Review – Renderform/Mech Ideas Custom “War” Gauntlet

Inspired by his appearance in IDW’s Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers*, this Gauntlet from Mech iDeas is slightly different from the basic retail release. What makes this one different? Well, the toy has been customized by Renderform and has a weathered, battle-damaged look to it that sets it apart from the cleaner version of the toy.

Vehicle Mode

Man, that is one fat little truck! The below pics show the unofficial Ironfist in vehicle mode, and from the beefy tires to the squat, thick design of the body itself everything about this vehicle mode screams chunk. The rolling wheels and swivel turret work well, but I just cannot get over how fat the vehicle mode looks. This is far more toylike than I usually see from third party Transformers makers, and if it were about half its size it would almost fit in perfectly with the Generation One Autobot Minicars.

Transformation Design

Mostly excellent, Gaunlet has a lot of good going for him in his transformation design and is overall exactly what I like: intuitive and quick to change between modes. That head is a bit of a pain, though, and it feels like there should have been a bit more clearance in the transformation of the head/front of the vehicle because it’s all just too tight. Everything else? No problems. But that head’s gonna be an issue one of these days if I transform this guy too often.

Robot Mode

Squat!!! At about 3.75-inches tall, the thing that’s most noticable about Gauntlet is just how chunky his is in robot mode. That actually fits his appearance in Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers* quite well, but seeing the illustration and then holding the toy offer two very different experiences.

Weathering

So since this particular version of Gauntlet is special because of the toy’s weathering, just how good is the paintwork? Excellent! Click the pics and enlarge them for a closer look — pay special attention to the bullet hole in the toy’s right temple — but the dirty weathering effect and rough, lived-in look of the toy is very well done. Best of all, the custom paintwork has no negative impact on the toy’s transformation; other than that head everything works great. (And I swear the head problem is in the mold and not because of the paint; I guess I’ll know for sure when I open his moldmate, Piston.)

Closing Thoughts

If you’re a fan of IDW’s Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers* then you must grab this toy. Maybe not the customized version, but at the very least you need the basic Gauntlet (at BBTS). The toy is stable, mostly fun to transform (stupid head), and really fits the character design in the comic quite well.

Recommended!