{"id":5460,"date":"2012-01-12T18:04:35","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T18:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anymoon.com\/blog\/?p=5460"},"modified":"2014-07-11T06:20:03","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T06:20:03","slug":"takatoku-1100-destroid-conversion-kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anymoon.com\/blog\/?p=5460","title":{"rendered":"Takatoku 1\/100 Destroid Conversion Kit"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Review: Classic toy with a cool gimmick
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Packaging & Extras: <\/strong>(5\/5)
\nI’m scoring this toy perfect here because of the quality of Takatoku’s boxes, the quality of their packaging materials, the quality of the adorning art, the inside collector’s display lid, and the fact this toy is one destroid that comes with almost everything you need to make two other destroids.\u00a0 You also get instructions and stickers and the typical Takatoku toy catalog.\u00a0 While the score may be perfect I do see one area I could complain: I frequently see these toys for sale with the parts having fallen off the Tomahawk in the box so it makes it very hard to ascertain if all the parts are there.\u00a0 It would have been nice if Takatoku had devised a way of packaging the toy that would have made it easier to account for all parts and kept things locked down tighter in transit.\u00a0 For this review, I’ll include that as a knock on the toy’s design as, if the parts stayed locked on tighter, that probably wouldn’t be a problem.<\/p>\n

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Charm & Collectability:<\/strong> (3\/5)
\nThis thing has oodles of charm but falls flat on collectability.\u00a0 The golden rules of collectability are toys that were readily consumed, featured heroic mecha, and featured metal construction.\u00a0 For my generation having perfect transformation be a featured design element also adds to both charm and collectability.\u00a0 While the destroid conversion kit does feature metal construction it doesn’t meet the other criteria.\u00a0 This wasn’t a hot selling toy, the destroids didn’t see a ton of play time so many are still in great shape, this particular kit seems like it was geared more toward young adults which would have further enhanced its ability to survive the era, and the destroids themselves don’t draw a lot of fanfare.\u00a0 The conversion kit has a really neat gimmick to it, and it’s undeniably old school, but it’s just not a Hikaru VF-1J or a Focker VF-1S.<\/p>\n

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Sculpt, detail, & Paint:<\/strong> (6\/10)
\nThe most obvious shortcoming of this toy is the lack of detail but that comes with the territory of being a classic toy in a smaller scale.\u00a0 Takatoku included plenty of stickers for you to dress the toy up in though and that definitely helps.\u00a0 The tomahawk cannons are way too big but the Phalanx and Defender both look very good proportionally.\u00a0 Check out the various line art comparisons to get an idea for how well Takatoku did.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Design:<\/strong> (5\/10)
\nUnfortunately the idea of this toy is a little cooler than the execution.\u00a0 My biggest complaint is that some parts don’t lock on quite as well as they should, namely the thigh and waist armors.\u00a0 At this scale I guess I shouldn’t expect cool gimmicks like opening doors but it’d still be nice to see some and they’re not there.\u00a0 The conversion gimmick itself is ultra cool for a moment… but then you realize how much better it would be just to have all three destroids.\u00a0 In fact, if Takatoku didn’t bother with the cool internal frame gimmick they almost certainly could have made all three destroids and sold them in a bundle for less.\u00a0 I’m sure the thought was that destroids weren’t sexy enough to sell without the conversion gimmick, and maybe Takatoku was right since I hear this conversion kit floundered at stores.\u00a0\u00a0 As cool as that internal frame is, unless you can see yourself enjoying the act of converting a destroid into a different destroid then the neat gimmick doesn’t really add much to the fun factor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Durability & Build:<\/strong> (6\/10)
\nFor the most part these toys are very solid but by their nature you’re going to be taking things apart, handling small parts, and it’s very easy for something to go missing.\u00a0 Be very wary when buying these toys second-hand and when handling these toys on carpet.\u00a0 One false move and a part can disappear and if you’re not a stickler for putting things back away in the tray perfectly it might be a long while before you ever realize that a\u00a0 part has gone missing.\u00a0 This is compounded by how easily some of the parts can become dislodged so lots of caution is advised.<\/p>\n

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Articulation:<\/strong> (7\/10)
\nI was very pleasantly surprised by how well articulated this toy is.\u00a0 I was expecting something more akin to the old 1\/144 destroids which are essentially little statues so I was shocked to see ball jointed hips and ankles with a large range of movement.\u00a0 Sure, none of these destroids have much in the way of arm or head mobility but what they can do with their legs and waist is very solid, especially considering the era they were made in.\u00a0
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