Bot Reviews: Transformers: Dramatic Capture Series Nemesis Bridge

One thing I’ve become wary of in modern Transformers collecting is chasing the dragon of slow, gradual upgrades of classic characters. It’s something, for example, I ranted about at the end of my review of Studio Series 86 Brawn. To be fair, Transformers isn’t as bad about this as, say, Star Wars or Marvel Legends, and Transformers: Legacy’s concerted efforts to focus on figures from non-G1 parts of the franchise is very pointedly not that.

But it’s still a thing that happens. Case and point: Siege gave us really good updates of a bunch of the G1 cast, with the caveat that they all had Cybertronian alt modes that were kinda-sorta-earthly, enough to make people think that these were going to be the definitive update of the characters for the next few years. And then Earthrise promptly re-did everyone again with more Earthly forms, with Studio Series 86 and Kingdom supplementing the updates. And now, with the advent of Studio Series 86 Commander Optimus Prime, and the unrevealed-but-leaked Studio Series 86 Megatron, we’re staring down the barrel of a third round of even more animation-accurate updates, in a very short timeframe. Frankly, I want to get off the train. 

I think the other major factor in not committing to the next round of updates is that I don’t usually drop Commander-class money, unless it’s for Rodimus Prime, so I was already priced out of the new Optimus. And not getting him meant I wasn’t going to be on the hook for Studio Series 86 Megatron, either, meaning I was looking into closing out my G1 collection with War for Cybertron. And wouldn’t you know it, Takara is seemingly doing a final victory lap for War for Cybertron-era figures, with the Dramatic Capture Series.

DCS is one of those “fancy Takara repaint” lines, like Premium Finish, and many other little sub-lines before that, where they go ham on the deco (and the price tag). The gimmick this time is that each release is a big multipack themed around a specific scene, with this first one being the “Nemesis Bridge,” from the show’s first episode (let’s ignore that Shockwave wasn’t on the Nemesis at all.)  And there was enough going on here to make me want this first set, enough to drop about $200 Canadian on it at TFCon (I had made a lot of money in sales, so I had it to spare). Now, three Voyagers at Canadian retail, after tax, is about $170, so for me, it was a question of whether or not the extra deco and stuff in the box justified the additional $30.

Let’s have a look, but it’s going to be a shorter, rambly look, since a) there’s a *lot* of stuff in this very big box, but also, b) I’ve reviewed every single tooling in here previously, so you can refer to those past reviews for longer takes (I’ll link them as I go).

Megatron

 First up, we’ve got the Big Bad himself, showing up as a repaint of Earthrise Megatron, whom I previously reviewed when they did a version of him in his green Generation 2 colors, here. 

Here’s the thing: I actually kind of like the Siege version of this tooling (reviewed here) better. That one’s got a headsculpt that reads more as G1 Toon Megatron to me, and the transforming sword-gun-thingie is a better accessory than Earthrise Megatron’s odd little extra cannon with a tiny knife on the end, which this guy still has.

But this was also the first version of the tooling to get a deco that was both shiny silver (as opposed to flat gray), and didn’t have battle damage all over him, so Earthrise it is. And, to be fair, you can just chuck the extra cannon-spear-thingie in a bin. The figure’s still a perfectly cromulent G1 Megatron without it, pretty much just being his cartoon character model with some extra tank treads in the back. 

And this new deco is honestly a complete chef’s kiss, justifying the whole “premium Takara” exercise. He’s slathered in bright, shiny silver, with accents of black, gray, red, and a bunch of other colors, to imitate his show deco as closely as possible. I’m particularly fond of the red on either side of his torso, it’s something that’s usually left out of these. 

In terms of his build quality, though, this is the one figure in this set that’s absolutely gotten hit with the “this mold has been run too many times” problem. The less bad issue is that the panels his arms are attached to don’t really peg in anymore (but that’s fine, you need to move them yourself to get them out of place). The worse issue is that his knees are on the loose side now, which can combine with his backpack to send him toppling if you’re not careful, though it’s not so bad that he can’t hold a pose.

He’s still got that great Siege articulation, by the way, including ankle tilts that aren’t loose like the Siege one was, but are tight like the Earthrise one was. His backpack kind of gets in the way, but not too badly.

