Robots In Disguise 2015 (Part 6) - Legion Class Wave 2

Impatience and enthusiasm together make for a dangerous combination. Having burned through whatever wave 1 and 2 Robots In Disguise figures there were available on shelves in the UK in about a week, I turned to eBay US to grab the Legion Class Sideswipe and Grimlock from wave 2 that the UK did not have yet. In addition to that, watching the first three episodes of the RID show online in lower-than-premium quality instead of on my HDTV shows just how far I'll go to get my fix of this excellent new series. And it is excellent, so far.

Since these are my first non-UK RID toys, I figured I'd look at the card backs for some proper techspecs and character bios...nope. Still just multilingual safety information, Android/iPhone app description and a tiny section dedicated to the actual toy/character in the packaging just like the European cards.

I was already enormously excited for a non-1-step Sideswipe, but having seen the first few episodes of RID now, I was even more excited about having a Sideswipe I could display alongside fellow Legion class members, and just wait for the Warrior Class when it hits in wave 3. Grimlock I was indifferent to, but his show character is fantastic, so a definite bonus. It's also the more interesting of the two figures here, certainly in terms of transformation.

There's no doubting the looks on Sideswipe, it's as show accurate as you can expect from a toy this size and the transformation is probably only just more complex than the Steeljaw Legion - another character instantly made supremely cooler by the first 3 episodes. Despite having those large feet, Sideswipe has a little trouble standing with them flat on the ground. Every shot I took seemed to involve either the feet or the heels being off the ground. The vehicle mode is terrific of course, almost dominated by the huge app-readable logo on the left door. The colour is very interesting too, it's almost a G1 Thrust maroon instead of scarlet, which I wasn't expecting. If the other Legions are anything to go by, the Warrior Class Sideswipe will colour match appropriately.

Legion Grimlock is far more interesting than I anticipated. Its dino mode scales better with the other Legions than in Warrior Class, and the transformation hints at the larger toy's excellent conversion sequence too, but clearly simplified and - you'll see what I mean if you buy it - reversed. The only downside I can nail to this lovely little figure is that in robot mode, there is very little to look at. No logo, no real eye-catching detail. Just the small robot head, which interestingly like all the other Legions including Sideswipe, has a battle mask. Grimlock is very stable and solid in both modes, RID is scoring big with the Legion Class.

It was undoubtedly ill-advised of me to import Sideswipe and Grimlock seeing as how soon the UK has been receiving the wave 1 figures and even wave 2 Warrior Class Optimus and Drift, I'm sure these will pop up in a week on shelves in Sainsbury's. Having said that, any thoughts of over-paying dissipated on opening, because I needed this RID train to continue and coupled with the strong start to the cartoon, the timing couldn't have been better. Now what do I say to my daughter since she's asked me twice this weekend "Baba, why don't you have Fixit?"

More Decpticons needed. Stat.

All the best

Maz