick out details on some of them. These accessories basically fall under three categories: Character-specific, a character’s tiny altmode, and general-purpose, and I’ll cover them in that order. I’ll also try to look at it from the angle of a collector who maybe doesn’t own all of the figures in question (I certainly don’t).

Roller

This is definitely one of the more in-demand things in this set, though it only makes sense if you have the Optimus it goes with. I never did get around to reviewing Earthrise Optimus Prime, but in brief, one mildly frustrating thing about him was how, despite coming with his trailer, he was missing Roller. If you happened to have a G1 roller kicking around, it could fit in his trailer, but he didn’t have a dedicated one, until now.

This Roller’s a little smaller than the original mold, scaling with Prime’s smaller trailer

Like the rest of the set, he was cast in grey. However, he’s slathered in dark purple paint, with black paint on his six wheels. It’s funny they painted him toy-colors purple, given that he was usually silver on the show, and Earthrise has been all about cartoon accuracy. 

Roller can roll, of course, and he has a Siege/Earthrise weapon port uptop, where Prime’s G1 gun can fit. 

His seats are too small for any Transformers minifigures to fit, though, which is disappointing, since Titan Master compatibility would have been a no-brainer. On the upside, though, the position of his weapons port means he can tow Earthrise Prime’s trailer.

Overall, he’s pretty good, I just wish he came with Optimus himself, instead of being released in this pack.

Giant Optimus Prime Gun

Okay, this is the strangest thing in this set. What we have here is a model of Optimus Prime’s traditional Ion Blaster weapon, but….weirdly huge.

I’m not perfectly sure what they’re going for here, since both Siege and Earthrise Optimus come with rifles that are scaled to their sizes.

This feels more like an accessory for a leader-class figure. In fact, here’s a size comparison. Top to bottom: Earthrise Optimus, Siege Optimus, Generations Selects Star Convoy, Centurion Pack, Magic Square Light of Freedom. 

It isn’t a bad accessory, it’s still a good-looking gun, and you can give it to any figure that needs heavy firepower.

It’s just strange. Oh, and it’s also cast in grey, just covered entirely in a coat of black paint.

Prime’s Energy Axe

Optimus Prime used this energy weapon once, at the start of the G1 cartoon, and now it’s a required homage in essentially every G1-themed toyline.

Not that I’m complaining, since this is a cool piece. One of the few non-grey things in this set, this axe is cast in transparent yellow-orange, and is made of surprisingly hard materials, when something like this would usually be cast in a rubbery plastic for safety reasons. The axe works with both Siege and Earthrise Prime, or really, most figures with fists scaled to the same size, though the way it mounts, you’ll want a figure with wrist swivels (which both Primes have) to align it correctly. 

Watch out with Siege Optimus, though, it’s a tight fit and can get stuck if you go too far. 

Megatron’s Energy Flail 

Of course, Megatron would have to have the weapon he fought Prime with in the pilot, too. This is a more complicated piece in this set, cast in surprisingly-rigid (again) transparent purple-pink plastic, and held together with a few screws. Strangely, the handheld mount of this supposedly-energy-based weapon has a Decepticon logo. This is meant to go with the just-being-released Earthrise Megatron, but marginally works with the Siege one.

I say marginally because it’s a strangely tight fit in Siege Megatron’s hands, but I think this might be a design problem, since the peg into the hand is a bit too big to fit in most Voyager hands. It works, but you have to squeeze it, and I worry about stability and it getting stuck, which is disappointing. 

Really, this is pretty universal, in that it seems the grip is too big for most Siege and Earthrise hands and sits on top of them, which works but doesn’t look great, making this one kind of a dud.

Sideswipe’s Rocket Pack

Here’s where we run into a common problem with this set, for me: A lot of the accessories were left in the dull grey they were cast in, and don’t look great as a result. I almost wish they’d at least used the same silvery-grey as on Centurion, just because it looks nicer. 

