VooV: Patrol Union!! Guardian Robo

This is the first review I've done of a toy that I had a hard time finding the right name! I preface this review with my lack of knowledge of Bandai's "new" series of toys from Japan. I first came across a scan from a magazine on Facebook a few weeks back featuring a police themed robot. I saw the red Bandai logo and I immediately thought Machine Robo. Being a huge fan of the different iterations of Machine Robo, I was quick to look more into this combined robot I saw. Turns out the toy's name is Guardian Robo and hails from a "new" series of toys called VooV. I say "new" because it appears the line has been out in Japan now for a little while, however before this release the line just consisted of transforming vehicle to vehicle toys. However it appears Guardian Robo falls under a new subline and appears to be the first in a possible series of combiners.

front

back

Bandai usually does a nice job in the packaging department and Guardian Robo does not fail to impress. The box itself is decently sized, about 16 inches or so wide, however it's pretty light. Yup, that means no die-cast metal. More of the actual toys in a bit. On the front of the box you get the idea of what these toys are and what is contained inside the box.

I see the re-occurring rescue theme across several different toy lines in Japan and this trend obviously continues here. At this point I'm unsure if there is a story behind the series or if one will be made.

There are two additional vehicles that are sold separately that almost act like Targetmasters. I have these two on order and will be in my possession soon. I'll do an post on those eventually.

top & bottom

Top and bottom of the packaging. Here you get larger images of each vehicle and it's alternate form.

sides

One side of the packaging gives what appears to be specs of some sort.  It also let's you know that the set is compatible with additional VooV vehicles that are sold separately.  The other side shows off the alternate modes using the combiner torso if you will.  Penta Cloud is a jet while the parts can also form Penta Station.  Simple modes, but I find it great that the designers found something to do with these parts while not in combined mode.

Once the box is opened a nicely packed cardboard tray slides out.  There is a piece of cardboard that covers the tray by the way.  Each vehicle, including the torso, has it's own little compartment.  The removable parts are sealed in their own bag.

The instruction sheet is quite large and Bandai did a good job with the layout, making it very easy to understand how to get the toys into their different forms.  Bandai even uploaded a scan of the instructions on their website!  And yes there is a sticker sheet.  Most of the stickers are applied to the secondary vehicle form with just a few being added to the torso section of the combiner.  Stickers are well cut and made of a nice thick feeling paper.  They applied very easily, although I noticed many of the stickers cover up some detail that is molded into the plastic.  I went ahead and applied them all, but some of them could be left off and it not effect the overall look.

The set is comprised of 6 individual vehicles.  I don't know if they have their own names or not since I can read Japanese, so we'll just call them by the vehicle make or model.

   

Each of the vehicles are made of a light plastic. The rear portion of the vehicle is a translucent black plastic and serves as the main transformation point. You basically lift up the top half of the vehicle and rotate 180 degrees. All the while you flip up and in the nose of the vehicle and the sides and snap it all back down on the base. All 4 wheels are free rolling, however since the vehicles are so light don't expect them to go flying across your table like a Hot Wheels car would.  

We'll start off with the police car. It appears the police car is modeled after a Acura, but the jury is still out on my assumption. His stickers include the black/white police door areas and the blue section with the police badge on the secondary form.

The red vehicle is a licensed Mazda. I say licensed since it has the official Mazda logo on the front of the vehicle. Overall the car looks pretty good, but of course the blue on the opposite sides of the panels glaringly sticks out like a sore thumb. The alternate Police form still retains the same Mazda body style, but appears to be beefed up. Look at the exposed engine on the hood. The only stickers on this vehicle are the small police badges on each side of the alternate form.

 

The yellow vehicle of the group is a taxi cab. It may be modeled after a real life automobile as well, but it would be one I'm not familiar with. The taxi is also the bulkiest of the 3 cars in the group. The red pin stripe across the top of the taxi is comprised of two stickers. The entire side panels are also stickers. In police car form the only stickers are again the small police badges.

The larger box truck vehicles are my favorite in the set. They too have hinges like the cars, but they are located at the top of the vehicle so it doesn't take away from the streamline feel. Granted I like the trucks, this one has one of the worse color schemes I've ever seen. Lime green cab with an orange and blue box? Thankfully most of those horrible colors are hidden well when transformed into the secondary police form. This alternate form has 4 stickers. Each side of the truck (includes the red stripe) is one large blue sticker. On the toy is a gray vent like sticker and a red accent sticker. These stickers are more prominently seen in combined mode.

