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toy showcase: kre-o microchangers combiners - constructicon devastator

I *love* the Kre-O microchangers series. And when they came out with 4 packs of combiner/gestalt goodness? I had to rush to the nearest Toys R Us the moment there was confirmed sighting of their stock arrival.

Now, I understand that there are Transformers fans out there who are rather disappointed with this series - they'd rather see more awesome bots and figures being produced by Hasbro. I am not against them, cooler bot toys would be awesome, too. But I do love me some Lego minifig-style bots. They're easy to play with and bring around and take silly pictures with!

There are a total of 4 different Combiner packs so far: Decepticon Bruticus, Constructicon Devastator, Predaking, and Superion. That's 3 Decepticon gestalts versus 1 Autobot gestalt. Not fair, Hasbro! :P But whatever, I guess they went by popularity? I don't know.

Here are the main covers of the boxes:

And the front flaps that showcase the individual Kreon bots:

Notice how they only make use of 4 bots for each combiner? Yeah, kinda disappointing. Some of the missing bots from these combiners can be found separately in the other Kreon minifig waves. Of course, they don't "merge in" with their combined buddies.

Here's the art on the side flaps of the boxes, which I thought looked really cute next to each other:

I'll be featuring all of these packs in separate posts. For starters, though, we'll go with Constructicon Devastator - the most "famous" of them all. Here's the back of the box:

Inside the box are individual plastic bags containing one of the Constructicons each, an extra bag for pieces to form Devastator, the manual, and a sticker sheet.

I hated that sticker sheet with a passion. My fingers are not made for putting tiny decals on tiny construction toy pieces. I don't understand why the pieces weren't just painted with them? I hate decals. Hatehatehate decals. Yes, I have fat fingers. Urgh.

Anyway. For the most part, the instructions in the manual were pretty clear on which part goes into what. However, for constructing the individual bots, there are no labels on the plastic bags to let you know which bot is in that bag and which set of instructions are to go with it. So you kind of have to find a familiar looking part and match it up. Like this one, where the chest piece illustration kind of looks like the one in the picture: (and of course the wheels and "tracks")

I mention this because some people might actually have difficulty with this. Legos *cough* have their bags individually-numbered to correspond with numbered sets of instructions in their manuals. No such things for these Kre-O Combiners. It wasn't that much of a problem for me, just something I figured should be noted.

Here's a pic with the Constructicon Kreons in bot form: (From L-R: Mixmaster, Bonecrusher, Scavenger, Scrapper)

On their foreground is the extra pieces from their packs that don't get used in their bot forms.

Figured I'd take a picture with Decepticon Hook, too. He's a solo kreon Constructicon from "Wave 1" of the Kre-O Transformers Micro Changers.

Here's a shot of their construction vehicle modes with the extra parts not used from their packs: (From L-R: Mixmaster, Bonecrusher, Scavenger, Scrapper)

I feel sorry for Mixmaster. His mixer looks "diminished". I don't even think it looks like a mixer of any sort. But hey, he's Mixmaster, aight?

And now a picture of them, "combined" together into Devastator:

 

On the foreground are the parts not used after building him up. There's quite a few. Obviously, most of the heads are in there, some arms, wheels, etc. To build him up, you don't actually take any of the bots/altmodes and stick them together - you sort of have to take bits and pieces from various bots to build him. I kind of felt bad having to rip off one of the bots' arms to form his torso.

Here's a view of his back:

See those 2 wheels by his lower back? Ugh. They keep falling off for me whenever I have to re-pose him and whatnot. Actually, he feels kind of fragile. I keep wanting to change his pose to get a good picture, but bits of him will keep falling off and I'm pretty sure I'm not roughing him up when I move his parts around.

The pieces just don't feel like they're as "locked on together" as they should. But this isn't unique to this Combiner line - I've just been reading people's reviews of other Kre-O stuff that easily=falling pieces are a common thing. Something to live with, I guess. If you decide to pick him up, just make sure you're not in a place where pieces falling or flying off will be hard to find. :P

All in though, I think Devastator looks great! He resembles his G1 incarnation quite well as a construction toy kreon/minifig. Definitely more than the, ehem, Michael Bay version.

