Ever since Action Toys first launched their "masterpiece" like series of Machine Robo toys in 2015 (?) based on the Revenge of Cronos anime, I've been wanting to pick up a few if for no other reason than being curious.
While I've moved on from the larger, more complex designs and transformations of Takara Tomy's Masterpiece Transformers, the smaller scale of these new Machine Robo figures better fit into my collecting style. I've always been fond of the original MR/GoBots toys so it's not like I'm entering this new line completely blind.
Steam Robo isn't my first Action Toys Machine Robo purchase, he is the first one that I actually opened! Yeah, I've got a bad habit of sitting on new purchases for way too long. Anyhow, Steam Robo is the 10th figure released in the line and up until recently when the line had new life breathed into it, this locomotive was the last figure released for awhile.
Fans outside of Japan probably recognize this guy as Loco, one of the Renegades in the GoBots series. I am amazed at how much Steam Robo looks like the source material, yet sleek and modern. The stickers on Loco have been replaced with nice paint apps and are an exact match, down to the D-5147 designation on the chest.
Where Loco was short and basically a brick, Steam Robo now stands taller, thinner and is packed with articulation. The head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, thighs, knees and feet all feature some sort of articulation. I've never been the best at poses figures (for photography or not), but as you can see above Steam Robo is putting Loco in his place.
At first the transformation from robot to locomotive gave me fits, but once I figured it out it was a thing of beauty. I'm especially impressed at how the legs unfold to form the sides of the locomotive. The figure stays together quite well in this form and is rather solid. The die-cast metal wheels roll freely across any hard, smooth surface. The level of detail sculpted into the figure, especially in this form is very impressive.
I'm very impressed with Steam Robo, so much that as soon as I was done fiddling around with him that I opened Bike Robo (Cy-Kill) immediately. You could tell how far the engineering has come since the earlier releases. If this foreshadows some of the coming figures (Buggy Robo, Blue Jet) we are in for a treat. Steam Robo comes highly recommended...however he does command nearly doubled what he originally retailed for.
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