Dave's Transforming Toys Rant

     Toy Story Movin' Morphers RC

     Spotted the four new smaller transforming Toy Story toys yesterday at
Toys R Us, decided to get RC.  Woody's largely a "fold up the body and hide
it under the serape/wagon cover" transformation that didn't impress me, Rex
looked bad in Rex mode, and the aliens didn't look too interesting in any
mode.  The new Buzz and Zurg were not present.

CAPSULE

     RC: Looks exactly like RC in car mode with minimal transformation
kibble, okay transformation, okay robot mode with fair poseability.  A bit
unstable in both modes.  Kinda expensive for what you get, mildly
recommended.  $12.99 at TRU.

RANT

     For those who haven't seen Toy Story, RC is a green and blue remote
control car with knubbly wheels and a face of sorts.  It does not transform
in the movies, but it becomes a robot for the toy line.

     Car Mode: Looks exactly like it should, unless you look from beneath and
see the arms and some robot details.  5.5" (14cm) long, mostly green and blue
with black tires and windshield, white details and red hubcaps.  The wheels
roll independently, and the tires are knobby and cause a somewhat rocking
motion when the car moves.  However, the rear wheels are on not very tight
hinges, and the rear end flops down pretty easily.  The nose droops with very
little force, and the spoiler piece isn't locked into place.  This makes for
a toy that isn't too robust.

     Transformation: The instructions are very big, but not very useful (and
they seem to have a couple drawing errors!).  Also, the robot mode is
mistransformed on the box art, the legs need to be lengthened.  Fortunately,
most of the transformation is intuitive, although you'll probably end up
popping some part or other off the first time.

     Robot Mode: Stands about 5" (13cm) tall, and could use a bit more paint
on the robot parts.  There's some red accents on the arms and toes, but the
torso needs more color.  The headlights are removed and stuck to the back,
out of the way, and the antenna becomes a club weapon.  The head is
unremarkable, standard mecha type head.  The spoiler has duct molding on the
underside, and becomes a jetwing sort of thing.
     The shoulders and hips are only hinges for moving up to the sides or
rotating a bit, which tends to limit posing.  The knees bend, but this
doesn't really help since the hips can't move forward or backwards.  The
elbows are ball joints, and the wrists swivel.  The head does not seem to
move, but that may be cold-welding combined with my reluctance to use too
much force.  
     The figure is top-heavy, and the weakness of the hips hurts when it
comes to trying to keep it standing.
     By leaving the legs untransformed and deploying the toes, you can get a
sort of "Vehicon" mode where the figure is supported by the rear tires and
"skids" formed by the toes.

     Overall: Not a bad toy, and a cheaper alternative to Japanese Car Robots
for those missing G1-ish altmodes.  But there's a number of bad design
choices that show the inexperience of the team working on these.
Unfortunately, the original transforming Toy Story 2 toys have yet to go on
clearance, so I doubt you'll ever find these for less than full price either,
and they're not really worth $13.

     Dave Van Domelen, now to review the McBeastMacs....