Transformers Jaguar XK Ravage Alternators

The transformer arrived in good time, in great shape and was exactly what my grandson wished for. He has a collection of transformers and had wanted a Jaguar for some time. He was excited about filling the spot for a Jag and I was happy to do it. It came in perfect shape, including the box.This was an Amazon Verified Purchase.

This is one of the best if not THE best of the Alternators line. It's a sleek black Jaguar that turns into Ravage...the cat not the robot. What a totally awesome toy. He looks great next to my Wheeljack, Smokescreen, and Battle Ravage figures. He is sturdy enough for a kid to play with, and not too complicated once you figure out the first conversion. He's very poseable and jointed. Looks great in both cat and car forms, very detailed. His head and neck turns and mouth opens. Very sweet and a must-have for any Ravage fan.

At least in the Hasbro Transformes lines of toys, I've had my fair share of duds and lemmons (ROTF Bumblebee, Mixmaster, Mudflap... all with parts assembled wrong)I'm a fan of the Binaltech line from Takara, which spawned the Alternators line from Hasbro. The Transformers Binaltech line of toys took some very good 1/24 scale car models and turned them into robots. Then, Hasbro basically took Takara's molds and cheapened the toys made with these... So cheap indeed, that they even replaced some metal pins for plastic rods in the doors of Optimus Prime (Dodge Ram).Then, why did I buy this toy? Well, for starters, Takara's Binaltech line died long ago. They tried reviving it with Binaltech Asterisk, but the line was dead already and the Asterisk line got quite expensive. Therefore, some molds were never released by Takara.This resulted in Hasbro being the only one to release the new Ravage (Jaguar XK) and Rumble (Honda Civic Si) toys in the Alternators line. There's no Takara counterparts sadly.On to the toy:- All Binaltech toys feature die-cast and paint on the car body. Hasbro's Alternators line don't feature die-cast (or they do in a very limited proportion); instead relying on colored plastic. Ravage then is molded in black plastic. It has a very slight pearlescent effect, but overall looks very plasticky.- All Binaltech toys feature a detailed interior, opening hood and trunk, and an engine. These are copied by the Alternators... EXCEPT in Ravage. The car's doors open to reveal the interior. The trunk opens, but that's meant for transformation more than for display. And then the hood... just doesn't. There's no engine either.- Also, all previous Binaltech/Alternators have features related to their wheels: Either the front wheels can swivel simultaneously (making both wheels turn the car left or right), or all four wheels have springs to simulate shock absorbers. But Ravage doesn't. All wheels are fixed. I mean, then do spin and the car moves forward and backwards, but the car can't turn. This is the first one I see that lacks any feature.So, this Alternator shares the same materials as the rest of Aternators, but lacks some other features. I really believe this is due to the "end of the line" problem, and I guess Hasbro didn't want to invest more in development of the design, as probably Takara would.The sad part is that mine was missing a hinge in the trunk piece. It's not broken: it was never installed in the first place (there's even the holes for the pin that holds the piece. Tough luck; I guess, but shows how low we've come with quality control at Hasbro.On the positive side, this is a very nice rendition to Ravage. Moreover, it's the only one worth having, because the other "Battle Ravage" with a "human" body doesn't make sense.Even the idea of having a Jaguar branded car as an alt mode for the feline transformer is a great idea.