Hey, everybody! Well, instead of a Series 3, Tiny Turbo Changers now has a boxed set! I've really loved the last two groupings of li'l transformers, so this Target-exclusive was an easy buy - and at $9.99, it matches up with the general $3 each mini is. It's got two repaints and one unique figure, as well as a bunch of weapons and a "Reveal the Shield" gimmick. So like I said, easy purchase. BUT... well, we should take a look, shouldn't we?
The packaging is, of course, not blind, with Steelbane front and center! The "Reveal" gimmick is simple - if you look through a red lense at the blue and white fields (and the included shield weapons work fine), you'll be able to see whether each individual Transformr is an Autobot or Decepticon. SPOILER: Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are Autobots. Weirdly, Steelbane is a Decepticon despite very clearly being an Autobot in the movie, but I guess they needed a bad guy, somehow. Still... it's an unneeded gimick, and it creates ome rather ugly pathes of color on the figures. We're going to look at the two repaints first, and then wrap it up with Steelbane.
Optimus has some different color accents than his other figures, but that "Reveal the Shield" blotch is obviously he biggest difference. Yeah, that's an eyesore.
Now, it does look cool in person, using the basic effect of the Reveal the Shield splotch to create a red camo pattern.
He looks cool, and is at least different from the original, but you kind of need to hide the shield thingy.
Oh Bumblebee, what happened to you? You lost your black stripe, and it looks like a thousand birds pooped on your hood. Poor, poor Bumblebee.
And once again, it looks decent enough in robot mode.
It's official, we have enough Bumblebees.
Steelbane looks weird. He's okay at a glance, but the more you look at the figure, the more awkward it seems. Still, robot mode isn't the worse thing he's got going.
This is the worst alt mode the line has to offer. Not even Shockwave's weird-ass failtank compares. The Dragon is really awkward, transforms poorly (mine even came with stuck joints, and almost broke) and is utterly ruined by the Reveal the Shield blotch. Seriously - without the color issues, it might have made a decent-ish gargoyle, but now it's just a sad eyesore with janky legs. This is hugely disappointing.
He's kind of cool when half-transformed, but those color issues are awful.
Anyway, the weapons are all right. They fall out of the figures' hands more often than not, but you can use the two-part shield to *sigh* tell if a given character is an Autobot or Decepticon. Seriously, this set was a huge, sad disappointment. Hopefully there will be a series 3, and it will be better than this. Negative reviews are rare on this site because I buy what I like, but dang, these ones are only here for completion's sake.
