Review #18: Unicron
(25th Anniversary Unicron with Mini-con Kranix
and Throne of Chaos display stand)
Rosebud...
Er, I mean... Unicron!
Unicron was first introduced in the 1986 movie as the film's big bad, making even Megatron / Galvatron look like a pussycat. And when I say "big" bad, we're not just speaking figuratively. I mean, he is a planet. Not only that, but a planet that ate other planets! It seems like Orson Wells, in one of his final film rolls, was perfectly cast here.
Unicron is often identified in merchandising and occasionally in fiction as a Decepticon, but from my point of view (and as presented in the G1 cartoon) this isn't strictly true. He is, to be sure, evil. One might even say the ultimate incarnation of it. And sometimes he works with Decepticons, but he is an entity onto himself and if he works with anyone it is because he is using them to suit his purpose. That being said, for the sake of convenience, I've put this review on my website in the "Classics G1 Post-Movie Decepticons" section.
This is a character with a troubled toy history. Two different transforming versions of him were designed to be a part of the G1 toy line, one by Hasbro and one by Takara, but neither were released. Takara tried again in the Beast Wars Neo toy line, but again the toy only got as far as the prototype phase. It took until 2003 as part of the Armada toy line before Unicron finally got a transforming toy release.
This was a pretty good toy and for a number of years satisfied demands of people wanting a Unicron. But it was not perfect. Well, I suppose it was sufficient as far as Armada was concerned. After all, it was designed based on the character's appearance in that show. But it was a bit lacking for the G1 collector.
The figure saw a black and dark orange recolour for Energon, and a re-release in the Armada colours in 2008. Then in 2010, in honor of the year that (in Japanese continuity) the film took place, Takara released a new version of the Armada Unicron mold, with a newly redesigned head sculpt and a new paint scheme to better match his appearance in Generation One. Finally, a transforming G1 Unicron! True, he was a Japanese release and very expensive... but finally he existed!
Of course, as I said, he was very expensive. For what they were asking for him, I was reluctantly going to stay happy with my Armada Unicron. But then, in 2011, Hasbro (as an Amazon exclusive) released their own version of Unicron with the new head, but with a different G1 inspired deco. Well, so long, Armada Unicron!
Er, I mean... Unicron!
Unicron was first introduced in the 1986 movie as the film's big bad, making even Megatron / Galvatron look like a pussycat. And when I say "big" bad, we're not just speaking figuratively. I mean, he is a planet. Not only that, but a planet that ate other planets! It seems like Orson Wells, in one of his final film rolls, was perfectly cast here.
Unicron is often identified in merchandising and occasionally in fiction as a Decepticon, but from my point of view (and as presented in the G1 cartoon) this isn't strictly true. He is, to be sure, evil. One might even say the ultimate incarnation of it. And sometimes he works with Decepticons, but he is an entity onto himself and if he works with anyone it is because he is using them to suit his purpose. That being said, for the sake of convenience, I've put this review on my website in the "Classics G1 Post-Movie Decepticons" section.
This is a character with a troubled toy history. Two different transforming versions of him were designed to be a part of the G1 toy line, one by Hasbro and one by Takara, but neither were released. Takara tried again in the Beast Wars Neo toy line, but again the toy only got as far as the prototype phase. It took until 2003 as part of the Armada toy line before Unicron finally got a transforming toy release.
This was a pretty good toy and for a number of years satisfied demands of people wanting a Unicron. But it was not perfect. Well, I suppose it was sufficient as far as Armada was concerned. After all, it was designed based on the character's appearance in that show. But it was a bit lacking for the G1 collector.
The figure saw a black and dark orange recolour for Energon, and a re-release in the Armada colours in 2008. Then in 2010, in honor of the year that (in Japanese continuity) the film took place, Takara released a new version of the Armada Unicron mold, with a newly redesigned head sculpt and a new paint scheme to better match his appearance in Generation One. Finally, a transforming G1 Unicron! True, he was a Japanese release and very expensive... but finally he existed!
Of course, as I said, he was very expensive. For what they were asking for him, I was reluctantly going to stay happy with my Armada Unicron. But then, in 2011, Hasbro (as an Amazon exclusive) released their own version of Unicron with the new head, but with a different G1 inspired deco. Well, so long, Armada Unicron!
