Toy Review - Dropkick (Power Series)
DROPKICK
Series – Bumblebee
Size/class - Power Series
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 1
Released here – October 2018
Approximate Retail Price - $15~19
Approximate Size - 11.5cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode – AMC Javelin^Chevrolet Camaro w/ exposed engine
Main Features/Gimmicks – Igniter Core engine compatible (motor not included!)
Main Colours – blue & black
Main Accessories – NA
Standard vehicle mode. It has four wheels. It rolls. Jamming an Igniter Core motor (not included!) onto the back automorphs the toy into it's decked out vehicle mode; i.e. a pair of guns flip out form the doors and there are two turbines at the front. A cavity is formed in the back which is where you're supposed to plug in the Igniter Core motor... ya know, if this toy actually had one. Press the Igniter Core trigger and watch this toy fly a few centimetres! Oh wait, it doesn't have one. Uh... imagine it happening! Or better yet, just push the toy with your own hand and watch it roll farther. It's a neat enough car mode, and I quite like the Decepticon crossbones logo on the rear left panel. I have no idea why Dropkick transforms into a Chevrolet Camaro when the movie character is an AMC Javelin. See this photo of a Javelin racing a Camaro and you can see that the two car types are quite different.
The robot mode is just 5 flavours of crap. It's carrying most of the car on its back and the kibble creates a hunchback. So much so that the shoulders articulate above the robot's shoulder line. This toy has 6 points of articulation, four of which are the arms and legs going out to the sides. Yeah, he can do the splits really, but don't expect him to walk. There are what appears to be 5mm fist holes, but no weapons included.
Okay, one might argue that the target demographic for this toy is for a very young audience; for pre-schoolers who would love the simple transformation and gimmick. Ya know, if it actually came with a motor. Now here's the problem - it doesn't come with a motor! This makes this toy pretty useless since the toy's design and engineering are obviously compromised to serve the gimmick, but the gimmick isn't even included with this toy. Obviously this is a sales gimmick to make people buy one of the other Power Series figures that has a motor, but it still makes it a really lame toy. I can't think of any other Transformer toy that didn't come with its own gimmick, gestalts notwithstanding. As lame as some Armada toys were, at least every Armada Transformer came with a Mini-Con. Yes, you could buy additional Mini-Cons to attach to the Autobots and Decepticons, but each Autobot and Decepticon came with their own Mini-Con. Every Cybertron TF came with a Planet Key. Heck, even every Action Master comes with their own transformable weapon or vehicle. Even Cyberverse Transformers come with everything that they need for their gimmicks to operate, as ridiculously stupid as their gimmicks are.
"But it's for little kids!"
Well, it would be if the packaging didn't say Ages 6+. That's school age! That's around the age that many of us were when we started collecting G1! (or whatever your respective childhood TFs were) Imagine getting a Throttlebot that didn't come with a pull-back motor; they expected you to get a different Throttlebot and share that Transformer's motor. Laaaaaame!
Then there is the price. I got this toy at Target which scanned at $19. I got mine for $15 because I got Target to price match Kmart, but even at $15 I felt ripped. Why? Because not too long ago $15 got me Scout Class Transformers, include Scout Class Bayformers like these:
https://image.ibb.co/m2bwUU/dropkick02.jpg
Brakedown and Ransack are waaay better toys than Dropkick, and at the same price! You know what else is a better toy? 2007 Bayformers Dropkick!
https://image.ibb.co/cuXs3p/dropkick01.jpg
Oh how the mighty have fallen. :( A school kid might accept this toy for free, but imagine if you asked him/her to purchase it with their own pocket money.
OVERALL
This toy pitches too low for its target audience and is just too expensive to justify its price point.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22..._shoulders.gif
