What got me started on this was this image that I took when I picked up the McFarlane toys Cy-Gor and wanted some pics. I got this one with MOTUC Man-At-Arms on the MOTUC Battle-Ram. And so I was messing with the filters in Apple Photos, and this color scheme came up. And instantly, I thought…this looks like the enemy version of the battle ram! The “War Sled.” (As opposed to “Sky Sled.)
I don’t remember how long ago this was. At some point between taking this photo (August 20, 2020) and selling off my MOTUC toys, I picked up two Battle Ram Mega Construx sets. It became my intention to make one of them “evil” in purple. After all, the set comes with a griffon head and a serpent head. They encouraged us to use our options!
Basically I just bought some purple-flake spray paint. I taped up all of the parts that have stickers and removed the wheels. And sprayed away. I had alot of success with crimson flake on the Gundam Epyon model, and I knew this was the effect I wanted.
I only recently really began to paint things. I felt like it turned out pretty good.
You can compare the original with the purple one. I couldn’t do anything with the round control panel. I thought I might use some warhammer brushes on it or something. But in the end, I decided just to take it off. It looks more evil this way in my opinion. I mean, maybe the evil warriors are driving the old model. Or maybe they want to pollute, and that thing on the good one is some kind of environmental control. Or maybe (more likely) the Battle Ram is a relic of the old world, and Man-At-Arms has improved upon the design, while the bad guys just get the clunker model. I believe that part underneath to be some kind of turbine from an earlier non-motu set.
The War Sled vs. the Jet Sled. I really need to get some flight stands.
What about the “ram” side?
How about this for an impromtu battle scene!
I am encouraged by the customizing scene for Mega Blocks. For instance, you can find all kind of mixed recipes to make characters and sets. What I mean is, people mix and match Mega Blocks, and Mega doesn’t seem to care. Lego, well, it seems like they care alot. In this case, painting a common, readily available set was cool. There is a more green version out there…I should try and make that sometime. Hey maybe I’ll make one with a long seat, like from the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special!
Here is a product I didn’t even know existed! And the SpartanWife gave it to me for Christmas! I knew about “The World’s Smallest Figures” but haven’t been collecting them. Last year someone put World’s Smallest Battle Cat in my stocking. But this year, I got a four pack, which like I said I didn’t even know was a thing.
The front is a nice window box. The back tells us what a Masters of the Universe fan already knows, with artwork that I think is from the new Origins line of figures. And I am pretty sure the art on the sides is Emiliano Santalucia’s art from the DVD collections. (I might be wrong about that.). I appreciate how the Masters of the Universe logo with the exploding red rocks on the bottom is present.
There is a black blister on the inside. This four pack is a great display on its own because of this blister. We also get a pamphlet showcasing other products by Super Impulse. The Micro Figures are there most prolific product. I didn’t know there was as much of it out there. We did have the MTG Jace vs. Chandra decks once. Isn’t Super Impulse the best name for a brand of novelty products like this?
Here are all of the items outside the blister. I went ahead and opened the hinged boxes on the two cats so you can see how these each have their own collector friendly package. On He-Man and Skeletor, you get the little door on the back.
You can see how this works. There is a little pull tab on the back of the micro blister. A polybag has all of the accessories.
For some reason He-Man came with two power swords? A mistake at the factory? I am not used to photographing such small things. You will have to forgive me. It is amazing how different the lighting can be when you focus on tiny objects. And then I cropped what I had and adjusted the lighting using Apple Photos.
I want to say how hazardously small these figures are. I am not even kidding. It is a feat of toy engineering! They are about the size of a dime. The sculpt is pretty good. The arms and the head move, but the legs are stiff and unarticulated. The armor appears to be glued on…I didn’t try and remove it. He holds the sword reasonably well and the shield snaps onto his forearms and elbow OK. The armor doesn’t have a functional holster for the sword or the battle axe. The battle axe really, really, really is hazardously small. The handle is loose in He-Man’s hand. It is like the thinnest piece of plastic. It is about as thin as a high e nylon guitar string.
