Revenge of the Fallen Devastator (Supreme)

Prelude: Let's get one thing out of the way first. This 'Supreme' figure of Devastator is not a combiner as most Transformers fans understand the term. He's one robot who divides into six different vehicles, not six different robots with alternate modes that combine into a single super robot. It's important to make this distinction because if you wanted or expected Devastator to be the latter, you'll no doubt be disappointed. I know I was. But I've chosen to write this review under the premise that Devastator is one robot, not six (or seven or eight), and go on from there.

Vehicle Modes: Devastator consists of six different construction vehicles, all with their own names. The six vehicles are, for the most part, more or less in scale with one another. The exceptions here are Long Haul (the green truck) and Hightower (the yellow crane), who should be somewhat bigger. All in all the vehicles fit together well, though, and putting them up together gives you no visible clue as to the fact that they combine to form a big robot.

Four of the six vehicles already have 'proper' toys of their own, those being Long Haul, Scavenger, Rampage, and Mixmaster. When compared to their respective single toys (those I own, anyway), they look rather similar, but the scale is usually different. Long Haul and Rampage are smaller here than their single toys, while Mixmaster is a good deal bigger, as is Scavenger (at least from what I've seen of the Voyager-class toy on the shelves).

All six vehicles are nicely put together and decently detailed, though they all have that 'plastic' look to them. They seem more like toys for toddlers rather than 'proper' toy vehicles, if you know what I mean. That isn't to say they're bad, but when put next to their respective Deluxe- or Voyager-class toys, they usually look a lot simpler and cheaper. So the bottom line is, the six vehicles are okay, but no one is going to buy this set solely because of them.

Combined Mode: If you're gonna buy this set at all, it's because of the combined robot mode. Mixmaster becomes the head, Scavenger becomes the torso, Rampage and Long Haul become the legs, while Hightower and Scrapper provide the arms. The combination process is, despite its complex look, pretty straightfoward and simple. The result is Devastator, the biggest robot of the Revenge of the Fallen line-up. The likeness to the Transformer we saw in the ROTF movie is pretty good, though quite a few details are off. And before anyone asks: No, Devastator does not have wrecking balls between his legs here. The overall resemblance is close, though, and you can easily imagine this monster here rampaging through a group of Legends-class Autobots, if you like. There is no resemblance worth mentioning to the original Devastator, but no one really expected any in the first place.

Devastator is surprisingly posable. He can move his arms at the shoulders and elbows and the 'claws' (really various shovels) can move as well. His short legs feature foot, knee, and hip movement, allowing for a theoretical full range of movement. Devastator's strange proportions put some restrictions on that, of course, but not too many. He can even walk on all fours, as he did in the movie, but his head is somewhat at the wrong angle for that to really look cool, so it's better to keep him on two legs in a more ape-like arrangement. He can do some pretty cool-looking poses.

Lights and sounds are included here as well, the electronics being in the Mixmaster component. Pushing down the lever on Devastator's chest causes his head to rise, his mouth to open, green lights to flash, and one of several soundbites to activate. Problem is, the trigger mechanism here is so sensitive that the sounds just wouldn't stop, so I quickly took out the batteries. So no more green lights for me, but no annoying soundbites, either. And the mouth-opening thing still works.

All in all I must say that Devastator offers a surprising amount of play value in robot mode. It's fun to pose him, fun to simply stand him up, fun to have him stomp or swallow Legends-class figures (and yes, his mouth is actually large enough to actually do that). I was pretty much set on hating this monster here on general principle, but the robot mode really went a long way to win me over. Not completely, but I do find that I actually like Devastator. Not as much as I would have liked him if the components had robot modes, but his combined robot mode is lots of fun and has no real flaws worth mentioning.

Remarks: Devastator was hailed as the ultimate Decepticon weapon in the Revenge of the Fallen movie and there was lots of excitement, but also controversy, when the first images of him came out. Which was nothing compared to the outcry of the fans when it became apparent that the Supreme-sized Devastator here would have components that are vehicles only, and not transforming robots in their own right. Devastator's role in the movie was rather short, too. He played around a bit with Skids and Mudflap (not managing to destroy either) and then climbed atop the pyramid to uncover the solar harvester hidden inside. He was then blasted off the pyramid by a human-made rail gun and shattered, never to be seen again. So much for the ultimate weapon.

I struggled quite a bit when it came to deciding upon the rating for this toy. If I were to factor in my disappointment over the fact that the six component vehicles don't have robot modes of their own, he'd probably get an F. Which would be unfair, though, seeing as the combined robot mode of Devastator is pretty good and a decent, if not one hundred percent faithful, likeness to the towering monster we saw on the big screen. Devastator appears as a toy made for small kids, both because of his simplified vehicle components and the rather straight-forward combining process. He's certainly not in the price-range for a toy made for small kids, though. He's fun, but for a Supreme-class toy at this price range, fun just isn't enough. I got Devastator as a Christmas present from my father-in-law and his wife and as a present, he was more than welcome. I wouldn't have bought him at full price at the store, though. So in the end, weighing up fun and disappointment, with a slight Christmas bonus added to the mix, we arrive at...

Rating: C+

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