I was at work, stressed and tired when I checked my phone and noticed people posting some images of MMC Collisus. The images were from well known toy reviewers, and they generally get early access to such things, but I figured I could check Big Bad Toy Store and see if my long awaited boy was in stock.
To the annoyance of everyone in the break room, I let out a loud gasp of joy and gleefully proclaimed “My boy! My boy is here!” My fingers fumbled as I tried to enter my password to have him shipped immediately.
There would be a long week of waiting, Collisus wasn’t due to arrive until Friday. This was just as well, I wouldn’t be able to really play with him until then anyway. But on Thursday, there he was. Another gleeful gasp pierced the silence of my home moments before I was about to leave my house. Sadly, I knew “Toy I’ve been waiting for is finally within my grasp” was not a reason to call out, so I waited.
Long story short, I was VERY excited for Collisus
When you’re so excited for something, you might be willing to forgive its flaws due to your sheer joy over having it. Not that I’m saying that for any particular reason...
On the back of the box, we get some action poses and a peek at vehicle mode.
Sides of the box are nothing special.
On the top of the box, we get another image of the toy! In case you forgot who it was.
Out of the box we have the toy (with a protective layer of foam), a tech spec card, the instructions/comic, and two cannons.
The instructions are clear and I like that they state what the goal of each step is. “Fold the arm” or “untab the wings” things like that.
The instructions even include this concept art for not-Drift!
The comic is actually quite brilliant. It outlines Thunderclash and his crew dying, going to heaven, and getting kicked out of heaven all because of Thunderclash’s dumb luck.
On the front of the card, we have more art of Collisus. It would have been nice to have the same artist who drew the comic draw something, but this is fine too.
Ah tech specs. I still don’t know what “Caste” means in this case. He’s so close to perfect 10s, just go for it MMC!
But that’s enough peripherals, let’s get to the toy!
He is a big and bulky car! He covered the entirety of my palm when I held him.
For scale, here’s a generic beer bottle.
His colors are all over the place and I love him.
The back of the vehicle brings up something that I should complain about but I’m not overly bothered. The first step in transformation is that you have to remove this rear armor. I’m not big on kibble having to be removed for transformation. But honestly, I was fine.
Here’s the back when you take off the plates. They do help smooth the vehicle design and they’re used in another way that we’ll see later.
And of course, what transformer doesn’t have places to peg guns? Sadly, the top was the only place you could peg guns so there wasn’t much fun to be had with silly gun placement.
Look, stubby guns...
Meh...
Okay, enough car.
He’s perfect. Review over. Look at this mess of colors! He’s beautiful!
His back kibble is clunky and awkward which is... not great.
Just don’t display him from the sides, okay?
... Or the back.
I’m critical, but the front of the toy looks great and that’s what’s important! And the back isn’t hollow, which I always hate.
Unsurprisingly, as a robot he is still big. Here he is again with a generic beer bottle of no particular brand.
His face is good, I like all the helmet detail. I do wish he was happier, but I guess scowling is cool too.
Here’s where his removable kibble from earlier comes into play. You use it to attach his guns to his arms. The kibble pegs into his arms and the guns peg into the kibble. Though there’s no place for the blue parts of his guns to go, sadly.
Pew pew!
Alright, this is an actual problem. As far as I could tell, this was the highest you could raise his arms.
After this point, there was a notch that prevented the arms from rotating further. Maybe, I could have carefully rotated his arms over the nub, but this is still as high as his arms are meant to rise. No, I don’t have my robots wave their arms in the air in a manner suggesting they don’t care, but I’d like the have the option!
He is very sturdy though! Check out these high kicks!
But because of the limited movement for his arms, he can’t really do lewd gestures. Well, he can do one.
I have so many Rodimii, probably one of them could kiss this Thunderclash. Not MMC Calidus, though. Calidus is too short and was partially lifted by Collisus and standing on the tips of his feet and this was the closest he could get.
Because of the articulation in their hands, Collisus and Calidus can hold hands at least!
And Collisus is so sturdy that he can easily hold Calidus!
Final Thoughts: I was so excited to have this guy in my collection. There are a few things about him that I don’t love, mostly the limited arm movement. But honestly, I’m thrilled to have him and who knows when Hasbro will ever want to make this guy.
If you want a Thunderclash in your collection he is an excellent choice!
