ToyWorld- TW-02 Orion

[Slayback]

TW-02 Orion

Ok right away I’m going to say this figure looks great in the box. I hate to say it –but every shipment of ToyWorld items inevitably has something loose rattling around in the box because it falls out of the blister pack. In a case of 12, not one thing was loose. Hurrah!

Orion comes with

*Figure
*Rifle
*Matrix
*Instructions
*Card-bio

Instructions – right away it is too small. Maybe it was easy for the elves who made the figure to read, but I cannot make out the instructions at all. They have detailed illustrations but I cannot make it out on how to transform it which gets extremely frustrating. They only put the instructions on one side of the paper –which by and by is extremely sturdy. Go lower on the weight of the paper – and print on both sides to save people’s eyesight. They also use dark blue to highlight what is supposed to move. At such a small scale with black outline and dark blue colouring – all detail is lost. This right here for me makes this figure highly frustrating. No I don’t want to watch a youtube video of it because that defeats the whole purpose of having instructions.

Figure
Orion has a nice weight. 276.4g (about 50g heavier than Brainwave)
The plastic is a nice solid plastic like all of ToyWorlds other figures. However because of that, it feels like there isn’t much give to the figure- especially when transformation may be difficult. See above in the instructions. The tightness of the figure is extremely aggravating and transforming it takes awhile. I did check out a Youtube vid –and it did give me some insight but it has taken me quite a bit to transform him. The hardest part is the front grill and his arms.

Figure has swivel waist, balled wrist joints, articulated fingers, elbow joints, head turns, shoulders have movement, knee joints and ankle joints.

Colours – Red and deep blue. The plastic red is nice and it obviously will not have the sheen of a red painted on metal, but it is close to an apple red. His blue legs very reminiscent of the G1 prime.

Sizing - big enough that I don’t want to transform him into robot mode after wrestling with him into truck mode. He’s about the size of a voyager figure.
You can see him in vehicle mode with a Henkei Bee.

Gun – it’s a black gun. It is very reminiscent of the VF-1 Valkyrie (Macross) gun. I’m not too much into the IDW comics so I don’t know if they’ve changed the look of the gun.

Bio Card - The bio card is a nice thick plastic. It’s small and they didn’t really accommodate for its size. Whoever designed it, really should go back and rethink it. The images of Orion are small and pointless. They used a dark purple background for a red and blue figure. Oh and they wrote his stats in kanji, with no translation. Sure it’s great for the Japanese, and you can decipher it in Chinese, but it remains more of an after thought.

Summary

Bonus points –
· Front wheels turn
· Double back wheels and they rotate like real tires
· There’s a tab for a trailer
· Pegs for everything (gun fits on the truck)
· Articulated fingers (not necessary but nice touch)

Negatives

In robot mode, Prime’s head doesn’t really have anything it sits on. It is on a hinge and has no support underneath. Over time it may get loose and irritating.

Windshields pop off. While not altogether life or death, it can be annoying seeing them fly through the air. This is usually only in transformation, and in truth, it popping off is probably a good thing, and it can be placed right back in.

Matrix is tiny in comparison to the figure. It’s actually really small, but still has detail.

The bio card is useless. It’s not even big enough for a coaster.

Instructions are poorly designed and had poor execution.

Overall – even though it was insane transforming him into truck-mode, I actually like him in truck mode. He’s a very nice looking truck. His figure mode with all his joints make it a nice and poseable. The pegs that seem all over the place make the figure nice and compact. Out of 10 … I’d give him a 7.5. The transformation frustration and poor instructions killed it for me. I’m sure some people more intuitive with the transformation process will be very happy with this figure

[BoNKerS]

Thanks for the review Eric!!!

Altho the transformation doesn't sound fun... the Bot and Alt mode look fantastic...

[PrimeCron]

Thank you Eric for the review, always informative as usual...as you know I was on the fence about this figure but after seeing more pictures and after watching a youtube review last night - my decision is now made...I shall see you soon...

[Slave]

Nice! Where is it on sale already?

[BoNKerS]

MSG slayback who posted lolol... he will be able to hook ya up if he has any left.

[Sun Swipe Prime]

After reading this and seeing the video I put in pre order yesterday and then amazingly enough it came in today. I just picked Orion up and I must say I am impressed. The pictures don't do it justice. This is a terrific figure. It's the same size as universe Onslaught with a lot of heft.

I agree the transformation can be a bit messy, but IMHO there is a little more give that one would think at first blush. There is definitely enough flex in the construction to allow for some of the long pegs to clear tight areas. Just pay attention to how hinges are positioned. The plastic is top notch. Even though you're flexing plastic when you transform the figure, you never get the feel that anything is on the verge of breaking.

Two gripes I have are, one the head isn't on a ball-joint. It's just a swivel. Two the weather vein is on ball-joints and having only transformed the toy once, there are stress marks on the cups.

This feels like a mini-masterpiece. Now I wish I didn't pass up on Hedgemon.

[Slave]

alright... got my order up from Ages3up... cant wait to get him...

[BoNKerS]

Originally Posted by Slave

alright... got my order up from Ages3up... cant wait to get him...

Did you hit up Slayback?

I have to ask why? A3U - by the time you are done you are paying $135 U.S. funds.

This is no doubt none of my business but Slayback has it cheaper. I think Nullray is usually cheaper than A3U as well.

They are awesome dudes to deal with!

[Slave]

No i didnt... A3U was the only place I found that was selling it... at all... I even looked up ebay...

Does Slayback has a store? He didnt reply to the thread when I asked where to find him so I figured he didnt have any to sell... (or perhaps he didnt come back to see the thread lol)

What/who is Nullray?

It's ok for A3U, I think he was 105$+10$ shipping... I took the opportunity to add a few other TF they had I was missing... the whole thing cost me 145 with shipping and 2 other TFs I wanted.

[Slayback]

i dont have a store, unless you count my house. its all good. just sold out. at any rate - i hope my review is informative and somewhat accurate. keeping in mind i spend about 5 min trying to transform things before i lose interest. Most people who know me at the shows know this :P by and by -yes watch out for the weather things. the casing will get stress marks and mine was already cracked out of box. for some reason i always get the broken one..