Toy Review - Kre-O Wave 1

[Sutton]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYQn17r263k

A much better looking robot mode for Starscream...

Hasbro needs to fire the guys who designed some of these things...

[jena]

I built my Kre-O Optimus Prime yesterday/last night and in total it ended up taking me around 4 hours to build. I did spend a bunch of time at the beginning organising all the pieces into piles of the same sizes and colours so it would be easier to find what I needed. I kept a lot of the smaller pieces in their bags rather than tipping them all out into the box. I suppose this is common practice for seasoned Lego veterans - either way, I recommend doing it to save yourself time and frustration later.

The truck itself is nice and heavy and feels really, really solid, except for the sleeper part of the cab which is meant to come off anyway because it doubles as a little command station or something. It's weird. The instructions were fine, though one annoying thing I noticed is that the image of the side mirrors changed from being rectangular to more circular pieces which would have been so much nicer than the rectangles that you actually get.

The truck and trailer are huge when made up, I've included a size comparison picture with Stealth Force Optimus Prime because they're very close in size. I just feel as though Prime's Kre-O trailer is too short. It's certainly not like the trucks I see driving around here. The trailer also can't stand on it's own, some kind of stand for it would have been a nice addition, particular since it folds open. I have read that a few people find the trailer flimsy. I honestly have to disagree. I made sure I connected all the pieces nice and tight while building it and I think it really is quite sturdy. I must add, I'm really glad the stripes and Autobot logo are painted on the plastic because they would look awful as stickers and be a total pain in the neck to apply.

Speaking of the stickers - they're kinda sucky. In the picture, the Autobot logo on the bonnet is split in half across the two pieces but in reality, it's just a whole sticker. I haven't applied any stickers yet but I am thinking of carefully cutting the sticker in half with a craft knife so I can apply it to each half in the way it is shown in the promo images.

The Kreons are cool. The drivers are lame but we know that already. Skywarp has some awesome metallic detail on the feet which is badass. They're great little figures. That's common knowledge now.

I found the build enjoyable even if it did take forever. Optimus looks awesome in vehicle mode but I don't see myself pulling him apart any time soon to build him in robot mode. If I had money to burn I'd buy a second set so I could keep one in truck mode and build the other in robot mode but I can't justify another $99 just for that. They'd certainly look brilliant together.

So is it worth $99? Heck yes! I got so much enjoyment out of building it and it feels far more rewarding than getting a regular Transformer and just transforming it because you actually build these yourself. You start with bags of bricks and you end up with something you've built with your own hands and I just really like that. I think I've had more fun with this than any of my other recent TF purchases. It's fun to get others involved too, like I mentioned previously, my mum and I built Prowl together and she wants to help me build Bumblebee. It's just cool like that. I'm really very happy with my Kre-O Optimus Prime. It looks really great. And from a distance when looking at it displayed on my shelf, it doesn't even look like bricks.


How it looks when you first open the box. The instruction books are huge (you can kinda see them under the bags of bricks).


The remaining pieces. There really isn't many, most are meant for the other modes - the head and hands and the cones for the base station mode.




Kre-O Optimus Prime VS Stealth Force Optimus Prime

[SkyWarp91]

Damnit Hursticon, you've convinced me to get all of them now...

[Hursticon]

I built my Kre-O Optimus Prime yesterday/last night and in total it ended up taking me around 4 hours to build. I did spend a bunch of time at the beginning organising all the pieces into piles of the same sizes and colours so it would be easier to find what I needed. I kept a lot of the smaller pieces in their bags rather than tipping them all out into the box. I suppose this is common practice for seasoned Lego veterans - either way, I recommend doing it to save yourself time and frustration later.

The truck itself is nice and heavy and feels really, really solid, except for the sleeper part of the cab which is meant to come off anyway because it doubles as a little command station or something. It's weird. The instructions were fine, though one annoying thing I noticed is that the image of the side mirrors changed from being rectangular to more circular pieces which would have been so much nicer than the rectangles that you actually get.

The truck and trailer are huge when made up, I've included a size comparison picture with Stealth Force Optimus Prime because they're very close in size. I just feel as though Prime's Kre-O trailer is too short. It's certainly not like the trucks I see driving around here. The trailer also can't stand on it's own, some kind of stand for it would have been a nice addition, particular since it folds open. I have read that a few people find the trailer flimsy. I honestly have to disagree. I made sure I connected all the pieces nice and tight while building it and I think it really is quite sturdy. I must add, I'm really glad the stripes and Autobot logo are painted on the plastic because they would look awful as stickers and be a total pain in the neck to apply.

Speaking of the stickers - they're kinda sucky. In the picture, the Autobot logo on the bonnet is split in half across the two pieces but in reality, it's just a whole sticker. I haven't applied any stickers yet but I am thinking of carefully cutting the sticker in half with a craft knife so I can apply it to each half in the way it is shown in the promo images.

The Kreons are cool. The drivers are lame but we know that already. Skywarp has some awesome metallic detail on the feet which is badass. They're great little figures. That's common knowledge now.

I found the build enjoyable even if it did take forever. Optimus looks awesome in vehicle mode but I don't see myself pulling him apart any time soon to build him in robot mode. If I had money to burn I'd buy a second set so I could keep one in truck mode and build the other in robot mode but I can't justify another $99 just for that. They'd certainly look brilliant together.

So is it worth $99? Heck yes! I got so much enjoyment out of building it and it feels far more rewarding than getting a regular Transformer and just transforming it because you actually build these yourself. You start with bags of bricks and you end up with something you've built with your own hands and I just really like that. I think I've had more fun with this than any of my other recent TF purchases. It's fun to get others involved too, like I mentioned previously, my mum and I built Prowl together and she wants to help me build Bumblebee. It's just cool like that. I'm really very happy with my Kre-O Optimus Prime. It looks really great. And from a distance when looking at it displayed on my shelf, it doesn't even look like bricks.

*snip*

How it looks when you first open the box. The instruction books are huge (you can kinda see them under the bags of bricks).

*snip*

The remaining pieces. There really isn't many, most are meant for the other modes - the head and hands and the cones for the base station mode.

*snip*

Kre-O Optimus Prime VS Stealth Force Optimus Prime

That was an excellent review Jena and great comparison pics too , I see what you mean by the Trailer being a little stubby; it looks as if it is only 3/4s of a whole huh?
I hope you'll consider following this up with further reviews as this has made the 'Big' Optimus set all the more tempting to me.
(My wallet just pulled a knife on me! )

Damnit Hursticon, you've convinced me to get all of them now...

Haha, lol...

You've got to try at least one set dude and I'd suggest one of the medium sized ones, which is one of the reasons I chose Sideswipe; That way you'll be able to see if you like it or not before you go throwing heaps of money at it.
At the end of the build, if you don't like the Kreo kit you got you can just sell it off to one of us.

[KillinSpoon]

I built my Kre-O Optimus Prime yesterday/last night and in to
*SNIP SNIP SNIP SNIP SNIP*

Sold.