 

The delivery truck is by far the nicest looking of the bunch. All the colors mesh well - in either mode - and the box portion of the truck has some much needed detail. The BLP Logipal logo on the side appears to have been a delivery service of some type. The trademark oddly enough is registered as Bandai Logipal America, however the patent or trademark has now expired. Interesting. I should point out the BLP logo is only tampographed on one side of the truck. Stickers are applied in the exact same locations as on the other other box truck.

The other part of the set is the torso section as I call it. Instead of having to just put this piece to the side while you play w/ the vehicles, the designers tossed in two additional modes to play around with.  Now that's what I call more bang for your buck.

With a few twists here and there you have the Penta Station.  I know it doesn't look like much on it's own, but add in the vehicles and it looks more like a make shift battle station.

If the Penta Station isn't your style, you can also transform the torso section into a fighter jet.  Simply pop off the black sections on the ends of the "legs" and re-attach them in a flat manner to the "legs" that have been folded in side by side.  Fold down the blue pieces on the thighs.  Flip the wings back and pop on the little jet to the center and you've got the Penta Cloud.

I love the overall look of the Penta Cloud, but the wings are a bit short and need to be just a tad longer for my tastes.  This by far is the superior form of the two.

I hope you are still with me.  Now that we've looked at the individual vehicles and the combiner pieces, let's look at the combined form and how all the parts come together.

The police car forms the face of Guardian Robo. The face simply lifts up and turns around from the roof of the car. This feature reminded me of the old Brainmaster gimmick from Transformers. The rest of Guardian Robo's head will be formed by the little jet/cockpit piece.

The red Mazda and the yellow taxi each form the arms. From vehicle to arm, simply open the vehicle and flip out the non-articulated fingers. Snap down the side panels. You can also switch them around if you'd like.

The box trucks are a little more involved in getting into the legs and feet of Guardian Robo. Again you want to open up the vehicle, this time flipping the truck's cab forward. This means the other truck cab forms the back of the leg. Attach the black gun pieces to form the heel. This also gives the combined form some stability which is always nice to have with larger figures.

I forgot to take a picture of the torso piece ready for the limbs to be attached, but from Penta Cloud mode all you really do is remove the black guns from the front, flip the wing tips forward and pull up on the gold V section to reveal a cavity for the police car to sit in. The wing sections each feature a black claw like connector that simply grabs and holds the rear black section of the cars. The box trucks attach to the lower section of the torso in the very same way.

The police car fits snugly into the newly opened cavity of the top.  See how it's all coming together now?  One step left, and that is to form the rest of Guardian Robo's head.

The small jet looking piece that forms the cockpit area on the Penta Cloud also doubles as the combiner's head.  Flip down a peg underneath and fold the nose of the jet forward. Using the now exposed peg, simply peg it into the hole located behind the exposed face on the police car.

Clever way of forming the combiner head if you ask me and lit looks great. No light piping for the eyes, but it has the big eye visor and non-descript face plate. I still can't help but thinking of Machine Robo though when I look at the face.

Behold!  Guardian Robo is all his combined glory.  I apologize I didn't have another robot near by to toss into the pictures for size comparison.  Going off my memory I'd say he is about the size of Transformers G1 combiner like Defensor.  When I do my update post w/ the two additional vehicles, I'll make sure to include a few additional figures for that much needed comparison shot.

I was surprised at the level of articulation that Guardian Robo featured.  I don't think of robots that are comprised of smaller components to have much articulation, but Bandai found a way to work some in.

The arms will rotate a full 360 degrees and the connector joint does provide some swivel of the arms forwards and backwards. The hips are on ratcheting joints and freely move up and down. The connector pieces also provide some range of motion at the knees. You can almost achieve a 90 degree bend before the legs want to pop off. I'm not complaining though as he is more flexible than I ever imagined.

Guardian Robo is a fun toy and one that I've very glad to have bought. Several import retailers online have been selling him for around $35 (shipping extra). BigBadToyStore also has him available if you don't like to import, but he'll set you back $65 before shipping.