Here's the Amazon exclusive Unicron in planet mode. This highlights the one big problem with this figure. In the movie his ring is oriented vertically, and the pincer claws and maw would be facing forward. But of course, it would be difficult to design a toy that would balance on its ring. This leaves no way to display it in this mode other then to have the pincers and maw on the top, and the ring oriented horizontally. It... well, it looks okay this way, but not very dynamic. You know what this toy could use? A stand!
There was one previous third party attempt at a stand which, from what online reviews I had seen said, was flimsy and would snap in half if Unicron looked at it funny. Fortunately, another stand would be forthcoming from a company called Brownnoise Productions. And this stand would live up to its name, the Throne of Chaos. |
Here is a look at the stand by itself. (Apologies for clear being difficult to photograph!) This is a quality piece, made of two pieces of thick clear acrylic. It comes with four little clear rubber nubs that stick to the bottom of the stand to provide traction so the stand doesn't slide around, and of course to protect the stand from being scratched on the bottom. The stand is compatible with any version of Unicron using this basic mold.
If I had to sum this up in one word, it would be, "sturdy." If you put Unicron in it, he will not fall over without extreme effort on your part to make him do so. Also, even with Unicron's weight, this stand isn't about to break. |
Now this is a way to display Unicron, and boy does he look good! I should note that it seems like the mold has degraded a bit since it was first used almost ten years ago. Some of the parts seem to take a bit more effort then you might hope to get them to fit together right for this mode, and even then you may be left with some slight gaps between panels. But it isn't extremely bad and in the end the planet mode does still come together well and looks far better with this colouration then it has in the past.
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He retains all of the gimmicks of the original Armada version of this toy. The most prominent one in planet mode would be his operable maw. Pinch the pincers together, and the maw will shut. Mmm, tasty planets! Chomp, chomp, yum!
Also retained is the mini-con that Unicron comes with. The mini-con has an alt-mode of a small moon for Unicron. And, of course, since we all know that moons sit upon their planet's surface (rather then something silly like, say, orbiting them) there is a recessed area above the maw for the moon to sit in. On Armada Unicron, the mini-con was named Dead End. To help tie this one into the Generation One version of Unicron better, however, it has been rechristened as Kranix. This is the name of a character from the film that introduced Unicron, so I will give them points for that, but it was an odd choice. In the film, Kranix is not in any way a partner or servant to Unicron. Rather, he was the only survivor of the planet that Unicron had for lunch in the film's opening sequence! Also, it should come as little surprise as this mini-con figure was not originally intended to be a G1 character, it bears no resemblance to any characters from the film, let alone Kranix. Still, as I said, points for effort! |
Anyway, on this toy Kranix becomes Unicron's moon. That basically means that he's a little round ball with a big gun embedded in it. (All moons have those, yes?) It can go in the aforementioned cavity above the maw, or it can also attach on Unicron via one of a plethora of mini-con ports on his ring. Jefe, what is a plethora? Well, in this case it is a whopping 24. I'm not sure if it was a unique oddity of my copy of this toy, or an issue with a degraded mold, but some of the ports on the ring can be very tight to try and get a mini-con onto.
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Unicron also has a mini-con port on either side of his planet mode. Plug Kranix in there and then pull him forward, and it triggers a firing of a bank of three missiles. The missiles have been remolded slightly from the original Armada version of this toy, having been given a more bulbous front end. They were previously rounded (just with the same circumference as the rest of the missile), so it isn't like this was done to dull a sharp point, but such is life with increasingly overcautious adherence to toy safety laws. (Not that I don't want child-safe toys, but sometimes a change seems... well... pointless!) I have seen photos of the missiles in yellow with these tips, yellow having been their colour for the original Armada version of this toy. So I would guess this change was not actually first made for this version, but for the 2008 re-release of the Armada version.
Well that's about all there is to see for the planet mode. A mold that has been a steady workhorse for about a decade now finally gets a deco that does him justice. The mold has seen better days, perhaps, but it is still in good enough shape that it does what it needs to while looking better then it ever has before while doing it. And we've only looked at one mode so far!
