Earthspark Twitch (Deluxe)

Prelude: Can you make a good Transformers series with two little kids, a cow with fluffy ears, five newborn protoforms, and Bumblebee? Hard to believe but, yes, you can. Now the other question is, can the characters from this series become good toys, too? Especially considering Hasbro still drawing a very sharp line between kid-oriented and collector-oriented toys these days? Well, my first-ever Earthspark figure review is here, and we will look at Deluxe-Class Twitch in order to find out. Let’s say go, Maltobots!

Robot Mode: To put my own feelings on this figure in perspective: I had zero interest in it before I watched the cartoon. Now that I have seen it, I immediately ordered it. Twitch as a toy has tons of personality and faithfully portrays the loveable on-screen character (more on that below). The head sculpt is spot on and while I wish they had given her pupils like in the show instead of backlit eyes, everything else just works great.

Cartoon resemblance aside, let’s look at the figure itself. Twitch is a Deluxe-Class Earthspark figure and is of similar size, detailing, and quality as other current Deluxe figures from Legacy or the Studio Series. She is very nicely articulated thanks to multiple ball joints and the fans of the turbines on her shoulders can turn, too. She has ankle tilt, a twisting hip, and the head can look up and turn, so no complaints here at all. Sadly the balljoints where the hip connects to the right leg is pretty loose on my version, not sure if that is a general problem. Probably gonna apply some clear nail polish here or something to tighten up the joint. Almost as if in contrast, Twitch’s shoulder joints are very stiff. Overall, though, the girl can move very nicely.

Twitch comes with two (or three, really) weapons. For one she has a blaster she can clip onto her forearm (left or right) to simulate the Transformers’ ability to transform their arms into guns. Also, the transparent yellow blades on her back can detach and be used as swords, just like in the show. Side note: this is not mentioned in the instructions and by ‘detach’ I mean pop out the balljoints the blades are on. They fit into Twitch’s hands nicely, but I am not really sure it was intended that way. Still, it works, so no complaints.

There really are just two things worth complaining about here in robot mode. One, the chest piece does not click solidly into place, so when you rearrange the turbines on Twitch’s shoulders, there is a good chance the chest piece will slide up. And second, which is not really a problem of the figure itself, but rather the toy line as a whole, Twitch is a bit too large to properly scale with most of the other toys. In the show she is barely larger than an adult human, but among the Terrans I have so far she is the biggest. Not something you can fault the figure for, of course, but I wanted to mention it.

So bottom line for the robot mode: I love this little lady. You probably should see the show first to appreciate her and there are some minor things that could have been improved, but overall I like her very much.

Alternate Mode: Twitch transforms into a flying drone, specifically the ones Wheeljack invented for use in Optimus Prime’s trailer (hence why she calls Wheeljack her dad no. 2). The transformation is not terribly hard as such, but getting everything to tab in properly takes some doing. The resulting drone looks very good, though, and is a close match to the vehicle mode we saw in the show. Twitch’s blaster can attach under the nose of the drone, so all parts are integrated. Very nicely done.

Some minor drawbacks, though: apart from the transformation being rather finicky, the drone has some design problems with its “feet”. In the show we see Twitch carrying things and people with the clawed feet of her drone mode, which is sadly almost impossible here. Only the back half of the claws can move, the front half is immobile. So the only way for Twitch to carry something in this mode would be with the claws facing forward, so to speak, which is awkward and doesn’t really work very well.

Otherwise, though: a very nice drone mode, which is a sentence I never thought I’d write because I am so not a fan of drones. Twitch makes it work, though. Again: you probably need to have watched the show first to really appreciate this mode.

Remarks: To be honest, I shied away from the Earthspark cartoon series for quite some time. It looked too much like a kiddie show with too many politically correct characters. Then I heard from several friends that it was quite good and so I watched it. What can I say? I am hooked. To me, Earthspark is the best Transformers series since Animated, nicely combining humor, kid appeal, great storytelling, and even some life lessons into a cohesive whole. Very much looking forward to season 2.

Twitch, along with her brother Trash, was the first Terran to awaken on Earth and, despite being the smallest of the Terrans so far, is the big sister of the family, always watching out for her siblings. She is also a hugger, has adopted Wheeljack as her second dad, and can be quite the fierce fighter, too, if it comes down to it. Oh, and technically her full name is Twitch Malto, I guess. Side note: the German voice for Twitch is supplied by Nadine Wöbs, whom I previously only knew from the German version of some Homes & Gardens show. Took some getting used to. Kept expecting Twitch to give me tips on how to improve my storage space at home.

Sadly, it seems the Earthspark toyline seems to follow in the wake of the Cyberverse figures, giving us a few gems hidden in a line consisting mostly of 1-Step-Changers and Bumblebees. Thankfully Deluxe-Class Twitch is one of those gems. She also comes with parts for the Mandroid Build-a-Figure, the head and the harness. Not sure I will complete this guy, as it would require me to buy an Optimus and a Bumblebee, too, but the figure itself is worth the price of admission. Let me state one final time that you should really watch the show in order to appreciate the tons of personality this figure carries with it. For fans of the Earthspark series, this figure is a must, despite its few drawbacks.

Rating: B+