Searched and didnt see a thread started for this guy so figured I'd get teh ball rolling. Picked this guy up yesterday (along with Mirage) and figured I'd share some thoughts. For a building block Transformer, this guys is pretty fantastic. Every joint is a ball joint, and he has them where you expect them to be. Neck, Shoulders, elbows, swivel wrists, hips, knees and ankles. The only issue I have with mine is the hips are really loose, there's a lot of weight on them so it's not exactly something that switching the joints out with another pair would fix. The smooth polished surfaces of my coffee tables doesn't help matters as he likes to do the split pretty often. For reference, he's about Leader Class in height. Truck mode is really impressive. He has a nice chunky beef about him that's very satisfying to hold and roll on the table. Ultimately with this line I think the Vehicles modes are going to outshine the robot modes, as I could easily see myself having a shelf just for Kre-O Vehicles. I also can't stop myself from fiddling with the Kreons. It's amazing what an improvement like ball jointed shoulder and hips can do to make these way more fun than the LEGO Minifigs. It's also nice that this set comes with some accessories for the who gives a crap human Kreons. A pistol, Machine Gun, Sniper Rifle, Handcuffs, Toolbox, and Walkie Talkie are all included on a separate sprue. Almost overkill for the little "PoliceMan" and "Specialist" to use. If the copyright posted on the front page does indeed hint at a Kre-O show on the HUB, I can see this translating as some sort of Super Robot show with the Kreons piloting these transforming building-block mech-suits. I'll get some photos of vehicle mode after I've disassembled and reassembled him again (about an hour of assembly for each mode). I can see why the refiews so far have been for one mode only, it takes awhile! Overall, I'm happy with these things, and I will definitely be tracking down Starscream, Sentinel, Optimus w/ Trailer, and Sideswipe (and please announce Soundwave with Frenzy/Rumble Kreons!) I will say though, that with a play pattern built around rebuilding these things in different modes, it'd be nice if they had developed a tool to easily separate two flat bricks, as that's about 90% of these kits' construction.
It looks as if Megatron came off pretty well in robot mode - a mix of G1 and DOTM it looks like. Love the Kreons. That seems to be a problem most of the Kre-O's have in robot mode. It's one of the reasons I haven't rushed to try Starscream's robot mode - it's a big investment in time for something that looks a little weird, honestly.
Nice lookin Kre-O! Only have Prowl so far but honestly these guys are great! I could do without the sticker application though lol
Interesting that this Megatron has more or less the Cybertronian Animated head design. I suppose a G1 bucket-head wasn't movie-ish enough for the movie-ish design. I was wondering why there's so much "g1/classics/whatever head on movie-ish body" going on in the Kre-O line, and came to the speculative conclusion that Hasbro is avoiding paying royalties to Paramount 'n' co. for the Kre-O line, while still hoping to cash in on the movie hype where possible. The non-movie facial detail along with the variation inherent to building a robot or vehicle out of plastic bricks presumably gets Hasbro off the hook for royalties/licensing.
I'm a big fan of both LEGO and Transformers, so when I saw the new Kre-O sets at Toys R Us the other day, I couldn't leave without picking up a couple. I also couldn't resist taking a quick photo. "You want a piece of me? You want a piece?" "No, I want ONE HUNDRED TWENTY TWO!" Overall, I have to admit that I'm slightly disappointed with the sets.The proportions are definitely off (the shoulders in particular are too low, and I don't quite get Megatron's low-riding crotch), and it's clear that Hasbro's engineers don't have the years of experience in creating block sculptures that the LEGO designer have. There are plenty of areas where it's not as solidly built as it should be, leading to a fairly fragile figure. As already mentioned, the heavy use of ball joints (including his neck) make Megatron nicely poseable, and I really like the swivel joint in his wrist and his articulated fingers. The weight of the figure does tend to overpower the joints, though. The brick quality, while certainly not as nice as LEGO's, is leagues better than, say, Mega Bloks. I've not put Megatron in his truck form, and I doubt I will. I was far more interested in the robot form of these guys than the alt-mode, so I probably won't spend the ample time to disassemble and reassemble him. One undocumented feature is the ability to flesh out the robot mode with the few leftover "vehicle" parts once the build is complete. On my figure, for instance, the wheels and windshields on Meg's upper arms aren't shown in the instructions. They were extra pieces that I used to create custom kibble. Of course, then we have the Kreons, who are arguably the stars of the show (I'm referring to the robot Kreons, of course...the human Kreons are uniformly ugly). They're pretty awesome, but their ball jointed limbs make them a bit looser and more difficult to pose than their LEGO counterparts. I've also noticed that some of them have stress marks around their wrists where their hands plug in. Not that I intend to ever remove their hands, but hopefully this doesn't become a problem later on. After playing with Megatron (and Jazz), I'm less enthused about the Kre-O line. I still want to get the other Kreon figures, but I may end up holding off and waiting for some sales. The sets themselves just seem too crudely designed, making them not that much fun to play with/pose. Still, those Kreons are great.
Great review, I picked this up but have yet to put it together. Can't decide if I want to display in bot or alt mode. Hey, anyone else get those small two piece stuck to another two piece and notice they are almost impossible to unattached? My old Lego trick of sticking other pieces to pry them apart did not work. I ended up with one beat up brick because I tried my nails and eventually my teefers. This was with my Small Optimus set.
Oh this set is soooo bought. There are definitely sets that I'm less enthusiastic about, like Starscream and Sideswipe, but my love of TFs and Legos, and my want for all the Kreon figures will probably guarantee I'll end up buying them all in the end.
Great review and pictures! I'm really looking forward to finding these locally (yeah, right). Okay, the Kreon Shockwave will hold a place of honor in my Shockwave shrine.
I'm gonna pick this set up on sight. I like his robot mode and the kreons in this set won me over on it. Thanks for the great pics!
After building robot mode, are spare, black rectangle bricks left over? Should be easy to craft a fusion cannon, which I intend to do once I buy this set.
Anyone else have this set that is missing some pieces? I've noticed I'm missing about 4 pieces at least...one being REALLY vital. I'm thinking about taking this set back to TRU to see if I can get a replacement.
Has anyone noticed how much cooler the specialist looks in the instruction manual? He looks like some sort of weird android thing. That seems to be an entirely missed opportunity.
Completed Truck Mode today. I'll probably leave it like that for the night, and try for the Robot mode tomorrow. It's pretty gorgeous, its got the girth in what I would want out of a Leader sized Megatron made out of bricks. The Kreons on this set are definitely part of the value of the set, and allow for some playability. So is the Swat guy supposed to be working with Megatron & Co.? or is he there as a counterpoint to the others?