KRE-O Transformers Year 5 (2015) Review

Strongarm Capture Cruiser and Underbite Jetpack Takedown sets

    By 2015, things for the KRE-O line looked dire in the United States-- and indeed, they were. No longer even a Toys "R" Us exclusive, the line had been thoroughly cancelled via any reliable toy retailers. However, most of the KRE-O toys did show up at Toys "R" Us stores in Canada and in some Eastern Asian countries, such as Singapore. Given my general like of the KRE-O line, I managed to import the 2015 releases, mostly via a friend in Canada. Eventually, late in the year, many of these KRE-O toy sets (not including the Custom KRE-Os and blind-bagged Kreon Warriors) showed up for very cheap at discount retailers, such as TJ Maxx, though as is the case with most discount retailers, the stock was a bit unreliable and depended widely upon location. Because of all the varied locations these can be acquired at-- whether discount or overseas-- I'm neglecting giving the prices for most of this years' releases, since they can vary so widely depending upon where you get them. The prices for assortments that have carried over-- such as Custom Kreons and blindbagged individual Kreons-- have largely carried over from the previous years' prices, however. Regardless of the further distribution issues, following is my overview of what appears to be as of this writing (5/16) the last of KRE-O Transformers for the foreseeable future.
    First up are the "normal" sets, consisting of larger buildable vehicles/structures with Kreons. These sets were branded as part of the (at the time) new "Robots in Disguise" line, and the larger builds were of the vehicle (or, in the case of Underbite, beast) modes of the character. Each vehicle/beast had a gimmick as well, in terms of being able to fire a projectile of some sort (and fire it impressively far, I might add). As usual, the sets also came with Kreons of the "main" character in the set, as well as at least one Decepticon/Autobot Kreon for that character to battle against, and in the case of the "Optimus Prime Beast Blaster" set, a few mini-Kreons that represented Minicons, as well. Each set also came with a Kreon-sized "capture pod", as the Decepticons in the "Robots in Disguise" line were "put on ice" in them when they were inevitably captured in the cartoon. The capture pods themselves weren't gimmicked, though; they had a rubber-band-like string that held them closed, but otherwise were simple two-part capsules. These sets generally had the same positives and negatives of the previous "normal" KRE-O sets, with generally good builds that still showed weakness here and there for lacking LEGO's diversity of different parts. Following are the "regular" sets released in 2015:
-Bumblebee Disc Demolishor set (contains Bumblebee vehicle build, as well as a capture pod and Bumblebee, Clampdown, and Bisk Kreons)
-Optimus Prime Beast Blaster set (contains Optimus Prime and Fracture vehicle builds, as well as a capture pod and Fracture and Optimus Prime Kreons and Airazor and Divebomb mini-Kreons)
-Sideswipe Roadway Rundown set (contains Sideswipe vehicle build, as well as a capture pod and Sideswipe and Hammerstrike Kreons)
-Strongarm Capture Cruiser set (contains Strongarm vehicle build, as well as a capture pod and Strongarm and Springload Kreons)
-Underbite Jetpack Takedown set (contains Underbite beast build, along with a capture pod and Optimus Prime w/ Jetpack and Underbite and Ped Kreons)

    The blindbagged Kreons continued (and unfortunately, so did the lack of any sort of identifying code on the outside of the bag from the latter wave of the previous year-- these were true blind bags). However, they were Microchangers no longer; instead, these Kreons were "themed" versions of the most popular G1 characters, such as Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee, et al. The 2x4 KRE-O block "stand" for the Kreons had also been replaced with a 3x4 flat piece, with "KRE-O" imprinted onto the plastic on top of the front "row". To me these were the biggest disappointment of the year; Microchangers were a huge success in my eyes, and having odd "themed" versions of characters that A. We already had at least a few Kreons of already and B. didn't have a vehicle/animal build made most of the Kreons' uniqueness evaporate, in my view. What's worse, Hasbro did something to this year's Kreon figures that you should NEVER EVER do in a line of building toys-- they changed some of the component parts. The body pieces now have a peg going through the middle of them, with the new waist pieces having a new slot down the middle of their own peg so that the two can interconnect. These were missing on the earlier Kreon figures, meaning that you can't switch new waist/legs pieces on Kreons with ones from previous years-- a bizarre and unnecessary change. Anyways, the "Kreon Warriors", as they were called, came out in two different waves, with the second wave being quite rare even in countries where they were released. Listed below are the Kreon Warriors of 2015:
Wave 1:
-Autobot Ratchet (Gladiator)
-Autobot Ratchet (Pirate)
-Bumblebee (Gladiator)
-Bumblebee (Wiseguy)
-Megatron (Knight)
-Megatron (Ninja)
-Optimus Prime (Samurai)
-Optimus Prime (Wild West)
-Shockwave (Army)
-Shockwave (Ninja)
-Starscream (Army)
-Starscream (Pirate)

Wave 2:
-Autobot Hound (Samurai)
-Autobot Hound (Wild West)
-Bumblebee (Army)
-Bumblebee (Knight)
-Megatron (Samurai)
-Megatron (Wild West)
-Optimus Prime (Gladiator)
-Optimus Prime (Pirate)
-Soundwave (Pirate)
-Soundwave (Wiseguy)
-Starscream (Ninja)
-Starscream (Wiseguy)

