And now our last two Kreons, Scorponok and Sunstorm.
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Scorponok is another interesting choice to see, based on his G1 design he uses the helicopter backpack piece for his tail, which as you can see doesn't quite reach up above his head.
By adding all the extra bits it does go a bit higher, but looks terrible and not very accurate. He also doesn't come with ordinary Kreon hands, instead you attach the two round pieces to his arms and then slide the claw-weapon pieces found in Battleship Kre-O sets to simulate the claws of the G1 toy.
These are notorious for stressing out the plastic, a common problem amongst Kreons in general, to date I haven't heard of any breaking or anything, just stressing.
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The backpack covers up some nice chest detail printing that the character has, most unfortuante, but easily remedied if you prefer not having the tail on his back.
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Scorponok's official transformation in the instructions seems to indicate that you just balance the upper torso and scorpion tail kibble onto the lower leg holding piece and it isn't meant to attach. This is never going to work, because balancing Scorponok is already a pain even if you could balance it on that piece the way the instructions seem to say you can.
In reality you have to attach the piece with the clip onto the chest armor piece, which rotates around for the beast mode, and then you still have to fight to get him balanced just so as he can be rather top heavy.
And you also get a spare set of legs lying around as loose parts once the build is done.
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The last member of the Preview Wave is the only one to date I've picked up only one copy of, for the most part I originally had no plans to pick up two of any of them, with exception to generic looking Crankstart and Spinister (because I like the character and design a lot here.), however I began to get a bit concerned that constant transformations would damage or break the clips on Scorponok and Waspinator, so I wound up grabbing an extra set of them.
Then I snagged another Galvatron just for the hell of it, I'm still debating if I want to get doubles of all these Micro-Changers.
Sunstorm is a great choice for this set, he's a seeker so everybody loves them. Plus he fits in nicely with Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker. (Which I'll be doing a photo of during my Big Optimus review, if I ever can get that last 2011 set.)
His kibble or extra parts unfortunately don't integrate very well, Hasbro says they are supposed to be some kind of blaster weapon with dual barrels or something, I think he doesn't need them as a robot and they proove superfluous.
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His vehicle mode is fairly simplistic looking too, but it is fun to fiddle with and incorporates all of the pieces except the helmet, the only Kreon that uses all the parts is Spinister, officially in both modes, while the others fail to incorporate every piece in both modes. Galvatron (who's helmet isn't used), Scorponok and Waspinator, Crankstart also technically, but since I gave his spare tires to other Kreons he doesn't really have left over parts around.
Here's a group shot (with Official Galvatron) all in vehicle mode, I took this shot before I modified Galvatron into the better alt mode. Something I forgot to mention, his legs aren't supposed to be splayed out like that according to the instructions. However since he's so top heavy you can't just leave them facing backwards like Hasbro would want you to. He just falls over alot.
Gotta love those clear LEGO stands for aerial modes, if they offered up those pieces by themselves I'd be tempted to pick up a bunch to show off the aerial Kreons.
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Here's a group shot in robot mode, Spinister can use the stand even in this mode to help him balance while holding his massive weapon, as the weapon renders him top heavy in robot mode unless he's attached to something.
Overall I think this first batch of Micro-Changers is ok, it certainly has some design flaws. The Tac Vests and covering up all the chest details, as well as the stupidly tacked on alt mode for Galvatron, but this style of play is fun and cute enough to make highly collectible Micro-Changers really sought after.
I'd rate the first batch at a solid 3 out of 5, for the most part I like the looks of them and what Hasbro is attempting, points are marked off for Galvatron's horrible alt mode and the very genuine fear that certain fragile parts could snap or break easily after multiple transformations.
Still, you can't go wrong with the Kreons Hasbro have been making in the sets, and being able to buy a bunch of characters on the cheap side instead of going after the larger sets... Well you'd have to wait an awfully long time to get a set with Spinister and Crankstart or the Beast Era characters. It's just a shame that the entire Preview Wave was only made up of Decepticons, to date the Autobot to Decepticon Ratio with Kreons is a bit skewed in the 'Cons favor.
Now we'll move on to that special guest I mentioned, above you will note a new type of packaging. This is how the exclusive Orange G2 Constructicon Devastator Kreon came packaged.
A giveaway from Hasbro at TRU (apparently only in Canada) for spending a certain amount on Kre-O sets, this giveaway unsurprisingly resulted in less stellar sales than Hasbro was thinking (I'd wager) as I managed to get this puppy for free without haveing to actually buy any Kre-O sets. Then again my situation was probably a fluke as I had made a rapport with one of the cashiers and she gave it to me in January.
I really dig the packaging on even this little Kreon, Hasbro put a lot of attention to detail in it, it's just such a shame that it is such a limited quantiy item as not a lot of people have been able to enjoy it. (On top of that I'm kind of worried about hands snapping due to the unique weapon he uses and being difficult to replace.)
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I hope this picture shows off the orange correctly. Devastator here is a unique Kreon, and now that the Micro-Changer Combiners have been introduced may be the only combiner to recieve his own Kreon.
He's got a lot of frontal printing showing off the details found on his original G1 model, there are the wings on his chest, a little piece to represent Mixmaster's drum on one leg and the other where Scrapper goes to show off that shovel arm. (Although I think this detailing is slightly inaccurate.)
The regular Devastator set features a version in Green, a special TRU exclusive set with Kre-O Ironhide buildable features the G2 Yellow colour, which was more common. This version represents the rarer G2 Orange colouring found mostly in the UK I think... At least I don't remember seeing the Orange Constructicons in Canada during the G2 days, but then again it's been so long ago it's hard to recall.
His weapon is a small representation of Megatron's alt mode, in translucent purple. Not the same dark purple that the Energon Bodies of last year were found in, no this is an almost pink purple colour, which isn't very menacing. It also includes the stock and rifle parts, so you can only put it into his hand one way, which stresses out the hand a bit with repeated use.
Overall I'd have to say, if you managed to get this little bugger he's a really great looking collector's item to have. Since he is just a Kreon I'm not going to bother rating him, I can't wait to grab the other two Devastator sets to show him off beside his buddies, expect to see those by the summer time I'd wager.
I'm not sure when my next review will go up, it depends on what I choose to review next out of all the wonderfully fun Kre-O sets I get around to grabbing. Hope this review has been enlightening, or at least informative.
