Age of the Primes Spinister (Wreck 'n Doom Collection)

Prelude: Spinister is still one of the coolest bad guy names ever in my book and this figure here was possibly the best Deluxe Class figure in the entire War for Cybertron Siege line-up. Now it’s back in Age of the Primes as part of the Wreck ‘n Doom Collection. Can a new paintjob and two blocky extra figures justify the price of a two-pack? Let’s say go!

Differences: Age of the Primes Spinister is a straight-up repaint of War for Cybertron Siege Spinister, whom I have previously reviewed. So go and read that review first. Done? Cool, now let’s look at what’s changed.

Siege Spinister wore the colors of the original G1 Spinister toy, which were also the colors shown in the IDW Comics. Age of the Primes Spinister, however, wears the colors of Spinister’s Marvel Comics appearances. Which means his lower body is now a dark grey instead of green, his arms are a nearly blue shade of purple, and his mouthguard is blue instead of green. Also, his two weapons have been recolored from purple and green to black and blue. And that’s pretty much it, really. The helicopter blades are darker now, too, but that’s all it is: a simple color swap.

The main difference between the two figures is, of course, the presence of the two Targetmaster figures, Singe and Hairsplitter (Singe is the black one). Siege Spinister only had two guns that kind of resembled the weapon modes of his two G1 Targetmaster partners, but Age of the Primes Spinister has those as well as two Targetmaster figures. They are pretty close to how G1 Targetmasters worked, actually, basically being big blocks with flip-out weapon barrels on the back. They look pretty close to the originals, but I’d rather have had them a bit more detailed and articulated, to be honest.

So bottom line: same excellent figure, new paint, plus two Targetmasters.

Remarks: Spinister appeared several times in both the Marvel US and UK comics. In the latter he was a member of the Mayhem Attack Squad, hence his inclusion in the Wreck ‘n Doom line. His colors varied wildly throughout the comics (as happened to a lot of characters), but this figure’s paintjob is mostly based on his appearances in the US comics, where he was a minion of Thunderwing. Spinister came in a two-pack with Topspin.

At the end of the day this is really nothing more and nothing less than a repainted re-release of the excellent Siege figure. Since I already owned the original (as well as the Rotorstorm retool) and had little interest in the Targetmaster figures, I felt no need for it. Thankfully my buddy Reyjin split the two-pack with me, taking Spinister off my hands. So bottom line: it’s still an excellent figure and if you don’t have any of the previous versions, it’s well worth getting now (especially as Topspin is a cool figure, too). 

Rating: A-