I'm enjoying this discussion immensely. And thank you GoktimusPrime for doing the experiments. That's pretty exciting to be able to use regular train tracks from a hobby store. They're a clever bunch at Takara.

I never had the original toys and haven't gotten around to watching the DVDs of the Japanese cartoons, so I have no emotional connection with the characters whatsoever, but I'm still very excited about getting this set. Even without the combiner aspect, the thought of having a series of thin, to-scale trains that turn into beefy robots is very cool. And so far, the three we've seen all look great. Can't wait.