"Where did that thing come from?!"
"I'm more worried about where it's going!"
The original Transformers movie from 1986 was a visceral affair - countless favourites were killed off in gruesome fashion, Optimus Prime made a heroic but ultimately doomed last stand, and by the time Megatron was being carried away by his loyal lieutenant Soundwave, it was easy to forget that the movie had opened with the death of the planet Lithone, the world and it's inhabitants devoured by the planet eater, Unicron. As a child of the time I had two questions sat in that cinema - would Cybertron survive, and where could I get a toy of this thing?
Alas that toy never arrived, and despite Hasbro finally releasing a proper Unicron figure in 2003, it was for their Armada line (with a recolour to the original Movie colours following in 2010). It was almost inconceivable we'd ever get something that was fully accurate to the source material. Well, last year, Hasbro announced their crowdfunded Unicron, the biggest Transformer ever, for a whopping £500.
This is not that toy.
Third party transforming robot company Zeta Toys unveiled their Star Core robot around the same time, with far more accurate aesthetics and less "shell-former" styling - unlike Hasbro's huge effort, this third-party affair looked spot on from all sides, opting not to follow Hasbro’s usual trick of shoving all the kibble on the back and hoping nobody would notice. As the internet laughed at how much better the Zeta figure looked as the official crowdfunding effort limped on, an enraged Hasbro issued a cease and desist to Zeta resulting in crapped pants and a dropped product.
Not to be defeated, a vengeful Zeta would engage in guerilla warfare - a new robot was touted under a new banner - behold... Studio 01 Cell?
"I have summoned you here for a purpose..."
Yes, Cell was a beheaded version of their Unicron toy, a perfect orb-bot with no real bonce to call it's own and no planetary ring to mimic the unique silhouette of Hasbro's mighty monster. But wait, another company was releasing a head and rings in a separate box, a ruse designed to outflank Hasbro. Careful not to be seen to be marketing the products together, they were nevertheless shipped as a pair by retailers, and thus everything came together to create a stunning rendition of that 1986 mega-villain for a comparatively paltry £275.
And how does UniCell fare once his diabolical plan to combine comes to fruition? Well as a robot, he's bloody marvelous. I wouldn't want anything bigger, though I completely understand the desire of some collectors for that super-sized shock and awe factor that Hasbro's effort will bring. Plastic quality is solid, there's ratchets where they're needed (arms and legs) and he's very stable when standing, partly thanks to some strategically placed die-cast. His mustard yellow and pale blue/grey palette is spot on to the source material and instantly recognisable.
The planetary rings fold down and attach to the robot's shoulders, creating that striking devil-wing look. His chest compartment opens to reveal a bank of monitors ripped directly from the film, and everything folds away neatly from his planet mode to give you a svelte and impressive robot. He towers over his Fanstoys minions, menaces the Autobots and generally does a great job of being the Unicron you always wanted.
And how about that planet mode? Well this is trickier.
"It is the one thing - the ONLY thing - that can stand in my way!"
I had two attempts to transform this thing, the first of which was abandoned as I noticed that my desk was getting holes punched in it from all of Unicron's sharp protrusions, and the plastic seemed to be stressing - it would have to be something I spent a great deal of time and care with.
The second attempt resulted in a planet mode, though it was a frustrating experience. Using a towel to protect both toy and surface, the transformation is a clever bit of "hide the flap". Lifting a flap would reveal more flaps, until you had a panel on a stalk that had to be rotated in the right way to fit the patchwork you were building. The crux of the transformation is the legs, wherein both have to be curled up towards the figure's head, creating the base onto which everything else attaches. The issue here is that everything must be aligned perfectly. It's possible to almost finish the transformation and then find that one item has gotten stuck or not connected quite right, forcing you to have to reverse, correct and proceed again.
This is not fun.
What I ended up with was almost there - everything was more-or-less where it should be, though a few tabs refused to connect and there were gaps here and there. It doesn't feel solid when complete, but there is a wonderful heft and density that makes him feel a bit like a demonic bowling ball. The end result is a nice size, and would look great on a shelf. Honestly, if it weren't for one too many distractingly unconnected panels, planet mode is how he'd stay. Sadly my OCD requires a perfect sphere, so he'll be changing back to bot mode when I find a place to display him.
He comes with a few other items of note; a stand modeled after his planetary maw, complete with an orange plastic "projection" on which to place the figure while in planet mode. It also comes with a bunch of little towers that clip onto the toy to recreate Unicron's spikey appearance, and lastly it includes some screw-hole covers to make the figure look more uniform. To save costs the figure has been designed to use the same parts on each side, and that means the screw holes are on different sides on each arm and leg. The plugs hide this cost-saving technique, and are left un-applied in case you need to tighten or loosen anything.
In terms of issues, apart from the warped claw, only the left hip ratchet seems over-tight, and everything else is pretty much flawless.
"Remember, we belong to him!"
So is this the Unicron you’re looking for? There’s no denying it has the looks - the more I compare it to the HasLab version in robot mode, the more I like it. Hasbro’s attempt looks bloated and ugly by comparison, and this svelte devil just nails the bot mode. it’s a bugger to transform, this is true, but that's the cost of doing business for this level of accuracy.
I genuinely think this is as good as it can get, and that's pretty damn good. There's a second run in December being touted, so if this evil bastard appeals, get a pre-order in now, as prices are already increasing with this initial run sold out.
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