This rocket pack was briefly worn by Sideswipe in the original cartoon’s pilot, but was more known for being passed to Optimus Prime, so he could rocket up to the Decepticon’s ship. Another reason I wish it wasn’t solid grey is because it had red accents on the show,

This version has two pegs on the back, and is designed to fit on either Siege Sideswipe or Earthrise Optimus’s backpack. In fact, it has a specific groove carved in it that aligns to Sideswipe’s back, and also Prime’s back. I don’t know if this is serendipity, or planned. 

When it comes to other figures, it’s kind of hit or miss on whether it’ll fit on them, emphasis on miss, since while most WFC figures have a mounting point on their back,  the lip of the pack tends to collide with their backs. 

Still, as a nice bonus, you can fit effect parts into the rocket boosters. 

Ravage’s Cage

This is a fun one. As part of an overly-complicated scheme in the show’s pilot, the captured Decepticon Ravage was held prisoner by Hound in a literal old-fashioned cage with bars, then allowed to slip away after Hound conveniently drops his keys.

This cage is designed to fit the Siege Micromaster version of Ravage, but is big enough that most minifigures can go in it, though they usually have to sit or lie down.

The cage is painted black over transparent plastic, and its transparency is still obvious when you shine a light through it. 

To use the cage, it splits in half to open, though it can be a bit of a chore to tab shut again. One of the transparent pegs already has stress marks on it, though as long as a couple of them stay on, it should be fine. 

There’s holes in the top and bottom of it, too, and you can mount a weapon there, if you want an armed prison.

While cage is scene-specific, it’s amusing enough of an accessory to go with any minifigures you might have, and one of the more entertaining inclusions. 

Bumblebee’s Gun

This little pistol is a generic design used by several Autobots on the cartoon, including Bumblebee, but is specifically intended to go with the upcoming Walmart-exclusive deluxe Bumblebee. I don’t have him, but I do have Hubcap, another use of the tooling.

Plus, it can fit in Titans Return Bumblebee’s hands, if you have him kicking around. 

In fact, its generic nature means it can go with almost any figure. It’s solid grey, and it’s a nice-looking sculpt of a generic scifi laser gun, and works with anything that needs extra firepower. There’s not much else to say, but I like it.

Cliffjumper’s Gun

Designed to work with the Earthrise figure I again, only have a repaint of, this is based on one of the different designs of Cliffjumper’s Glass-Gass launcher from the original cartoon (it changed looks pretty often).

In practice, though, this solid grey weapon just reads as another slightly-different generic scifi gun, one that happens to be a bit more heavy-duty than the last one.

Again, it can be given to anyone that needs extra firepower, and is nice enough on its own.

Ironhide’s Drill

For some reason, the G1 cartoon version of Ironhide had a menagerie of wrist-mounted devices he’d use from episode to episode, including this arm-mounted drill from the third part of the pilot. It’s meant to go with the upcoming Amazon-exclusive figure that’s in a two-pack with Prowl, but works fine with the Siege deluxe.

In fact, it feels more-suited for construction or excavation characters, like Grapple, and can even work as both an arm-mounted or handheld drill.

In this box full of ammo and military gear, it’s nice to have something non-combat-based. 

Trailbreaker’s Radar Dish 

Yet another cartoon-pilot-based accessory, this radar dish is designed to peg onto the top of the upcoming Earthrise deluxe Trailbreaker. It works just fine on his pretool, Hoist, though.

In fact, it can go on any figure with a weapons port, or in their hands, like they’re trying to get a signal, or detect something.

It’s another great example of a fun non-combat part with personality. 

Unicron-scaled Mini-Optimus

Out of a set of curiosities, this is one of the weirder ones. It’s literally just a very, very, very tiny Optimus Prime minifigure. How tiny? It’s smaller even than Titan Masters.

This is meant to go with the upcoming Haslab Unicron, who’s already supposed to come with Hot Rod and Galvatron figures in the same scale, and represent how small these bots would look next to him. I’m not sure how they were allowed to sell it, because it’s so small that I could swallow it easily, and I’m actively worried about losing it. 

Right here, without him, though, it doesn’t have much use. Trophy? Model? In-universe toy? Optimus after getting hit with a shrink ray, trying not to get stepped on?

It’s up to you. I just wish it were red or blue instead of grey, so it’d be at least one Optimus Color. 