Here is a size comparison for you. Sorry, not opening the 200x He-Man for this! You can see how very tiny this is. Someone at a toy store told me that the World’s Smallest figures go well in the Hot Wheels vehicles. I’ll have to try that when it snow. (You can see how the 40th Anniversary Masterverse figure’s sword isn’t holding up too well. :(. )
Amazingly, I have one smaller figure! This one came with GI Joe Classified Sgt. Slaughter. If He-Man wasn’t on a stand, the Sarge’s hat would not even tough his belt. However, this tiny figure isn’t articulated.
I KNOW. THEY ARE DIFFERENT THINGS. Still, the detail of the head sculpt on the micro figure makes the MEGA minifig seem derpy and comical. World’s Smallest He-Man doesn’t sit on Battle Cat so well…
Here is the whole set. Skeletor also doesn’t fit on Panthor so well. Both cats have the same articulation. All four legs move. Their heads can turn but not go up and down. Their tails are articulated, and you can remove their armor. This Panthor is not flocked.
Here is Skeletor beside He-Man. Once again, sorry about the blur! Skeletor can’t hold the Havoc Staff so good either. It has the same handle thickness as the battle axe. Also, his armor looks kind of wrong. But I do enjoy the redness of his eyes.
I had lots of fun taking pics of these guys. As miniature action figures, these are the smallest you could get without becoming a rubber slug like Sgt. Slaughter’s micro figure. (Still puzzled about them including that. It is cool though!). The sculpts are great and they come with appropriate accessories. I guess the issues with them holding the Havoc Staff and the battle axe are ignorable. Just be careful. The axe is so small I was afraid of it getting stuck under my Macbook Pro keys! They go right back in their packages, and then that goes back in the blister no problem. Panthor was an exclusive for this set, another bonus!
I am giving it a 5/5. Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!
Build Review part 1 (you are looking at it right now!)
Build Review part 2 (coming soon)
If it has been awhile since you checked in to the SpartanNerd blog, here is a link to the main page! I suggest starting with “catching up” from July 4, 2022.
Part 1 of this review is the “Filmation” side of the mountain.
I am also highly distracted, so I feel like this is one of the most ADHD reviews I have ever done. (’tis the season for chorus!)
It took me from mid-September until last week (second week of December) to complete this side. This is working in spurts of an hour and a half or two hours. when I felt up to it. I would get a couple of the polybags out and assemble those steps. Then put the whole project away until next time. I think there are 27 steps here?
This playset really gives you the scale of a mountain with the mini figures around it.
The trap door is pretty nice. But beware that the figures fall a long way. I had to wrangle with it so that the mechanism would work smoothly.
Webstor is doing the “trap door spider” thing. Notice these pink squirelly things and the horns. They look cool. This place “oozes evil.”
Grayskull with Point Dread and the Talon Fighter is only barely taller.
Snake Mountain is even taller than Master Grade Gundam Epyon EW on a flight stand with beam saber raised!
Shades of purple. The Land Shark and my custom “War Sled.”
I want to begin by saying that just like Castle Grayskull, each small section of Snake Mountain is packaged in its own plastic baggie. They give you this set in small and manageable chunks, and the instructions are pretty clear. Sometimes I personally have a hard time seeing the correct shape of a piece in respect of it’s orientation and position in the picture…But this is more of a SpartanNerd problem. Because it is in such small bite sized chunks, I don’t feel the need to always set out the pieces and organize them like I do smaller sets.
While the instructions are easy and the sequence is clear, the build HAS NOT been easy. I am of the belief that Mattel has opted to use cheaper or at least different plastic than they used for Castle Grayskull. The effect of that is…I really have to work hard to get the pieces to snap together! I mean…sometimes I set the pieces and the table and have to hammer them with my hand. And all of the SpartanPets go running. And then…If you make a mistake and have to take it apart…Let’s just say that the “brick separator” is our best friend. The forks on the end have worn out from me having to separate blocks that are wedged together too tightly.
