New "Wildocking" Animal Limb Combiners from TakaraTomy

[Steevy Maximus]

I think these are rather nifty. My first, full, impression is that this feels like a ”Transformers by way of Super Sentai” vibe that doesn’t look terrible. If anything, nothing I’m seeing overtly negates Hasbro’s ability to import these as part of Cyberworld (CyberCombiners?), besides maybe nixing some deco.

Some really interesting ideas, and some intriguing redeco possibilities (G1 Dinobot theme set of limbs? Ultra/Delta Magnus repaint?). But I’m not sure they are “pay import prices” nice, though. I think it will heavily depend on if Hasbro opts to bring these over the states in some capacity. Again, aside from the level of deco, there isn’t much sticking out that would negate Hasbro’s ability to release these, and I’m sure they’d be a bit cheaper.

It IS fascinating to see the not only the divergences between Hasbro and Takara’s “kid initiative”, but also the commonalities. A big one is the mixing of G1 stylings with beast characters or characteristics, but also the move back to “toy first” gimmick directions. Takara opted for a “Megazord Transformers” thing, while Hasbro opted for a smaller scale play system.
Given how the brand has been the past decade or so, it remains refreshing to see both sides of the world embrace a more “toy centric” approach to a product line.

 

[lastmaximal]

I genuinely dig these, and it's all seeming more cohesive and appealing than Cyberworld is right now. A big part of that is the apparent bigger per-figure budget, and the execution that allows for essentially the same core box body to take on different forms with just altered forelimbs and add-on parts.

It does make Cyberworld's unusual mix look more intentional and less random by comparison than it looked by itself, too. It's also a bit of a relief to get back to a toyline that's toy-centric, with a line gimmick consistently guiding all the design decisions, and with a fictional/narrative base for all that too -- in this specific, more familiar, simpler manner. (Both toylines do that, but Cyberworld's kind of trades that internal consistency for redeco flexibility that allows them to justify using existing characters in whatever new forms. This is more traditional in that there's a clear segment of existing characters and a cast of new ones, rather than "the mostly G1 cast are trapped in a Quintesson cyberzoo that has reformed everyone but the leaders into beasts, buy Giraffe Bumblebee and Triceratops Starscream now!"... Which, damn, why did I sell myself on that.)

If anything, I'm warming more to the beasts than Op/Megs, although I do also like those. I agree that this is the least boring the Evergreen whatever Megs design has been, and Op having a less Earth-y altmode and bright yellow windows is quite refreshing. But the new characters and designs and color schemes surrounding them are absolutely what I'm here for.

I hope these shake out as fairly affordable in the end (the prices aren't terrible but it'll be a slow roll getting into this; I may wait for the Nemesis pack first), because I'd like to get at least some of this line.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

This is growing on me. And looks better than some of what we're getting. (Some.)

I particularly like something about this Optimus, including the truck mode. Kinda fresh, but kinda familiar. The yellow windshields really set it off.

Say, I wonder if you can combine combiners... you know, one bot is the thigh, the other a calf for a leg, or one as a bicep and another as a forearm for the arms?

 

[Glitch]

I like the look of this and hope they come in Selects given they're more -izers for the collection.

 

[LordGigaIce]

The reformed Megatron is no saint either. For someone who's supposed to be redeemed, he sure is leading Captain Volca on by letting him think Megs is some prophesized hero of legend.

Reminds me of the time in the Iron Man comics that the Mandarin hired a director to make a movie based off of his life ala Mr. Burns.

"So... weren't you in Afghanistan running an opium production operation when Iron Man showed up to stop you?"

"Western lies! I was.... saving the children! From the American imperialist Tony Stark... and... reading to the blind ones! Yes that'll do! Do not look into this further."

 

[Exatron]

The reformed Megatron is no saint either. For someone who's supposed to be redeemed, he sure is leading Captain Volca on by letting him think Megs is some prophesized hero of legend.

Yeah, that is a little shady. Cerainly nothing someone like Optimus would ever do.

 

[unluckiness]

I’m of two minds on this. It's clearly inspired by Sentai mecha/Megazords in general, so I would have been okay if they were sold as and functioned like them, i.e. complete boxsets, less articulation but with dedicated body parts and better-defined anatomy for the body parts. The way they currently are isn't terrible but I dunno, the asking price is a bit much for middling torsobots and a bunch of bricks that you stick an animal head and tail onto.

 

[Haywire]

...a bunch of bricks that you stick an animal head and tail onto.

Yeah, it's basically Takara's version of Machine Robo Mugenbine. At least, the original Mugenroids. I don't hate it, but after Liokaiser, I'm going to have a hard time justifying the price this year.

 

[unluckiness]

With the contemporary megazord design philosophy of the leader robot forming pretty much everything and a bunch of relatively small zords that form arms or backpacks. Can't say I'm a huge fan.