Transformers Power of the Primes: Elita-1

June was cra-cra. I’ve been sitting on this post since 6/3 and had not time to finish it up.  I’m way behind so I’m going to try my best to catch up a bit.  We’ve had news of the new SDCC releases and other stuff hitting on the Facebook Page, so I need to put the pedal to the metal.

Power of the Primes has been a pretty slow paced line compared to Titans Return.  I feel like every month something new came out for TR and with Power of the Primes, it feels like ages since we heard any news.

The line is a marriage between Combiner Wars and Titans Return and as such we’re getting Voyagers that combine with Deluxe limbs.  With that we have our first actual Elita-1 toy, who’s also a combiner.  Eh.

Elita-1 shares Starscream’s mold design, transforming from a robot to a fighter jet.  Yes, Elita was a car in the G1 cartoon.  I would have preferred a land vehicle, but at this point it nice just to have her actualized in the toy line.

Elita has some major retooling.  The wings, legs, arms, hands chest and head (obviously) are all new to the toy.   For the most part though she features the same design, which means she has the same issues Starscream suffers from (i.e. her legs don’t really peg together in jet mode very well).

While I do like the IDW-ish look of her design, I do feel like she should have been a lighter shade of red or nearly pink, though I get that makes her look a little too close to Arcee’s colors.

She comes with two smaller “pistols” instead of Starscreams nullrays which is nice.  You can attach them to her shoulders for a more G1 appearance or have her wield them as weapons.  She also includes her “Prime Armor/Combiner feet”, but they don’t really do her any favors as the armor is all black instead of a red/pink color.

Even though they’re stickers, Elita features some really cool text-decals in Jet mode.  I also feel like her stickers are far better than Starscream’s with minor peeling after multiple transformations.   I’m not a huge fan of her oddly pink landing gear but it’s a nit-pick I can live with.

As with Starscream, Elita-1 is also a combiner.  I’m not a fan of this, I don’t think Hasbro Needed to make all of the Voyager and Deluxe class toys combiners.  It would have made Abominus feel more special for sure.  That being said, I don’t hate this and it’s rapidly growing on me.  I won’t combine her too often but it’s nice to know the option is not only there, but looks nice too.  The combiner’s name is Elita-1nf1nate or something goofy like that.

BOTTOM LINE:

Elita-1 comes with a “buy it” from me simply for the fact that she’s one of those super rare characters that long time fans have wanted for a very long time.  She’s not perfect, in fact, she’s really mediocre, with a hum-drum jet mode, but she definitely beats out Starscream with the mold and once Nova(Fire)star drops, we’ll have the four female autoboots from The Search for Alpha Trion, which will be neat!