Review; Transformers Legacy Minerva

Sticking to the world of Transformers Japanese G1 after last weeks Super Megatron review, today we look at the Autobot medic Minerva. Minerva was one of the Autobot Headmaster Jrs. from the Super-God Masterforce anime, a show that primarily focused on the Transformers Powermaster toys Hasbro had released in the early 90's. Minerva also recently played a role in the IDW Wreckers; Treads & Circuits comics, where she was the Wreckers Medic. Starting to see a few IDW and JG1 toys getting released now, and I am all for it, so without further ado, lets take a look at Transformers Legacy Minerva.

Minerva comes in the standard Legacy packaging with the neon outlining of Minerva in her alt mode and the obligatory product shots on the back of the box. Oddly it doesn't state on the box that Minerva is from the Masterforce Universe, where Galaxy Shuttle is mention as being from the Victory Universe. One of the big differences with Minerva and the other mainline Legacy releases, is that Minerva is missing the QR code to get her tech spec, which may be due to being a Walgreen's exclusive, as most Transformers Medics seem to be. Personally I am disappointed by this, I love looking over Tech Specs and having them for Transformers.

Out of the box this is a very tidy looking toy, yes it has the front wheel arches above the shoulders but that is part of Minerva's design. Minerva here is a repaint of the Legacy Elita-1 toy, which given it's design many people saw a Minerva repaint coming on the way, especially since we have started to see a lot of Japanese G1 character toys in recent years. The red and whites on the toy are very striking and the bits of blue around the hips really help break up the toy design. Minerva has a new head sculpt from that of her mould mate, Elita-1, designed after her appearance in the Masterforce anime. unfortunately Minerva isn't a Headmaster like she is in the cartoon or her original toy, but I feel that would have involved more engineering on the part of the Elita-1 mould that they maybe had in the budget, as she wouldn't only have a headmaster partner but also redesigned for storage of the headmaster, such as a seat in the cab of the alt mode.

Articulation wise, Minerva has everything you would expect from a modern mainline toy, and thankfully the backpack doesn't greatly hinder movement. Head is on a ball joint and can look down a good bit but a great degree up. Arms can lift full 90 but can't rotate upwards past the head due to the back back, but can rotate a great distance down and the backpack can lift to facilitate this movement. Minerva has upper arm rotation and great bend in the elbows, and for a deluxe, wrist rotation, something I feel we are seeing less of. Legs can lift fully forwards at the hip but are hindered at the back due to the shape of the thigh, due to this same issue, Minerva also can't do the full splits. There is thigh rotation but this is also hindered due to the shapes of the thighs. Knees can bend full 90 and we have ankle pivot.

Minerva comes with 3 accessories, the first is a large, completely transparent plastic blaster, with a very nice design and 5mm ports and pegs for weapon combinations. Second is a blaster that is moulded in transparent plastic but painted black, in 5mm holes in the side, to allow it to combine with the transparent blaster. The third and final accessory is that of the alt mode light, which is to be stored in th backpack. The light bar can be combines with the guns but it doesn't seem to be possible to combine with the guns into a melee weapeon, like what can be done with Red Alert's light bar.

Transformation is a simple process, but unfortunately Minerva falls into the same trap that most of the Fembots have, which that transformation is essentially just shell forming. The backpack unfolds and covers the upper torso with the arms connecting to the roff panel to form the sides, the the hips rotate and the shins fold up to form the back of the car. It's disappointing as when I saw the pictures of Elita-1 with the head horns showing in alt mode I though there would be more intricate transformation process involved, but thanks to a misprint on the instructions, the head horns on Elita-1 are an accessory similar to the light bar for Minerva.

Once transformed though we have this nice, compact cute paramedics car. I really love this design, very loyal to Minerva's Masterforce appearance and just a great and different looking altmode, it has a real 90's anime vibe to it. The white with red lines let's you know that this is a medical vehicle and is reconisable as such. The car can roll on the wheels and sits perfectly flush on the ground, which is nice to see. The blasters can be plugged into the sides of the car, or as the instructions recommend, the blasters are pegged together and stored on top of the light bar.

Overall this is a great toy to have, fun to transform and play about with. If you haven't picked up Minerva or the Elita-1 version I greatly recommend you do.

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