Siege Cog

Prelude: Most Transformers fans know of Fortress Maximus, the giant Headmaster City. Most know of his Headmaster Cerebros, sometimes called Emissary or Fortress, and most have probably at least heard of the fact that Spike is somehow involved in that mess, too. But while some people may dimly remember that the original FortMax had another support robot included, not many remember his name, Cog. Nor did anyone really expect Cog to turn up in the War for Cybertron: Siege line-up as a stand-alone Deluxe class figure. But here he is.

Robot Mode: To really appreciate this robot mode you have to keep in mind that it’s designed to fall apart into two different vehicles or six different weapons / modules. Then you really appreciate the fact that Cog is a very solid robot who is less prone to falling apart than quite a few robots who aren’t designed to do just that. G1 Cog was basically a brick except for swiveling his arms at the shoulders (which usually caused them to pop off), but Siege Cog is a very nicely articulated robot. Sure, if you pull on his arms or legs, they do come off eventually (as designed), but he holds together very well.

Cog is also very nicely detailed and said detailing includes only very little of the dreaded “battle damage” that was so prominent in many of the Siege stock photos. Cog has some little silver flecks of paint on his legs and his arms, but you barely notice. It’s a nice and subtle detail that makes him look somewhat worn without overdoing it. Nicely done. Apart from BEING weapons, Cog also carries two guns, plus his robot mode is liberally equipped with holes for 5mm pegs, so the robot consisting of weapons can be equipped with even more weapons if you wish.

All in all I really like Cog’s robot mode. It looks enough like G1 Cog to recognize them as the same guy, but vastly improves it across the board and ends up being a very nice robot mode. Two thumbs up!

Alternate Modes: Now strictly speaking Cog is a Duocon, able to split his robot mode into two separate vehicles. In G1 those vehicles had names of their own, Gasket (the buggy) and Grommet (the tank), so we might as well keep calling them that. Gasket is Cog’s upper body and becomes a sort of buggy-like vehicle with the arm cannons on top. G1 Gasket was built to allow Headmaster Spike to sit on top of him. This isn’t the case here (though I presume you could jam a Titan Master in there somehow), but at least this vehicle doesn’t have a highly visible robot face. Cog’s lower body becomes Grommet, a sort-of tank. Unlike the G1 version it does somewhat manage to disguise the fact that it’s basically a pair of pants and gives a decent showing as a futuristic tracked vehicle. Both vehicles are liberally equipped with peg holes to plug in even more weapons. The two vehicles can also combine into one, though now they really look like a robot lying on his back. Better keep them separate.

Now while the vehicle modes are G1-accurate, what really sets this version of Cog apart is the Weaponizer gimmick. Basically Cog disassembles into a number of weapons and modules that other Siege figures (or basically any figure with a sufficient number of 5mm peg holes) can use. All modules even get their own names. Cog’s arms become Electro-Scramblers (a pair of guns), his legs become Spectrum Disruptors (a pair of boots), his shoulders become a Neutron Synthesis shield, and his torso becomes a Thermal Booster (a backpack). All weapons/modules get their own stats in Cog’s instruction sheet concerning firepower, range, etc.

The two guns can either connect to the backpack to form a pair of shoulder guns (swoon!) or be used individually. Cog’s two handguns (Circuit Welders) can, for example, attach to the boots or be used separately, too. The shield can be held in hand or plugged into the forearm. See my pictures of Skytread sporting the full Cog arsenal, though they only show one of many possible configurations for these weapons. Bottom line: I love it! There is lots of fun to be had in a robot becoming an arsenal of really cool-looking weapons for other figures.

Remarks: While Fortress Maximus played a prominent role in quite a few Transformers comics and appeared in both the original cartoon and the Japanese Headmaster series, his support robot Cog (combined from the two vehicles Gasket and Grommet) only scored a few brief appearances in Marvel’s Headmasters miniseries, never to be seen or heard from again afterwards. So it’s really surprising to see him again and as a stand-alone figure, too. Then again, Siege seems poised to release all the missing drone vehicles from the original G1 citybots, with Six-Gun and Brunt on the way. Now we only need Fasttrack, too, but with no Titan Class Scorponok on the horizon so far, that might take a while. Though I think Cog could easily be remolded into Fasttrack.

Personally I love the Weaponizer concept (called C.O.M.B.A.T. System) and I fully intend to get the other Weaponizer figures from Siege, too. The fact that all these cool weapons combine into a very good, nicely articulated, solid robot just seals the deal. Plus the nostalgia of getting a missing piece of Fortress Maximus, too. So bottom line: fully recommended, despite the rather bland vehicle mode (G1-accurate or not).

Rating: A-

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