Super7 Keshi Surprise: Transformers (Autobot)

While walking the massive sales floor of the Charlotte Convention center with my family during HeroesCon 2019, I ran across a dealer that had displays of these blind packaged Super7 Keshi Surprise Transformers figures. I had not seen these before at the time or really knew what they were...but the packaging grabbed my attention. Best I could tell these were chibi like PVC figurines. The back of the box stated there 6 different figures/characters in this assortment and came in one of 4 different colors. Priced at $5 each I grabbed one Autobot and one Decepticon box.

The boxes are small, colorful and looks like something you'd find in Japan. I love the artwork featured on the front of the box. The same artwork can be found on one side of the box showing each of the 6 difference characters - Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Grimlock, Jazz, Ironhide and Wheeljack.

I ended up with an orange Ironhide. Immediately upon removing the figure from the black plastic bag inside the box I was reminded of the old Decoys from the 80's. Even the small square sticker reminded me of some of the bonus items found with select Transformers from my childhood. These stickers have a prismatic foil background and look fantastic in hand. The back has line art for the same artwork found on the packaging.

While the Decoys from the 80's were made of a soft rubber, these Keshi figures are cast in a harder plastic. The figures themselves stand at about 1.75 inches. I believe the 4 colors are red, purple, blue and orange.

I like this sculpt of Ironhide as it captures the classic animation look of the character. The head is especially nicely done. The fixed arm pose with fists ready to punch a Decepticon is fitting for this old warrior.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Keshi figures look side by side the old Decoys. They are different, but similar.

I love finding stuff like this and at $5 each they are cheap enough to take a chance here and there. I would have been nice to pull a red Ironhide, but that just means I'll need to try again sometime. Highly recommended if you like this kind of collectible.

Transformers Arms Micron: Ironhide AM-20

The Japanese series of the Transformers Prime line of toys, Arms Micron, has given collector's a choice when it comes to what version of a particular character they'd like to add to their collections. In addition to this there have been several characters exclusive to the Arms Micron like. While this mold was released in the Prime series as Kup, this mold was made for Ironhide. Why Hasbro opted for Kup over Ironhide confounds me.

At first I didn't care for the Arms Micron packaging, but it's really grown on me over time. The CGI rendering of Ironhide looks really nice. It's a good mesh of G1 and movie-verse Ironhide.

Like most of the other Arms Micron releases, the back of the packaging shows off how the figure can interact with other Microns from the series. Ironhide is already tough, we all know that...but check out his extra firepower! Ironhide's included Micron is Iro. He's one of the cooler Microns, but I fear his plastic may not stay strong overtime. More on that later.

 

Both Ironhide and Iro rank pretty high in their respective Tech Spec rankings.

If there is a downside to the Arms Micron toys is the fact that the toys are devoid of tampographs and painted details. All of the figures come "naked" right out of the package. If you want the "chrome" look, more details or faction symbols you have to sticker up your figure. I have never enjoyed stickering my toys.

Ironhide's stickers apply pretty easily, something that I can't say about all Arms Micron releases. Most of his stickers are applied in vehicle mode. The sides get 3 shiny graphite stickers with a metallic red trim across the top. A single Autobot sticker on the hood and two more graphite stickers on the tailgate.

The stickers do really help break up all of Ironhide's red, but I wish the wheels had been painted as they look really cheap looking as is.

Iro forms a very large and round cannon for Ironhide. He can be placed on either side of Ironhide or in the bed of the truck. The gun looks really odd in the bed so I just leave him stuck on the side while in vehicle form.

Ironhide looks like the rough and old veteran that he truly is and his Arms Micron version is no exception. I really like his overall look in robot mode, but I wish the truck's grill would snap down a little further. 1) His mid section is rather large and 2) His head is slightly hidden by the truck's front bumper. As far as I know the Transformers Prime version of Kup suffered from these same issues.

Iro has one of the more defined robot modes when it comes to the Micron partners in the series. You can clearly make out the robot's head, arms and legs. Iro assembles fairly easy, but what most concerns me is how the arms clip onto the main body. The clips are basically "c" shaped and this goldish colored plastic seems very brittle. In fact one of the c clips on mine shows some serious stress marks just by clipping the arms on! Be very careful when transforming him. Like most of these Microns there are plenty of stickers to apply. Thankfully other than the faction symbol that goes underneath the pink crystal, none of the stickers are super tiny.

In a surprising move Hasbro did eventually release Ironhide in their Prime series, but only in the Cyberverse scale. I grabbed him more out of curiosity because at the time I hadn't yet purchased AM-20. He's pretty cool actually. I like having two weapons. The new head sculpt is a little more G1 looking with the head crest and I like how the truck's windshield forms the chest. Perhaps if he was more red I'd like him even better.

With AM-20 being exclusive to Japan not all collectors will bother to add him to their collections. Since Ironhide never showed up in the animation I'm sure a lot of collectors will skip over him, however if you do choose to pick him up I think you'll be pleased with your purchase. While not a perfect mold, it is far superior over Hasbro's version as Kup.

Burger King Transformers Dark of the Moon Flip-Outs

Fast food and Hollywood always seem to be intertwined when summer rolls around and this year is no different.  The latest live action Transformers flick has hit theaters this week and so has the latest promotion at Burger King.

Fast food promotional toys and Transformers have never meshed well in my opinion outside of the first McDonald's Beast Wars promo in the mid 90's (ok, some of the toys sucked, but some were cool).  When I first heard the news about these new DOTM BK Flip-Outs I quickly discounted the idea and moved on.  Running short on cash and hungry I hit up the drive-thru and got me a Big Kids Meal so I could see first hand what these toys were like.

 

Right out of the bag I wasn't sure what to think.  I was a little surprised to see the level of detail sculpted into this large floating head.  They did a good job capturing the movie likeness of the Autobot weapons expert Ironhide.

The gimmick here if you will is that the head splits open to reveal a small body inside...a la Pretenders from the Generation 1 age!  Ok, now I'm hooked on these.  I didn't bother to look at the included "instructions", but I did notice the small gray button on the body.

 

Once the body is folded underneath the large head you have your "transformed" robot.  Just like I noticed the small gray button on the robot's back I noticed the little camera like lens on the front.  I tried holding it up to the light to see if I could see anything.  Nothing.  I pushed the button.  Nothing.  I saw a small black switch on the back beside the button...but it didn't want to see to do anything.  So I took a peek at the instructions and found that the switch has to be flipped to the "on" position by moving it up.  When you press the button you now get a Batman like symbol shining on the wall!

It was really hard to get a good picture, but as you can see it shines a red Autobot symbol on whatever you aim the robot at!  I had no idea these Flip-Out toys even had this feature.  I'm still unsure if all of the toys do this or if each toy has its own unique gimmick.

These little figures have a Japanese feel to them with the whole super deformed vibe.  There have been some really BAD Transformers related fast food premiums over the years, but these seem to buck that trend.  They almost look like little bobble heads.  I'm not going to go crazy and put thousands and thousands of calories into my body to pick up more of these, but I wouldn't mind having Optimus and Shockwave.  If you're hungry and are planning on picking up a burger then why not hit up BK and grab one of these.  At least it'll make a nice desk ornament for your office.