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ToyWorld: TW-H01 Hardbone
Hardbone
ToyWorld TW-H01
Hardbone pays homage to the G1 Headmaster Hardhead. If you don’t know who Hardhead is – Wikipedia. A headmaster was a subcategory of robot – that had bonded with another humanoid race (Nebulons). The Nebulon would transform into the head of the robot. I’m not going into great detail – the head transforms into a little robot and it controls the big robot. The little robot head becomes the pilot/driver of his/her vehicle. The heads in the older G1 could be swapped around with other headmaster bodies. They had individual stats that would be displayed on the large robot’s chest. Each head had differing stats from each other.
With that out of the way let’s move onto the actual toy.
Tank
The tank is a four-treaded vehicle with one main cannon that juts out from one side. The main gun can be placed either on the left or the right, but not in the center of the tank. There is no turret. Its torso – acts as the tank’s canopy where the headmaster can sit. Let’s just call the head –Duros for simplicity. Duros can sit in the cockpit –but must be fully folded in order for the canopy to close over him.
The main gun can be pulled out and put into a second available hole depending if you want it to be a righty or a lefty. The yellow tip pulls off without a problem.
The tank treads look extremely nice. It’s a nice shade of grey with black and each tread and housing can move independently from one another, but can also be pegged into the side of the tank to hold its form. Small holes allow for HB’s handguns to be attached to the sides of the tank’s treads.
Yellow wheels help the tank roll. The housing for the treads (for lack of a better term) can be raised so that the tank simulates almost a four-legged walking pose. WTF – does that mean? Think of a tank with four legs instead of tread –yep just like a spider and just like something out of Armored Core. No –it’s not perfect but it’s interesting and it’s a helluva lot more poseable and gives it some added dimension. Two small compartments at the front of the tank opens up to reveal a knife/blade and what looked like an old styled grenade –but it’s supposed to be a muzzle extension for HB’s guns. I definitely would have preferred the grenade as the muzzle lacks.
Robot form
HB is decently poseable. He swivels at the waist, his arms move up and down, side-to-side etc. He has excellent weight distribution for his feet. Yes, he can stand on one foot and do the ‘Crane stance’ should you wish it. Personally – I don’t see an issue with him in robot form. The figure even has a butt. His backpack of sorts can even house the large cannon so that it hangs behind him rather than it being a shoulder cannon. Again – lefty or righty, the canon can sit on either shoulder via holes in the backpack. His chest can unfold and reveals an engine? (His stats would have been if here if it was the G1 figure.)
Guns
Ok – so here’s where sometimes third parties seem to fail miserably. ToyWorld hasn’t totally dropped the ball on this –but I think they could have pushed the envelope a bit. HBs handguns are identical; grey, yellow and green. Nothing else. It’s a piece of plastic. Underneath the gun is a groove where you can slide his dagger in and – the gun now has a bayonet – a short and small one -but its there nonetheless. That muzzle extension from earlier on? – you can attach it on the tip of the barrel and it becomes .. I dunno a suppressor?
What I would have liked to see?
* Definitely the gun needs a longer blade/chainsaw attachment. Yes I’m treading on the gears of war thing, but the ridiculously short blade serving as a bayonet really does look awkward. The tip of the blade barely extends past the barrel.
** Ammo cartridge? Yep I like cartridges. Would have given the gun a much better look or feel.
*** The extension of the gun barrel should have had its tip hollowed out. Everything else was hollowed out – why not this part?
Main Tank Gun
It’s not bad. It’s a big heavy gun that looks like it would shoot some long-range bad assery. I would have preferred something a bit more versatile though. The back of the gun moves up and down-to what purpose? I’m still not sure. I would have also preferred this gun to have been hand-holdable. Its peg is made only for his shoulders and not for his hands. A shame really as it would have given it an added dimension.
On a positive note –yes – you can actually combine the three guns to make a thermo nuclear device capable of shooting across continents. Ok maybe not but you can his two handguns to the back portion of the tank gun. I like it when you attach them together and put it in tank mode. Not so much for his robot mode.
Duros
I’m a bit disappointed that the head is so small. The heads themselves look about the same size as the G1 figures, but when transformed, he only stands up to the shoulder of a G1 Headmaster. He’s just over an 1.5 inch tall, ball jointed and is molded exactly like a miniature HB. Cool but doesn’t feel super sturdy. Oh and yes you can stick a G1 Headmaster into the body of HB. Yes it fits and it doesn’t look ridiculous. Bonus points.
Overall
The fact that you can stick a G1 head in the figure is awesome.
His tank mode is extremely versatile and poseable.
His robot mode is poseable and looks proportioned.
His weight well distributed.
Plastic is nice and sturdy.
Decent transformation so that even a half-wit like myself can transform him.
Not so great
Guns. Definitely they could have expanded on it.
Knife – pretty useless
Extra extension –should have been hollowed out.
Big gun – could have been hand held.
HB is definitely a nice figure. I’m pleased overall with the figure. I do feel that the tank could stand on its own – based solely on the fact that the treads can be made to move independently. The robot mode is very nice and makes for a great upgrade on the G1 Hardhead. It’s detailed and enough without having gone overboard. It’s sturdy enough to muck around with –but not so much that you can play football with. Yep – I’m happy enough with it that I’m willing to hold onto it.
Last edited by Slayback; 03-31-2013 at 12:40 AM.
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