KRE-O
Transformers Year 1 (2011) Review
"KRE-O", Latin for "I Create",
is the name for Hasbro's second foray into Transformers building blocks.
(Of course, not-so-coincidentally "KRE-O" also sounds like "LEGO", which
I'm sure is the primary reason for the name.) The first-- "Built to Rule",
which premiered in the early 2000s-- featured Transformers building block
sets that, when built, could still transform from one mode to the other
without taking them apart. Unfortunately, there was a pretty big downside
to this-- simply put, they looked absolutely awful. Rather unsurprisingly,
that line failed in a short period of time, but Hasbro isn't known for
giving up on ideas that easily-- especially ideas that have enjoyed this
much success with LEGOs, Mega Bloks, and the like.
The first year of KRE-O
Transformers sets, despite coming out around the same time as the "Dark
of the Moon" toyline, were actually mostly G1-esque in their nature and
style. Each KRE-O set contained a set of blocks that could be built into
either the vehicle mode OR the robot mode of a Transformer-- but not both
at once, and you can't "transform" the set from one mode to the other without
disassembling the set and rebuilding it into the other mode. This may be
a dealbreaker for many, but for me it actually gave these sets a bit more
play value. I wish a few more of the sets used most every piece in both
modes, however-- particularly with the larger sets, there are a fair amount
of pieces not used in one of the modes that are sort of "leftovers". (The
smallest Prime and Bumblebee sets, though, are the exception to this rule,
surprisingly only having a max of about 2-4 pieces not used in any one
mode.) Most of the KRE-O sets also came with LEGO-like minifigures, called
"Kreons", and consisted of a variety of G1 Transformers characters and
unnamed human Kreons.
Here the the various
KRE-O sets that came out for the first years' assortment of the line (which
is what this review covers), along with their prices in U.S. dollars:
-Autobot Jazz
robot/sportscar build w/ Jazz & Race Driver Kreons ($12)
-Autobot Ratchet
robot/ambulance build w/ Ratchet & Medic Kreons ($20)
-Bumblebee basic
robot/compact car build ($8)
-Bumblebee larger
robot/sportscar build w/ Bumblebee, Red Alert, & Driver Kreons ($25)
-Megatron robot/truck
build w/ Megatron, Shockwave, Prisoner, & Policeman Kreons ($30)
-Mirage robot/race
car build w/ Mirage & Race Driver Kreons ($12)
-Optimus Prime
basic robot/truck cab build ($8)
-Optimus Prime
larger robot w/ base/truck w/ trailer build w/ Optimus Prime, Skywarp,
Bluestreak, & 2 Driver Kreons ($60)
-Prowl robot/police
car build w/ Prowl & SWAT Team Member Kreons ($17)
-Sentinel Prime
robot/fire truck build w/ Sentinel Prime, Soundwave, Thundercracker, &
Fireman Kreons ($40)
-Sideswipe robot/sportscar
build w/ Sideswipe & Driver Kreons ($20)
-Starscream robot/jet
build w/ Starscream & Pilot Kreons ($30)
The quality of the blocks
themselves are near-LEGO quality, are sturdy, and hold together well--
despite the fact that KRE-Os are a little cheaper, they can pretty much
do everything LEGO blocks can, and in fact you really can't tell the difference
between the blocks beyond the obvious lack of the "LEGO" brand on the KRE-O
pieces. For the robot mode builds, all of the KRE-O sets have rubber ball
joint pieces to enable one to put the builds in a fair variety of poses
(particularly with the larger sets, who had all major joints except the
waist accounted for). These ball joints are hold up weight surprisingly
well on the smaller figures, though on the larger figures you can see they're
strained a bit too their limit-- they're a bit more loose when they have
those larger arms and legs to deal with. The builds themselves are generally
pretty good, with the vehicles being about as accurate as you'd expect
LEGO-style building blocks to generally get while the robot builds are
more-or-less on the mark, with slightly skinnier appendages than you'd
find on a "normal" toy Transformer, but that's mostly necessary for the
stability of the builds.
