Generations Selects Lobclow

Prelude: Beware the Lobster’s Claw! Or Clow, in this case. Really, Lobclow? Why not Lobclaw, such as the Masterforce original? That would make sense (more or less). But Lobclow? Then again, Takara calls the series “Generation Selects” on the outer box, but “GenerationS Selects” inside the lid. Spelling was clearly not a priority when putting together the packages. So yes, this figure is officially called “Lobclow”, but I hope you will forgive me for referring to it as “Lobclaw” in this review. Now let’s see whether more care was given to the figure than the spelling on the box.

Lobclaw is an extensive remold of Power of the Primes Blot, so this review will focus mostly on the differences.

Robot Mode: In robot mode Lobclaw doesn’t look that different from Blot. Sure, he’s got an entirely different paint job and a new head mold, but the basic body is the same. Lobclaw has claws on his forearms as well, though they have been resculpted from Blot’s in order to become lobster claws in beast mode (or in robot mode, too, if you want). The leg kibble is different as well, of course, and the backpack sticks out a bit more, too. So... yeah, actually he does look quite different from Blot, but you can still see that they started out from the same mold.

Lobclaw is as nicely articulated as Blot was and the new paint job brings out the detailing quite well. He comes with a whole lot of weapons, too. Apart from a “normal” blaster, he also has the tail of his beast mode, which becomes another blaster, a short axe which becomes the handle of King Poseidon’s sword, and of course the obligatory combiner fist / chest armor. Overall Lobclaw looks very good, can pose, comes with plenty of weapons, and has no flaws I can think of. Thumbs up!

Alternate Mode: Unsurprisingly a robot named Lobclaw becomes a lobster. This is where the figure looks entirely different than Blot. The robot basically just lies down on his stomach and tucks in the legs, but the result is a very nice-looking robot lobster with big claws, eight tiny little legs that can actually support his entire weight, and plenty of 5mm ports to attach plenty of weapons. The lobster can open and close its mouth, too. Just about the only downside here is that the lobster legs are attached to the main body by just a tiny little hinge and they don’t properly tab in. It’s not a big thing, the legs still work fine, but it’s the only flaw in an otherwise near-perfect beast mode.

Like all Seacons except Turtler, Lobclaw too can become a weapon to be wielded by King Poseidon. It’s basically the leg mode (see below) with the blasters attached where the foot would normally be. The combiner peg fits into the back of King Poseidon’s fists. It works, but it’s far from the best-looking weapon mode among the Seacons. Lobclaw works better as an arm or leg in my opinion, but the weapon mode is a nice addition.

Combiner Mode: Lobclow can become an arm, a leg, or a weapon for the King Poseidon combiner (or any other combiner with the Combiner Wars connectors). More on that in the King Poseidon review once I’ve completed the team.

Remarks: Lobclaw, like all the Seacons apart from Turtler, was nothing but a non-sentient, mass-produced drone in the Masterforce TV series and never even transformed into robot mode. His Western counterpart Nautilator has a slightly bigger media presence, having several Marvel Comics, Dreamwave, and IDW appearances under his belt. He is usually portrayed as a rather incompetent bungler, whom the other Seacons prefer to take on the Targetmaster role so they don’t actually have to merge with him in combiner mode.

As far as the toy goes, Lobclaw is a great little figure and so far he’s my favorite Seacon. Mostly because I really like his robot lobster mode. Anyway, you are naturally buying this figure to complete King Poseidon, but even apart from that Lobclaw is a good figure and well worth getting. Fully recommended.

Rating: A-