If you are a fan of Hot Wheels sized vehicles or just a fan of combining toys then you may want to give this release a look. I like it because of the Machine Robo feel I get from it and the fact that it's just something different. You won't be mistaking it for a Transformer, but if you're like me and you are just a fan of toys in general then this robot could be for you. I anxiously await to see if other combiners are released alongside Guardian Robo here.  AmiAmi has a pre-order listing for Fire Gyro set with a release date of 2014 first quarter so we shall see. A fire themed helicopter set? I can't wait to see pictures!

A return to Transformers Generation One?

Last week an interesting article was posted on TFormers.com.  While I normally wouldn't give much credence to anything posted on that site, I figured this was a topic worthy of talking about.

If you didn't see the story or if you didn't click on the above link, the deal is well known analyst and adviser (the Motley Fool) had suggested Hasbro to return to the G1 era.  They cited Hasbro's stock has been very high during the TF movie year, only to plummet after the movie.  Plummet may be too harsh, but you get the drift.  Motley Fool goes on to suggest a new animated cartoon series to help sell a new toy line.

I'm sure a lot of fans immediately jumped for joy when they say this article and thought about the possibilities.  Given as much talent there is out there these days I'd love to see what Hasbro could come up.  I'm sure the staff at IDW could be recruited to help craft and tell a story, much like Marvel did back in the 80's.  As far as toys go would fans want new G1 style "brick" figures?  In this day of articulated figures, would fans buy and support toys that are blocky and non-articulated?  Before you say no let me point out Fans Project's latest original creation, the Glacialbots.

Fans Project has crafted a new Scramble City type combiner that to me combines the best of both worlds.  What I mean by that is the Glacialbots retained the blocky look and feel of G1, while adding just the right amount of modern technology.  Think about all of the G1 characters (whether they be from the old Sunbow animation or IDW/Marvel comics) that never had toys.  Could you imagine a retro G1 style Devcon, Orion Pax, Ariel, or any of the fembots.  It's been suggested that Hasbro could throw out the whole Rebirth story and create a new story that bridges the US and Japanese G1 continuities.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts about this topic.  Would you like to see a return to G1 w/ retro style toys.  If yes, which characters would you like to see finally get a toy.  If no, why?  What are your reasons.  I can't wait to hear your thoughts and read your comments.

LEGO Castle: Crossbow Attack #7090

Growing up I never owned a LEGO themed set outside of the Town / City sets, however there were several sets that came along that captured my attention...just not my parent's attention (you know, since they bought me stuff).  While I still don't fancy myself as a collector, I found myself buying more LEGO sets in the past few years and when LEGO introduced skeletons, dwarves and trolls into their then current Castle theme, I was hooked.

 

Even as an adult I've always favored the smaller to medium sized sets and this Crossbow Attack was right up my alley.  3 minifigures, a skeleton horse and firing crossbow wagon?  Yes please!

Minifigures are a big draw of any LEGO set and these two knights are worthy additions to any castle / medieval collection.  The figure on the right I'm familiar with, but the one of the left has a helmet that I've never seen before.

The little crossbow cart is small, but still packs a punch.  There are a set of handles on the rear for one of the minifigures to hold and "push" the cart.  Using a red rubber band and tension, you can really launch an "arrow".  The silver crossbows on each side of the cart are removeable and can be wielded by a minifigure.

If the two previous minifigures weren't enough to sell the set, I'm sure this skeleton minifigure had people buying this set in bulk.  Arm the skeleton with a mean looking sword and shield and you've got yourself a great army builder type figure.

I love how the skeleton comes packaged with his noble steed!  The legs are in a fixed position, but it still looks fantastic with the skeleton in the saddle.

This is a fun little set and is recommended to anyone that enjoys the castle theme.  It's a plus that just about everything in the set could be used to build your army of knights or skeleton warriors!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Nickelodeon): Leatherhead

I have a confession.  I haven't watched more than 1 or 2 episodes of the new TMNT cartoon.  It's not that I don't want too, it's just I haven't gotten around to it.  However I love the designs of these classic characters and it's been hard resisting buying the entire line of TMNT.

Like I mentioned in my previous review of Metalhead, I wasn't planning on buying much outside the four turtles and Shredder.  Each new wave of figures brought more cool characters, but having not watched the cartoon I didn't have the same connection with the characters that I did with some from the original cartoon.  Then I saw Leatherhead and the rest was history.

I remember Leatherhead has being the Louisiana cajun gator wearing a vest and hat.  This new version of Leatherhead looks quite different, yet still retains some of the classic feel.  I had to make another exception and pick up this guy.

