Bot Reviews: Transformers: Kingdom Core Vertebreak

The different minifigures that have been a part of mainline Transformers since the tail-end of Transformers: Cybertron have gone through a confusing collection of names. First, they were “Legends” (EZ Collection in Japan), all the way from there, until 2011’s Dark of the Moon toyline subdivided them into a smaller and larger size, naming the smaller ones “Cyberverse Legion,” and the larger ones “Cyberverse Commander.” After Dark of the Moon and Transformers Prime, both size classes continued to exist separate from each other, and confusingly, went by “Legion” for the smaller ones, and “Legends” for the larger ones…except when the smaller ones were ALSO called “Legends.” And that’s not even taking into account how Transformers: Legends was also a Takara toyline, and a mobile game, or how Transformers: Cyberverse is now its own TV show and toyline. Makes you go cross-eyed.

Anyway, the larger of the two kinds of minifigures had an impressive G1-themed run that began in 2013’s Thrilling 30 line, and lasted all the way up to 2018’s Power of the Primes. And there were some truly great figures in this long run. Swerve, Tailgate, Beachcomber, the Insecticons, the Autobot and Decepticon cassettes, all there, and all great. But two of my favorites were Slash and Cindersaur. Slash was a brand-new member of the Dinobots, who changed into a Velociraptor, and Cindersaur was her retool, an obscure Decepticon that she didn’t much look like, but she certainly looked good in purple and yellow.

The size class went away through Siege and Earthrise, but has made its return to Kingdom, seemingly entirely to allow them to make a very nice Rattrap update that scales with the rest of his Beast bretheren. It’s called “Core-class” now, and I hope it sticks, because it’s much less confusing. Outside of him, the size is, predictably, made up of stock G1 characters, and also, Vertebreak.

Vertebreak’s a rare treat, in that she’s an original character, and part of the return of a size class I always liked. It’s a name that’s been used on a couple other figures, but this Predacon seems to be an entirely original character, and a spiritual successor to Slash and Cindersaur. Between my fondness for those two, the novelty of a new character, and the fact that Core-class is easy to afford, I decided to give her a look.

Robot Mode

Vertebreak makes for a strange, skeletal figure with long, skinny legs and a bulky torso, just some real funky proportions on a really unique design. Her height is slightly shorter than her Raptor-forming sisters, but she’s got a bit more mass. For her sculpt, she’s, putting it plainly and simply, made of bones shaped like a person. There’s a few larger figures in Kingdom, called Fossilizers, that break apart into weapons for other characters, and while Vertebreak doesn’t have that gimmick, she shares that unique, cool aesthetic. She even has bone-high-heel-boots on her lanky legs. She’s also pretty clean and kibble-free, save for a pair of panels on her back, with her dino-mode arms sticking up, but they add to her silhouette.

I’m really not sure what her head is supposed to be, but it looks good. She’s wearing a sort of hood-and-helmet with a point, goggles, and, most importantly, a frowning, gloomy disposition. This is gothy woman of death. Aspects of her head, too, like the spikes on either side of the face, feel really retro-Beast Wars, like this is a remake of a 90’s toy that never happened (something you could say of all of the Fossilizers, honestly.) Fact is, she’s got a lot of personality.

For her colors, she’s almost entire solid shades of very dark brown, almost black. It seems like one single tone at first, but under the light, you can see that it’s a mixture of different shades of dark brown, just enough for variety’s sake. Still, there’s a little bit of silver on the face and chest, a tiny purple Predacon logo in the middle of it, and some red for her eyes, and that’s about it.  It’s very plain, but it works with the character.

In terms of her construction, Vertebreak is really solid and stable, much more than Rattrap, and has no issues holding together. Like Rattrap, she’s very poseable, built almost entirely out of ball joints, including her head, shoulders, elbows, hips, and ankles are all ball-jointed (there’s knees too, but those are standard swivels). Those ankle ball joints manage to avoid being too loose, thanks to the “boots” on her feet going up high enough to keep them secure. Those boots are also big and wide enough to make her nice and stable. Her head’s a bit restricted due to the spikes on the face, and that’s about the only articulation issue. Otherwise, she’s pleasantly bendy.

Vertebreak’s one lone accessory is a bony tail, which she can hold in her hand like a club, a sword, or a cane, or even a necromancy staff.

Whatever it is, it suits her. You can also stash it in her back, behind either of her shoulders.

It’s hard to get in there, but what you can do is fold one of her kibble flaps forward a bit, wedge the spines into the holes, and flip the flap back again to lock it down.

I was disappointed in how Kingdom Rattrap’s hands weren’t compatible with any larger accessories, but that’s not the case with Vertebreak, who can hold all kinds of weapons that are entirely too large for her, which is another great look.

Transformation

Vertebreak’s transformation is fairly straightforward. You flip out the head, flip the arms into the stomach, squat the legs down until the torso is horizontal, plug the tail in, and you’re there. There’s a bit more fiddly business around some of those steps, but that’s the gist of it. The arms are a bit of an issue, as the instructions tell it. They say to move the arms into her stomach separately, and then fold the rib cage around them, but if you move just the arms you’ll a) hurt your fingers on the sculpt’s spikes, and b) probably pop them off the ball joints, so just use the flaps to push against them, and move them in.

Your hands will thank you.

Dino Mode

I instinctively think of this as a raptor, but I know it’s not. I’m not a dinosaur person, but the Transformers Wiki identifies it as either a Dracorex, or a juvenile Pachycephalosaurus. But the important thing is that it’s an animated Dinosaur skeleton, and it looks awesome. The sculpting is next-level, from the bones on her ribcage, to all of the little bumps and spikes on her eyeless face.

The dark brown colorscheme, it turns out, really helps her robot parts hide, which is mostly just her other set of arms, though there’s some visible fists when viewed from behind. Importantly, all of the silver has vanished from view, making her colorscheme even more plain, and again, that’s not a bad thing. It’s a great concept.

For poseability, she beats out the almost-entirely-a-statue Rattrap by a wide margin, not to mention the rest of the static vehicles that make up the size class. Her arms can’t move, but her head raises and lowers. Her jaw is soft rubber, and while it’s jointed, it was stuck on mine, but after yanking it with tweezers (for leverage), I got it moving, and it stayed moving.

Her tail is static due to its weapon form, but her legs still have their full suite of robot mode articulation, though, for the sake of the silhouette, they are supposed to stay bent.

If you like, I found that you can make a creepy cryptid mode easily just by standing her up, and finagling with her back’s transformation to make her head point forward.

Overall

This is a great little idea for a figure, in premise and in execution. Without any obligation to represent a pre-existing character with a pre-existing design, Vertebreak is free to just be her own thing, and she does it really well. There’s no expectations on her, she’s just a well-executed little figure, and that’s it. I wish she had a bio of some kind, she’s a complete cypher. On the other hand, that means you can add your own personality. And the fact that she’s a fairly small, cheap figure makes her an easy recommendation if anything about the design, engineering, or character potential appeals to you, even a little bit.

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