Kre-O Destruction Site Devastator

Discussion in 'Transformers Feedback & Reviews' started by Noideaforaname, Dec 8, 2012.

  1. Noideaforaname

    Noideaforaname Pico, let's go up to Zuma

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    Didn’t find any pictorial reviews here, which is both surprising and unsurprising given just how big of a set this is. This review concerns the basic set, the one without the Ironhide Kre-O.
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    Kre-O’s first Combiner team is, fittingly enough, the Constructicons (a personal favorite of mine). This time made up of just 4 bots, they are more of a reinterpretation of the team rather than a direct update, though they all homage a previous Con. The set itself loosely homages the opening to the G1 episode "Heavy Metal War", the Constructicons' first cartoon appearance.

    General Notes:
    - The bricks are vaguely sorted by size, not by set or color, when you first open it up. The first build consequently has you sorting through all that mess, very annoying.
    - The Stickers are inconsistent in size; sometimes the instructions will show they cover the entire face of a brick while in actuality they are much smaller. They stick on nicely, though.
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    - The individual Constructicons are somewhere between Deluxe and Voyager in size, while Devastator himself is Leader sized
    - Scrapper and Drill Bit are less bulky than Hightower and Scavenger
    - For bot and alt modes, the individuals are self-contained; i.e. no need to take parts from Hightower when you want to rebuild Drill Bit
    - No normal hands. At all.
    - Standard articulation is pretty nice: shoulders, elbows, where the legs join the hips, knees, ankles, neck, fingers (sort of). All on rubber-coated ball-joints…
    - Two sizes of both treads (2 small, 2 large) and wheels (2 small, 6 large). Scavenger uses the larger treads, Drill Bit uses both the smaller wheels and two of the larger wheels.
    - They all roll very nicely. And the wheels are all rubber!

    Scavenger
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    Scavenger is inspired by the original Scavenger, and wears a rather obvious (well, to us, at least) shout-out to when the G1 constructicon toys came out on his arm. Kinda wish it was “G11985” or “G-1-1-9-8-5”, but oh well.
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    Scavenger is a nice big and burly bot. The wheel hubs on his back are on articulated arms. Strange.
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    His left hand is basically a clamp…
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    …while his right hand is a pair of claws. Immobile claws, no hinges or anything.
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    This time around, Scavenger turns into a bulldozer with a pair of ripper claws.
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    Both the blade and rippers have some articulation, about as much as are necessary for a bulldozer.
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    The cab has room for one Kreon to sit. It has a standard steering wheel, though the Kreon can't really grip it. The cab cover makes the driver look short.
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    Verdict: Scavenger is a very solid figure in both modes, if a bit basic.

    Hightower
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    Hightower is a “G1ification” of Movieverse Hightower (which marks the second time the concept-only Con gets a full TF toy!), though his coloration is reminiscent of that universe’s Scavenger.
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    My favorite design out of the four, there’s just something about how the kibble is used that I’m fond of. It shows hints at to what he transforms into better than the rest, I suppose.
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    His left hand holds a shield (he has a simple, clamp hand underneath). The rotating gizmo is pretty nifty, reminiscent of those old knight shields with crosses painted or branded on them.
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    His right arm holds the whole wrecking ball assembly. The wrecking ball itself is hollow; no smashing anything apart with it. And in no mode can you truly launch it.
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    Impressive reach, though.
    Between bot and alt modes, you don’t have to disassemble the wrecking ball assembly, but you do need to when going to and from Devastator mode (though all you need to do then is pop open the wrecking ball itself; by all means tie a not on the spool end).
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    Hightower turns into a crawler crane. The cab section can rotate a full 360º while the tracks section remains immobile. The arm can move up, but the only way to “lock” it is to wind up the string.
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    That’s about as far low as the wrecking ball will go in this mode. Not that it really needs to go any lower.
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    Once again, room for one Kreon. This time, there are a pair of ball-jointed joysticks to operate, which Kreons can actually sort of handle themselves. Probably very easily lost.
    He kinda makes Hightower look small…

    Verdict: Hightower is great in both modes, though I wish the wrecking ball was more solid.