I recently had to rebuild Castle Grayskull. (YAY. It has crumbled TWICE on me.). I managed to get the castle back together in about four hours. (Large pieces stayed together negating the need for a total rebuild.).
Rebuilding that set in the middle of working on Snake Mountain let me see the true difference of what is going on. Grayskull’s pieces don’t stick together so tightly…Hence the lack of durability. That roof is also dubious. It is barely attached to the playset, Snake Mountain…I probably could drop it from 8 feet in the air like I did Grayskull, and it would mostly stay together except for the little horn details and such.
(OK. I decided to move the castle to the top shelf to be beside the new Snake Mountain which is too tall for the better shelf on the lower level. I had also attached the Talon Fighter to the top of the tower. And I dropped it. In the closet. Pieces everywhere and underneath stuff in the closet. A real nightmare.)
Earlier I said cheaper/different plastic. This plastic has a problem. There is a tiny discolored nib on almost every piece. Sometimes it is on a stud. Sometimes it is somewhere else. But it is ugly and uncalled for in a set that costs over $300. Mattel knows they will get their money from people like the SpartanNerd. But every time I would see one of those ugly artifacts, I felt a little burned. I felt this bad enough to where I thought…”Would I buy a Fright Zone, Eternia Playset, or Crystal Castle?” All of those are possible sets on a similar scale and price point to Snake Mountain and Grayskull. They can do better.
Now probably the economy has to do with this. Oil/Petroleum shortage. Biden-flation. ETC etc. Maybe they purposely wanted the plastic to be more rigid so that the set wouldn’t crumble. I don’t know. But people who put pupils in the eyes of a Man-E-Faces Mega Mini Figure pay attention to details, and those ugly nibs are a problem.
Next up. I have a problem with this piece (First picture)
Notice how there is a white scar on each of these blocks.
@#!$%&*@. This large piece is stupid.
Maybe this was a reprinted piece from some earlier HALO set. Seems a little familiar. Mattel/MEGA, you missed an opportunity here. By giving us this large hollow piece you have deprived us of the ability to build that piece. And on this subject, there are some dubious design choices on some of the interior. Instead of solid blocks, they have us use large flat rectangular pieces back to back with a row of studs in between. MIND BOGGLING. WHY!? I think it might have been to save money on plastic? Maybe it made the set weigh less? I don’t know. But that design choice seems wrong on a building toy.
Last complaint. The wraparound snake. This is another missed opportunity. This snake should have been a complete snake. We should be able to remove it for a monster battle. You say, “SpartanNerd, it didn’t do that in Filmation.” True. But it did in 200x. My point is, if we received a proper tail piece, this snake would have been even more epic. We could have disconnected it from the mountain and used it. Too much fun, I guess.
On to some positivity. IT IS HUGE. A good problem, but also a problem. It is as tall as Grayskull with the Point Dread and Talon Fighter configuration. The figures look great posed on it. You get a real sense of “mountain” that I always felt that the vintage playset failed to capture. It is that sense that us collectors and fans crave that pushed the Super7 Snake Mountain to be so large and expensive.
The little horns and pink squirelly things make this really evil. Also the monster face at the base of the mountain just appears from the build, and as I mentioned before, I prefer that! The trap door is a nice touch, but the figures fall a long way down and can get busted.
The “faces of evil” are a Four Horsemen design if I remember correctly. In the middle, that purple support snaps off way to easy. It is only for looks…isn’t a functional piece for stability. I could not get the face on the left to attach without bulding up the layer underneath with spare parts.
The only “extra” on this side of the mountain is this “sarlacc pit” trap under the trap door. I put The Sorceress here, with Evil Lynn clearly summoning the monster. The Sorceress seems to wind up a prisoner quite often.
You can remove this trap and sit it other places. “The Well of Souls?”
So what is my overall feeling? Can I rate this yet?
I think it will be awhile before I begin on the second half. It seems kind of daunting. And that isn’t what a toy should be.
