When Action Toys first got the license to make Machine Robo toys, I figured some toy-accurate recreations of old Machine Robo stuff was the closest we'd ever get to new GoBots. Heck, we'd heard that Action Toys specifically got the license to stuff that appeared in the Revenge of Cronos anime, and that animation didn't even feature prominently a lot of the guys we'd recognize most readily from Challenge of the GoBots.
(GoBots rights are complicated, yo. Hasbro bought Tonka long ago, but do they own the animation now? Does Hanna-Barbara? Does Bandai still own the original toy likenesses???)
And so a while back I got this tiny little Bike Robo (pictured below), who's kind of like Cy-Kill if Cy-Kill had a normal regular boring robot face. No five-o-clock shadow, no yellow teeth -- I mean, those are the main draws, obviously, but with GoBots rights being such a quagmire, I figured it was the closest possible deal.
Fastforward to a BIKE ROBO DELUXE being announced by Action Toys, and oh hey what what it has extra Cy-Kill faces you can swap in what the holy fudge. Can they do that? Hell, I'm not sure they DID do that. The one I ordered I had shipped taken out of its package so that it could fit into a smaller box for international shipping, but I've read that folks who had theirs shipped unopened had the extra Cy-Kill faces sent outside the packaging in a baggie. So maybe Action Toys is just skirting the terms of their license by offering FREE FACES WITH PURCHASE or whatever. Iunno.
But the point is, I bought the heck out of it, because Actual Cy-Kill With Five-O'Clock Shadow is a thing I have to have.
As I said, he's BIKE ROBO DELUXE, which means he's large. Well, larger than the other Action Toys Bike Robo, at least. Relatively large. He's kind of a Transformers Voyager or, more accurately, the size and bulk of aTransformers Masterpiece Autobot Car. He sees eye-to-eye with MP Prowl or Sideswipe and has a similar heft. (His ... chest is die-cast metal, I think? Something in the torso.)
The other first thing you notice is that he comes with a little printed sheet that tells you which parts not to turn a certain way or they'll break. GOOD TO KNOW, I GUESS. You both want to see that first and not want to see that first. This is not your typical mass-market Transformer where they see how long it survives with a five-year-old before putting it in stores.
Otherwise, he seems to be a pretty solid guy. I'm careful with him, because, again, he's not a Hasbro toy so I don't know what I should expect durability-wise, but nothing seems like it's on the verge of breaking. His transformation involves bending him over into a crouch while undoing all the teeny tiny details along the way that make him into a more pleasing Cy-Kill-esque robot. Both his wheels partsform, but they kind of have to if you want to keep both modes' accuracy. They attach with magnets, which is neat. I mean, they also peg in, but mostly it's the magnets keeping them there rather than friction. The tires are rubber.
Also there's a white panel to replace the face panels in motorcycle mode. I'm happy keeping the Cy-Kill face in there, though, 'cuz that's how Cy-Kill rolls. Literally.
The only frightening part about the transformation is when you gotta push his legs together for cycle mode. There's a diagonal cut through his thighs, and that's the joint that The Paperwork tells you will break if you don't move it correctly, and so making sure you're doing the thing you're supposed to do and not the thing you're not supposed to do is a few moments of anxiety. Apparently The Paperwork just doesn't want you to think that's a rotational joint! I'm not sure I'd have tried to rotate it there without the warning, but I'm sure as heck not gonna try it now, so mission objective achieved, I guess.
Bike Robo/Cy-Kill is pleasingly articulated at about the same level that current Transformers Masterpieces are. Hell, I'm pretty sure he's just supposed to be a Masterpiece-style Cy-Kill. He has double-jointed elbows and his fingers and thumb are somehow articulated even though they're big cylinders. (He has actual unarticulated big cylinders to replace his fists with if you prefer.) He's got a waist and an ab crunch and his head turns and, yeah, he does stuff.
My only regret is that his head assembly doesn't bend up in motorcycle mode so he can look where he drives like in the cartoon.
He also comes with some flame attack parts you can peg into his wrists, if you want him to be shooting stuff or whatever.
He's got three Cy-Kill faces: neutral, smug grin, and frustrated. (linked 'cuz my lighting studio photos of his frustrated face were all blurry) I prefer the frustrated face 'cuz you can see his yellow teeth. Those yellow teeth are important.
I only put in the Bike Robo face for a review photograph. Probably not using it again.
I have never inserted the blank white motorcycle mode panel. I likely never will.
Everything else is pretty amazing, though. He makes me so happy.
