Lugnut is a new character created from the Animated line. His characteristic is the typical big, bad, dumb, and loyal type of comedy character, which is not the type of character I’m a fan of. Initially I thought my son will like him but to my surprise, he is like his dad, does not like this kind of character. As I never bothered about his Animated toy even when he was in clearance, the RTS retool did tickle me. He did have good reviews but again, still not my type and my son was not interested in him so I didn’t have any motivation to hunt him down, besides he probably never appeared at any retail stores around me. Later he was reported to be sighted in the reduced price stores, such as Marshall and TJ Maxx, and that tickled me again. Then, without intentional hunt and without much effort, I found him and got him at a deluxe class price.

Lugnut’s alternate mode is a WWII style bomber. From wing to wing and from head to tail, this bomber is very satisfying big. Details are amazing here and his paint jobs and color schemes are excellent. Rarely seen Hasbro did such a good job like this. He has those four tiny wheels at the bottom to roll and surprisingly they roll so well. And if you call Unicron the master of mini-cons collecting post, Lugnus is the master of clip-joint weapons’ collecting post. He total has 17 ports here to clip weapons and it’s a shame Hasbro did not include any for him. He would look super scary if you can find all the proper weapons to clip on in this mode. His only active weapon is a missile at the tail and the trigger is at top. The trigger is located at a very convenient place to fire the missile accidentally but luckily it is covered by a flip-able build in machine gun. Only part I don’t understand is why Hasbro chose soft rubber to use on the entire cockpit. I can understand when they use soft rubber on the sharp or angular tip for toy safety but here is all round and I believe no one is gonna sit on it or smash the head to anything. So, why soft rubber?

Transformation was quite tricky for my first time especially on the legs. But then, Lugnut was quite easy and fun to transform. He isn’t really tall as a robot but looks bold and menacing. Again, details are amazing and color scheme is very nice. He has really good balance but due to his heavy top and multi ankles, he may tip forward or get leg split easily. So I’ve tightened his hip joints and ankle joints with my best friend super glue and that takes care of this balance issue. Lugnut’s mouth can be opened and all his five eyes (??) can reflect the light well if you shoot a light from the back of his head. His arms are long and his spring loaded hands are quite large that he can grab any deluxe class figures or smaller figures with one hand and can easily give anybody a big hug. The only thing that bothers me about his arms is they cannot swing backward due to the wing design. Still can do by flipping the entire shoulder platform but that won’t look good. Again, it’s a shame he doesn’t come with any weapon and he still gets so many clip ports on him (total 13 in robot mode). The tail missile can flip up to the back of his head but that doesn’t mean much actually. His big hands should not be just used for grab Autobots and toss them around. So I gave him my Sazabi’s axe (and painted it) and he looks super cool with that weapon.

Transformation: 8 – Was quite tricky and confusing for the first time but then he is pretty fun and quick to transform. Only thing I don’t like is the rubbery cockpit.
Fun: 9 – Totally fun in both modes with a lot of weapon clip ports, but he doesn’t come with any weapon besides a not so practical firing missile. If Hasbro gave him any additional weapon, even better with hand held weapon, he will be a solid 10.
Display: 10 – He is well detailed and color scheme is perfect (IMO, much better than Takara’s version). Even my wife said this guy looks cool. And he is well balanced (after super glue) and very poseable. Truly, rarely seen Hasbro did a good job like this.
Value: 10 – The myth I mentioned in the intro is still unknown, I’m very happy I could find him in the discount store TJ Maxx for only $9.99.
Overall: 8 – Lugnut is a super fun toy and really well designed with very good paint job. I didn’t even mention his eagle mode, gerwalk mode, and bomber arm mode in my review. This guy really is a fun toy to play around. So why 8? Well, first I don’t like his rubbery cockpit and don’t understand why Hasbro did that. Second Hasbro should really, really include any weapon for him instead of just one missile.