On the other hand, the other side has some of the cooler parts of this set. Skeletor’s throne for one. The magic table from Filmation is another. There are others…That lava slide. But I also never was a big fan of the face on the other side. Or the rat/wolf microphone. But I really liked the bridge.
Well, I am glad that we got this side with the snake, that really looks like a Filmation Snake mountain sort of. At least they gave us a little more snake.
I feel that a person might be able to customize this set a little bit. I am building it as it is meant to be first, for now.
So far Grayskull beats this set, however. It might be because of my own personal attachment as a child. But I find it is also just really awesome…in the sense that Mortal Kombat II was more awesome than Mortal Kombat I. It is more, More, MORE! I had Snake Mountain as a child, but this set departs from the vintage design enough to where it doesn’t hit me the same way that Grayskull does. I know that this is based on the Super7 Snake Mountain design, which summarizes the toy and the Filmation version. But that wasn’t “my snake mountain.” If it was dark black and gray with a giant snake wrapped around and lava coming out of its mouth…That’s “my Snake Mountain.” or if it was an exact copy of the vintage toy. It’s still cool and it’s still epic, though!
Because I didn’t document the build or even do a review of the terrific Castle Grayskull, I thought today would be a good day to have some things to say about it.
Without a doubt, I had never put together such a large set of blocks. I picked up the Lego Batmobile meant for adults from a thrift store once like fifteen years ago, but it had 900 something pieces if I remember correctly. And a big problem with that was that the pieces were mostly jet black. Castle Grayskull was a 3,508 piece build. YIKES! And in this case, Mattel boasts a new color…”Grayskull Green,” which is what most of this set was made of.
Here is the completed facade.
When you see it in a picture, say on the front of the magnificent box, you don’t realize how each little exposed stud or piece of flat brick or rounded block (barrel style) had to be carefully placed by a designer. You can see from the front of the castle here that the bottom is very heavy. The way the side towers curve around is a genius design, and one that reflects some of the quirkiness of Mega Construx builds. The instructions, (two thick almost catalogues) breaks each step down into a manageable project. For instance, each tower was handled by the bottom half, then the top half, and then connect to the main structure. See those olive colored pieces? I thought of those as a “reward” every time I got to place one…it broke up the monotony of Grayskull Green. I wonder how much psychology went into that choice?
Here is the back
The roof was really kind of a nightmare. Each one of those shingles had to be placed just right in order for the panels of roofing to fit together properly. Some have right handed slants, and others left handed. Some point up and some down. And they better be aligned properly! The “handle” at the top. NEVER USE IT AS A HANDLE. I certainly haven’t. The castle is definitely too heavy for that. This is there for the aesthetics of being true to the original.
Speaking of being true to the original…this castle is actually a model of the Masters of the Universe Classics castle. It maintains many features that that play-set has. (I am only told about this from Pixel Dan videos and the like. I don’t own one and have no room for it anyway. And $700!). See that “mouth” shaped wall underneath the triangular “eye” windows? That’s a break away wall!
For some reason I don’t have great pictures of the inside…You get three floors. Everything you would expect is there and more. There is a trap door operated by the throne.
There is a jail, this time with an operating cage door. The jaw-bridge opens, though the sword key is just a gimmick and unnecessary. There is a computer, an elevator, a weapon rack (actually two), and a trainer. In the top dome, there is a hidden attic where the orb is kept.
Here is the Sorceress and the Goddess in front of the the orb. (Can these two be in the same place at the same time???)
This set came with the Sorceress, the Green Goddess, Skeletor, He-Man, Man-At-Arms, and red Beast Man. Oh. And let’s not forget Zoar. (So did this set come with THREE OF THE SAME CHARACTER?)
IMPROVEMENTS TO THE CASTLE.
There was a Skeletor head set that came with mini-comics colored Trap Jaw featuring an improved turret gun. I highly recommend it! The gun that came with this doesn’t look like the original, and also doesn’t fit well on the parapet.