I decided, for a change, to do size comparison photos in both modes. I normally only do so for the robot mode, but in Unicron's case his planet mode is also so iconic that I thought you might like to get a good idea of how large he is both ways. So here's Unicron, on his stand, along with a DVD case. For good measure, I decided to throw in three deluxe figures, the three he himself created from the dying remains of Decepticon warriors (including Megatron!), from left to right: Scourge, Galvatron, and Cyclonus. (A quick side note: funny how Masterpiece Rodimus Prime's matrix is a perfect scale for Deluxe class Galvatron!) |
A quick detour on the way to Unicron's robot mode to look at Kranix's. I've never been a huge fan of mini-cons, as they often seem a bit simplistic. But of course, they're often (as is the case here) just an extra little freebie thrown in with a larger figure, so in that context, their simplicity can be somewhat understood and forgiven.
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For the most part, Kranix isn't that bad. Simplistic, yes. But other then one slight hiccup, not bad looking. That hiccup would be his arms, particularly the lower arms, which suffer greatly from the obvious fact that they aren't so much forearms and hands as they are just chunks of a sphere. His left arm can be hidden behind the gun, but no such luck with the right arm.
Other then that, though, as I said he's not that bad. He's got a pleasing combination of colours on him, and while much of it is because of joints needed his transformation, he has quite decent articulation for a toy his size. Nothing in the head, of course. His shoulders can rotate 360 degrees. He has elbows he can bent, there's a 360 degree rotation below the elbow (if you want to swivel the sphere chunk around!). His hips are on ball joints, but they are only good for forward moiton and an ever so slight motion outwards. His knees can bend, and finally, while it would be of limited use for posing, the red chunks that are the front of his feet are on ball joints.
I did have one issue with my Kranix, and much like with the above mentioned issue with the mini-con ports on the rings, I am not sure if it is something because of the age of the mold, or just a freak issue with my Kranix. When I first got him, one of his shoulders was stuck. Very stuck. It would not budge, meaning he was either stuck in moon mode, or was just going to be a Kranix with a malformed arm. I tried like the devil to get that joint to move, even going so far as to take a flat razor blade, jam it into the joint, and move it around. Even after that, it took pushing on it with such extreme force I was convinced I was about to snap his arm off before I finally got the joint to move. Once I did get it to move, it then had no problems and is just like it should have been out of the box. But it was a scary process to get him there.
So Kranix may have a few flaws, but for what amounts to a free throw-in figure with some interactivity with the main figure, he isn't half bad. Let us move onto the main event, though! Here to present you with the Standard Rich and Famous Contract is...
Other then that, though, as I said he's not that bad. He's got a pleasing combination of colours on him, and while much of it is because of joints needed his transformation, he has quite decent articulation for a toy his size. Nothing in the head, of course. His shoulders can rotate 360 degrees. He has elbows he can bent, there's a 360 degree rotation below the elbow (if you want to swivel the sphere chunk around!). His hips are on ball joints, but they are only good for forward moiton and an ever so slight motion outwards. His knees can bend, and finally, while it would be of limited use for posing, the red chunks that are the front of his feet are on ball joints.
I did have one issue with my Kranix, and much like with the above mentioned issue with the mini-con ports on the rings, I am not sure if it is something because of the age of the mold, or just a freak issue with my Kranix. When I first got him, one of his shoulders was stuck. Very stuck. It would not budge, meaning he was either stuck in moon mode, or was just going to be a Kranix with a malformed arm. I tried like the devil to get that joint to move, even going so far as to take a flat razor blade, jam it into the joint, and move it around. Even after that, it took pushing on it with such extreme force I was convinced I was about to snap his arm off before I finally got the joint to move. Once I did get it to move, it then had no problems and is just like it should have been out of the box. But it was a scary process to get him there.
So Kranix may have a few flaws, but for what amounts to a free throw-in figure with some interactivity with the main figure, he isn't half bad. Let us move onto the main event, though! Here to present you with the Standard Rich and Famous Contract is...
That's what I'm talking about! This thing makes me feel like it is 1986 and I'm nine again! (Which means my girlfriend hasn't quite been born yet... Man, am I glad it isn't 1986!) Anyway, to talk about the head for a moment, it is very much an improvement over the mold's original head which, as previously stated, looked fine for an Armada Unicron, but just didn't scream "Generation One" very much. For comparison, I've borrowed an Armada Unicron head-shot photo from TFU.info and placed it to the right. (I'd have taken one myself, but my Armada Unicron got packed away and is unlikely to come out again soon, if at all...)