Selected 2015 Kreon Warriors, Custom Kreons, and exclusive Kreons

    "Custom Kreons" continued into this year, though their number of parts was noticeably reduced from the previous years--due to inflation and rising labor costs, I would assume. Still, the "Custom" part of these Kreons continued to decline, with considerably less weapon options in particular, and no chrome helmet options. Only one lone assortment of Custom Kreons was released in 2015, labeled as the "Robots in Disguise" versions of the characters:
-Bumblebee
-Grimlock
-Optimus Prime
-Steeljaw

    Undoubtedly the biggest "new thing" for the KRE-O Transformers in 2015 was the introduction of "Battlechangers", which were builds that could transform from vehicle/beast to robot without having to disassemble and reassemble them! These were a great new concept, and relatively cheap too, with most individual builds being in the $10-ish U.S. range. The transformations were usually 7-10 steps-- about as complex as your average deluxe toy at the time. The transformations were NOT "shared" across the Battlechanger line; they each transformed differently, with the exception of the two Optimus Prime builds, where the cab builds were identical, with an add-on "trailer" portion coming with the 2-pack version. These were quite fun to build into an articulated Transformer, and generally looked pretty good in robot mode and a bit iffy in vehicle mode (though a couple, such as Hound, defied this general rule in a good way). The weak point with the Battlechangers were that small pieces would often come off during transformation if you weren't very careful (this was particularly bad with the Optimus Prime build). At their relatively small size, this was simply a side effect of being comprised of tiny KRE-Os pieces; from an engineering perspective, there wasn't much the designers could do, but it was still a downside-- these were definitely not playable, durable action figures of any sort. Making these Battlechangers larger-- if they are to continue in the future-- would greatly enhance their playability, I would think. For me Soundwave was the runaway favorite of the group, with all his "cassette" buddies connecting to him in both modes in various fun ways, as well as being little miniature builds on their own. Here's the Battlechangers released in 2015:
-Autobot Hound (Jeep)
-Autobot Ratchet vs. Soundwave w/ Laserbeak, Frenzy, Ravage, & Rumble (Ambulance and spaceship w/ detachable mini "cassette-icon" builds)
-Bumblebee (Sportscar)
-Grimlock (T-Rex)
-Optimus Prime (Truck cab)
-Optimus Prime vs. Megatron (Truck cab w/ trailer & tank)
-Shockwave (Tank)
-Starscream (Jet)

    Botcon 2015 continued the trend started in 2013, and released an exclusive KRE-O set containing "Earth's Most Wanted"-- namely, Kreon versions of human and Transformer characters from across the mythos, including Dr. Arkeville, Robot Master, Nightbird, Autobot Spike, and the Animated version of Sentinel Prime that came with a mini-Kreon animated Headmaster unit. (Thus, in a rather clever use of the KRE-O play pattern, you could remove Animated Sentinel's head and replace it with the Headmaster's just like in the show.) Like the "Kreon Warriors", I thought these were cool, but a bit of a step down from Microchangers. A few other KRE-O exclusives were released, including a Kreon of G.B. Blackrock and a small convertible gas pump/battle station set that came with the Collectors' Club exclusive Carzap, and a Toyfair 2015 exclusive "Arctic"-themed Optimus Prime Kreon that came with skis and other similar winter-themed accessories. In addition, another SDCC exclusive set was released to follow up on the "Class of '84" set-- this time with a similarly-priced "Class of '85" set, featuring many other G1 characters in non-transformable Kreon form. (The included Kreons were Alpha Trion, Astrotrain, Beachcomber, Blaster, Blitzwing, Bombshell, Cosmos, Devastator, Dirge, Grapple, Grimlock, Hoist, Inferno, Jetfire, Kickback, Omega Supreme, Powerglide, Ramjet, Red Alert, Seaspray, Skids, "Slog" (aka Sludge), "Slug" (aka Slag), Smokescreen, Snarl, "Strafe" (aka Swoop), Thrust, Topspin, Tracks, Warpath, and some accessories like an "almanac" and alternate bodies.)

Selected 2015 Battlechangers

    Unfortunately, it seems like the KRE-O TF line is going out with (mostly) a whimper instead of a bang. The Battlechanger assortments were a breath of fresh air for the line, though they could have benefitted from being a bit larger. The Robots in Disguise "normal" KRE-O sets were also fairly strong, but the smaller Kreon-focused sets tended to suffer this year. The generally unimpressive "Kreon Warriors" were a huge step down in terms of inventiveness, ingenuity, and bang-for-your-buck compared to the previous years' Microchangers, and the Custom Kreons also suffered from budget cuts. I'd rather have the price go up a buck or two or so each so that they could retain their part counts than have them "cut down" like this and thus made considerably less fun. As for the line's future, I talked to a Hasbro rep at Botcon 2016 about whether the line was dead in the water or not, and he mentioned that he couldn't say anything specific, but to "stay tuned". Perhaps it's possible that Transformers KRE-Os will re-launch with the next movie, and I certainly hope so-- the inventive line (particularly the Microchangers and the beginning of the Battlechangers) doesn't deserve to go out like this.

Overall Rating:6/10 Above Average
 

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