Team Turtle was severely out numbered early on in the series, but as you can see the sides are now starting to even out.  I'm not sure which figure will be my next purchase.  I'm thinking maybe someone from the Foot Clan as Shredder looks awfully lonely going up against the turtles, Metalhead and now Leatherhead.

A lot of these new TMNT figures look so much smaller when crammed into their blister card packaging and Leatherhead is no exception.  While hunched over a bit, Leatherhead has soon good heft to him.  Paint apps are pretty good, especially around his mouth - just look at those teeth!

If I didn't know the history of this character or saw on the packaging that he was one of the good guys, I'd swear Leatherhead was one the villains.  The sculpting on this figure is phenomenal.  The scaley skin looks great, you can almost see and feel the roughness.  The long lumbering arms and claws give him the appearance of being pretty vicious on the battlefield.

I don't have many complaints about the figure, but I wish the beige paint on his chest would have extended to the underside of his tail.  Not a big deal, but when you look at him straight on it just looks odd the that beige comes to a screeching halt just below his waist.

His tail comes unattached in the packaging, but easily snaps on and into place.  You can swivel the tail if you wish.  Articulation wise you have rotating shoulders giving the arms a good range of motion.  His hip joints don't allow much movement of the legs, but I guess there are only so many dynamic poses you can get a gator w/ arms and legs into!

Leatherhead is a fine addition to any modern TMNT collection.  After messing around w/ this guy a bit it has me more curious as ever to finally sit down a watch a few of the episodes online.  It appears that Playmates has yet another hit on their hands w/ these toys so I imagine there are more great toys to come.

Transformers G1 Zone: Rabbicrater C-350

I'm not one of these Transformers collectors that has deep pockets. Not even close. However I do tend to have some good luck from time to time when it comes to acquiring some sought after Japanese G1 items. I mentioned in my Sky Garry review that I had a stroke of good luck a few months back and put together my own little haul. This is the second piece from said haul.

Your eyes aren't deceiving you...that is a VHS cassette and a single Micromaster in that box. Rabbicrater C-350, the one piece from the Zone series of toys that often gets overlooked. I can't really say this guy was on my collecting radar at all, but I ran across one for sell and I had a hard time resisting. Actually there is a funny story behind this piece.

Most of you know my good friend Arkvander from his awesome TF blog, Mostly Transformers Redux. Little beknown to each of us, we were both bidding on this item and driving up the price. I don't know who was the first to place a bid, but I'm sure each of us would have backed off if either of us knew. So lesson of the day is make sure your friends are bidding against you!

For those of you that don't know, the Zone anime takes place after the events of Victory. Victory Saber is called into action to save the planet Feminia against the demonic Violen Jiger and his Decepticon Generals. Victory Saber is unable to escape the destruction of the planet so the Powered Masters (Dai Atlas & Sonic Bomber) leave planet Zone in search of their commander. Only one episode of Zone was ever animated. The rest of the story was told via comic strips in TV Magazine. For this reason, perhaps Takara figured the one lone Zone episode would be a hard sell as is this the inclusion of Rabbicrater.

For the contents to be relatively small, this sure is a lot of packaging. Thankfully though in Takara fashion, the box is beautiful. On the back of the box we have a nice large image of the Powered Masters and the Decepticon Generals' animation models. The upper left corner shows a cool toy diorama using various Zone toys such as the Powered Masters set up as Big Powered. Below that Rabbicrater himself and his tech specs and transformation instructions.

Nice, huh?

Top and bottom of the box. Unfortunately my specimen has somewhere and a portion of the top of the box has a raised crease. It's not all that noticeable, but the anal collector in me cringed a bit when I first removed the shipping bubble wrap and saw the damage.

The contents inside the box include the VHS video in a nice black clamshell case, a pencil board and Rabbicrater himself. I don't believe he came packaged with any other paperwork outside of maybe a catalog.

I called this laminated insert a pencil board, but I'm not really sure what it's called or what it is actually. Times like these I really wish I could read the Japanese language. With all the arrows it makes me wonder if this is some sort of timeline?  The jury is still out.

The flip side of the laminated insert has some great animation models of Violen Jiger and his Destron Generals (Black Zarak, Abominus, Predaking, Overlord, Devastator, Menasor, King Poseidon, Bruticus and Trypticon). On the Cybertron side we have Rabbicrater, Moonradar, Sonic Bomber, Dai Atlas and their allies Akira Serikawa and Cain & Emusa.

