Intro:
For a time, I considered sparing your
wretched little planet Cybertron, but now, you shall witness…its
dismemberment!!!
As
far as Unicron is concerned, that is probably his most memorable quote ever!
Every time I talk about Unicron, that quote is the first ever thing that comes
to my mind.
Since
1986, we have waited for so long for an actual Unicron action figure, which we
duly got when Unicron was reintroduced into the Armada series. That version of
Unicron, and its various reissues, repaints and retools, was probably the best
Unicron we ever going to get and I am extremely happy with that.
The
fact of the matter is, up until then, in holding up to the theory that Unicron
(and Primus) is a multiverse singularity, all figures released were based on a
common mold.
Then
in 2005, Hasbro and Takara decided to do something radical – they released
Unicron in a totally new mold, and unlike all of his previous namesakes, the
Cybertron/ Galaxy Force Unicron was small. Gone were the days where Unicron was
the eater of worlds, he was now a small-fry, but mean-looking tank-ish
contraption. Despite having the figure released, the character was never shown
in physical form in the entire series…
Until
now…
After
years of character dormancy, the character Unicron was finally mentioned again,
and this time, in the Transformers: Prime series. Though he was never shown in
actual form, this Unicron managed to live up to his planetary-hype. Instead of
a planet, he is actually a planet’s core – Earth’s core.
I
was very excited to finally manage to get a hold of this figure. At this time
of writing, Unicron, or Gaia Unicron to be exact, is a Takara-Tomy exclusive,
under the Arms Micron line, with the release number of AM19. So far, there has
been no plan as of yet for Hasbro to release a Unicron figure under the
Transformers: Prime banner.
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| Clockwise from left: AM Gaia Unicron, Universe Unicron, Cybertron Unicron, Cybertron Unicron's severed head |
So,
after all the anticipations, here we are with this review, and I can only hope
that I won’t be disappointed.
Alternate
Mode:
To
be honest with you, since I don’t read Japanese, I have no idea what he turns
into.
From
the various depictions on the box, it looks as if this is supposed to be some
sort of an aircraft. But if that’s indeed true, that it is definitely one ugly
aircraft.
However,
if you observe it again, you’ll notice that it actually vaguely resemble an
erupting volcano with Unicron’s face appearing on the side of the volcano.
This
actually makes sense (*spoilers alert*) since Unicron was said to be the
Earth’s core, and plus, his real physical body was still dormant, but gained
the ability to turn the entire planet Earth into his various avatar, i.e.
armies of himself which were made of stones.
He
does pass as a Volcano with his face on the side, except for one significant
issue: the volcano isn’t able to stand up on its own.
Yep,
you heard right, the only way you could have him stand straight is by attaching
his Micron partner onto his back.
Micron
Partner:
Well, the little guy isn’t exactly
Unicron’s partner per se; in fact, I don’t know who the little runt is.
As
usual with Arms Micron figures, you have to assemble the Arms Microns partners.
Anyways,
at first glance, the little runt look like a lump of rock, but after s close
inspection, you’ll noticed that the little guy actually sports 4 sets of carved
tank threads, and if you look carefully at the small pointy tip in front, it
actually looks like a tip of a drill.
So,
I’m guessing that he’s a driller with a funny pointy little thingy poking at
the back.
Robot
Mode:
Obviously,
this is the reason why I wanted to get this figure in the first place. At a
quick glance, you’ll realize one thing instantly – he’s small.
Yeah
sure, he’s bigger than Deluxe-class Unicron released in the Cybertron line, but
compared to the various G1-esque Unicron that we got via Armada, Energon,
Universe and Transformers 2010 lines, he’s still puny.
The
figure actually reminds me of a lot of things. The head sculpt, while still
distinguishable from the typical Unicron head, kinda reminds me of Loki. This
is due to his very long horns, which is by proportion, the Unicron with the
longest horns.
From
the sides, he looks very skinny, and with the addition of the grey branches at
the back, he kinda reminds me of an Ent, i.e. the tree-herders from J.R.R.
Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
The
overall rock-theme of the figure kinda reminds me of some stone creatures from
various fictions.
While
the materials used can be questioned, I actually like the shiny golden chromes
on the chest and legs. Other reviewers did however highlight that this
particular material used is prone to brittleness over time, so that is probably
worth noting.
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| How the elbows bend... |
The
hands are kinda funny-looking, and do not look anything like his depiction on
the show. This can be solved by using the little runt mentioned earlier.
By
folding up the tank threads and swinging out the pointy tails outward, you will
end up with Unicron’s left hand. As for the existing hands, you can clamp both
of the pieces up and attach it to his right arm.
So
now, Unicron will end up with a buffer right arm and a shorter left arm. However
awkward-looking this maybe, this was how Unicron was depicted in the show.
Articulation-wise:
while the head can look both to the left and right, as well as looking down and
up slightly, the overall head movements are a bit limited; the shoulders and
hips are on ball joints, although the hips joints can be a bit loose to my
liking; the elbows bend and rotate; the left “finger” moves in and back out;
the knees bend limitedly; and finally the ankles pivot.
The
overall orange colors works well with this figure and I have to admit though,
overall, he looks fantastic.
Gimmick:
Gimmick-wise,
Gaia Unicron has the ability to combine with both the Voyager Optimus Prime or
Megatron as an armor-of-sorts. Unfortunately, I do not have any of these
figures, so I can’t really review.
However,
from photos that I’ve seen, I can’t really the point in it. The combination
between Megatron and Unicron at least makes some sense due to the fact that the
former has the latter’s blood coursing through him, as well as both being the
harbingers of destructions.
But
having Unicron combining with Optimus Prime just doesn’t cut it for me. If there’s
supposed to any Transformers deity combining with a Prime, it should be Primus.
So
maybe one day, if I ever get myself to buying either Megatron or Optimus Prime,
I’d probably do a revised review later, but till then… we’ll see…
Overall:
I
love this figure. Although he can be a little bit pricey (he is a Takara-Tomy
exclusive), the robot mode looks absolutely fantastic.
The
alternate mode, as well as his Micron partner may be a bit questionable, but
overall, I think he deserves to be in any Transformers collections. If you
already have other Unicron figures already in your collections, then what are
you waiting for?
Definitely
highly recommended.
Final
verdict: 9/10.
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