As far as particular
comments on individual sets, surprisingly the smaller sets tend to give
you a bit more for your money-- they're more or less just as posable as
the larger sets, but smaller, and obviously for less money. Some of the
smallest do have iffy "hands" however, and use hinge-blocks for some joints
instead of ball joints, which are a bit more loose and obviously can't
give you quite the range of motion. I think the small Optimus Prime and
Bumblebee sets-- as well as Ratchet, Sentinel Prime, and the larger Optimus
Prime are overall the best sets, in terms of general proportions and looks.
The Starscream set's robot mode is a bit overly fat and misproportioned,
putting it near the bottom tier of the list of these. The Megatron set
is also a bit overly loose and wobbly structurally in robot mode-- I'd
recommend it the least out of these first-year sets. There are also a FEW
that aren't completely G1-based-- the larger Prime and Bumblebee sets,
as well as Megatron and Sentinel Prime, have their designs largely based
on the movies, though with "G1-ified" heads. (Sentinel Prime's head design
actually is heavily based on his Animated persona.)
The Kreon minifigures
are a bit more obviously different. They still are built roughly the same
way as LEGO minifigures (a head, torso w/ arms, and waist w/ legs pieces
all connect together, with accessories like hats/helmets and weapons/tools
being common), but they actually have a bit more movement. Whereas LEGO
minifigures can only move their shoulders and hips front-to-back, those
joints on the Kreons are on ball joints, and thus they can pull off a slightly
larger range of poses. The Kreons are also built with a bit more ability
to "accessorize" than the LEGO minifigures, with places on the arms to
snap on bits like a "fusion cannon" on the Megatron Kreon, and holes in
the sides of the legs to add stuff like "tires" on the Optimus Prime Kreon.
However, there is a downside to this-- because their legs don't always
"line up" automatically due to the increased posability, they're also bit
harder to connect securely to a KRE-O block, if you want them to, say,
stand on a block or sit down in a seat or something. They can come off
their blocks rather easily because of this-- so it's really a bit of a
double-edged sword, this added poseablity. Honestly, I slightly prefer
the LEGO minifigures, because it really is a pain sometimes to get the
Kreons to "interact" with the larger KRE-O sets they come with, and of
course, interactivity is the name of the game for building block sets.
They're still pretty cool figures by themselves, though, and the "superdeformed"
look of the Transformer Kreons fits the aesthetic surprisingly well.
The instruction booklets
are generally pretty clear, and you can put together a KRE-O Transformer
in vehicle mode or robot mode in no time. There are a few confusing steps
on a few of the sets, though, as the colors on a few (just a few) of the
blocks in the booklets are different than the blocks you actually get in
the set, which of course, can be a bit frustrating the first time when
you're trying to find a non-existant piece. It also took me a little bit
to distinguish between the gray and the black pieces in the booklets, as
they're colored remarkably similar despite the actual plastic being clearly
different colors. I'm also not a fan of the stickers-- honestly, we've
been at the point for years now where we can imprint high-quality painted
decals on plastic, why not just put those details directly on the blocks?
I don't have the steadiest hands, and this leads often to stickers a bit
off-center which attracts undesireable attention. This is made a bit worse
by the fact that some of the stickers aren't sized quite right-- they don't
cover up completely one side of the block like the instructions say they
can or (far less often) they're too big for one side and you have to kind
of smooth the last little bit of the sticker over one corner of the block
in question.
However, generally the KRE-O
sets fun to build, fun to fiddle with, and certainly a vast improvement
over the "Built to Rule" line. If you're a fan of LEGOs and Transformers,
or simply want a new way to collect your favorite Robots in Disguise, I'd
recommend the KRE-O sets-- though you may want to buy just one or two first,
to make sure you like how they look.
Overall Rating:
8/10
Great
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