    Drill Bit
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    Surprisingly, Drill Bit is based not on any previous Constructicon or Decepticon with a construction vehicle alt, but Beast Wars Drill Bit! Who’d have thought that weevil would’ve been accepted in a combiner team?
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    Drill Bit has a rather lanky bot mode. He seems almost… teenagerish? Like he’s Cheetor of the Constructicons or something.
    Unlike the others (and Devastator) Drill Bit has a waist joint, allowing for a lot more poses. It’s pretty damn awesome!
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    Drill Bit’s drill is a neat, if oversized, weapon. Push the oddly-shaped button (on the bottom here) to spin. Only goes about one rotation or so, but it’s fun and works just as well in all three modes.
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    Love all the mechy details on the arms.
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    “38-05” is a curious detail, especially given how blatant of an homage Scavenger's numbers where. Not sure what, if anything, it means.
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    Drill Bit’s alternate mode is a tunnel-making drill machine thing. There doesn’t appear to be a real-world equivalent despite being a common trope. Regardless, its function is obvious, and it’s a killer design; streamlined and armored. The big front tires tend to rub against the headlamps.
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    Cool way for it to open up.
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    Once again a Kreon can ride inside (and DB is joystick-operated), however the hatch won’t close all the way unless they ride in the very back (one row behind where you’d expect to seat them) and without any “hat” parts of. =/
    Incidentally, I’m not sure how the driver is able to see what’s going on outside the vehicle.
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    All the Constructicons leave out the heads and most the limb segments for their vehicle modes, but Drill Bit takes it to the extreme. Shell-former, anyone?

    Verdict: I think Drill Bit is my favorite out of the bunch, he’s just so fun, though he's got some flaws.

    Scrapper
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    Like Scavenger, Scrapper is based upon his G1 counterpart. Not to knock the originals, but it’s a bit of a shame that, with how unexpected Hightower and Drill Bit’s homages were, they doubled up on G1 instead of going for, say, Animated Scrapper or some obscure construction vehicle Minicon or something. Oh well.
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    Scrapper is very disproportionate, even considering what other construction vehicle TFs there have been. The body is really small compared to everything else; needs more bulk and/or height. Doesn’t help the hands are so big.
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    ’Course, the beauty of Kre-O is you can rebuild the sets to your fancy.
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    The CLAAAAAAAAAW! (I actually really like this arm)
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    I’m all for non-standard hands, but this just feels weak.
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    Scrapper turns into a front-end loader with a claw attachment. The claw and scoop are reasonably articulated, though the loader looks incomplete without some kind of top for the cab.
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    Once again, a Kreon can ride inside, and like Scavenger it has a standard steering wheel. Amusingly enough, the claw can actually reach the driver! If just barely.
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    “I have been chosen! Fair well, my friends, I go onto a better place!”

    Verdict: Weak, though the claw is fun.

    Devastator
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    The real star of the set, Devastator! He takes his head design and general proportions from the original Devastator and the patchwork coloration from Movieverse Devastator, though he remains distinct from both.
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    Devy is massive, about Leader-Class size, which causes some balancing issues. The ankles are each just a single ball-joint, and most of the weight is in the chest. Going on all fours like his Movieverse counterpart is impractical given the hands and leg design (not to mention he'll be looking straight down).
    Perhaps doubling up the ankles may improve stability?
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    The impression is that Drill Bit and Scrapper each form a leg while Scavenger and Hightower each form an arm and half the torso (and somehow Scrapper’s claw-arm gets up to the shoulder), though it’s not quite that clear cut. Lot of the more generic bricks in Scrap and DB end up being used in the torso.
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    Lots to attack with. Smash, stab, grab, etc.; basically all the weapons the individual Cons had. Nice amount of range, too. I quite like the shoulder-mounted claw, though it has a relatively short reach.
    The treads on the back, the spool for the wrecking ball, and the shoulder flares are, for whatever reasons, on movable joints.
    The little bits near the end of the treads look kinda like guns. Hmm....
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    Something that bugs me on the official build is the wheels on the Drill Bit leg. They reach the ground and can cause it to roll. Very annoying. So I slightly rebuilt it using spare parts from the set.
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    Much better.
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    Compared to other Constructicon Combiners.
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    "Prepare for extermination!"

    Verdict: An impressive gestalt (especially for a 'first'), though stability is a major issue.

