Toy Review: Super Robot Transformable Tomas

Super Robot Transformable Tomas (knockoff)

I’ve been wanting to pick this up for ages now, but Divisoria is just so far out of my way that I’ve been putting it off. Thankfully, there’s a store in a local mall that frequents that area, bringing goodies like this to all us good little boys and girls in the Ortigas area. Sure there’s a premium I’ve got to pay for the convenience of not having to deal with the 2 hour trip, the sweaty little firetrap corridors of 168 or Divimall, and the insane grid lock traffic of the ride back, but I think it’s a fair deal, don’t you?

You might have a little trouble spotting this gem since it’s packaged as 3 seperate train toys, a red, a blue, and a green one. Now, since I am not a 5 year old, I have limited knowledge of the “Thomas the Tank Engine” series created by Rev. W.V Awdry. According to a quick net search, he is a “fictional anthropomorphic steam locomotive”.

Thank god for wikipedia.

Further study reveals that the red engine is named James, the green is called Henry, and the blue one is either Thomas himself, or someone named Edward. It’s all very weird and a little like some kind of drug-addled nightmare. I mean they’re trains… with faces. It’s like something out of Dr. Who.

The 3 locomotives break apart, each re-forming into either the torso, or two limbs. “Form feet and legs!” It’s not a very involved transformation, but I’m sure kids will love it. There are instructions on the back of the card, but you don’t really need it to figure this all out. It’s basically just pull apart, fold out, and put back together, making Trainbot a partsformer in the truest sense.

All together, Trainbot is about as tall as the old Hasbro combiners back in the 80’s, or about as big as a Leader Class figure in today’s vernacular. That makes him a pretty good deal for what I paid for him (p250.00), but keep in mind that he is a knockoff. I don’t know who originally manufactured this toy, but the ones you’ll find here are definitely a sub-standard copies. Not only are there no decals or paint applications, the plastic is of the worse kind, brittle and prone to bending.

Mine’s head is also tooled improperly. Once it’s popped out, your stuck. The part won’t go back down into the body of the train again. I don’t know if it’s the same with all of them, but I would be surprised.

You’ll also want to watch out when you attach his “jetpack”. It’s attached to his back via a small post on the pack, but the hole on his back isn’t drilled or formed on a solid part. It’s simply a thin tab of plastic with a hole that tends to bend when you try to push this into it. If you’re not careful, you’ll be looking for another set and making this one into “Battle Damaged Super Robot Transformable Tomas”.

Overall, I wouldn’t really know who to recommend this to. If I had a kid young enough to be a fan of Thomas the Train, I’d be hesitant to give this to him. Pieces tend to break off (a few of his wheels broke off yesterday, and there’s that tab I mentioned) and with all the news about lead in toys from China, it’s an iffy proposition. Anyone old enough to play with it probably wouldn’t enjoy a Thomas the Train toy. I guess it’s just the oddball in me that likes it, and what Leader Class figure can you get for p250?