I groaned a bit when I heard Decepticon Chop Shop was coming, mostly because I wasn't too fond of getting a retool of Skrapnel [FOTD #962]. It wasn't a bad figure, but now that ol' Choppers is here I quite like it. It's not like I had any of the original deluxe Insecticons as a kid, and with the mini Chop Shop [FOTD #899] he can hold himself, as so many are known to do. The colors aren't a perfect match, but the deco is close and they do look like they're related.
The design works really well as Chop Shop, given the arm and mandible layout plus the kibble on the sides of the legs. He's got ball-jointed shoulders and elbows, plus a great range of movement on the knees. Sadly, he has no weapons - but the newly-tooled head is a start. Weapons would be nice, though, but it seems Hasbro is costing out such niceties while we continue to get trading cards to clutter up our OCD completist debris bins. (I'm not thrilled cards are carried forward to Titans Return. I really don't need cards. I need 4 cents worth of paint.)
It's mostly a single color with some nice highlights - like the original. It's a little more brownish orange than the original brown, but it's charming. Transforming him is identical to Skrapnel, and it's a pretty decent transformation for a modern Legends toy since the robot's torso and legs fold up an an interesting way - which is to say, you actually have to manipulate them a bit. The end result is a pretty decent bug, sized similarly to the original trio of Insecticons who, as it turns out, were quite small.
While the legs are on joints, the only element that really moves are the mandibles- you can position them a bit if you like, but there's no action feature in them. It's a decent little bug statue with a 5mm port in his back, originally for Reflector but you could mount nearly any weapon in there that you like. I like the coloring just as much as Skrapnel, with the white markings on the figure coming through nicely.
Since Chop Shop makes few comic appearances and no TV appearances, it's unlikely anyone but the old toy fans were really itching for this update - but now that we have it, that's a whole new group of Decepticons has begun and hopefully we'll see Hasbro complete them before our hair goes grey. I kid... but hey, we could still use some Dinobots and Minibots.
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