Back in October, I had decided that my TFCon 2018 hunt list
would include members of the Unique Toys Abominus team, named Ordin. Mere days
before the convention, I found and won an eBay auction for the entire set. So,
that was pretty easy. Let’s take a look at the first figure in the set, Troll,
a Third Party version of Terrorcon Blot.
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| This is one of the blaster parts that comes packaged with Siegfried. |
As usual, let’s first talk about generalities. Each of the
four limb figures of the Ordin team, billed on the boxes as being “The Most
Powerful Witchcraft Masters!”, is essentially Voyager size, with the fifth
figure, the team leader torso, being slightly larger still, maybe the old Ultra
size class of yore. The figures all feel very nice and sturdy, with lots of
good toothy joints and real quality plastic. The set that will be featured in
these articles is a set I bought second hand, and the team finished releasing a
few years ago. So it feels extra good to talk about tightness of joints and
things like that. Also, the figures all have Decepticon insignia on them, and
they came to me that way, I suppose if anyone sees these articles and mistakes
these figures for official product. (that shouldn’t happen, given that these
are really good toys. . . –mr) In true Terrorcon form, each of the figures
converts between robot and monster mode, with some of the monsters being a
little more vague than the others, and then each member becomes a body part for
the combined form. Each figures comes with some kind of accessory, although
those are of very varying quality, while team commander Siegfried comes with a
lot of weapons which can be combined to form Ordin’s blaster, or separated and
given to the other members of the team, boosting their offensive capabilities.
On to Troll, the first release from the set, and quite a
good first release at that.
Troll is a good looking 3P version of Terrorcon Blot, one of
those late stage G1 characters who wasn’t real memorable or even distinctive
looking, turning into something that is a monster because that’s what the
package said he was. The results will be much better for Troll.
Despite being a mostly muted palate, the colors on Troll are
outstanding. He’s probably the best looking figure in the set, based solely on
paint, which is also a big improvement on the original. Mainly two different
purples, Troll benefits immensely from a liberal yet restrained use of grey
plastic. The lighter of the two purples is an excellent color that really pops,
and is used in all the right places. Robot mode is about as posable as one
would expect at this point, having knees and elbows, hips and shoulders, a
waist, balljointed feet and wrist swivels, a ball jointed neck and a whole
ankle plate that flexes outward from the inner leg. The figure is a bit back
heavy, as the monster arms fold up essentially into a backpack, and that pulls
Troll backwards. Fortunately, it is easily enough overcome, since the figure is
jointed enough to be able to lean forward slightly enough to balance. The head
sculpt is very nice, and has Blot’s visor, although truthfully, there’s not a
whole lot of Blot’s face that is distinctive or memorable enough to replicate
in this sculpt. It is a nice head though.
Troll does not really have accessories, so much as he comes
with one of the feet parts for the combined mode, which is able to split into
three parts which then serve as weapons. The two side panels house flip out
blasters, and the rest of the foot hides a missile rack. These parts can be
attached to the figure to give him weapons: the blasters peg on to the arms,
and the missile rack can attach to the back, but does so much better in monster
mode than in robot mode. 
The transformation to monster mode contains one step that is
pretty amazing, that being the way the monster arms unfold from behind and
encompass the robot arms into them. It’s the most amazing step on this figure,
and probably of any figure in the entire set. (note, perhaps, but as of the
time of this writing, I have not combined the figures. So, there may be another
mindblowing step that I have yet to discover. –mr) The monster head folds very
nicely into the robot chest, which means that aside from the giant claws on the
top of the backpack, the robot mode truly does not reveal the alt mode. Troll
isn’t just a robot that slouches over and poof! is a monster. No, Troll reveals his monster form, a true robot
in disguise. The robot legs form the backpack of the beast mode while the robot
backpack becomes the monster arms in a super neat trading places maneuver. 
The monster arms have posable claws which can open via three
individual fingers, and they are mounted on a plate which can rotate on the
arm, like a wrist for the beast mode. The arms are very large and the monster
legs almost comically tiny, giving Troll’s beast mode a very hulking yet squat
appearance. The blasters which result from the sides of the combiner foot can
attach to the beast mode arms, and then the missile rack foot can attach to the
back, which gives Troll a pretty large arsenal, but also reminds of the modular
nature of the Clan Omnimechs from days of Battletech long ago. A few simple
modifications, and an obvious bruiser turns into a more ranged opponent, and
Troll gives the impression that he could lay waste to an enemy in either
capacity. The one weakness of the monster mode is that the legs are small, and
will start to slip under the weight of the figure. Display works best if there
is something behind Troll that he can lightly lean against, helping to
distribute the weight evenly. Or, if that’s not an issue for you, the blatant
open square hole right on the top of the figure, which is the combiner port.
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| Fully armed and operational |
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| Such a handsome fella! |
Troll is intriguing because as the representation of the
worst Terrorcon, it is probably the best figure of the Ordin set, or at the
very least, the one which is most unique. The other figures in the set are
basically just altered versions of each other, and not as different as Troll. That
usual statement about buying only one member of a combiner team applies to
Troll, of course, but this really is a figure that is worth experiencing. A
great start to the set.
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