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There is one thing about the new head that has caused some minor fan uproar, however, so I should mention it here. Armada Unicron had eyes that (when one of the gimmicks was used, or when you pushed a button on his head) would blink with a red light. Generation One Unicron had distinctive green eyes, particularly prominent in a scene from the movie when a group of Autobots escaped from inside Unicron by breaking out through one of them! As you can see in the photos above, the toy does feature some very nice green eyes... but the LED inside of his head that makes them light up is still red! Obviously I can conform this the case on the Hasbro version that I have, and from what I have heard Takara did no better with their version. So when he is just standing there, he has these great looking green eyes. But activate a specific one of his gimmicks, or press the button on his head, and they'll blink red at you! Annoying, to be sure. It likely wouldn't have been too difficult to use a different coloured diode, but such is life. It doesn't completely kill things for me for two reasons. One, thanks to the lovely stand, I am often more likely to have him in planet mode. And two, even when he is a robot, it isn't like I am constantly setting off his blinking ability, anyway! But some people were quite bothered by this, so I figured my dear readers should know of it.
So, a few things to note about the design of the toy, and areas where he may seem to have a few compromises. The obvious one is that about a quarter of his planet mode is just a shell on his back. Yeah... Well, while I will admit I don't have experience in toy design myself, I should think it is somewhat difficult to design a toy that transforms into something planet shaped, and not have a bit of kibble hanging off of it somewhere. If it really bugs you, the two shell pieces can be popped off for robot mode. Myself, I like to use them to help support the skeletal wings (formed from the planet mode's ring) in a more dynamic fashion.
The second major compromise concerns the pincers on his shoulders. In fiction, it is implied that the horns on his head are what becomes the pincers on the planet mode, and he has no such things featured on his robot mode's shoulders. Of course, trying to carry this over to the toy design would lead to either the planet mode having ludicrously tiny pincers, or the robot mode having exceptionally vast horns on its head. Personally, I think the compromise here is the best they could have done to get a good look for him in both modes.
I feel I should also make a comment about the mold detail. Earlier in this review, I made a few mentions that I thought that this figure had suffered some mold degradation. I want to be clear that this seems to only be in relation to how the parts fit together, particularly where it comes to fitting all of the pieces together for planet mode. As far as detail on the mold... When one thinks mold degradation, one usually pictures a figure with soft, or worse distorted detail. That doesn't seem to be the case here. Unicron is a figure with a lot of little panel lines and molded detail. (After all, being so big, they has a lot of surface on him to cover!) And all of it on my figure looks sharp. This, combined with some very well applied paint, makes for a figure that looks just as good in this mode as he did in his planet mode. This is one good looking Unicron.
He is well articulated. In modern times, when one thinks of good articulation, one thinks of ball joints. And I typically agree. A well placed and tight ball joint usually offers maximum poseability and is ideal. But this is a somewhat older mold, perhaps from before the ball joint was king. But that is okay. He is such a large figure that there is some definite heft to him, and the drawback to ball joints is that they don't always react well to weight.
You know what does react well to weight, though? And also can bring a nostalgic smile to one's face? Ratcheting joints! Good old, heavy, clicking, ratcheting joints! Ball joints are simpler, cheaper, and more flexible... but nothing says sturdy like a ratchet. And Unicron is nothing if not sturdy.
Each shoulder has two ratchets, one to allow for movement forwards and backwards (although this one, while technically capable of 360 degree rotation, is somewhat hampered by back kibble) and one to allow motion outwards. The elbows are also on a ratchet that can bend 90 degrees. There is a non-ratcheting (but nice and tight) 360 degree swivel between the shoulder and elbow on each arm. The hands don't really require ratchets, and thus don't have them. They can swivel 360 degrees at the wrist, and have quite well articulated fingers. Each one is articulated separately, with all of them other then the thumbs having two hinged joints each, and the thumbs themselves having one hinged joint at the base. (Trying to keep this website vaguely family friendly, I have refrained from photographing this... but it is hard to resist posing Unicron standing with one arm extended, his hand displaying a familiar notorious one-fingered gesture.) His head is on a swivel, but is very tight so some slight force is necessary to get it to move. (When his head is turned, his eyes will still blink if you push the button on top, but they will no longer interact with the chest gimmick that I will elaborate on later in this review.) His waist is also not ratcheted, but is a nice tight swivel joint with 360 degrees of movement. The panels over the front and sides of his hips are hinged to be able to lift out of the way of his legs when they move. As for the legs themselves, much like the shoulders the hips feature two ratcheting joints each, one for forward / backwards movement, and one for movement outwards. The knees bend 90 degrees in a somewhat softer (but still quite functional) ratcheting joint. There is a 360 degree swivel below the knee, which seems the one use of a ratcheting joint on this figure that is a little unnecessary. Swivels below the knee are not as nice as swivels above the knee but are better then no swivel at all. Finally, there are a few joints in the foot (some a relic of the transformation) that combined make for decent foot poseability.
