Whisky Tango Foxtrot
02-13-2022, 11:49 AM
So I figured I'd make a thread about these things since we've had a few for individual toys and sets but no general thread for all of the Dollarama transformers.
I picked up one of the small transforming cars a little while ago and it's got some good points and bad points. For one thing, it's got a lot of die-cast. The entire car body (with the exception of the roof, which is the same transparent plastic used for the windows) is metal, which is impressive for a $3 toy. The transformation is a simple fold down the chest, pull out the arms, extend the legs and reposition the roof on an arm deal.
As for the robot, out of the box it's only got articulation at the shoulders and hips, however if you loosen some screws in the arms you can get elbow articulation. This is important. because if you leave the arms in their in-package positions then the toy won't transform, since the arms will get in the way of the pegs needed to hold it together in vehicle mode, so you should consider loosening those screws to be a requirement (it just takes a regular Phillips-head screwdriver.)
The legs are a bigger problem, and there's no real way of fixing them. There's no knees, but I wasn't really expecting that in a figure this small and cheap. The bigger issue is that the legs transform by pulling them out on a slide, which aside from the fact that it means that they'll inevitably get loose after a while and no longer be able to hold the figure's weight means that the feet are made out of the back of the car, which isn't flat. It's got some toe-pieces that flip down giving it a bit more stability, and it can stand if you get the balance just right but its a bit precarious and the robot mode will always be leaning forward a bit.
So it's not at the level of a Transformer, not even a legion-class one, but it's so cheap that I think it's worth it just for the novelty of having a brand new die-cast transforming car in 2022. The vehicle mode looks pretty nice, too, and it's got pinned wheels that even have some paint on them.
I picked up one of the small transforming cars a little while ago and it's got some good points and bad points. For one thing, it's got a lot of die-cast. The entire car body (with the exception of the roof, which is the same transparent plastic used for the windows) is metal, which is impressive for a $3 toy. The transformation is a simple fold down the chest, pull out the arms, extend the legs and reposition the roof on an arm deal.
As for the robot, out of the box it's only got articulation at the shoulders and hips, however if you loosen some screws in the arms you can get elbow articulation. This is important. because if you leave the arms in their in-package positions then the toy won't transform, since the arms will get in the way of the pegs needed to hold it together in vehicle mode, so you should consider loosening those screws to be a requirement (it just takes a regular Phillips-head screwdriver.)
The legs are a bigger problem, and there's no real way of fixing them. There's no knees, but I wasn't really expecting that in a figure this small and cheap. The bigger issue is that the legs transform by pulling them out on a slide, which aside from the fact that it means that they'll inevitably get loose after a while and no longer be able to hold the figure's weight means that the feet are made out of the back of the car, which isn't flat. It's got some toe-pieces that flip down giving it a bit more stability, and it can stand if you get the balance just right but its a bit precarious and the robot mode will always be leaning forward a bit.
So it's not at the level of a Transformer, not even a legion-class one, but it's so cheap that I think it's worth it just for the novelty of having a brand new die-cast transforming car in 2022. The vehicle mode looks pretty nice, too, and it's got pinned wheels that even have some paint on them.