Transformers Review: Optimus Prime (Toyota FJ Cruiser)

Intro:

            Optimus Prime – the ultimate leader of the Autobots – and we all love him, don’t we? There have been loads of other versions of Optimus Primes, ranging from traditional trucks and fire engines, to the more unorthodox Nike shoes and baseball caps.

            This time around, we are served with yet another version of Optimus Prime, which are not affiliated to any series whatsoever. Takara-Tomy, apparently worked together with Japan’s car manufacturing giant – Toyota – and released a version of Optimus Prime, based on the hugely popular FJ Cruiser model.

            This set however is not exactly your typical Transformer figure. This time around, some assembly is required. The set requires us to fix and assemble the chassis onto an existing core robot, just like what we had back in 2007 with the movie Trans-scanning sets. But unlike the Trans-Scans, whose robot modes looks like something contraption from the Terminator movies, Optimus Prime’s core body already looked presentable.

Optimus's Core Body

            We are given the options of assembling the car in either two different variants – white or yellow. For the sake of this review, I have only fixed up the yellow variant of the car, thus leaving the white parts untouched.

            So, now that we got that out of the way, let’s get on with the meats and potatoes…

Alternate Mode:

            Well… like I’ve said earlier, he’s a Toyota FJ Cruiser, any more questions?

            I’m actually that that this car was picked as Optimus’s alternate mode – it’s actually one of my favorite cars. I just love four-wheel-drive.

             Choosing your favorite color scheme is essential before you actually assemble the car – decisions, decisions, hmm…

            I chose yellow, because it looks much nicer, but the white is quite nice too, so it’s really up to your personal preference.

Kibbles

            The roof of the car is still white though, which is very accurate to the real thing.

            The car is quite tiny, which is about the size of your regular Deluxe-class figure. It might be made from totally plastic, but I am quite pleasantly surprised by the slight heft that the figure has.

Spare Tyre

            The car looks good on the outside, but you can forget all about the undercarriage, which is wreaked of kibbles; as well as its interior details, or rather their lack thereof.

From left: Alternity Optimus, FJ Optimus, Alternity Bumblebee

            As far as I could tell, the car is very accurate to the real thing. It even has the word TOYOTA embossed onto the front grill like the real thing, instead of the company’s emblem like in almost all of their models.

Unmistakably Toyota

            The wheels are made from hard plastics and the front wheels don’t turn left or right.

            The overall outlook of this car really reminds me of the now defunct Transformers: Alternity, with the exceptions of detailed interior and rubber tyres.

Robot Mode:

            The transformation can be surprisingly tricky the 1^st time, if you decide to go without the instructions. Half the time when you try to fold some parts, you constantly fear that you might break something.

            Yes, some of the parts feel brittle.

            After some twisting and turning, you will end up with a 5-inches tall figure that wields an axe. Yup, an axe formed by the spare tyre on car mode.

            Despite the non-traditional color scheme, this figure is unmistakably Optimus Prime. The head sculpt itself is a dead-giveaway, although the “ears” may look a bit funny.

            Articulation-wise, this figure has a bundle of it. The head is on a ball-joint, but can’t really turn his head too far right or left, due to the designs of his chest/ shoulders.

            The shoulders are on universal joints, which can move in all directions. The elbows are on nice ratcheting joints, while the arms rotate slightly below them. The hips are on tight ball joints. The knees bend quite nicely, and that’s all for the articulation.

            Though the articulations might not sound much, but it actually works for this figure, and you can really get some nice poses out of this guy.

His Axe, formed by his own spare tyre

            Did I mention that this figure really does remind me of Transformers: Alternity? Well, the way how the legs are designed, they are almost similar to Nissan GT-R Optimus Prime.

            I do wish, however, that the feet would’ve been more versatile, it would’ve added more to the posing actions. Still, not a big issue at all.

Overall:

It’s a really nice set that would probably appeal to both Transformers collectors, as well as model kits builder. Now can we have Megatron, please?

Highly recommended.

            Final verdict: 9.5/10. 

Transformers Review: Gari Gari Robo Kun

Intro:

            Throughout history, we have seen quite a number of strange-looking Transformers. In fact, we at New Planet Cybertron have reviewed quite a number of these so-called unconventional-looking Transformers; the Sports Label Convoy, Device Label Broadblast and most recently, Capticon. So yeah, we have seen some fair share of unconventional stuff.

This time, however, I believe we’ve finally hit the jackpot! Introducing to you right now, the Gari-Gari Robo Kun, a collaboration between Takara-Tomy and one of Japan’s most famous Ice Cream company – Akagi Nyugyo, based in Fukuya, Japan.

Garigari-kun (translated as Mr. Crunchy) is the mascot for this company, and is quite popular in Japan. Somehow, someway, Takara-Tomy saw the potential and decided to make some money out of it by doing this collaboration.

I don’t normally talk about the packaging and I just have to give props to this packaging. The box itself looks like some ice cream box, and the inner plastic looks like some ice-cream wrapper. The best part is the plastic wrapping is re-sealable.

Anyways, without further ado, let’s head on with this review.

Alternate Mode:

            Of all things, although it makes a lot of sense here, Garigari-Robo-kun transforms into an ice-cream – a Cola-soda flavored ice-cream to be exact.