Aside from the poseability of the basic figure itself, the chunks of planet on the outside of Unicron's legs can be rotated forward or backwards. These chunks contain the missle banks mentioned when discussing planet mode and are still quite functional in this mode, meaning that the ability to rotate them basically gives Unicron the ability to aim his missiles. Also, the kibble on his back (if you've decided not to simply remove it) has some poseability so you can decide how best to position it to either best make use of it or hide it from your eyes, and of course the wing parts over his shoulders can be moved around a bit.
Let us get into his gimmicks a bit, shall we? Just like in planet mode, this Unicron carries forward all of the gimmicks that the original Armada use of this mold had.
First of all, while I don't have a photo of this particular gimmick in action, you may have noticed in photos that his right hand was a different colour then his left hand. The left one is a solid gray colour, while the right one is a transclearent (thank you, Emgo!) smoky gray colour. This hand has a light up feature. When you press on it, a red LED in the hand blinks eight times. Personally, I wouldn't have objected if Hasbro had decided to save a bit of money, had gutted this feature from this use of the mold, and made both hands the same solid gray colour. It always bugged me on the Armada Unicron that he had two different coloured hands. I suppose it is a bit better here, though, where they went with the smoky gray rather then the plain clear plastic the Armada Unicron had. Besides which, if his palm couldn't blink red, Unicron wouldn't know in when he was about to turn 30. So I suppose it is for the best that they left this feature in, after all. There is no sanctuary!
The second major compromise concerns the pincers on his shoulders. In fiction, it is implied that the horns on his head are what becomes the pincers on the planet mode, and he has no such things featured on his robot mode's shoulders. Of course, trying to carry this over to the toy design would lead to either the planet mode having ludicrously tiny pincers, or the robot mode having exceptionally vast horns on its head. Personally, I think the compromise here is the best they could have done to get a good look for him in both modes.
I feel I should also make a comment about the mold detail. Earlier in this review, I made a few mentions that I thought that this figure had suffered some mold degradation. I want to be clear that this seems to only be in relation to how the parts fit together, particularly where it comes to fitting all of the pieces together for planet mode. As far as detail on the mold... When one thinks mold degradation, one usually pictures a figure with soft, or worse distorted detail. That doesn't seem to be the case here. Unicron is a figure with a lot of little panel lines and molded detail. (After all, being so big, they has a lot of surface on him to cover!) And all of it on my figure looks sharp. This, combined with some very well applied paint, makes for a figure that looks just as good in this mode as he did in his planet mode. This is one good looking Unicron.
He is well articulated. In modern times, when one thinks of good articulation, one thinks of ball joints. And I typically agree. A well placed and tight ball joint usually offers maximum poseability and is ideal. But this is a somewhat older mold, perhaps from before the ball joint was king. But that is okay. He is such a large figure that there is some definite heft to him, and the drawback to ball joints is that they don't always react well to weight.
You know what does react well to weight, though? And also can bring a nostalgic smile to one's face? Ratcheting joints! Good old, heavy, clicking, ratcheting joints! Ball joints are simpler, cheaper, and more flexible... but nothing says sturdy like a ratchet. And Unicron is nothing if not sturdy.
