Transformation: Confession time! I've had this toy a while and it's kept getting pushed down the review list as new stuff came out. As a consequence I may need a couple of shots at this cos there's a few complex bits! Remove the spear, noting that the base of the shaft is attached to the jet and the top half of the unfolded shaft is held near the hinge by the C-clip between the engines. Unfold the spear and pull the point back to become a trident. Fold the underside of the nose down, pull the nose forward and fold back over the cockpit canopy. Fold the fore wings forward. Turn the jet over, pull the legs to the side and fold forward taking the wings with them so that the slanted part of the waist meshes with the black sides of the upturned nose. Pull the feet forward and, while holding them in place, fold the heel spurs back. Rotate the wing hinge on the leg back and up till the tab on the inside of the strut connected to it can slide into the slot on the leg. Rotate the wing forward so the slot on it's underside meets the tab on the outside of the strut. Fold each engine through the body of the jet and out to the sides under the tailfins. Fold the engines forward to form the arms. Fold the orange top of each engine up then rotate the engine into the forearm which brings the hand out into position. Close the forearms. Rotate the middle of the jet's body 180 degrees so the underside of the rear is on the same side as the cockpit canopy. Fold the rear of the jet back. Raise the grey panel. Fold the head forward: the joint on mine is very stiff so there's a good chance you'll pop the head off at this stage. Close the grey flap. Fold the black tail fin section forward 180 degrees. Fold the remainder of the rear of the jet back to form the robot's back, pegging it into place via a tab projecting from the rear of the front. Fold the shoulders forward locking the tiny tab at the top into the sides of the chest. Slide the spear into the hand, taking care that is meshes properly with the raised area on the palm of the toy.
Terradive's robot mode continues the orange (body, head, forearms & wings) and black (limbs) theme of the jet adding white (shoulders and feet), silver (upper legs & face) and grey (hands). The head is reminiscent of Beast Wars Neo Corahda in that he looks like he's wearing a hat. Given the trident he's holding, I'd guess it's meant to be a Roman Gladiatorial Helmet. The head is lightpiped in clear plastic but the eye end is painted orange allowing a minimum of light through. The chest design is quite clever making it look like the entire jet nose points upwards where in fact it's just the tip that's been moved. Articulation is about at a level you'd expect from a deluxe toy: ball jointed head, turning shoulders that raise to the sides, bicep swivel, bending elbows, turning wrists, sadly no waist, ball jointed hips, a very high thigh swivel and bending knees & ankles. In common with many Moviesque toys he has a thin skeletal appearance, but here it works. The trident can be stored on the clip on the shoulder or the one in his back panel. The hand design, very open with a 5mm peg hole formed from the thumb and a raised palm, can hole the Trident by either of the 5mm raised areas along it's mainly 3 mm width, but you may have some trouble getting it to stay put as the contact areas need to be aligned just right: If they're not the Trident just falls out the open side of the hand.
Not a bad toy at all, a decent addition to the ranks of your Decepticon jets adding a little variety in both vehicle and robot mode.
Terradive was a Wave 3 Hunt For The Decepticons toy, appearing with his fellow new mould Tomahawk. Naturally Hasbro UK chose this as the Hunt For The Decepticons deluxe wave to skip. Both have turned up much later, as part of a wave received by only Smythes & Toymaster but both Tomahawk & Terradive continue to be popular toys which have been slightly difficult to obtain since their release.
Terradive was released in Japan as Autobot Alliance toy AA-14. A comparison gallery shows that the Japanese version is slightly more orange swapping the white plastic for grey and white paint for orange.
4 x Bumblebee
2 x Arcee
1 x Jazz
1 x Space Case
I can understand that kids & parents want Bumblebee but dedicating half a case to a repaint when there's some of the regular & better Mechtech version on the same shelves seems a bit overkill! To make it worse all the other deluxe exclusive assortments for K-Mart, Wal*Mart/Sainsburys and Toys R Us have Bumblebees in them too. The over-abundance of Bumblebees is affecting the ability of people to get the other figures. Our experience in the UK was that Terradive's distribution has been limited so that coupled with Space Case's homage to his G2 self has made him disappear off the shelves while the Bumblebees have sat there.
Space Case's jet mode is, as we pointed out earlier, a very similar shape to the G2 Cyberjet of the same name. He's swapped the orange of Terradive for a clear blue which is covered in Cybertronian script. The original Space Case was white but covered in a blue camouflage pattern so it's a sensible choice of colours. The black of the tail fins, landing gear & clip to hold the spear becomes a solid blue grey while the canopy is an almost opaque yellow. Transforming to robot mode reveals some more changes: the white of the shoulders & feet is now a burgundy purple (it's 2003 and Universe is back!) while the black becomes red on the upper arms & waist but on the legs becomes a bright white. The new head is clear blue plastic so, like the old, is moulded on the same parts tree as the rest of the jet - I wonder if there's one of each head cast with each moulding and one discarded?
I'm afraid the new colour scheme is a bit of an eyesore. I like the blues & white together but the combination of red & burgundy doesn't work with them.
Clear blue & grey blue become white, giving a jet body matching the G2 version
The burgundy would change to match the red.
Red paint would be applied to the upper legs, with blue camouflage painted on the body.
Perfect. Produce it Hasbro so I can eBay my rare DOTM and make some money.