Megatron in Gun Mode

This is a cool one. Megatron always shrinks to turn into gun mode, but until we invent shrinking toys, none will ever be able to replicate this feature. Plus, thanks to modern safety laws, no full-sized Megatrons can transform into grey, semi-realistic guns anyway. So, a tiny little gun mode Megatron is a great solution. 

He’s got two parts to him. First, the little grey gun has a painted black handle and scope. The scope’s sculpted like Megatron’s fusion cannon, but the gun is a little stylized, not just a straight Walther pistol. Whether because of safety or licensing, I don’t know. He also has a black extender that can fit onto the end of his barrel, like the original toy, for a more G1-accurate gun mode.

As an accessory, he fits into most Generations figure’s hands, and can be mounted on weapon ports.

This is one of the best accessories in the set, hands down, both in concept and execution.

Shockwave in gun mode

Interestingly, Shockwave is usually depicted as changing into a giant gun turret, instead of shrinking. This little gun seems to be more of a reference to an original Cartoon animation error, when Shockwave was shown wielding a miniature version of himself.

Here’s another one where the lack of paint really causes problems, though. It’s simple: Shockwave is purple, this is not. And without that purple, it doesn’t immediately read to me as Shockwave, since he doesn’t have that much in the way of distinctive sculpting at this scale.

Still, it’s another good laser pistol you can give to just about any modern Generations figure, so it works on that level 

Reflector in Camera Mode

If you weren’t able to collect three Refraktors, or pony up the dough for the Reconaissance Trio, this is a good alternative. And if you did, hey, they don’t shrink like on the show, right?

The lack of color on this little sculpted camera isn’t as bad, since Reflector was largely grey on the show, anyway. I wish he wasn’t hollow in the back, though

The big peg on the bottom is a bit too narrow to stand him up. But the real reason he has it is so he can fit in a Generations figure’s hands, for show-accurate picture-taking action.

While not as good as Megatron, this is another one I like.

Soundwave in Tape Deck Mode

The last of the “they shrink when they transform, so this is the only way to accurately do them” set is probably the most iconic, and serves as a preview if the upcoming Netflix series Soundwave. They actually sprung for some paint on this one, giving him model-accurate blue accents, and even a colored tape door.

He looks nice, but he’s hollow at the back again, and lacks any method of gripping for other figures.

He’s got a Siege effect port on the bottom, though, so you can find ways to mount him on figures.

While a bit of a mixed bag, this is still a strong idea for an accessory.

Energon Cubes

The original G1 Power MacGuffins have been given form in plastic a few times over the years, but this is probably one of the more available versions of them to hit the market. 

Cast in transparent pink plastic, they look nice at first glance, but I wish they were solid cubes, instead of missing one side of each of them. One effect I do like is that one of the cubes has got a plastic swirl to make it look like liquid is squishing around inside of it. 

Curiously, these cubes have little effect part holes on another one of their sides, and the packaging for this set seems to depict an aborted set of pegs that would have let figures hold them in their hands. 

You can still balance them in people’s hands, though, and even use the effect part holes to attach them to certain figures. Also, while it may be a coincidence, Earthrise Grapple’s Claw Hand fits a cube perfectly.

The Whole Set Overall

This is an odd set to recommend, because whether or not it’ll work for you depends on how invested in the current mainline Transformers Generations ecosystem you are. 

Centurion’s not bad, he’s just a bit bland, and definitely more of a bonus feature. As for the accessories, a lot of them are general-purpose enough that you can give them to just about any Generations figure to tool them up for adventures, and the tiny versions of characters with shrunken altmodes are evergreen on their own. Still, at the very least, you want to own Earthrise Optimus if you’re getting this unless you want a stray Roller without a trailer. As for the quality of the accessories, while they’re a bit hit or miss, and I wish there was more color overall, I like what’s in the box. So, if you have a big shelf of Generations figures that can use this stuff, I recommend it on that level. It’s good, but only if you’re able to use most of what’s here. 

I’ll also say that I hope this pack isn’t a one-off thing, and that HasTak does more of these accessory sets, preferably with a more interesting pack-in figure. A Beast Wars–themed set for Kingdom would be amazing. 

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