Each shoulder has two ratchets, one to allow for movement forwards and backwards (although this one, while technically capable of 360 degree rotation, is somewhat hampered by back kibble) and one to allow motion outwards. The elbows are also on a ratchet that can bend 90 degrees. There is a non-ratcheting (but nice and tight) 360 degree swivel between the shoulder and elbow on each arm. The hands don't really require ratchets, and thus don't have them. They can swivel 360 degrees at the wrist, and have quite well articulated fingers. Each one is articulated separately, with all of them other then the thumbs having two hinged joints each, and the thumbs themselves having one hinged joint at the base. (Trying to keep this website vaguely family friendly, I have refrained from photographing this... but it is hard to resist posing Unicron standing with one arm extended, his hand displaying a familiar notorious one-fingered gesture.) His head is on a swivel, but is very tight so some slight force is necessary to get it to move. (When his head is turned, his eyes will still blink if you push the button on top, but they will no longer interact with the chest gimmick that I will elaborate on later in this review.) His waist is also not ratcheted, but is a nice tight swivel joint with 360 degrees of movement. The panels over the front and sides of his hips are hinged to be able to lift out of the way of his legs when they move. As for the legs themselves, much like the shoulders the hips feature two ratcheting joints each, one for forward / backwards movement, and one for movement outwards. The knees bend 90 degrees in a somewhat softer (but still quite functional) ratcheting joint. There is a 360 degree swivel below the knee, which seems the one use of a ratcheting joint on this figure that is a little unnecessary. Swivels below the knee are not as nice as swivels above the knee but are better then no swivel at all. Finally, there are a few joints in the foot (some a relic of the transformation) that combined make for decent foot poseability.
Aside from the poseability of the basic figure itself, the chunks of planet on the outside of Unicron's legs can be rotated forward or backwards. These chunks contain the missle banks mentioned when discussing planet mode and are still quite functional in this mode, meaning that the ability to rotate them basically gives Unicron the ability to aim his missiles. Also, the kibble on his back (if you've decided not to simply remove it) has some poseability so you can decide how best to position it to either best make use of it or hide it from your eyes, and of course the wing parts over his shoulders can be moved around a bit.
Let us get into his gimmicks a bit, shall we? Just like in planet mode, this Unicron carries forward all of the gimmicks that the original Armada use of this mold had.
First of all, while I don't have a photo of this particular gimmick in action, you may have noticed in photos that his right hand was a different colour then his left hand. The left one is a solid gray colour, while the right one is a transclearent (thank you, Emgo!) smoky gray colour. This hand has a light up feature. When you press on it, a red LED in the hand blinks eight times. Personally, I wouldn't have objected if Hasbro had decided to save a bit of money, had gutted this feature from this use of the mold, and made both hands the same solid gray colour. It always bugged me on the Armada Unicron that he had two different coloured hands. I suppose it is a bit better here, though, where they went with the smoky gray rather then the plain clear plastic the Armada Unicron had. Besides which, if his palm couldn't blink red, Unicron wouldn't know in when he was about to turn 30. So I suppose it is for the best that they left this feature in, after all. There is no sanctuary!
The most impressive gimmick of Unicron is activated by attaching a mini-con to the port on his back. This causes, by way of a wonderfully noisy mechanical mechanism, his chest to open up, a cannon to extend from within, and a rather large missile to fire forcefully into the air. The missile even has three panels that extend once it is free from the cannon. This is the gimmick that will also, as long as his head isn't turned, activate the blinking eyes, which as previously stated can also be activated (even with the head turned) by pressing a button on the top of his head. Like his hand, the eyes will blink, alas red, a total of eight times.
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And finally, here we have Unicron dwarfing the trio of Decepticon Deluxes and the Sailor Moon DVD case. (And holding a bite-sized Hot Rod in his hand!) We have an old but good mold of the wrong incarnation of this character given a new coat of paint, a new head, and a new life to finally bring us a transforming G1 Unicron toy. It's about bloody time! (Now if only... Hey, Hasbro, where's Arcee?)
I would say that this is a figure with a lot of play value for children, but when he was made available he was quickly bought up and he seems these days to be fetching an average price of about $130 before you even figure in shipping. If you think you can settle for an Armada one, even that one seems to be getting at least $100 for one in good condition. (The predominantly black Energon colour scheme seems less sought after, and thus more affordable.) For adult collectors, however... Anyone who, since 1986, has wanted an honest to goodness transforming G1 Unicron in their collection? Well... Here it is. Destiny has been fulfilled, and there is no destroying it now! |
Review added 23 March 2012 by Yotsuya. Please comment!
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Hello, Yotsuya here with a quick addendum that in this case is a correction.
Above, in one paragraph I went on at length about a change to the missiles to give them a more bulbous tip. I also stated that, since I had come across a photo of the missiles in yellow (Armada Unicron's missile colour) that this must not have been a new change, and was likely from the toy's 2008 release.
