“Battle for the Cyber Planet Keys”
I’d never even heard of “Sam’s Club” until I was doing research for this review. Apparently it’s a membership-only warehouse retail chain in the states which is actually owned by Walmart. An exclusive item for a membership-only chain. Talk about elitism. Sigh. It’s a good thing that Playkit brought in a ton of these for the Philippine market and they’re selling at the same price point as they would in the States ($40). I can see why they were able to, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
I can’t imagine why Hasbro would decide to re-release this box set as and exclusive since only 1 of the 5 is any different from the previous figures in the 2005 Cybertron line, and that one is just a simple black to blue color swap. The rest are exactly the same as the original versions. For that matter, I don’t really understand why this entire line has to be re-issued. We already got most of the Deluxe Class 2005 figures in the past few years in either the Universe or Movie lines (Crosswise, Sideways, Hot Shot, Thundercracker, Landmine, Red Alert, Hot Shot) and only a few have yet to be rehashed (Thunderblast, Brimstone, Snarl, Dirt Boss, Override).
The only one I’m really waiting for is the Cybertron Prime/Crumplezone boxset. That’s one I’m dying to see reach Philippine shores since the Leader Class Prime is the only Cybertron figure from this line that I’ve been actively searching the local boards for. The rest of the discount Voyagers/Ultra Class toys in the bargain bin have just been gravy.
The “Battle for the Cyber Planet Keys” (I’m gonna call it the 5-pack from now on because that title is starting to gnaw at my nerves) has 5 deluxe figures in it, namely Optimus Prime, Blurr, Longrack, Buzzsaw, and Runamuck.
My first gripe started when I was trying to find a way to bring this huge-ass box home. The coverage area of my toy hunts usually falls within the Mandaluyong/ Ortigas Center area. This relatively small area has 5 shopping malls in relatively close proximity and offers fairly good chances of scoring something good… IF I get advance notice of its release. If not, theres got a gaggle of scalpers who get a head start and are waiting to clear shelves.
So when I find myself in other areas of the metropolis, I take full advantage of it. I was in Cubao to watch Avatar with some friends and took the time to scout out the surrounding toy stores. I’d heard that Playkit had brought out several Transformers items for a big toy fair event in the Northern area of the city, but that’s about 3 hours of commute time, several cubic yards of smog for my asthmatic lungs, and with no guarantee I’d get there in time. So when I saw that SM Cubao had all of those items at the same sale prices, I did what any seasoned toy collector would do. I picked them up.
To give you an idea of how big this box is, I put an Activators Bumblebee in the photos. To give you a better idea, SM department store did not have a bag BIG ENOUGH to put this in. They had to tie it up and I had to carry it around by the string. It is ridiculously big. STUPIDLY BIG in fact.
You can see by the picture above that Hasbro could have easily cut out about 40% of the space that this box takes up. All that empty box there at the bottom? Empty. There aren’t any accessories hiding in there, no nice posters or DVDs. Just extra cardboard. They could have stuck those stupid Planet Keys there and saved some area on the bubble.
The box probably didn’t need to be this deep either. Most of it is actually wasted. The figures aren’t even stored in great poses like the new DC Universe Classics, nor does the cardboard back have a nice diorama to use after you’ve opened it. This crappy thing is going straight to the landfill after you’ve gotten the toys out. Way to promote sustainability, Hasbro.
Let’s start with the worst and go to bad to passable, mmmkay?
Runamuck was one of those characters in Generation 1 of the Transformers that was part of a sub-line; the Battlechargers. There were 2 of them, Runamuck and his brother Runabout. Muck was the white one, Bout the black one. They were pretty nice in the old days, being toys with pull back action and an auto-transform that would trigger the conversion to robot once he’d gone a few feet in car mode.
This version is the suck.
This is one mold that should have been canned after it was released the first time. It is just plain awful. Originally used for Sideswipe in the Armada line, it was repurposed for this guy in the Cybertron line, and re-issued here without embellishment.
Not only is the nice pull-back action feature replaced by an inexplicably bad “ramming” feature that is activated by the Planet Key, but the robot mode is neither poseble nor well designed. There is kibble hanging everywhere and the proportions are all off. Even if you were to argue that it’s a robot and need not imitate the human form, it’s still a robot that would be hard pressed to do anything other than just stand there.
His gun hangs between his legs for pete’s sake.
The best thing I could say about this toy is that a muscle car is a muscle car. The thing would look great on a shelf next to Big Daddy and that Venom Crossover Transformer.
Next up, Blurr. This particular mold has already been used several times, and like Runamuck, the first was the Armada version of Blurr. There was also the Cyberton version and a few exclusives, including a Botcon version.
Transformers are a little different from other toys as they aren’t quite so dependent on the things that toys like GI Joe or Marvel action figures are known for. For the most part, they come with one gun and/or requisite missles for their launchers. Paint is usually some stripes or simple flame motif. I normally judge a Transformer by several things:
Blurr has very little useful articulation. His elbows bend and… well, that’s about it. There are joints aplenty, but they don’t point in the directions needed to get him into any poses remotely interesting.
He’s also got a TON of car parts hanging on his back. So while Blurr might have a nice looking vehicle mode, a passable robot mode that looks kind of like (but not really) the G1 version, his many flaws begs the question why was this mold dreged up yet again?
I’m keeping him in his car mode from now on, because at least that looks pretty bad-ass. If you stick the Planet Key in, the missle launchers flip down to reveal “wings”. Whee!