See, one good thing about this version is that a hypothetical Studio Series 86 figure would probably lack 5 millimeter ports, because they sometimes hate fun over in Studio Series. This guy, he’s still got about 10 of those ports all around his body, for doing fancy things with his removable fusion cannon, tank-spear-knife thing, or accessories from other figures, like Soundwave’s weird gun that’s 100 percent here to imitate Megatron’s back-mounted gunbarrel.

Megatron’s transformation Is still complicated enough that I had to re-check some photos from my previous reviews to understand how the legs work, and he still partsforms in a somewhat awkward way (a panel from the Tank Spear comes off, and plugs in between his rear treads), but at the end of it, you get a tank mode that’s incredibly shiny. 

I have to start with the colors, because they dominate this altmode. He’s still got bits of black, red, and gray (including two odd rectangle patterns in black on the turret), but most of the non-silver colors on him are hidden now, so he’s just an endless field of shiny sterling, and it looks great. Really makes the whole thing feel premium. 

So, ideally this is supposed to be an Earth-mode tank, but the retooling out of his Cybertronian mode was always a little half-baked, between the obvious fusion cannon in the turret, and the legs hanging off the back. This is just less-Cybertronian. But it still looks good, and in these colors, I don’t think it really matters. For playability, he rolls on tiny wheels beneath the treads, his turret rotates, and he’s still got six visible 5-millimeter ports, plus room on his turret for blast effect parts. 

Overall, I’d call this guy the best G1-style version of this tooling, but it’s sort of “by default.”

Still, if you’re not going in on the Studio Series 86 Leader, he looks really good leading your Decepticons, and fighting your Optimii, all while being a lavishly-painted version of this workhorse of a tooling.

Soundwave

After years of it not being a problem, one day, my Netflix Soundwave suddenly yellowed.

It’s a shame, because he’s an excellent figure, as I said in my initial review, over here. So, sourcing a replacement for him was the impetus that led me to this set. In terms of what the replacement would be, though, it was a toss-up between this DCS box, and the Leader-class Legacy United box, which has another version of this guy, along with three cassettes.

I went with the Dramatic Capture Series one, because I already have the Blue Soundwave Minion (reviewed here) in his Studio Series 86 form.

And it was worth sourcing a replacement, because, as I said in the original review, this was an excellent version of the Decepticon spymaster, perfectly emulating the man-made-of-boxes as seen in the cartoon. Well, almost perfectly. This was a heavy retool of the Siege figure (reviewed here), so there’s parts of him that are still overly-greebled with tech details in a way the original never was, and he has these odd vestigial flip-out landing feet on his forearms.

But still, he looks good, and he feels great in-hand.

As for this release, the premium differences are present, but not night and day like with Megatron. Soundwave’s got a bit more shiny silver on his limbs (and laser cannon), as well as red accents on his forearms and weapons, all G1-accurate things that the Netflix version skimped on, and all appreciated here. He’s a little more lavish, on top of his already lush dark blues, silvers, golds, and reds.

In terms of build quality, it took me a moment to notice that Soundwave’s also gotten hit by an issue: His legs actually can’t straighten at his hips, they’re stuck splayed out slightly. I’ve heard this is actually a difference in tooling, and not a QC problem. I didn’t notice initially, mostly because I typically pose him in an A-stance, so it’s sort of a non-issue. The rest of his articulation’s just as good as before, and all of his joints are plenty tight.

For features, he’s got his shoulder cannon, his round laser pistol, and that strange, long, unfolding gray gun that feels like it was meant to be handed off to Megatron.

There’s a bunch of different ways you can combine the weapons, and a bunch of different places you can mount them on him, thanks to his 12 5-millimeter ports.

Strangely, while he’s supposed to have lightpiping eyes, they don’t really work on this version, and I’ve held him straight up to the light to try and get them functioning.

One thing he does still have is that lovely spring-loaded tape-deck door. Having a spring-loaded gimmick on a mainline figure these days at all is exceptional, to say nothing of one that works as well as this.