The Talon Fighter and Point Dread. This vehicle set came with instructions to retrofit Castle Grayskull with the Point Dread castle piece so that you can park the plane on top of the tower. (A feature of the vintage toy). This makes the castle six to eight inches taller, so the SpartanNerd hasn’t ever done this…my shelf space won’t allow for it unless I place it on the top shelf, which takes away the joy of seeing it. (Snake Mountain might have to go on the top shelf…)
One day during the Coronavirus lockdowns, I decided to take the castle out and get some photos.
Here is my take on an Earl Norem classic. I used the Masters of the Universe Classics figures (and 200x Beast Man), and placed the Mega Construx castle in the background as proportionately accurate as I could to the original art. (I did the best with what I had with me.). Notice that I removed the pawn from the top. I actually prefer it this way.
After getting this picture and a few others outside in the woods, the castle crumbled in the bucket that I used to bring the stuff. So I had the privilege to build it again! FUN!
The Monstroid. Here is a toy I DID NOT have as a child. I had around 80% of He-Man and Masters of the Universe items. But the Monstroid wasn’t one of the things I had. I was aware of it from catalogs and the He-Man magazine. And the Monstroids were the giant robots He-Man and She-Ra fight at the Fright Zone in the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special. This toy doesn’t resemble them much, however.
So this is my first Monstroid.
Don’t you love the title. Is there another character here?
Here is the back of the box.
I didn’t spend much time looking at the back, as will become evident as I document the build.
Here are the sides of the box. Very nice artwork on these Mega Construx Masters of the Universe sets, I must say.
Enough gawking. Let’s open it up!
You get these four baggies. Because I have been building these, by now I know that the minifigures will be in bag number 1. So let’s get them out of the way first.
This is our very first Hordak in Mega Construx minifigure form. Also, our first Evil Horde member. Here we have the toy-accurate Hordak. I am a little disappointed that we didn’t get the bat staff. But we did get the Horde Crossbow, which is important for all Horde members in the future.
She-Ra. As I assembled this, the first thing I said was… “Those boots are so stinkin’ cute!” And they are indeed! Of course, I didn’t own She-Ra growing up, nor did I care to. As an adult, now I have TWO! (200x in box.). One thing, though. Check out the head sculpt.
It’s all one big thing. With the male characters, you can remove their hair. But She-Ra keeps with the apparent standard that the girls have to have their hair sculpted to the head and non-removable. Why, exactly?
One more thing. The cape. Both Hordak and She-Ra have a cape, and they are interchangeable. But Hordak looks pretty dumb wearing that short cape. The long cape looks good on She-Ra, and will look good on other characters as well. (Sorry, no pics of the cape swap.)
Was there another character? He wasn’t mentioned in the title. OH WELL…
Must
Not
Be…
Just kidding. Here is Prince Adam in his Mini-Eternia blue vest.
Nobody asked for this…and because the set is titled She-Ra vs. Hordak and the Monstroid, it is like he was tossed in last minute. I’m glad to have him, but we already have a Prince Adam in toy accurate/Filmation style. (Pictured, we also have the first extra piece. An extra handle for the shield.)
Here I would have rather had an ally for She-Ra from her girls toy line. Or maybe another Evil Horde member. I would have rather had Prince Adam on card in this style. It just doesn’t make sense what they did here. Do we even have a Prince Adam on card? Notable, he does have the Alcala-style Sword, but in black.
Here is the set of all three.
Let’s look at how the build went, and I will let you know what I was thinking as I worked.
Here is the front of the instruction booklet. It is the same art as the front, with less textual clutter.
It’s time to talk about how we name things, boys and girls. Here is the Brick Separator tool. NOPE. WAY TOO NEGATIVE. It has been re-named the BUILDING TOOL. See what they did there? They went from a negative description of what the item is to a positive description featuring something it can’t do. It can’t build. It can only separate. But, there is hope!
Here is the contents of baggie 2. If you have been following my blog, then you know I have to set all the pieces out classified in order. So here that is.
Here is the infamous “impossible” slab of three and then two.
The next picture shows off what has to be the dumbest face in all of MOTU. And that is saying something. These are tampograph stickers…I know it is of the original toy, that I don’t have emotional attachment to. Perhaps people out there disagree with me?