For a short time I thought that Rabbicrater was still sealed in his small plastic bag, but after I opened the box I realized there was a small slit in the plastic.  Not a huge deal.  Actually I was kinda happy since I really wanted to open him up in the first place.

If Rabbicrater looks familiar to you he should. He is a simple recolored Sky Stalker Micromaster from the U.S. release. This mold was also used as Metro Bomb for the Japanese release of Metrotitan.

He's fairly plain and simple, just like a majority of Micromasters. Nothing really special here, other than the fact that he's pretty hard to come across these days.

Don't let the idea of Zone only having one animated episode make you think it's not worth watching.  In my opinion, this one lone episode offers some of the best animation I've seen in a Transformers series.  I love the story that has been set up and I really want to find a translated version of the stories continued in TV Magazine.  Plus the opening of this episode has a catchy theme song that I have a hard time getting out of my head.

Fun Fact:  Right towards the end of the episode during Dai Atlas' coronation ceremony, you can see Road Caesar, Grand Maximus and Landcross standing to Star Saber's right.  To his left are the three Cybertron Godmasters - Ranger, Road King and Lightfoot) as well as two Pretenders I'm told are Metalhawk and Lander!

All in all the C-350 release is only for the die hard Transformers collector.  After all you're getting a recolored Transformer toy and an old VHS cassette.  I ended up paying more for this than I originally had wanted to, but in the end I believe I got a good deal regardless.

Robo Force: Blazer - the Ignitor

Earlier this summer I had the chance to buy a lot of vintage toys from the 80's and 90's. Of course I grabbed them as I knew at some point I'd want to take a look at some of the toys here on this blog. Some of the toys I knew about, while others I remember seeing as a kid, but didn't know what they were called.

Robo Force, created in 1984 by a small toy company called Ideal Toys, was a toy line that I barely remember. I don't recall seeing these toys on retail shelves, but I'm sure they were in one of the many Sears Christmas catalogs I used to rummage through when making my annual Christmas list.

Blazer, the Ignitor. Is it odd that a figure called Blazer also shoots water? I don't know where the idea for this toy line came from, but I find it funny that in the early 80's this is what people though robots should look like. Short w/ flexible arms and a suction cup base.

The packaging for this figure looks rather nice, despite the box showing it's age. Surprisingly the plastic window is still intact, albeit very brittle. The box is very colorful and has some nice artwork of the character. I find it odd that a box of this size would have a hanger tab. I would've thought this packaging would have been better suited for shelves versus pegs.

The side of the box shows off the action features of the toy. Blazer comes with two different flame thrower attachments that are interchangeable and work on either arm. Surprisingly it doesn't mention the button on the back of the toy that works the moving arm mechanic.

I would have thought that Blazer would have been one of the enemy robots...then again I'm not completely sure on the story (if one even exists) behind Robo Force. The little blurb of text underneath the logo tells you a little bit more about the character and his abilities.

These robots stand about 8 inches or so tall and it appears they all feature a similar body construction. The head is made of a soft plastic that actually squirts water. The base of the figure is a large suction cup and even after all of these years still works.

On the back of this figure (and all of the others from what I know) is a square button that depresses. When pushed in, it sends a stream of (weak) air down each arm. This makes the arms bend inward, almost like it's trying to grab something. While compared to today's action figure standards the gimmick is pretty weak, but I would imagine this was pretty revolutionary for it's time.

I ended up taking the two Robo Force toys I had with me to Charticon 2013 to sell at my booth. Being a Transformers convention I was hoping that someone in attendance would know what these are and appreciate them. I didn't prominently display them as I had so many TFs with me, but it didn't take long for someone to spot them on one of the lower shelves behind my table. He was really excited to see them and bought them up without hesitation. I'm just glad they are in the possession now of someone who really wanted them.

Rock Lords: Marbles

Being a huge fan of Transformers one might think I also like or at least had a lot of GoBot toys as a kid too.  Wrong.  While I remember having a few GoBots, I never cared for them as a kid.  Today as an adult, I found a certain appreciation for the toys, especially knowing the history of the toy line from Japan.  So while I didn't have many GoBots, I did have several Rock Lords.

Yes, Rock Lords.  "Robots" that turned into living rocks.  Even back then I caught flak from some of my friends for having Rock Lords.  That still hasn't changed.  I don't care, I still love the toy line and I'm getting ever closer to completing the line.