    Extras
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    Construction workers, one for each Constructicon. Standard Kreon fare. The hot dog, while amusing, is hard to get into the foreman’s hand.
    Note how the shoulders are round on the humans while square on the TFs.
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    Ironhide, Devastator, and some Dark Energon. My Ironhide’s face is on a slant, while the color on Devastator’s is not aligned with the black…
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    The Dark Energon thing is made up of 5 pieces.
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    Bunch of tools for the Kreons, some signs, a concrete mixer, scaffolding, and a small office building.
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    The building is missing some walls, though includes a floor plan and what I’m guessing is a water cooler.
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    Floor Plans
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    Interesting thing about the door: there’s no right or wrong way to put it together. You could have it open to the left or right, inward or outward (though inward is impractical here)
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    The building is perfectly sized for Devastator to use as a chair!


    Conclusion:
    Overall, this is a great building set and an interesting take on a classic combiner. The individual bots/vehicles don’t suffer as much as with traditional combining TFs, and you can actually fix many flaws on your own. The price is pretty steep, as seems to be the standard with many brick sets, so you may want to wait for a sale (I got mine ½ off from TRU.com).


    I do wish there was a dump truck, and can't help but notice Lego coincidentally has one...
     
  2. Snake_eyes1975

    Snake_eyes1975 Well-Known Member

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    SOLID review, sir.

    Is it just me, but I kinda want this set now just for the G1 plate..

    Nice looking set. Looks WAY better here than on the box.

    Once again, VERY good review man.
     
  3. Fallout

    Fallout Banned

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    i like how you're the go-to guy for reviews on obscure/inhumanoid tf toys. especially considering how nice your reviews are.

    i love this set... i don't even collect kreo but i love me some constructions... especially when they're a big, lumbering brute with more realistic colors like rotf but the humanoid design of G1.

    drill bit looks like the star of the individual constructicons, and i love how devastator himself has a building chair.
     
  4. Cheem The Rup

    Cheem The Rup Well-Known Member

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    awesome toy, I must find one soon for my Devies collection :) 
     
  5. Noideaforaname

    Noideaforaname Pico, let's go up to Zuma

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    One thing I forgot to mention, the little Kreon Devasator's gun is based on G1 Megatron's gun form! Similarly, the Stealth Bumblebee set has an accessory based on G1 Soundwave's tape recorder mode.

    :D  I do love my obscure/inhumanoid TFs.
     
  6. Snake_eyes1975

    Snake_eyes1975 Well-Known Member

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    He's right, I do like your "obscure" reviews, and you do a good job
     
  7. Fallout

    Fallout Banned

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    haha that bit on drill bit's leg mode wheels rolling in devastator mode made me laugh. i can just picture the autobots thinking they're fucked when suddenly devastator's foot rolls and he falls on his face.
     
  8. Noideaforaname

    Noideaforaname Pico, let's go up to Zuma

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    Tried fixing Scrapper's torso by making a bit taller. Just used the remaining parts from the Devastator set, though I'm not sure if he remains "self-contained" anymore (i.e. may have to tear him apart if I want to rebuild Hightower into vehicle mode). One annoyance is that both arms connect to the same part, which isn't any larger than the limb segments, so there's no way around him being skinny. Also slightly modified the arms.
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    Compared to the official build (so you don't have to keep scrolling):
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    Back view:
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    Side view sans limbs:
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    Hopefully self-explanatory.

    I'll keep on tweaking it, but I think it's a vast improvement already.
     
  9. blue death

    blue death Well-Known Member

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    I think the Kreons are easily the best part of this set. The Constructicons themselves don't look so bad all built up but that little Devastator is awesome.
     
  10. Noideaforaname

    Noideaforaname Pico, let's go up to Zuma

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    For once I'm not super crazy about the Kreons. There's the upcoming Kreon Combiner Devastator which makes the single Kreon Devy sort of unnecessary, I prefer Movie Ironhide to his G1 counterpart (plus there's too many red Autobots), and the humans inevitably have a stigma attached to them due to being, well, humans. They're fun and all, but I really haven't touched them except for the pics here.

    Granted, this little custom guy I made out of the concrete mixer stole their thunder:
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  11. TheBeastman

    TheBeastman Well-Known Member

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    Oh...this is very tempting. But I don't know if its with the money. Epecially since it's hard not to justify getting the Ironhide set if you're already considering this one.