Well, it seems I was mistaken. Not only was it not from the 2008 release, it was not a change at all!
I first became concerned when, after finishing my review, I was looking at Unicron's TFWiki page (linked above when talking about his toy history). While it did discuss a few changes the mold received, no mention was ever made of the missiles. My concern grew when looking at TFU.com's page for the original Armada Unicron (linked above where I swiped their head shot photo). That page featured bulbous tipped missiles. So then I did a Google image search for "Unicron missile." No pictures I saw anywhere featured the missiles of my memory... The missiles I knew my Armada Unicron had!
So finally, just before I was about to leave my house this morning to go visit my girlfriend for the weekend (I so look forward to July when if all goes well our cohabitation plains shall come to pass) I had to pop open the box I'd packed my old Unicron in, or go crazy wondering about it all weekend long! I cut the tape. I open the lid. I pull Unicron out of it, and I look at his legs. There... plain as day... were yellow missiles with bulbous tips.
How can this be? I have a very distinct memory of, when getting my new Unicron, thinking, "Huh, look what they did to the missiles!" and even of trying Armada Unicron's missiles out on the 25th Anniversary one, in the end not swapping them out only because I didn't think the yellow ones looked good on the new Unicron. Never, in this process, did I ever not want to swap the missiles out because of noticing that they hadn't changed, after all. So why, if I am now looking at bulbous tipped yellow missiles, do I have these memories? WHY!?!?
The answer is simple. Obviously, at some point since last fall, I have slipped into an alternate dimension where the only change I have noticed is that Unicron's missiles were always like that. Seems the simplest explanation.
I'd like to thank my girlfriend for letting me use her computer to add this update to my site. (Normally I bring my laptop with me, but it is in for service at the moment.) And I can only hope that either she was with me when I slipped dimensions and we were both affected, or that when I slipped dimensions I changed places with the me who was originally here, that version of me is a nice guy, and he is treating my original dimension's version of my girlfriend well.
Addendum by Yotsuya, added 24 March 2012.
Above, in one paragraph I went on at length about a change to the missiles to give them a more bulbous tip. I also stated that, since I had come across a photo of the missiles in yellow (Armada Unicron's missile colour) that this must not have been a new change, and was likely from the toy's 2008 release.
Well, it seems I was mistaken. Not only was it not from the 2008 release, it was not a change at all!
I first became concerned when, after finishing my review, I was looking at Unicron's TFWiki page (linked above when talking about his toy history). While it did discuss a few changes the mold received, no mention was ever made of the missiles. My concern grew when looking at TFU.com's page for the original Armada Unicron (linked above where I swiped their head shot photo). That page featured bulbous tipped missiles. So then I did a Google image search for "Unicron missile." No pictures I saw anywhere featured the missiles of my memory... The missiles I knew my Armada Unicron had!
So finally, just before I was about to leave my house this morning to go visit my girlfriend for the weekend (I so look forward to July when if all goes well our cohabitation plains shall come to pass) I had to pop open the box I'd packed my old Unicron in, or go crazy wondering about it all weekend long! I cut the tape. I open the lid. I pull Unicron out of it, and I look at his legs. There... plain as day... were yellow missiles with bulbous tips.
How can this be? I have a very distinct memory of, when getting my new Unicron, thinking, "Huh, look what they did to the missiles!" and even of trying Armada Unicron's missiles out on the 25th Anniversary one, in the end not swapping them out only because I didn't think the yellow ones looked good on the new Unicron. Never, in this process, did I ever not want to swap the missiles out because of noticing that they hadn't changed, after all. So why, if I am now looking at bulbous tipped yellow missiles, do I have these memories? WHY!?!?
The answer is simple. Obviously, at some point since last fall, I have slipped into an alternate dimension where the only change I have noticed is that Unicron's missiles were always like that. Seems the simplest explanation.
I'd like to thank my girlfriend for letting me use her computer to add this update to my site. (Normally I bring my laptop with me, but it is in for service at the moment.) And I can only hope that either she was with me when I slipped dimensions and we were both affected, or that when I slipped dimensions I changed places with the me who was originally here, that version of me is a nice guy, and he is treating my original dimension's version of my girlfriend well.
Addendum by Yotsuya, added 24 March 2012.