Unicron--A pleasant pre-Xmas surprise...

[GDomino]

O.K. I'll admit it, I am a Hasbro hater and I also bashed Unicron when we first saw pictures of him. I thought (both) his modes looked crappy and that his colors just seemed too plasticky, "clear purple plastic parts and orangy-yellow parts don't mix", so I said.

Anyways, I went out shopping with my friends 2 nights ago at our local TRU and a friend of mine got one for himself {my friend isn't a toycollector but he's been looking at Unicron everytime we'd go out to Target or Wal-mart- I think he was just amazed at how big he is}. He saw that it was dwindling in numbers at this particular store which usually has tons of him displayed, and so he just decided to buy one right then.

When we took him out of the box (and after an hour of un-twisting those dreaded ties and becoming the butt of all jokes from my non-toy-appreciating friends), we were blown away by how heavy Unicron really is - and the plastic quality is pretty good too. Transforming him was a scary affair at first but then I soon realized that he is very durable and that everything fits together nicely. His planet mode looks amazing. Despite the obvious squareness from his limbs for bot mode, he still maintains a decent spherical shape.

His transformation is so simple that we had it down after 1 try. And after gawking at his massive size for months, his bot mode now has also grown on me...and his colors don't bug me one bit anymore. And so last-night when I went out to Target intending to get shampoo only, I decided to pass by the TF aisle and I saw Unicron all by himself... Well, I am now also a happy owner of a Unicron.

I wanted to share this story because I thought I would never get one but I just needed to really handle one to see that this toy is pretty damn awesome. It is by far my most satisfying (recent) toy purchase at less than 40 bucks, even if it has no diecast. Just wanted to redeem myseff to all the Unicron fans I used to laugh at...

[shaxper]

I'm personally waiting for the Unicron repaint coming in a few months. Better detail and cooler colors, but not movie accurate.

Thanks for the review!

[Rancemeister]

..and HLJ has the Japanese release for half price in their Xmas sale. Looking forward to un-wrapping that bad boy on Xmas morning.

[baxter008]

Are there any links showing what the repaint might be like and is there any difference with the Japanese release?

Thanks for the review, it's convinced me to get one but just depends which will be the better release.

[waruderos]

Must... resist... the gravitational... pull of this planet/toy pulls Armada Minicons into his orbit (aka more money from wallet). ...dagnabit, now I'm gonna get one too...but what a 'slippery slope' into full blown TF collecting.

[shaxper]

The Japanese version appears to be exactly the same, but many of the US versions have problems closing their chests. I understand that the Japanese versions do not have that problem.

Here's the repaint. It's designated as an Energon Wave 1 toy, so we should be seeing it in the next few months:

[RMC]

My Unicron suffered from the chest problem you mentioned - ended up taking the thing apart and fiddling about until it seemed to fix it. Basically the latch on the rocket launcher's spring mechanism in the chest is far too weak. I'm still paranoid about mine and don't play with that aspect of the toy at all.

Otherwise I think he's very cool, though far too expensive in the UK.

[GDomino]

E-cron looks good but I actually prefer the Armada colors just because it (suppose to?) is closer to the Unicron paint scheme from the TF the movie...and the looks are pretty similar too. The only reason I broke my vow not to buy any of the Crapmadas.

Thinking about painting those clear parts orange (from the inside)...but still too scared to test it. Anyone done this?

Edit: going back to the E-cron pics, I just realized that it has orange clear parts... I might just get the e-cron and switch out those parts with the A-cron. Will have to wait until I see some on discount at my KB outlet though.

Edit2: DOH!!! those rotating launchers on the legs will still need to be painted though!!! Crap... now, I'm undecided.

[shaxper]

Judging by the amount of Unicrons I've seen on many toy store shelves, it looks like Hasbro offered some huge discount for large Unicron orders, inspiring stores to load up on many more Unicrons than they could ever expect to sell. As a result, expect MAJOR Unicron discounts sometime after Christmas.

[waruderos]

shaxper said:

Judging by the amount of Unicrons I've seen on many toy store shelves, it looks like Hasbro offered some huge discount for large Unicron orders, inspiring stores to load up on many more Unicrons than they could ever expect to sell. As a result, expect MAJOR Unicron discounts sometime after Christmas.

Good tip. I'm gonna wait too. I remember buying the Star Wars 'Naboo Royal Starship' playset at full price then seeing them for 1/3 of the original by spring.

[admin1 aka Ed]

WOW, I really like the E-Unicron. Those darned repaints are tough to resist