            Still, it looks to me like a normal chocolate-flavored ice cream.

From left: United Bumblebee & Gari-Gari-robot-Kun

            Anyways, I absolutely love this mode and it looks pretty darn life-like and in-scale. In fact, I’ve even managed to fool a few people and letting them think that I was eating an ice-cream.

            Absolutely fantastic alternate mode and this is definitely one of those perfect 1:1 scale Transformers.

Robot Mode:

            So far, I’ve been pretty much in awe with this figure, and little that I know that this figure would provide me with even more pleasant surprises.

            Based on the photos that I’ve seen prior, I would’ve thought that the transformation would be quite simple. I was half-wrong. For a figure like this, the transformation is satisfyingly intuitive and it does involve a lot of folding and twisting; a little bit of part-forming, as well as shell-forming.

            I love how the ice-cream breaks off into a few pieces; i.e. the sword, the shield, the robot itself and even a mini ice-cream for Gari-Gari Robo-kun to enjoy! Yep, you heard right.

            The head sculpt has a little bit of Optimus Prime influence on it – the helmet is clearly an Optimus homage.

            Takara-Tomy is quite creative to turn the ice-cream stick into a sword that can be wielded. I also like the idea of how every single loose piece can combine and be stored on the robot mode itself.

            Articulation-wise, there is not much of it: the shoulders are on ball joints and the fists can rotate, that’s all.

From left: United Bumblebee & Gari-Gari-robot-Kun

            Despite the lack of articulation, this little guy is quite fun. I can imagine the girls falling for its utterly adorable cuteness.

Overall:

            What else can I say, but WOW! I can’t believe that I actually enjoy this little dude. I can’t believe that I actually let this little guy on that store’s shelf for at least 3 to 4 months before I finally decided to make the purchases!

            Luckily no one picked him up, or else they would be the one having fun with this little guy instead of me.

            Lucky me.

            Highly Recommended.

            Final verdict: 9.5/10

Transformers Review: Captimus Prime (Capbots)

Intro:

            Along the years, I’ve bought a variety of Transformers with unconventional alternate modes, i.e. a toaster (ROTF Eject), a laptop (Device-label Broadblast), a working computer mouse (Device-label Trypticon), a Nike shoe (Sports-label Optimus Prime) and many more.

            The latest of these that I’ve gotten, of all things, is a baseball cap. Yep, you heard it right, a baseball cap.

            When I first heard about the release of Captimus Prime (an obvious pun of Optimus Prime), I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Then I remember the Sports-label Optimus Prime – and so Captimus is the second most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard about.

            For those not in the know, New Era Cap Company is an American headwear manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York, who manufactures and markets official baseball caps by numerous baseball teams from the US, Korea, Japan and Australia.

            At some point, Takara-Tomy stroked a deal with New Era and decided to do this. With no official toy line name, which I assume means it’s going to be a one-shot thingy, there has so far been two releases: a red cap called Captimus Prime, and a black cap called Capticon. They are both essentially repaints of each other, with only a slight retooling to the head sculpt. While Captimus Prime is an obvious tribute to Optimus Prime, Capticon isn’t really that obvious. He doesn’t have the slightest resemblance to Megatron.

           Anyways, since I am a sucker for any Optimus Prime figures, I thought I might as well as give this guy a shot.

Alternate Mode:

            Officially, it says that Captimus transforms into a 59Fifty cap – whatever that is. To me, it’s just a cap.

            The cap itself is kinda neat looking. It feels solid. Apart from the Autobots logo in the front and back of the cap, there is also a New Era sticker on the front topside of the visor.

            Predominantly red and blue, the underside of the cap does reveal some robot parts.

            I doubt any Transformers figures in your collections can wear Captimus as a cap – it’s just too big for any Transformers head. Unless of course if you have Fortress Maximus – maybe. I don’t have Fort Max, but those of you out there, if you have Fort Max, can you please try it out and let us know here.

            Thank you in advance.

            Anyways, overall, it’s a rather neat, yet unconventional alternate mode.

Robot Mode:

            The transformation for this figure is kinda unique; it integrates the ever-so-popular Automorph function into it.

            By pressing the button on the top of the cap, the entire figure opens up to reveal the robot inside. All that’s left to do is to rearrange the hands, feet and also the back flap.

            I really like the head sculpt. It looks like Optimus Prime is wearing a cap and looks like some baseball or football coach.

From left: United Bumblebee, Captimus Prime & Disney-label Buzz Lightyear

            Due to the shape of the legs, which kind of make him looks like a duck, some fans may need a little getting used to them.

            For such a tiny figure, his articulations are quite good: the head is on a double-hinge and a ball joint; the shoulders, elbows and hips are on ball joints as well; the knees bend: and finally, the ankles are on a combination of ball joint and hinge.

            I like the little guy. Good articulations, though nothing fancy. Good paint apps and a nice sculpt overall.

Overall:

            He is definitely one of the more unique Transformers figures that I got and I really like ‘em. He’s probably not for every fans, but if you are type of fans who like strange and unconventional stuff, and it doesn’t get more unconventional than this.

            Recommended.

            Final verdict: 8.5/10.