DE 
EN 
Series: Dark of the Moon Mechtech
Allegiance: Autobot
Categories: Deluxe
Year: 2011
When he first learned about the laws of physics, Autobot Que took them as a challenge to his intelligence. Laws, after all, were made to be broken. The Autobot technician has dedicated his life to pushing the limits of science. More often than not, his inventions have failed spectacularly, but when they succeed, they often change the course of millions of robots' lives.
Prelude: At first this E550 that is Que was suspected to be the new alternate mode of Jolt. When it became apparent that Jolt was missing from the prequel comics and was killed in one of the movie comics (just like the Arcee triplets and numerous offscreen characters, all of them killed by Shockwave) the speculations abounded as to the identity of this Benz. Soon an accidental leak at amazon.com revealed that it would be Wheeljack.
That should change yet again, though, because roughly 4 weeks before the premiere Wheeljack was renamed into Que. Personally I never much liked the name Wheeljack, too much G1 glorification for my taste. When it was revealed that Wheeljack was renamed into Que (Q) to pay homage to the James Bond character, I was ecstatic. Que the inventor with the Einstein look and an alternate mode mimicking a slightly tuned Mercedes Benz E550 – perfect! I really like the homage to Einstein. Einstein’s Jewish heritage gives Que’s execution during the movie a somewhat bitter taste, though, even though it was a good scene.
Alternate Mode: Que transforms into a beautiful Mercedes Benz E550. Takara did excellent work here. While the Hasbro variant (which will come out under the name Wheeljack) is just a boring black-and-blue with no details (see the various convention pics already out), Que features painted rims, an E550 marking, painted exhaust pipes and Mercedes stars. Very nicely done. The best thing, though, is that this isn’t a vehicle that almost but not quite resembles an E550 (such as the idiocy known as the almost-R8-Mimikry, called Sideways), but a real E550. The amount of visible seams is acceptable, making the figure more interesting. No real flaws... well, maybe one: the front wheels should have a been a tad less wide, so as to not stand out past the chassis. Not a big thing, though.
Robot Mode: Up front, transforming this guy without instructions was a real pain. Took me about 20 minutes until I was done. Once he stands in front of you, though, you see a beautiful Movie figure. Great sculpting, beautifully painted. The head comes in elegant silver, only the bear is turquoise instead of gold. The figure’s stability is somewhat lacking, though, mostly because of badly designed knee joints. They can barely bend, as they are hindered by the wheelhouses. The arms, on the other hand, are wonderfully articulated. Wrist articulation would have been a plus, just like some more blue paint for more movie accuracy. Then again, we are used to lack of paint in DOTM by now, aren’t we?
Gimmick: Here’s where Que really distinguishes himself in a big way. He carries 4 weapons / tools with him. First, a spear, which he sadly can’t wield two-handed because of the missing wrist articulation. In the movie you only saw it hinted at on Que’s back, but he never used it in battle. Too bad, I would have liked to see him wield it in battle against Barricade, which would have given him a nicer death, too. No dice, though.
Second, an electric screwdriver... wtf?... looks gut, but... yeah... why no boom sticks? There’s also a rivet pistol, which is also somewhat useless. But wait for it, here comes the real kicker:
A circular saw bench as a Mechtech weapon. Yeah, you read that right! Que’s gimmick is a saw, which can unfold (much like the saws of Ratchet, Leadfoot and Roadbuster). Doesn’t really fit him in my mind, even though the weapons are kind of cool. Only the spear suits him well, being the enemy of long-distance weapons. All the other stuff would have fit better with an updated Voyager-class Ratchet, though. I think I’ll repurpose them.
Conclusion: Look-wise we have a top-notch figure here, but it has some real flaws in terms of articulation, mostly because of the strange knees. Maybe I’ll find a solution to that yet. Bottom line, a clear must-have for Movie fans and completists. Maybe not the thing for other TF collectors.
Rating: B-
That should change yet again, though, because roughly 4 weeks before the premiere Wheeljack was renamed into Que. Personally I never much liked the name Wheeljack, too much G1 glorification for my taste. When it was revealed that Wheeljack was renamed into Que (Q) to pay homage to the James Bond character, I was ecstatic. Que the inventor with the Einstein look and an alternate mode mimicking a slightly tuned Mercedes Benz E550 – perfect! I really like the homage to Einstein. Einstein’s Jewish heritage gives Que’s execution during the movie a somewhat bitter taste, though, even though it was a good scene.
Alternate Mode: Que transforms into a beautiful Mercedes Benz E550. Takara did excellent work here. While the Hasbro variant (which will come out under the name Wheeljack) is just a boring black-and-blue with no details (see the various convention pics already out), Que features painted rims, an E550 marking, painted exhaust pipes and Mercedes stars. Very nicely done. The best thing, though, is that this isn’t a vehicle that almost but not quite resembles an E550 (such as the idiocy known as the almost-R8-Mimikry, called Sideways), but a real E550. The amount of visible seams is acceptable, making the figure more interesting. No real flaws... well, maybe one: the front wheels should have a been a tad less wide, so as to not stand out past the chassis. Not a big thing, though.
Robot Mode: Up front, transforming this guy without instructions was a real pain. Took me about 20 minutes until I was done. Once he stands in front of you, though, you see a beautiful Movie figure. Great sculpting, beautifully painted. The head comes in elegant silver, only the bear is turquoise instead of gold. The figure’s stability is somewhat lacking, though, mostly because of badly designed knee joints. They can barely bend, as they are hindered by the wheelhouses. The arms, on the other hand, are wonderfully articulated. Wrist articulation would have been a plus, just like some more blue paint for more movie accuracy. Then again, we are used to lack of paint in DOTM by now, aren’t we?
Gimmick: Here’s where Que really distinguishes himself in a big way. He carries 4 weapons / tools with him. First, a spear, which he sadly can’t wield two-handed because of the missing wrist articulation. In the movie you only saw it hinted at on Que’s back, but he never used it in battle. Too bad, I would have liked to see him wield it in battle against Barricade, which would have given him a nicer death, too. No dice, though.
Second, an electric screwdriver... wtf?... looks gut, but... yeah... why no boom sticks? There’s also a rivet pistol, which is also somewhat useless. But wait for it, here comes the real kicker:
A circular saw bench as a Mechtech weapon. Yeah, you read that right! Que’s gimmick is a saw, which can unfold (much like the saws of Ratchet, Leadfoot and Roadbuster). Doesn’t really fit him in my mind, even though the weapons are kind of cool. Only the spear suits him well, being the enemy of long-distance weapons. All the other stuff would have fit better with an updated Voyager-class Ratchet, though. I think I’ll repurpose them.
Conclusion: Look-wise we have a top-notch figure here, but it has some real flaws in terms of articulation, mostly because of the strange knees. Maybe I’ll find a solution to that yet. Bottom line, a clear must-have for Movie fans and completists. Maybe not the thing for other TF collectors.
Rating: B-
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