DROPKICK
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Studio Series
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 7
Released here - August 2019
Approximate Retail Price - $23
Approximate Size - 13cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - 1973 AMC Javelin muscle car
Main Features/Gimmicks - annoying panelforming^N/A
Main Colours - metallic blue
Main Accessories - gun



PROS
  • A really gorgeous looking toy in both robot and vehicle modes. The metallic blue looks so nice and works well with the glossy black.

  • Quite solid in both robot and car modes.

  • Nothing easily falls off during transformation

  • The way that he holds his gun by folding in his fist and clipping it onto the wrist is different and reminiscent of the Japanese Targetmasters from the Headmasters anime series. And the toy still has 5mm compatible fist holes (even if it doesn't come with any 5mm weapons himself).

  • The gun also attaches to the spoiler without the spoiler needing any special moulding to accommodate this (e.g. slot etc.)

  • $23.40 at Big W atm is a pretty good price for a Deluxe






CONS
  • Getting it transform exactly into car mode is a pain in the sparse. I found that getting the side panels and doors to sit in exactly flush was quite a chore and required quite a lot of panel massaging to get into place. Shatter Car Type is actually easier and more intuitive to transform by comparison. Sure, she has bits that fall off, but they pop back on just as easily. By contrast Dropkick Car Type has a less intuitive and more unforgiving transformation; there's just no margin for error here. A transformation which requires rocket science level precision kinda saps away the fun from playing with the damn toy in the first place

  • The hinge on the rear panel may be fragile. I know someone who broke the hinge on his toy and being on clear plastic it just sheared right off. Again, Shatter is better in this regard because I'd rather have parts that pop off and on than parts that break. After witnessing someone else break this hinge I've been really careful with mine. My advice for when transforming this toy to robot mode is to swing the legs out sideways rather than attempting to stretch out the rear section to create a gap to swing the legs down. Hopefully this will place less pressure on that hinge, but yeah, just be careful with that.






OVERALL
Disappointing. This toy looks great but isn't great to play with. The tedious transformation and needing to be super cautious to avoid breaking the rear panel hinge just saps away a lot of potential fun in playing with this toy. A toy isn't all that fun when the transformation becomes a chore and you have to tread on eggshells to avoid breaking parts. Despite her flaws and not looking as nice as Dropkick, I still find Shatter to be the better figure between the two. Dropkick may be the nicer looking display piece but Shatter is the better toy.





Now some people might jump on board and mention that this toy is better than Dropkick Helicopter Type, and while this may be visually (or aesthetically) true, overall I still rate the Chopper Type as the better toy. Chopper Dropkick is still better than both Car Shatter and Car Dropkick; his transformation is intuitive and fun, he doesn't require laborious panel massaging, nor does he fall apart. As for looks, yes, Car Dropkick does look nicer, but in all fairness it's because this is based on Dropkick's first appearance on Earth when he's scanned his car mode but he has yet to scan his helicopter mode. At this moment he's a regular Double Changer, not a Triple Changer. This means that his robot mode does not need to carry any faux helicopter parts. Here's a comparison;

...as you can see Car Type Dropkick in the film only has car mode kibble whereas Helicopter Type Dropkick has both helicopter and car mode parts in his robot mode. And we all know that aircraft are harder to make into robots, so Helicopter Type Dropkick was always going to be a harder toy to make, especially as a Deluxe. So all things considered, I still consider Chopper Dropkick to be superior.



Only recommended if you're trying to complete the Bumblebee Studio Series toys... in which case you didn't need to read this review as your mind is already made up. So really not recommended. I was really looking forward to this toy but have found it to be quite disappointing.