Animated Atomic Lugnut

Series: Animated
Allegiance: Decepticon
Categories: Voyager
Year: 2009

For the glory of Megatron!
Exposed to malfunctioning experimental power reactors at a remote Sumdac factory, Lugnut absorbs more power than he can handle. Now atomic energy spills from the cracks in his armor and shines from his eye. His power mace thunders with the might of an exploding sun, while nuclear fire crackles along the edges of the footprints he leaves behind. He's not just a danger to the Autobots - he's a threat to Earth itself!
* Fires atomic power blasts from his fists.
* Whatever his mace hits explodes.
* Radioactive aura shorts out human technology.

Remarks: Atomic Lugnut is a repaint of the first Animated Lugnut, so look there for the full review. Just a few words on the differences here. Personally I would have liked to see his version of Lugnut in the Animated series, mostly because the events described in his profile text sound pretty interesting. As for the figure itself, Lugnut has traded in his somewhat classic Decepticon paintjob (purple and teal) for colors that are (mostly) more realistic, a blue-grey with mustard-yellow, black, and red highlights and - hence his name - a big symbol for radioactivity on his mace, as well as black-yellow stripes on his fists / engines. In bomber mode he also sports a shark grin on the sides of the cockpit.

No design changes to the figure, of course, (it's still awfully short for a Voyager-class figure) so it's only the paint job that differs. Personally I like this version a bit better than the first one, though RtS Lugnut is still the best version of Lugnut currently in existence. Paintjob-wise Atomic Lugnut and RtS Lugnut are actually closer than the two Animated versions, so in terms of looks I'd rank the three Lugnuts as follows: 1) RtS Lugnut, 2) Atomic Lugnut and 3) original Lugnut. Of course original Lugnut has the distinction of being the only one of them to actually appear in the TV series, which elevates him again.

Bottom line: A nice repaint of Lugnut. Not a must-have for anyone who's already got the original or the RtS version, but if you don't own a Lugnut yet, this one is worth a look. That, and I like the idea of him leaving burning radioactive footsteps wherever he goes.

Rating: B