It makes for a good little stim toy. And inside, we have Laserbeak, who, to be honest, is prone to flopping out when you open the chest, thanks to how strong the mechanism is. Just make sure you put him in there the right way, or you can jam the door!

So, Laserbeak is, as far as I can tell, unchanged from the Netflix release. Not that he really needed changing. He’s still a rectangle of nothing in the vague shape of a mini-cassette, with a flip-out peg on him so Soundwave can carelessly use his pet as a shield.

And he transforms into bird mode in a satisfying little set of steps.

Amusingly, if they wanted him to be animation-accurate, they should have removed the little Decepticon logo from his head, but I guess they weren’t in the business of removing paint apps. Either way, he’s a fun little bird, with a poseable head and wings, and, in a fun undocumented feature, you can still use that flip-out peg on the bottom of him to get him to perch on any figure with a 5-millimeter port in the right place. 

Anyway, back to the big guy.

His transformation was never going to be as smooth as the vintage G1 version, but it’s still fairly intuitive, and involved enough to be satisfying. I will say that it’s a bit of an effort to get his robot legs plugged into his body correctly, and I had to do some massaging and clipping-and-unclipping to get them to line up. 

But at the end of it, you get a miniature tape player. Bearing in mind that this is an insane kitbashed retool of a Siege figure that was never meant to turn into this, I’d say it came out pretty well. I’d say the only downside is the backside, with its arms that hang out, and the accessories that have to just plug in there instead of hide away as batteries, like on the G1 version.

I do like mounting that long gray cannon back there, though, and pretending it’s an antenna.

He looks like what he’s supposed to look like, the dials and buttons are all sculpted or painted on (well, not the ones on the sides of the player, but I didn’t know those existed until I handled the Retro version, reviewed here), and most importantly, you can still pop the tape player open. Or cover him in guns if you’re abandoning the disguise angle, whatever you feel like doing.

Overall, though, this is still a good, fun figure, definitely the best one in the set. And Netflix Soundwave’s rarity was such a tragedy, that I’m just glad he’s available to the public again. Honestly, if you don’t go for this version, and get the Legacy United reissue, that’s valid, too, and you get more than one cassette in the box.

I’m a bit miffed this guy doesn’t at least come with Ravage, but I feel like they’re saving him for an upcoming Dramatic Capture box, myself. 

Shockwave

This is definitely the most unusual choice of release in this set. So, when I reviewed the Siege Leader back in the day, I wasn’t terribly impressed, if only because he felt like bad value for the money, a sub-Voyager figure with a bunch of armor, pretending to be a Leader. Well, this figure absconds with the armor, and just gives us the core robot. 

And let me restate this right off the bat: This is more of a big Deluxe than a little Voyager, to me. But in an odd boxset release like this, size class stuff matters less, so he’s allowed to just be a well-made Shockwave, which he is! It’s only logical, after all.

So, yes, this is the Shockwave we all know and love, with the gun-arm, the rubber hose, the cyclops eye, and the giant chest. The only things about him that aren’t Sunbow as hell are his big backpack, and his extensive techie greebling. The backpack’s the alternative to the G1 figure’s partsforming, where you just eject the barrel of his gun mode, and the greebling’s due to the fact that he was a Siege figure. But, honestly, it vanishes a bit into his color scheme. And speaking of that color scheme, this guy’s particular shade of purple is really hard to photograph.

My best way of describing it would be the kind of warm purple used on Kingdom Galvatron, but tuned into a darker shade. In fact, that’s mostly what’s different from the Siege version. He’s still gray, black, and translucent, with Decepticon logos on his forearms) it’s all just different shades, with the Siege battle damage removed. His arm-hose being purple instead of black’s one of those odd things where they try really hard to imitate his cartoon colors. Meanwhile, his chest does this neat thing where there’s metallic paint underneath the translucent purple plastic. Finally, unlike Soundwave, his yellow mono-eye lightpipes VERY well, literally without trying.

For build quality, this is the one figure in this set that’s QC-issue-free, and poses out very well with his full Siege suite of joints. It’s probably because he was designed to host a bunch of heavy armor, so his joints are extra-stiff, including some ratcheted legs. 