I mean…the Monstroid is a crab, right? Here is baggie #2 completed, along with the included extra parts.
“I’m not seeing it.” The thought that ran through my head.
Remember when I said I didn’t grow up with this toy, and also I didn’t spend time studying the back of the box? Well, as I built this part, I thought, “What is this? It looks like a transmission?”
Turns out I was kind of correct. Here is the rest of Bag #3 assembled with extra parts.
What that part is…it’s a “winder.” When you turn it with your fingers, it makes the yellow axle spin. Except, it didn’t work for me…(More on that as you keep reading.)
On to Bag #4.
As I organized these on the mat, I coudn’t help but kind of be reminded of assembling the Lego Batmobile so many years ago. And then Castle Grayskull. All these parts are the same color, and they kind of intimidate me.
Here is bag #4 assembled, which was the legs. It reminds me of a Dwarf Spider Droid from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
Here is the full set in a mock of the front cover. Also, the extra parts.
One problem, You are supposed to turn the winder, which turns the axle, which is plugged into the bottom of the main body with the arms. When you wind it, the monstroid spins around on top, swinging Prince Adam around. But mine wouldn’t work. I wound up disassembling it again, where I had to finagle with that “transmission” piece and make sure the gears lined up correctly. This didn’t take that long, because it is really a simple build. But I was alarmed.
Now for some shots of the Monstroid with other similar sets.
Point Dread and the Talon Fighter is a couple of hundred pieces larger. Monstroid doesn’t feel as grand either.
Maybe it’s not fair for me to compare the Monstroid to the Battle Bones. Battle Bones is close to a hundred more pieces, but look how much “more” it is. I am fond of the face on the Battle Bones…I mean, I guess the head is one of its main features. And then I have the emotional attachment to it also. Also, I paid three times as much for Battle Bones…(San Diego Comic Con exclusive.)
So here is the Wind Raider. I could just compare the Talon Fighter just as well, I suppose. The Monstroid was $30, while the Wind Raider was $20. Both have great action features. The Monstroid doesn’t have a good place to seat a figure, though, except in the claws. So the Wind Raider winds that one. But then, the character is artificial intelligence, I suppose…(Notice, I had some more fun with Roboto!)
So how do I rate this set?
I want to be unbiased here…Like I said, Monstroid wasn’t much a part of my childhood. On the other hand, getting Hordak was outstanding, and the future looks bright for Princess of Power toys in this Mega Construx line. On the other hand, the Prince Adam here seems to be a misguided choice. I am an on-card collector, but I guess Prince Adam in blue clothes might not sell that well as an individual. The Monstroid’s mechanical problem was my error, so I won’t count off on that.
I don’t feel like this is a solid five points. Four points easily. Monstroid is reasonably cool, except for the face. I kind of wish the crab claws had springs that would really make the hands pinch though. We get Hordak and She-Ra. Prince Adam is OK with the Alcala sword. It took me an hour and a half to build, but I was mildly interrupted a few times, and I also took pictures as I went. And like the Slime Pit, I feel it should be bigger.
So I am going for 4/5. Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments. I also would like to know about your experiences with the Monstroid as a child, because I missed out evidently, and none of my friends seemed to have this either.
It has been nice to get new Mega Construx! The Land Shark seems to be the flavor of the month for Mattel…they have released a new “Origins” version. (I am not collecting the Origins line). You have sharks here, Roboto, and Skeletor. How are kids not going to buy this. And also SpartanNerds…
Unfortunately, my box is a bit beat up. I was also a little unnerved at the tape on the side…it made me think someone might have stolen the figures and resealed it. (Luckily, not so.). It depicts the toys in what seems to be illustrated art. What is going on with the wheels is the question. If I remember the vintage toy, it only had cosmetic treads with functional wheels hidden on the bottom.
The sides of the box are also very nice. I keep these packages…some day I will have adequate space to properly display all of them. I do display them now, but it’s crowded.
Well, let’s get to documenting the build!
