Tranx Fighters Planet Fighter Tyrannobot

A crappy and meandering review with scaled down high quality images by someone who knows nothing about the art of toys

(though in this case it's like a touch-up of an already-made painting)

(if you know what I mean)

I love my hobby of toy collecting.

Never mind the fact that it's a constant drain on money and just about everything is a gamble because I can't actually fiddle about with a figure before I commit myself to the purchase, unlike video games where I can see videos of gameplay, download it if it's an older one or simply read a very extensive review (which mine aren't). Then there's also the problem that older toys equals expensive price, whereas for games the older it is then the closer it becomes to just about worthless.

I have Mega Bomberman sitting on a shelf nearby, waiting to be sold. I bought it for about £30 back in 1997 or 1998.

Now?

I'd be lucky to get £8 for it.

That makes me sad.

Then again, considering one can just go to any old emulation site and get themselves the ROM and have it on their computer forever, whereas there's only so many times the same toy of Prowl can be made from the same mold, it's fairly understandable. Still doesn't stop me from being pissy and moany about it.

The reason I was relatively pleased with the Dinosaur warrior Dinosaur Bot POWERFUL was both because it was a quaint little toy with decent display and play value, even though I swear it felt like I'd smash it to bits while fiddling with it, but it was a mere €5. If it had been any more, I'd probably have felt a bit ripped off, what with tilting his waist and raising his arms being the most it can do, apart from the whole predator carnivore deal.

But I can't live without mild disappointment, and that's where the Tranx Fighter Planet Fighter Tyrannobot comes in!

That holiday on December 2007 was to Granada and Malaga, where I saw such fascinating sights as the Alhambra Palace, the mountainside of Spain and went to a zoo that wasn't terrible, but me being me, it wouldn't be a holiday without finding something to satisfy my nerdy hobbies. The airport duty-free shopping stores filled that quota, and amongst Power Rangers, Barbies, Naruto action figures and other such things that aren't quite my cup of tea (yet?) was this little beaut. It was either this or an Optimus Prime look-alike that turned into a blue fire engine and the half of a robot that needed a red version of itself to complete. Never mind the fact that I was well aware I technically already had this toy, I got the Tyrannobot. Dinosaurs win over fire trucks any day of the week.

To keep on rambling about absolute bollocks, I've technically already covered this toy, making this review difficult! Tyrannobot comes in a more professional looking box and his gun is now a nice and pretty gold colour, but most importantly, he's now very techno-organic looking. A metal plate covers the cranium, there are shiny streaks down where his ribs would be, plates down his back and all kinds of nifty little features along the legs, which not to mention the fact it's dark blue, all make it very obvious that this dinosaur is a robot and will very happily eat you dead. Unless you want to get into that whole "do robots eat or dream" discussion, which I don't want to so shut up.

Probably more important than my opinion of what's most prominent is how this Tyrannobot doesn't come with a huge sword, but with a huge back-mounted cannon! In a word, it's incredible. Sure, it's a big piece of maroon plastic with grey bits added on that are wheels, a gattling gun and two sets of fold-out missiles, and they don't have any actual purpose aside for showing off that this toy dinosaur means business, but I must describe it as incredible. I could describe the Declaration of Independance incredible, or describe one of the many Great American Novels as incredible, but I choose to describe a toy robot dinosaur's back-mounted missile launcher plus gattling gun as incredible. There's no denying my role in society as a pathetic nerd.

Tyrannobot feels a lot more sturdy than Dinosaur Warrior, yet at the same time feels more breakable. Out of the box there's a lessened feeling of "oh man I'm going to break this dude by bending it's legs," but once you begin transforming you realise it's a snug little asshole and does not want you to make it into a robot. Once it's transformed then naturally the joints loosen, but I had to ease the head down by sticking the blade of my scissors down it's joints and hoping that would help loosen it slightly. A very dirty way to say such a thing, but it worked, and the rest was a cakewalk. All I had to do at the end was make use of the newly-made gap in his back to insert the cannon and tada! Robot mode!

The dinosaur mode arms are a lot more stubby than Dinosaur Warrior's, though the robot mode is slightly taller; just a fraction short of 7 inches from foot to the plates of his now-head-decoration tail. The feet of Tyrannobot are more straight and the tail is more bulky, creating a more unified look rather than Dinosaur Warrior's "I'm a head and feet slapped onto a mess!" feel, though the lack of sword would be mildly disappointing if it weren't for the fact there's a HUGEASS CANNON included!

The cannon works well both alone and on the back of either mode, though in my personal opinion it works best on the back of the dinosaur mode, simply because it's expected of robots to tote giant weaponry, but you'd never expect a goddamned dinosaur to blast a hole in you the size of the Grand Canyon. It's a pity there's still no jaw joint, as to have a cannon emerge from the mouth would just be incredible.

Tyrannobot is a great improvement over the other figure, and certainly feels like a real toy rather than some dodgy no-name brand knock-off of whatever's popular at the time. Naturally, I'd have liked some more articulation, but both modes work well and the hugeass cannon more than makes up for it. However, the price of €17 was something I didn't realise until after I'd bought it, and considering that's roughly £12.50 by today's exchange rate, makes me dubious whether I'd recommend this, never mind the fact I bought it in an airport and I sincerely doubt it's available anywhere else. Dinosaur Warrior worked because it was a simple effective toy for a cheap price, but the fact this is over triple the price makes me uncertain whether I would encourage a fellow to get the same.

Though technically it wasn't my money, so such worrying is uncalled for!

Tyrannobot rules and so does his cannon. He improves upon Dinosaur Warrior in every way but value, and makes a good addition to my collection of plastic reptiles. I contradict what I said earlier and suggest getting it!

BONSU!!!

Some extra images I couldn't work in because they huge.

Back of the box. Yes, there's a company name here! No actual details of them or anything that would make sense, though.

Dinosaur mode alone without the cannon.

Giving Bumblebee a taste of cold taste.

And keeping up a running gag.

And finally, because I lost patience while trying to transform the bastard, I made him join in on the space dolphin action. Questioning how much sense I have is a perfectly valid question.