Toy Review - RID Combiner Force Crash Combiners - Beeside & Primestrong
Toy Review - Sideswipe & Bumblebee (Beeside), Strongarm & Optimus Prime (Primestrong)
Series – Robots In Disguise (15)
Sub-line – Combiner Force
Size/class – Crash Combiners
New/remould/redeco – New
Wave – Wave 1, 2017
Released here - Yes
Approximate Retail Price - $24 each
Approximate Size – ~7-8cm (Individual), ~14-15cm (Combined)
Allegiance – Autobot (all)
Alt-mode – Car (Bumblebee, Sideswipe), Police Car (Strongarm), Truck (Optimus Prime)
Main Features/Gimmicks – Characters are able to combine
Main Colours – Yellow (Bumblebee), Red (Sideswipe), Blue & White (Strongarm), Blue & Red (Optimus Prime)
Main Accessories – None
Packaging Photos:
Standard Robots In Disguise packaging with the 2017 "Combiner Force" subline logo, the toys are packaged in vehicle mode and the front of the packaging shows an illustration of the combined form of the figures. The back of the package is info heavy regarding the RID mobile app, along with pictures of the toys in combined mode and the actual combined name - Beeside and/or Primestrong.
Vehicle Modes:
The vehicle modes are quite basic, in essence they remain faithful to previous versions of the characters in this line, however Optimus Prime struggles to resemble a truck in my opinion. Vehicle sizes are similar to the Battle Pack vehicles from 2016, around the same size as Legion Class vehicles but much more simple.
Robot Modes:
Robot modes are also very simple with next to no articulation, and again similar in size to a Legion Class figure (maybe slightly bigger) but much more basic. Transformation for all involves flipping down a chest panel to flip the robot head, pulling the arms outwards and separating the legs, certainly nothing difficult.
Combined Modes:
These are called Crash Combiner because to combine them you literally crash the front of one vehicle into the back of another, which initiates a spring loaded transformation. Feet and shoulders then need to be folded up or down and there you have it, once again quite simple, but it is advertised as a one-step transformation so it is what it is. The heads of the combined form are different from the individual robot heads, but the combiners aren't any more articulated.
Strongarm and Sidewipe both form combiner legs, while Optimus Prime and Bumblebee both form the upper bodies, which makes the combined duos interchangeable, forming "Beestrong" and "Primeside" (I guess). The two sets of legs and two sets of torso can also technically combine, but thats just silly (or awesome I suppose, depending on your perspective).
Overall:
An interesting new gimmick for Robots In Disguise, but the figures are nothing to get excited about - an $8 Legion Class figure would be better than one of these for $12 value wise, so I guess you are just paying for the gimmick itself really. If you're not into the RID line, probably avoid, but I'm a completist so have welcomed Beeside and Primestrong to my collection.
