Toy Review: TF Crossovers: Hulk 2.0

Transformers Crossovers: Hulk 2.0

I’ve seen these Transformers Crossovers in the toy ailses for several years now and they always always always hang around for months after their released. I’m sure Hasbro had the right idea with them (Marvel Superheroes and Star Wars characters that transform into vehicles) and kids would have loved to get these for Christmas, but there were two factors that I think killed them.

First off, they aren’t all that nicely designed. Sure they’ve got that gimmick of hero robot to car or jet or whatever, but neither vehicle or bot mode looks that appealing. The necessity of the hero costume throws off both the design and the color scheme as well. Case in point: Thor. Who wants an A-10 Warthog colored in blocks of red, blue, and yellow? I’m guessing in store, kids gravitated to the clearly recognizable figures rather than these, and collectors didn’t need them.

Second, and here’s the kicker, the price. When they were released, these things cost Php 1,200.00 (about $23-25). That’s insane for a toy slightly bigger than a Deluxe Class Transformer (Php 700) or a Marvel Legend figure (Php 800). If by chance their child did come across this toy and choose it over a Spider-Man or Bumblebee, any parent would have balked at that price tag.

Even a Hulk fan like me was waffling over picking up the two tanks for the longest time, only giving in about a week before they went to clearance with a new price of Php 700. One week. FML.

After opening them, I was very dissappointed at how cheap they felt, with very little heft considering the fact that they’re Hulk toys. The vehicle mode looks nothing like anyone’s idea of a tank, and the robot mode doesn’t seem to be very playable. Despite a ton of racheted joints, he’s very fiddly and a spring in the waist keeps him from achieving anything really dynamic.

Sucker that I am however, I couldn’t resist getting the Wave 5 Hulk when I saw it at Toys R’ Us in Robinson’s Galleria. The wave was still priced at Php 700, and it was a Hulk toy, and a robot toy. The deck was stacked against me. According to the back of the card, Mr. Fantastic changed his mind, thought that Hulk shouldn’t have a transforming tank at his disposal, so he gave him a bulldozer. I fail to see how that’s a better choice, or how it’s supposed to help a being who is for all intents is invunerable and able to smash tanks to itty bitty pieces.

The packaging is a pretty straightforward carded bubble. Though the bubble looks huge and has tons of room to spare in there, it’s mostly empty air. The animeish illustration of the Hulk covers completely vacant space which, given the nature of the character, should have been filled with a bigger figure, or given it’s price, some kind of accesssories.

The back shows the rest of the wave, including the Black Wolverine and the new Spiderman Car. Apparently, only those three have hit shelves. The Punisher, Human Torch, and The Thing (which is a Bulldozer as well, so a repaint of the Hulk I guess) will be out later. Most of the other toys seem to be repaints, with the exception of Spidey. I’m keeping an eye out for the Punisher though, since his black and white costume lends itself better to a hummer than Captain America’s red, white, and blue.

Back to the toy I actually bought. It’s a bulldozer. Sort of. Like the first attempt, it’s really just some dude’s dream of a bulldozer. The parts are all there, but it doesn’t really look like something you’d see in real life. The sculpting of the thing doesn’t help. It’s simplistic, with a few stress fractures here and there, and some panelling etched in on the roof.

For the most part, it’s cast in color, with almost no paint applications. The green holds up fairly well, being relatively dark, but the gray parts look woefully ignored. The treads at the very least should have been given a once over with black. A wash to give the whole thing some aging would have been welcome as well. The only good thing is that there’s an application at the edge of the dozer’s blade to show that it’s been digging into earth. It’s too little and really only serves to emphasize the figures lack of other embelishment.

The toy feels even cheaper than the first version, because it’s even lighter and the plastic is more brittle. Mine had a small part of the window/leg snapped off even before it was packaged (I didn’t see the piece inside the bubble so I’ll assume it happened in the factory). You’ll see the white area where the figure is missing that piece below:

The angle of the product photo on the back kind of fools the eye, making you think it’s robot form is pretty impressive, but once you get him out of the package and transformed, it’s not. Not at all.

The transformation process is pretty simple, and doesn’t really feel well thought out. His treads are his arms, the fists hidden behind the blade, which get’s halved in too and becomes what is essentially kibble on the backs of his hands. The “engine” portion basically is basically just a block that remains the same. You just pop his head out of it. His legs and feet unfold from under the roof of the cab.

The first thing I thought of when I got him out and had him in robot mode was “GOBOT”.

If you remember back in the day, Tonka had it’s own line of imported transformable robots called Gobots. These were simple toys that were a lot like the minibots in Hasbro’s Transformer line. Most of them basically just stood up to transform. It was very dull.

This Hulk is a tad bit more complicated, but once you get him into bot mode, he’s about as much fun as Cy-kill or Cop-tur. Though he has excellent range of motion below the waist, his arms are basically just big bars that swing around their pivot. It makes for extremely boring play.

You’ll also notice how low his shoulders sit on his torso. Everytime I look at it I can’t get over how ridiculous it looks and suffer from another bout of buyer’s remorse.

Next to this new figure, the first release looks downright amazing. Not only are the proportions better, the figure heavier, but the articulation is much better. Seeing how this is the SECOND figure, that seems counter to all logic. What it feels like is a failed toy design that was put into production because it was already too far along not to push through, which is probably the case.

With the amount of space the figure takes up, and the kibble that litters the robot mode, they probably could have tweaked the design to integrate some of the parts better. Hell, if they had just thrown in an elbow joint, and some paint, it probably would have changed my perception of the thing entirely.

As it is, the old design may have it’s faults, but I will admit that the robot mode looked GOOD and a lot like a Hulk. This things reminds me of a green gorilla.

He does do a pretty good Rumble/Frenzy impression though.