Dickie Toys Light Racers Series 1 (BB, OP, SA, SS)

Discussion in 'Transformers Feedback & Reviews' started by tikgnat, Aug 7, 2016.

  1. tikgnat

    tikgnat Baweepgranaweepninnybong.

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    Ah, who doesn't like 1:64 Hot Wheels cars? And who here doesn't like Transformers? So the union of Hot Wheels cars and Transformers should be an absolute no brainer right? What could go wrong? Well, judging by Hasbro's previous efforts at it (Robot Powered Machines Speed Stars) quite a lot actually.

    FYI, the RPM Speed Stars were a line that Hasbro attempted during... ooooh, Revenge of the Fallen? They were decent sculpts of the cars but they were made of plastic which meant they looked nice but ran out of momentum too quickly. Later on Hasbro switched the material to metal, but the detail on the sculpts suffered, they simply didn't stand up particularly well against Mattels Hot Wheels or (ironically) Tomy's own Tomica cars.

    Which brings us to today, Hasbro have created their own licensable property in 'NuRID' and are farming it out to Third Party companies. In this case the 1:64 toy car mantle has been scooped up by 'Dickie Toys'. Yeah I've never head of them either.

    But, their efforts here are stunning. They're quite pricey, around twice the price of a normal Hot Wheels car, (£2.99 here in the UK) but it shows. Dickie Toys have gone to town a bit with the packaging, the car itself is stuck on a card with a nice square bubble, with a little mirrored bit of card behind the car to give it a bit of extra class.

    Mirrored Card? It's the small things...
    [​IMG]

    There's a picture of the car with Strength/Combat/Speed/Intelligence stats and a nice Alt mode picture, which turns out is a removable card that you can collect and use as Top Trumps. (Hahaha, Sideswipe has an Intelligence of 79... Dunce). It's a simple package but they've obviously gone to a lot of effort.

    Fear Factor 100!
    [​IMG]

    The cars themselves are great to look at, properly premium paint jobs (if you look closely at Sideswipe he has Kanji painted on him) on nice accurate Die Cast bodies with crazy chromes Faction symbol wheels! Indeed, the worst looking one of Series 1 is Steeljaw, who I've (so far) left on the shelf... I'll get him eventually, but y'know. If you were expecting pics of him... uh, just wait a couple of weeks or sue me.
    Please don't sue me.

    Front...
    [​IMG]

    'Look as my ass' [/Jean Claude Van Damme]
    [​IMG]

    Their Light Racer Gimmick is just that, a gimmick. Press a red button on the bottom of the car and a clear blue character visage on the on underside of the car lights up. This gives a nice little glow underneath the car like something out of 'The Fast & the Furious'. The problem is it only stays on for 5 seconds or so. This makes it frustrating because that time isn't really enough time to do anything, like race it on a track, or take a picture of it etc. That short time interval is actually a bit of a pain. It's not a gut crunching deal breaker though.

    The actual gut crunching deal breaker is you can't seem to replace the battery. Yup, there doesn't appear to be any way to remove the bottom and get to the innards. The bottom back appears to be pegged in but the front of the car appears to be riveted in, which means you're gonna have to rip the sucker apart to remove the battery.

    Confusingly (only) the Optimus Prime Light Racer I picked up came with a bit of Rosetta paper that the others didn't, stating (in 23 (!) languages no less);

    'The meaning of the symbol on the product, packaging or instructions. Electrical appliances are valuable products and should not be thrown in the dustbin when they reach the end of their serviceable life! Blah blah blah, blah blah blah.'

    There are also 3 pictures that basically indicate you pry the bottom off with a screwdriver... but even if you get the tab at the back to come loose the rivet at the front is gonna hold fast until you break it? So yeah, the impression I get is once those batteries are dead, you've got to rip apart your toy to dispose of them properly.

    Whose genius idea was that? Not cool Dickie, not cool.

    TLDR, 10/10 for effort on this Dickie Toys, but you get a great big fat mark against you for not giving them accessible batteries!

    Anyway have a couple of bonus comparison pics with a couple of old RPM Speed Stars.

    I had a Bumblebee to hand.
    [​IMG]

    I didn't have a Sideswipe...
    [​IMG]
     
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  2. Master Disaster

    Master Disaster Well-Worn Member

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    IMBAMFP but Steeljaw is alright and the leaflet, should you choose to read it drunk, is actually a guide to how one should dismantle and recycle the whole thing when the battery dies. It's absurd, I know. Also, I have heard of Dickie Toys elsewhere, but only since. Going through some pound shop crap earlier I found a 'build your own toy car' set with a tiny screwdriver included. I've had it years but it chose today to thrust it's progenitor into my head. I want the trailers though, I have many little Primes.
     
  3. tikgnat

    tikgnat Baweepgranaweepninnybong.

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    Yeah I think I said that in my wall of text, basically once the battery dies, here's how to take it apart to recycle the battery. Still really not cool. Well, when that happens to mine I'll drill out the rivits at the front which should be able to release the bottom so I can replace the battery and add a screw to refasten the bottom.

    I hope.
     
  4. tikgnat

    tikgnat Baweepgranaweepninnybong.

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    No interest in these I suppose apart from me? Shame.

    This is a gif of what the bigger Dickie Toys Battle Truck Optimus Prime does, you pull the handle back and it converts to 'Battle Mode' (aka Stealth Force) which has two side mounted disc launchers (flick activated which is 'eh') and a central button activated shooter (much better). Lights and sounds are also present, although for this gif I did make the front light brighter and add a laser... this toy doesn't actually shoot a laser.

    [​IMG]

    *PEW PEW PEW*
     
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