Reveal the Shield Lugnut

Robot Mode: Where to begin? Well, let’s just say that this robot is, of course, a homage to Animated Lugnut and let’s also say that you can tell right off the bat that one of the major problems of the first Lugnut toy has been fixed or at least improved. This new Lugnut here still isn’t the giant he was portrayed as in the series (he’d need to be Leader-class at least for that), but he’s a good deal taller than the tiny, tiny Animated Lugnut. Seeing as their both Voyager-class figures and are thus of comparable mass, the main reason for that is that this Lugnut here is a lot slimmer, while still retaining the basic body shape of his predecessor.

The main difference between the two Lugnuts is that this version here uses his alternate mode’s big turbines as shoulders instead of hands. Very nicely painted turbines, just so you know. Anyway, the actual arms and hands are formed from the bomber’s wings, which not only fold together surprisingly well, but they are also remarkably posable. Twisting at the shoulder, bending at the elbow, individual fingers claws, the works. Extremely well done, especially considering that there is also a gimmick included here. Lugnut’s arms extend to enable his dreaded POKE (Punch of Kill Everything) attack. Kneeling down, he can hammer his fist into the ground to cause a huge explosion. Superbly designed and executed, no complaints here.

The rest of Lugnut is very posable as well and despite the fact that his legs look a bit pieced-together, they are very stable and easily lend themselves to all sorts of poses. The only kibble on Lugnut is the tail of his bomber mode, which hangs of his back. Now remember in Animated that tail was a detachable weapon, a big mace. Here, too, there is a weapon, but unlike in Animated it is neither detachable nor does it make even a tiny bit of sense. A missile launcher flips out from it and can be positioned to fire over Lugnut’s head. The only positive thing about this gimmick is that it doesn’t hinder Lugnut in any way.

Finally, some words on the head and torso: Very nicely done. Lugnut’s head can turn, he can open his mouth, and the detail work on his chest is amazing, too. So all in all except for a supremely useless gimmick that doesn’t really hurt the figure, we have an amazing robot mode here. Two thumbs up.

Vehicle Mode: Lugnut once again transforms into a large bomber plane, though this time it’s a more realistic-looking present-day bomber (though not an actual existing model, I believe) rather than the more futuristic version Animated Lugnut transformed into. The bomber is pretty big with an enormous wingspan (he just about fits into my smaller light studio, which is 40 centimeters across). The robot parts are mostly hidden quite well. His finger claws are visible on the wings, but if you don’t know that they are his fingers, you probably wouldn’t notice them as anything other than strange protrusions.

Just like many recent figures with military alternate modes, Lugnut has a series of letters and numbers on both his wings and his rear fin. Unlike other figures, though, there isn’t much effort required to decode it: LU6 NU7. I don’t really need to spell it out for anyone, do I? It’s a nice little detail, though. Lugnut also has a shark tooth deco on his cockpit, similar to the deco used on Animated Atomic Lugnut. Overall the paint job and detailing on this bomber is very nicely done, no complaints.

Just two little things that bother me here: One, the belly of the plane, which becomes Lugnut’s legs in robot mode, is a little broader than the top of the plane, making for a bit of a gap when looking at it from the back. Also, the bomber doesn’t have a proper landing gear, just little wheels that are part of the underbelly and can’t retract. The plane stands just fine on those wheels, but I would have preferred a retracting landing gear. Otherwise, though: No complaints. A very good vehicle mode.

Remarks: Lugnut, the Decepticon strongman and most loyal follower of Megatron, was one of just a handful of Transformers in the Animated series not based on any previous characters (along with Bulkhead, Sentinel Prime, and Lockdown). So it’s not surprising that, when it came to choosing an Animated character to pay homage to in the Reveal the Shield subline, Lugnut was chosen (seeing as we already have a Lockdown homage and will soon have a Bulkhead in Transformers: Prime). Interestingly enough this character does appear in the comic book that was included with the Reveal the Shield Battle in Space set (Rodimus & Cyclonus), retroactively making him part of the Decepticon attack force that blitzed Autobot City during the 1986 Transformers Movie. So I guess this here is actually G1 Lugnut.

No matter where exactly he’s supposed to fit continuity-wise, this toy here is the definite Lugnut figure, no doubt about it. It superbly translates the Animated toy into the more realistic-looking CHUG-style (Classics, Henkei, Universe, Generations) while still leaving the basic look of the character fully intact. The missile launching gimmick is useless, but doesn’t hurt him, either, so his only real flaw is that he might have been better still if the space of the gimmick had been used for something else. Still, a fully recommended figure and a definite must-have for every Lugnut-fan.

Rating: A