Last Knight Nitro

 

Robot Mode: Nitro is a Voyager-class robot and nicely packs his mass into a powerful-looking frame. Like roughly 80% of all Movie-line figures (and about 95% of all Movie Decepticons) he is mostly grey with some black and a few scattered highlights. Given that he becomes a fighter jet, though, and they tend to be grey, that’s okay. It does look good on him. The figure is nicely articulated, I especially like the armored-looking legs.

The fact that Nitro transforms into a jet is not immediately apparent. Sure, he’s got that jet cockpit sitting on his arm, but it becomes a sort of spear / crossbow weapon, so it’s kind of disguised. The wings fold up into two pods on his back, which can flip forward and function as shoulder guns. Have I mentioned recently that I like shoulder guns? His left arm features his main weapon, an extending gun barrel, and to round out his arsenal he has two triple-missiles that can be fastened to the aforementioned pods. Not sure why they painted those missiles white, though, to be honest.

Nitro’s head looks like he might be the twin of Shockwave and, incidentally, not at all like the head shown in the packaging art. Poor guy had four eyes on the package, but ended up with just one. Anyway, the head can be removed much like a Titan Master head, though it does not become a separate robot. That does mean, though, that Nitro is cross-compatible with the Titans Return Titan Masters and can wear any of the heads from that line and, apparently, the head of Last Knight Deluxe Cogman, too. Personally I really like him with Misfire’s head.

Bottom line: a very nice robot mode with plenty to offer beside the cool look. The head gimmick is nice, the weapons are cool, the only thing I would have changed is the color of the missiles. Thumbs up!

Alternate Mode: Nitro transforms into a fighter jet that somewhat resembles the Saab Gripen type fighter he became in the Last Knight movie, but not really (licensing fees too expensive?). The jet looks nice and realistic. Sure, it does have the somewhat unavoidable undercarriage like 99% of all other Jet-Transformers, but it’s still nicely done. He has an extending front landing gear (Wheeeeeels!) and fixed wheels on the back. Not perfect, but sufficient. The white missiles go under the wings.

Nitro’s head can remain in place during the transformation, no need to remove him. The cockpit of the jet can seat a Titan Master, but Nitro’s own head does not fit, sadly. Again, doesn’t need to, but it would have been a nice visual to have his robot mode head in the cockpit. So bottom line: a very nice jet mode. Not perfect, but very good.

Remarks: Nitro (called Nitro Zeus in the Last Knight movie) was among the Decepticons freed from human custody when a human agency tasked with battling the Transformers figured - for what feels like the hundredth time or so - it would be a great idea to cooperate with Megatron. After the inevitable betrayal Nitro fought alongside his leader in quite a few confusing battles, survived a lot longer than most of the other special effe… eh, I mean, Decepticon characters, until he met his inevitable death at the hands of Bumblebee. Or so I read. Still haven’t seen the movie.

As a toy, though, Nitro is pretty cool and possibly the best Jet-Transformer yet in the Movie toy lines. Sure, it would have been nice to see him in some other colors than the standard grey and black, but otherwise there is very little to complain about here. Two good modes and the cross-compatibility with the Titans Return Headmasters is just an added bonus. So bottom line: a very nice figure. Well worth getting.

Rating: A-


More Reviews: Reyjin and myself did a live video review of Nitro at CONS IX, which you can see below. It’s in German, but with a near-perfect on-the-fly English translation by Yours Truly.