This is the instruction manual. It has the same art as the front, with less text. The back shows off two other sets. I don’t care much for that Battle Cat, and it is the only set from the Mega Construx Masters of the Universe line that I haven’t purchased. There is a Havoc Staff coming out soon in the same vein that I believe I will be skipping. I have the Monstroid, but haven’t yet built it. Stay tuned Hub City Geeks because likely by the end of the week I will have a blog entry for that one!
As with the other larger builds from this line, the pieces come in numbered baggies.
Number 1 has the mini figures…what a relief!
Let’s build Skeletor first.
The new Skeletor is exactly the same as the one that came with the Point Dread set. It is Battle Armor Skeletor. And I pondered not even opening the poly bag, but the axe and the sword were loose. But after studying the issue, I realized that this version has the scratched armor like you would get with two hits on the vintage toy. Also, this one came with the purple sword, which was a puzzling omission from the Point Dread version. Otherwise they are identical. Same colors, same face paint job. Maybe the elbows on this one are a little sharper. “monster arms?” But I think this might be my imagination.
On to ROBOTO.
I used to love robots as a kid. And ROBOTO here had something to do with that. I am a little bummed that the gears are just tampograft stickers…it seemed that when they revealed this they were looking at making the gears move, and bragging about it being “the smallest pieces ever in a Mega Bloks set.” I guess they couldn’t crack that for the price. Otherwise, this was the main reason for getting this set! Classic Roboto, with a clear body. We have a new Roboto on card…but it seems to be more 200x inspired. (See the post here)
I really enjoyed photographing Roboto. Here we can see him raising his axe to meet Skeletor’s. Notice that the gun attachment can fit in the hole in his back…making a jet pack sort of look.
On to the build!
As I said before, I have to separate all of the blocks and place them with others alike before I begin. This helps me be efficient and quick. I worked slowly, taking pictures as I went. I finished it in just over an hour.
After bag 2, it looks like we have a boat. Roboto’s other hand could come off…a new trick. You couldn’t do this with the vintage toy! These other pieces were left over.
I was a little bummed that the teeth were in large pre-fab pieces. But I was also psyched that there are real rubber treads!
And here is step 23! We get to put the treads on. And the first thing I did was roll it and marvel at how cool it is to have real treads on the Mega Construx Land Shark! The little hook spinning around was a mystery though…I hadn’t seen any string or anything like that. A definite improvement on the original design. (You can see pics and the patent diagrams for the original toy on the BattleRam Blog.)
Here it is with the chomping mouth open. So, here’s how it works! When you push the tank, the little hook spins around. At the back of the shark’s throat there is a smooth dome…the hook bumps against the smooth piece which causes the jaws to snap! I shouted for joy when I saw this happen, and took it to the SpartanWife to show off. But what color is this? She says it’s fucia. The kid says it is light purple. Notice Roboto here doing a Terminator pose! Also, notice the growing collection of leftover parts.
We arrive at poly bag number 4, and Skeletor has Luke Skywalker’ed Roboto! These pieces are all silver, and will surely be the guns.
Here is the completed Land Shark, in action making Roboto into spare parts!
What a relief…right!
Here is the Land Shark compared to other vehicles.
You can see the scale is very similar. It makes me wonder how they might do Stridor and Night Stalker. Would they be more of the size of Panthor (pictured above) or more the size of the Land Shark?
I feel that this version of the Land Shark stands a head taller than its predecessors. (And besides the Hot Wheels one, this is the smallest!) It has working treads, and the mouth snaps with an ingenious design. The only thing I don’t like about the build is the holes in the top of the profile above the sticker eyes. I do wish we got a toy accurate Trap Jaw instead of Battle Armor Skeletor…I feel like Trap Jaw goes better with this vehicle, with the snapping jaw action. (We don’t have Trap Jaw in toy colors either.)
What do you think, Hub City Geeks? I am rating this … I mean, can I give it a 4.5 of 5? I really like it, and there aren’t enough negatives to lose a whole point. Let me know in the comments!
spartannerd 