Transformers: Combiner Wars Rook

 Rook is another of the new characters and designs for the Combiner Wars line, along with Off Road and Alpha Bravo. Rook is the replacement for Groove among the Protectobot ranks, swapping out a police motorcycle for some kind of police/SWAT transport. I find him to be a strange addition to the team, vehicle wise, and while I do see him being a member of a search and rescue team, I think large, armored police vehicle in the world of 2015/16 USA is a choice that comes with a little more subtext than Hasbro may have intended.

Apparently, Rook has met the requirements to be a Republican presidential candidate this election cycle....

Rook is a bit simple in all modes. His vehicle mode is essentially a rectangle on wheels, and his color scheme in all modes is a bit plain. Robot mode doesn’t even have real hands, but rather some kind of ports at the ends of his clenched fists. They kind of look like jet engines really, and his weapon –some type of claw- plugs in to them. On one hand (lol), these fist ports give the impression of large cannons, a Shockwave-esque fist gun that is kind of tough-looking. Given the broad robot chest and square, thick arms, there is a strongman type quality to Rook as a robot that matches his stumpy and thick vehicle form. The fist ports also allow for Rook to make use of two combiner hand foot guns, giving him ‘Hulk Hands,’ as some corners of the fandom have found to be the absolute funniest thing ever and then lost their minds about. It’s pretty meh, really, as it gives him a very apeish, knuckle dragging kind of  appearance, and that’s just not something that I find appealing. His head is a kind of cross between one of those awesome Soviet winter hats and an old school NFL placekicker helmet, with the single bar, that everyone used to laugh at growing up. The Soviet hat elements are apparently supposed to recall the rook piece from a chess set, so there’s the reason for his name, I suppose. And for as large as the chest is, Rook clearly skips leg day. Often. 

Vehicle mode is a pretty nondescript APC kind of thing, with 5mm ports all over the place, so while the basic vehicle is very bland, you can stick Combiner Wars weapons all over it, and make it more of a tank or attack vehicle, if you please. It is essentially a large backpack shell piece that flips down over the back and legs of the robot, but with the vehicle windows painted on that piece, it can be folded the other way, exposing the robot arms with their forward pointing hand guns, and then the vehicle takes on a kind of M.A.S.K. deal: ordinary vehicle, oh hey, assault mode. Either M.A.S.K. or something from a Godzilla movie, like the MASER tanks: totally unstable and implausible as a real world vehicle, but in a sci-fi context, a ‘why the hell not?’ kind of invention that no one would really see a problem in.  The inclusion of such a heavily armored vehicle is a bit strange on a team made up of a fire truck, police car, ambulance and rescue chopper, and feels a little uncomfortable in a time where tensions between police departments and citizens all across the US are the things of front page news. Rook, of all the new team members Combiner Wars has introduced, is the one who at least was introduced to attempt and make the team seem more believable, replacing Groove who, as a motorcycle, has long, long been the member who shattered the suspension of disbelief regarding the team, and how many other rescue-y vehicles are there to choose from? And I guess it's not too out of place, considering Blades has arms covered in missiles.

 

In either limb mode Rook is underwhelming. Leg mode is just the vehicle stood on the front bumper; arm mode is similar to the Drag Strip/Mirage mold, where the legs of the robot form the forearm pretty well but pretty flat and wide. The upper arm section is nice and solid looking, but highlights an issue of sorts with the whole Combiner Wars line: a lack of symmetry. If Defensor’s other arm is Blades, the combined form has one arm that is thin and kind of rounded, and then one arm that is very square with very strong lines. My Defensor arrangement has Blades and Arialbot castoff Alpha Bravo as arms, so much like my Superion, he has symmetrical arms. I know that combiners are not really, in any kind of real-world sense, going to have an overall smooth and symmetrical look to them, being that they are amalgamations of different robots/vehicles, and Rook is a fine albeit plain looking arm. But, like Drag Strip, Rook draws attention to the other arm, and that makes the other arm more noticeable and I’m not a fan of that. On Menasor, Drag Strip makes Dead End look like a part unfinished or out of place; Rook does the same thing on Defensor. For the sake of a nicer all-around look, I just use Alpha Bravo on Defensor, and keep Rook as something of a stand alone figure. 

Overall Rook may not really do anything terrific, but he is a good Transformer. He has an easy and fast transformation, so I’ve grabbed him from the shelf while watching TV numerous times, just to have something for my hands to be occupied with. With a Voyager like Sky Lynx coming, whose team of limbs I’ve no interest in save for one, I know that Rook will get his chance at combiner team life, but he’s a good single figure as well.