Toy Review: GCreations GDW-02 Rebel

I can honestly say that the IDW iteration of Prowl has never looked any better than GCreation’s Rebel.

Producer: GCreation

Price: Approx. $110 USD

Release Date: Jan. 2018

Item Height: Approx. 6.5″

Item Weight: N/A

Batteries: N/A

WHERE TO BUY: TFSource, The Chosen Prime

GCreations is keeping the ball rolling with their IDW comic-styled Transformers homages with GDW-02 Rebel. This homage to the IDW version of “Prowl” manages to stay true to the comics while really adding some fine detailing as well as some really cool articulation which makes it an awesome piece for both display and play. Check out the video portion to see it in motion as well as my thoughts and gallery below and please let me know what you think of it in the comments section.

Presentation: The box is thick cardboard and feels sturdy but the designing of the graphics feels extremely “plain” so it’s really not something I’d see on a shelf and really want to look further into if I saw it in a retail scenario. The piece itself is packed well into the clamshell in its robot mode. Overall, it’s pretty plain-jane but I do feel that the piece itself has a really “popping” look when unpackaged. The sleek, anime-esque design is killer with good paint applications and well-done tampos.

Build: Rebel is a fully plastic piece with pretty strong plastics used. With the transformation there are a few “flaps” and whatnot but nothing feels on the overly thin/frail side. It’s nice to have a piece that’s sturdy, particularly when it’s so playable in the area of articulation. One thing I do wish is that a lot of the pegs/tabs had a better friction hold to them with the biggest offenders being the two larger pegs on Rebel’s calves that the blasters peg into.

Accessories: The accessories are simple; two blasters done in the comic styling and two “batons.” I love the look and functionality of all of the weapons and the hands grip them very well. The only gripe I have is that while the blasters can store on the legs, the batons really have no where to store in robot mode when not being held. Overall I’d say that Rebel has nice accessories that plain make sense.

Articulation: The articulation on Bike Robo is darned good. The video portion shows it all in motion but honestly there isn’t much this piece “can’t” do in terms of its range of motion. The only thing that I really wish it had was a bit more ankle tilt.

Overall Score: 7.5/10 – The robot mode on GCreation GDW-02 Rebel is out of this world. Aeshtetically, it’s this awesome cross between what IDW is doing with the Transformers franchise and a very sleak, “Anime” styling. The posing that you can do really helps accentuate that style as well. I really can’t say enough about the robot mode. It’s just great. In fact, I have no problem saying that this is one of the most awesome robot modes on a transforming Transformers toy that I’ve ever seen in-hand. However, the alt. mode and the transformation sequence aren’t quite as high. With the transformation I feel that it is just a bit “much” particularly on the bottom half of the figure with very little to show for it. The alt. mode itself is very nice looking but I wish that it had stronger connections on its tabbed parts to make for better handling on top of the blasters staying attached to the sides better. Overall though, this is the best IDW-inspired transforming piece I’ve handled so far and I’d definitely recommend it with caution to be prepared for a transformation that can be frustrating.