Legacy Evolution Decepticon Nemesis
Released in the second year of Legacy to compliment her Autobot counterpart after a bit of a delay, Decepticon Nemesis earns her place as the most powerful warship ever cast.
Starting in vehicle mode, as thatās how sheās packaged and presented, sheās a very accurate representation of the ship seen in the G1 cartoon, for however long it was seen. There are some proportional differences, but theyāre so inconsequential and are a worthy, minor compromise to help achieve turning it into a robot. No matter what itās a more cohesive spaceship than whatever the fuck Trypticon had going on. Itās fantastically detailed on the whole, with a healthy dose of greebling, though not much more than that. The bulk of the star cruiser mode doesnāt have much paint, with the bridge receiving the most attention. The thrusters and top and bottom fins see some additional coloration, the thrusters getting a bright blue and the fins seeing both the Decepticon insignia and a pale pink stripe.
The Nemesisā unique form factor is a bit hard to make work as like, a real thing, so displaying it comes with a little caveat. The bottom fin splits apart to let it sit horizontally, or you can stand it upright on the thrusters. If you want it in its fully glory, then youād probably need some kind of custom stand, and a robust one at that. Play features are present but not an especially strong highlight. You get three A.I.R. Lock ramps, two on the sides and one in the back, and all the turrets at the front rotate thanks to being on 5mm pegs.
The transformation is rather involved, especially for something so big, but I very much appreciate that. Splitting the side panels can be a tad tricky, as thereās no good single vantage point, but they will pop out if you just keep trying to slide them apart. Similarly, the arms are a bit snug, but Iām attributing any difficulties with getting things undone to the sheer size weāre dealing with. The connection for the rear fin being a slider is weird since there isnāt a clear path for it to, well, slide on. Unfurling the legs is also a little odd, since you need to bring out just the hips if you want to actually unfold the feet instead of just pushing them out by bringing the shin down, but itās not hard. None of these are even necessarily problems, just quirks. What is a problem is the chest. Itās formed from part of the bow, and splits in half to unveil her insignia (as though she really needed oneā¦). The issue lies in the fact that those two halves are on sliders, which are incredibly loose on the reissue. They can barely stay up on their own, and I have seen many, many reports of other people having this exact same problem. Iāve fixed it on my copy, but itās still a frustrating thing to encounter.
The full robot mode is an impressive sight to behold. Itās not the bulkiest Titan weāve ever received, but sheās still imposing, and quite tall, too. She stands above the Ark, and not just with her shoulder spikes. She beats him in terms of pure head height, the shoulders just exaggerate their height discrepancy. The colors continue to shine, with a lot more of... everything, on display. More pink on her biceps, hands, and feet, with smaller accents on her torso, some dark gray for her thighs and elbows, and a vibrant red that feels like itād be glowing if this werenāt a toy. The red really helps draw your eyes to the already impressive shoulder spikes and keeps them interesting. Sheās also got some killer light-piping, though her height and back make it a bit tricky to utilizeā¦
In terms of overall build and aesthetic, she feels a lot more ānormalā than the Ark, if that makes sense. Sheās a fair bit more clearly built out of the Nemesis, as opposed to her counterpart who more so looks like heās wearing his ship. Though, I do feel she gets an overall worse range of movement, at least in things like the arms.
Starting at the top for articulation, she gets a lot of movement in her head, able to look up and down alongside the usual side to side, with a tilt thrown in for good measure. Moving to the side, her shoulder ratchets very heavily inward and outward, with only a few clicks available, but thatās probably because itās more so a transformation hinge. It rotates forward much more smoothly, with a much lighter, finer ratchet. To help make up for the shoulderās lack of outward movement, thereās hinge above the elbow, but that has its own problems. It can come in quite far, but it only goes out about two clicks. After that it runs into a part of the shell of the ship, though a very small one. Itās not too hard to push it further and damage that bit of plastic. Even if it were more robust, itās not a lot of added range, and the flap hanging off the side doesnāt help either. It doesnāt go up very far, and while it can fold back a bit, again, itās not a lot.
Past that, things get a lot better. She has an elbow swivel, the elbows themselves are double jointed, and thereās a swivel in her forearm. Her hands open, with her three fingers and thumb both being separate parts. They also just Look Good. Sheās got a waist swivel, and ratchets for both directions in her hips. Her thigh swivel is unencumbered, but her knees are a bit odd. The pieces on the back of her legs can block movement pretty quickly, but⦠itās also really easy to move them out of the way. If you really, really donāt want to for whatever reason, itās more of a problem on her right side, as thatās where the pegs are located and the cross over onto the leg a little bit. Sheās stuck in a bit of an A stance due to both her shins and the way her feet work. The side fins collide with each other if you try and stand her up straight, but even if you take those off her feet are naturally at an angle. That doesnāt use up any of her ankle tilt, however. Theyāre already sat slightly tilted, and they can go deeper still if you need.
She can definitely pull some poses, but certain aspects of her articulation and her sheer size can make that a struggle at times. Shockingly, you have a lot of weight to contend with. Whatever pose you put her in will look quite imposing, though.
Accessories are a bit of an odd one, as most of them are technically also part of the alt mode. But itās not partsforming. Itās just that she can come apart to arm herself up. Evo-Fusion!!! The side fin shins can detach to form guns, while the fins on her shoulders form axes. I uh⦠I think they got these backwards. Like I know they didnāt but- The guns are really big, but then have a teeny tiny barrel that unfolds from the very front. While they are odd looking, you can still make them work, unlike the axes. They are so small in her hands I cannot imagine what possible use she might have for them. Just use your claws girl. She also doesnāt have the range of movement necessary to make hacking and slashing with something so proportionally small look good. Or maybe I donāt have the skills. Either way, both sets of weapons tab into her hands very securely, so thatās nice. The only things she gets that arenāt intrinsically apart of how she looks are the four small scale seekers that are included on the same sprue as the turrets. They can plug into the ramps on the sides of the ship/her arms, should you wish to do so.
As a very large whole, Iām loving the Nemesis. Sheās maybe not as good as she could be, with some notable flaws like the outward hinge at her bicep and quality control inconsistencies like the chest plate, but she still comes together as a fantastic time. She makes great use of the Titan budget, and⦠is a she! The biggest female transformer weāve ever gotten (and probably will getā¦). Now, granted, thatās just because turning the Nemesis into a robot was going to result in a rather slim and slender form anyhow so the designers just said āwhy not?ā, but weāll take those wins where we can get them.