  

Marbles is the last of the "regular" Rock Lord characters that I needed.  He hailed from the second series, hence the reason why I probably never had him as a kid.  Marbles made an appearance in the GoBots versus the Rock Lords movie and oddly enough he was shown featuring psychic powers.  Marbles rock type is that of Cristobalite.  In Japan he is known as Mask Rock.

While most of the Rock Lord characters have very interesting designs, Marbles here just looks freakin' weird.  His face looks like a sketch of something that could've been found in Roswell, NM.  His head as a while reminds me a lot of this guy:

For the comic reading challenged, that is The Leader from Marvel Comics.  He is one of the Hulk's adversaries.  See the resemblance?

I almost skipped over the listing for Marbles as the pictures in the auction just showed the figure itself.  After reading the description carefully I saw that the seller forgot to include his weapon in the pictures.  Glad I'm not the only one that happens too!  Most of the weapons for the Rock Lord toys are goofy looking, but I like Marbles' gun.  Even better I like how he "holds" it.  With his arms being molded on the inside of the rock, he can't wield a weapon in the traditional way.  Located on the top and bottom of his hands however are two small peg holes.  These peg holes allow for his weapon to clip in and gives the appearance that Marbles is holding his weapon.

While Marbles is far from my favorite Rock Lord, I'm glad to have finally got a complete specimen for my collection.  Getting him for $6 was just the icing on the cake. 

Bucky O'Hare & the Toad Wars: Bucky O'Hare

As much as I love Transformers, I also love toys in general. One of the things about having this blog that I enjoy so much is using it as an excuse to see what else is out there that I might have missed from my childhood days. After all I really had my blinders on as I was fixated on Transformers and to a lesser degree, G.I. Joe.

While I'm not made of money, I have grabbed a few toys here and there for the explicit purpose of this blog. I have no desire to start up a new collection or anything, but from time to time I like to deviate from Transformers. This is one of those posts.

To preface this post, I know very little of the topic - Bucky O'Hare. I vaguely remember seeing the comics on the rack and I knew there was a 8-bit Nintendo game released towards the end of the NES' life. Outside of that I'm going in blind!

I grabbed this sealed Bucky O'Hare online for just a few bucks. Once it finally came in the mail I can see why I got it so cheap. Of course the blister bubble is horribly yellowed, but the card is all warped and bent as well. Since I planned on opening him from day one I could have cared less for the packaging's condition. I didn't want to settle for just a loose specimen though. I like toy packaging and to me it's a part of the toy. Besides, check out the great art work of Bucky...I love how the packaging's front looks like it was ripped right out of the comic book.

Released in 1990 by Hasbro, the Bucky O'Hare line of action figures reminds me a lot of the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Crazy animal creatures battling each other...this time in space instead of underneath the streets of New York.

The back of the package has the obligatory cross sell showing off the other figures then available at retail. I believe these 10 figures shown were the only ones released as the toy line had a very short lifespan. What I find interesting is the little comic on the right side.

Beneath the images is a little S.P.A.C.E. security file card you can clip and collect. During a little research I found that the Bucky O'Hare character and world was created by Larry Hama! Yes, the same guy that wrote the Marvel G.I. Joe comic and file cards for all the ARAH toys. I wonder if he wrote these file cards too? The artwork supplied was by none other than Michael Golden. That's why the art looked so familiar to me.

Out of the package I was surprised at just how brightly colored Bucky truly is. He's also a lot smaller than I thought he would be. I apologize for no comparison pictures, but at the time I snapped the photos I didn't have anything nearby to compare him against.

Despite the packaging calling these "fully poseable" figures, they really aren't that articulated. Then again I guess for a figure from the early 90's this was considered fully poseable. The arms & legs move back and forth a bit, but the molding of the toy prevents a full 360 degree rotation. His wrists swivel a full 360 though. Weapons are interchangeable between the different figures in the line.

I can honestly say this toy has intrigued me enough to seek out some of the old comics and maybe even the NES game. Knowing Larry Hama was behind it makes me want to read the various stories. From a toy perspective Hasbro did a good job with these. As I mentioned earlier, the toy line is rather small and would be somewhat easy to collect - loose or packaged. I've got a few more Bucky O'Hare posts for later if you enjoyed this one. If not, just sit back and wait as I'm sure there is another Transformers review on the horizon!