Buzzsaw is the other Decepticon in this set. I find it weird that this was a “Battle” boxset, but it’s always the good guys outnumbering the bad. Personally, I’d have given more points to Hasbro if they had given us an Optimus Prime vs. 4 Decepticons boxset. That would have been nice.
But back to Buzzsaw. Like the other two, he’s a retool of an Armada figure, this time Cyclonus. This version though is a straight re-release of that one, no new colors, no new head. No reason to buy it really if you’ve already go the Cybertron release.
It’s an interesting enough toy, scoring well on the look of both the robot and vehicle, but the transformation is exceedingly simple. Break him in half and drop his legs and arms down. Done. How boring. I’m also not a fan of his colors. The limonade green and the purple don’t really scream “Bird of Prey” to me. If they had stuck to the gold and black of the G1 condor buddy that Soundwave carried around, that would have been nicer.
His articulation is pretty limited, though not as badly as the other two. Because of the size of his lower legs, the knee articulation is pretty useless. His arms are pretty mobile though.
But this figure does have some nice features that put him above Runamuck and Blurr. His Cybertron Key gimmick is pretty annoying. It unlocks his missle launchers so you can shoot them. Probably nice for kids and relatively unobtrusive. The second action feature is a trigger underneath that spins the helipcopter blades. You can hold his rear fin like a gun and pull the trigger to “fly” him around the room. I loved this kind of gimmick on the GI Joe Retaliator, but here it is again with a way to spin the blades one-handed. Awesome.
Longrack is something a little bit different from most of the Transformers I have in that he isn’t completely anthropomorphized. There’s been no attempt to disguise some of the vehicle kibble, but it’s functional. His right arm is the loading claw of his excavator form.
It looks weird and all, but if you put in the Planet Key and hit the plunger on his shoulder, the shovel snaps out for a “Crushsteel Punch!” move. Note that everytime you do this, you must yell out “Crushsteel Punch!” or you’ll have your geek cards taken away.
The gimmick also works if you have him in excavator mode. Kids will go nuts with this thing once they figure it out.
He’s even got an opposable thumb on it in case you want him to grab smaller figures and perform the “CRUSHSTEEL SQUEEZE!” on them.
His other arm is a comparatively puny thing with a semi articulated shoulder, elbow, and fingers. However, there is a little nozzle in his palm that would be a blaster gun in any cartoon he appeared in, so plus points. Again he’s a recolor of Armada Hoist, but if you got this toy during the Cybertron run, it’s exactly the same (that’s 4 out of 5 so far for those keeping track).
And last up is good old Optimus Prime, featuring an “exclusive” color scheme. Now I don’t know how exclusive this really is since there are several versions I’ve seen online of this guy and there are a few that are red and blue, just like this guy. If there are any differences, then it’s going to be very minor and probably not worth the trouble of getting this set. Plus, there are a TON of bootleg versions of this particular Cybertron figure around, some that look pretty damned close to this, with good plastic and some excellent looking accessories.
Me, I didn’t have him yet, so I took the chance. Surprise surprise, he turned out to be worth the purchase all by himself.
I’m a long time Prime fan so anytime I get a new Prime toy, he instantly gets a spot on my shelf for several weeks. When I was a kid, everyone wanted to have a toy of Prime and be Prime when playing Autobots vs. Decepticons (we’d graduated from Cowboys and Indians). The scene I most remember from ANY movie in the 80’s is still that one in the animated Transformers Movie where prime punches right through the Decepticons, leaps over the front line and starts mowing them down with his plasma rifle to the tune of “You Got the Touch”.
This version looks like he could give that Prime a run for his money. Though he’s short, The design just screams “POWER ARMOR!” at you; big, bulky, and ready to take a beating. If he had this body during the attack on Autobot City, Megatron would have never got a shot in. He’s also got two nice blasters on his arms in lieu of any rifle.
What’s more, thanks to the small size and the wonder that is balljoints, he’s super articulated.
What about my gripes? Well, he’s short on accessories. This whole set is in fact. You’d think that they’d give you a gun or two, especially one for Prime. The fact that the only weapon here is Runamuck’s which looks like crap is telling. From now on Hasbro, EVERY PRIME SHOULD COME WITH A PLASMA RIFLE.
There’s also the fact that the mold was meant to come with a trailer. From now on, Hasbro, EVERY PRIME SHOULD COME WITH A TRAILER THAT TURNS INTO A BASE. The original Armada Primes had one and it looked pretty damned awesome with it. None of the re-releases had it, and none of the bootlegs do either. This sucks balls. I would have gladly bought this set at a premium if they had dumped two of the others and given us that trailer. Hell, they could have dumped all 4 of the others and given us a boxset with Prime, the trailer, and a bunch of minicons, worthy of being called an exclusive.
So, is the Sam’s Club exclusive “Battle for the Cyber Planet Keys” 5-Pack worth it?
If this had come in when it was released in 2008, we’d probably be paying php4000-p5000 for it, knowing how Toy Kingdom and Toys R’ Us price their exclusives. However, Playkit brought them in at a discounted php1,500.00, which is pretty amazing. Looking back at them, it’s probably because they didn’t sell well and PK bought them in bulk at rock bottom prices. 1.5k for 5 deluxe Transformers works out to php300 a pop. That’s like $6/7, which is pretty good, considering. Hell, they’re normally 800 bucks, retail.
I can live with it.
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