Here's some shots for size comparison. One with the Megatron kreon, of course:

And here's one of him "attacking" my Lego Friends café. :D I just had to!

See the minifig girl with the Autobot shirt? That's "me"! :D Hrm, Devastator doesn't really look huge compared to the café. Oh well, at least he's bigger than the minifigs. :P

And finally, a one-panel comic about Hook not being included:

And that's it for Transformers Kre-O Microchangers Combiner Devastator! Next few posts should be about the other combiners, too. Hope you enjoyed this one. :)

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To view the larger versions of any of the pictures here, you can visit the Google+ Photos album I've uploaded them to: Kre-O Microchangers Combiners

Comments

  1. Awesome review! I've pre-ordered this set from TFsource but it hasn't arrived yet :( Your pics though have some great shots and are really helping me to figure out what all I need to include in my Upgrade set for this guy. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my gosh! Got me a little "starstruck"! I've seen your Kreon enhancements, but only a few days ago gotten around to following your Facebook page. :D Thanks for dropping by and the kind words! :) Looking forward to what upgrades you have in store for this guy. But what I really want to know is... I saw a sketch of a grimlock helmet in one of the forums (can't remember now where), are you going to make one?? :O

      Delete
    2. I plan on doing custom/accurate helmets for all the combiners as well as actual hands. For this guy in particular, MixMaster is getting a cement drum, and I'm thinking about adding a dump truck bed to attach to the back so it looks like LongHaul is in there. I also want to figure out a way of working Hook in there and making his left arm actually look like BoneCrusher instead of whatever that is supposed to be.. though w/out in hand it's hard to tell. I have a question for you though regarding their hands: would you be happy keeping the legs as fingers if I created a part that also granted them articulated thumbs? or would you prefer an actual robot hand (w/ articulated fingers)?

      My buddy Tresob on Seibertron has been doing a lot of Helmet designs for these guys and I think Grimlock is one of them (though dino mode if memory serves). An upgraded Grimlock would be pretty sweet... I'll start thinking about that once these combiners are out of the way, unless Tresob beats me to it that is ^_^

      I subscribed to your blog and I'm looking forward to your reviews of the other sets. Maybe one day you could take some "studio shots" of my upgrades in action ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ

      Delete
    3. Urgh I meant to post my reply below in this thread instead. >.<

      Delete
  2. <-- WuLongTi (https://www.facebook.com/WuLongToys)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oooh! An actual cement drum for mixmaster? And possible articulated hands? Count me in for those. :D don't mind just a thumb though, if the costs are a huge difference for actual hands. And the next part should be up by tomorrow night. Though I hope your preordered toys get to you soon, too :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope so too. TFSource still has them listed as "preorder - available Jan 2013". Judging by the fine print on the box in your pictures, you're in Canada right? Hopefully that means the states will be seeing that stuff soon. Not that I would deny you guys your toys, but I think it's kinda weird that the states are getting stuff later than other countries when it's a product of an American company :/

      I think I have a part designed that will give you a LongHaul out of an extra Hook plus another set of wheels. Should be able to do robot, alt mode and attach to the big guy... hmmn.. if it works out as well in my head it should also able to act as a weapon... hmmn...

      Okay so I've got my upgrades planned for Devy and Preds... can't really think of anything beyond the helmet and hands for Superion though :(

      When you get to reviewing the other kits think about what all you'd like to see included, if you don't mind :)

      Delete
  4. I am actually in Singapore! :S And I'm really surprised some TF things show up here before US Retail. Maybe because China is nearby? No idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gah! and here I thought I was being so clever too, seeing the "Hasbro Canada" on the back of your box! Ah well. Too clever for my own good.

      So Ariel Lemon is your countryman, that's very cool. I'm constantly bugging him over IMs regarding this or that when it comes to toy design.

      I'm very jealous that you guys get so many cool toys earlier. And you're close enough to easily get the japanese ones too. I need to move to Singapore... lol

      Delete

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