Speaking of that, the downside of him not coming with that armor is that he has no real accessories or features to speak of, aside from the lightpiping, not that Shockwave usually has much. But the fact that he WAS supposed to hold armor means that he has a ton of 5-millimeter ports on him for accessories, 15 of them by my count, so you can certainly turn him into a weaponized monstrosity yourself, if you wish. Me, I’d rather turn him into his altmode. 

His transformation is a process it feels like I keep goofing up little bits of, despite it being a very easy assignment of “fold his arms up, slap the gunbarrel shell around them, and compress his legs.” Protip: Remember to rotate his arms at the elbows, so his barrel doesn’t sag.

At the end of it, we have his little “spaceship mode,” complete with a tiny little command bridge with fins sticking out the side, and a piece of landing gear upfront. But, of course, it’s really clear that this is his classic gunmode upside-down, and there’s nothing to stop you from just flipping it over, and making a few adjustments for comfort (folding the fins in and the landing skid away, maybe moving the rubber hose to somewhere more convenient).

Of course, it’s kind of a dinky gun mode, with a handle that barely fits into my Large Adult Hands, but it’s the thought that counts, and that thought was to make him a stealthy triple changer with an unofficial show-accurate gun mode. 

So, yeah, this is a very good version of Shockwave, with my only real caveat being that this is a nomad of a figure, with no real good pricepoint, meaning the only way to get him is to a) overpay for the Siege one, b) get this boxset, or c) buy the Comic Book version that comes with Optimus Prime’s head.

Honestly, that one’s overpriced, and I think getting him in this boxset’s the best bang for the buck. 

The Throne

It’s a throne.

Specifically, it’s the throne that came with Studio Series 86 Coronation Starscream (reviewed here), 100 percent unchanged, same shade of purple, and everything.

Its inclusion here makes sense, since it was always styled after the throne on the bridge of the Nemesis.

And it’s a really fun accessory, great for photos, worth owning in some form, so throwing it in here’s yet another shot at getting it.

It’s got no paint, and all it has for features is a few 5 millimeter ports on the back for accessory storage, some of which are really hard to get to, because they were designed to specifically work with Starscream’s bits and bobs.

But just having a chair that mainline Transformers can sit in is, in and of itself, a feature. 

Overall

So, like I said at the top of the review, this set cost me $200 at TFCon, and after tax, three Voyagers at Canadian retail would cost me about $170. Granted, Shockwave is a bit less than a Voyager, but Soundwave’s a bit more than one (which is likely why he’s never been released in a single-packed format), plus he has a Siege Micromaster, in the form of Laserbeak, so that balances out. So, the 30 extra dollars gets you a big chair, and a bunch of extra, flashy Takara paint, most evident on Megatron, but present on both Soundwave and Shockwave.

But is it good? I think so. These are three solid toolings. I’d like Megatron better if it was the Siege version, but it’s not a Siege/Kingdom Mirage quality drop, it’s a good, solid Voyager, albeit one that’s been hit by the QC stick a little bit. Soundwave and Laserbeak are still excellent, the stars of this set, and any vector to own them is worth pursuing. And Shockwave is a bit basic, but a very well-engineered update of the original. And the chair is just fun.

Here’s the thing: The Dramatic Capture Series, as an exercise, really feels like a victory lap for these War for Cybertron-era toolings, before newer, even more show-accurate versions come down the pipeline. We already know Megatron’s getting a Studio Series 86 Leader, though we don’t know what he looks like, but the answer is definitely “more animation accurate.” And there’s nothing stopping them from putting out a Soundwave in a few years that’s a fully original tooling, and not an (admittedly well-done) modification of the Siege version. And I’m sure they’ll do a Shockwave that’s a) smooth and ungreebled, and b) fits into a size class properly.

But like I said at the top, I tire of chasing the dragon that is the churn of G1 updates, and I’m taking this boxset to be my final versions of these three characters (I hope.) These are three very good figures from this specific era of updates, presented in the best possible package they can be, and I’m very content with this box of stuff. If you’re aware that they’ll probably get updates in the next few years, and are okay with that, then I think this whole box is well worth the fun that’s contained within. Heck, I’m looking at the other two sets they’ve announced as a part of this series, and seriously contemplating them on the merits of how well this one turned out. 

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