Diaclone Reboot Dia Battles V2 colour photos

[MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!]

Review up from The Chosen Prime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Maa3Go5t6Fk

[kurdt_the_goat]

Those in hand shots are way better than i can do today with my makeshift box, white paper and fluro-lighting, so i'll stick to text comments!

For starters, the box it comes in is really striking in person. It's not quite as big an MP Seeker box, but the cardboard is a nice solid type, not the corrugated style on MP boxes. First impression was lightweight though.

Opening the box i was surprised to see 2 booklets. One is an extensive manual (this guy has a LOT of modes!). The other is a 6 page story brochure with some great artwork and photography.

The toy itself isn't assembled into any one mode in box - it probably could have fit in a box half the size, typically! I can't recall if it's size was known previously, but i was a little surprised - smaller than i thought. I figured it'd be about MP-10 size, but it's closer to MP Ironhide. Not inherently bad, it actually feels a bit like a solid voyager of old in hand. And for me, it's actually perfect, cause until he gets some Diaclone brothers, i can display him next to my Soul of Chogokin Danguard Ace. It's also a decent comparison since they're priced similarly.

You can definitely see the difference of approach. SoC is packed with metal, painted virtually all over. Dia Battles is painted in a lot of spots (and it looks great where it is painted), but it's also bare plastic in a lot of spots too. Nevertheless, it manages to look really impressive regardless. Moulded detail aplenty, and yeah the bits that are painted were good choices. The only bit that stands out as bare plastic to me, are the tops of his thighs, which seem a slightly different shade of grey/silver to anywhere else. Since a lot of pieces connect into them though, it was probably the right decision. Honestly, for the price i'm more surprised that the SoC has the paint as opposed to Diabattles not having it. Bandai does an other-worldly job with paint!

As far as i can tell, he has no diecast either. It probably could have had some in the legs without compromising the various modes too - but apart from a lack of heft, i'd say it doesn't really need it. I don't think it's what they're going for - it's not so much a collector's piece but a high quality playable toy.

And yeap, very playable is what he is! Across the board he locks in solidly with big chunky connections and strong joints. No fear of breakage. He manages to look good in all of the modes too. Half the time you could forget the instructions altogether, and just move his pieces around to find something that you like! My favourite parts of the transformation are how his arms slide from one piece to another once they're connected, and - he has a mechanical head reveal! It works great and even the whirring sound seems fitting. I hope it stands the test of time though, since you wouldn't want any issues with his face and chest retraction.

Talking of his face, that's probably the most nicely painted element - very fine sharp lines of silver, red and metallic blue. The antenna are gold and look good, but they're a little too soft for my liking. Again with this you can see he's meant to be a playable toy. The head has an awesome chunk of light piping too.

He poses well - unhindered for the most part, since the wings can joint out of the way. Comes with a few different kinds of cannons/guns that just slide into place, and a sword to hold. A shame he doens't have a hand-held gun though. His fists are also non-poseable, with just a 5mm (i think) hole for the swords.

He comes with 4 Dia-naut figure which are positively tiny - about 3cm tall. They have lots of joints for the size and are sharply moulded and cleanly (albeit minimally) painted. For someone like me, who always wondered why the Dinobots had those compartments but nothing to put in them - it's nice to finally have some pilots!!

Could go on forever about the diff modes but will cut it short. Bottom line is, i'm happy with it. He looks great and is fun to play with. It could have been a bit cheaper (maybe quite a bit) - but i'm ok with it, as i do miss that feel of older TF voyagers and this hits the spot nicely. Actually, i might see how he looks with Galaxy Force Starscream just for kicks They probably should have just communicated a little better what they were aiming for with this line (maybe they did and none of us english speakers realised). But now we know, i'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with next, hoping it's maybe a little cheaper