When I received a press release about a new product that combines two toy chest superpowers – Lego and Transformers – I knew I had to find some boys to test it. I’m a thirtysomething woman with a passion for aprons, I couldn’t very well do it myself. Although, I did have a bizarre cartoon crush on Starscream back in the day…(this soon gave way to a bizarre crush on John Laroquette, but I digress).
I enlisted four genuine boys, ranging in age from 3 to 30. My cousin’s adorable kids, Angus, 8, Jack, 6, and George, 3, and my very own brother, former Transformers fanatic Zach, 30. Zach was crazy about Optimus, so I thought it would be cool to have an adult’s perspective.
The product is KRE-O Transformers construction sets from Hasbro. The sets enable you to construct a robot. Then, when you’re tired of it, you can disassemble it and rebuild a vehicle out of the same pieces!
There are 12 KRE-O Transformers in all, ranging in price from $9.99 to $64.99, and if you’re a fan of the show you’ll recognize names like Prowl, Jazz, Bumblebee, etc. I asked the younger boys and Zach to select their Transformers to test. The boys chose Megatron, Zach chose Optimus Prime.
So what follows is a genuine battle between Autobots and Decepticons.
TEST ONE: MEGATRON
(Answers provided by Angus)
How long did it take you to build this?
Three hours.
How much help did you need from your dad? (Note: it is a 62-page instruction booklet)
A lot.
Do you think you could have done it by yourself?
No. It has 310 pieces, so it’s a bit too complicated.
How fun was it?
Well, playing with it is fun but building was not that much fun. It was a lot of work.
What’s fun about playing with it?
Driving it around and putting characters inside it and pretending people are driving it.
So you had a choice of making it into truck or robot. Why did you choose the truck?
I wanted to do the robot, but I thought truck would be easier because it was 21 pieces less than the robot.
How similar is this to a regular Transformer?
Not much because with real Transformers you don’t have to take apart any pieces to transform it.
What was the best part of putting together this toy?
Building the engine. It was the smallest part and it looked cool.
What do you think about the box? I know the box is very important.
The box is pretty cool. It shows you what you can build with it.
TEST TWO: OPTIMUS PRIME
It’s sort of hilarious that Zach tested this while on vacation in the Dominican Republic. I don’t know if I’d actually promote this toy as easy to travel with…Zach said it took up 1/3 of his suitcase!
Did you find the box itself exciting?
Yes. It’s an exciting design and good size for under the tree 
What was the best thing about this toy?
The fact that you’re actually building a usable, posable action figure! The construction process is obviously the main activity, but it’s also a really rad figure at the end. AND you get two of them!
What was the worst thing about this toy?
Some of the parts are a bit tight and the torso came apart while I was attaching the leg. Nothing a firm grip and rescue can’t fix.
Did you make the truck or the robot?
Robot!
Was it hard to put together?
No. The instructions were easy to read. Just finding all the little bits and, like I said, some of the joints are a bit tight and required a bit of force.
How long did it take to assemble?
About two hours all told.
Do you think your inner 10-year-old would have liked this?
Would’ve loved it. Seeing Optimus Prime come alive slowly and at my hands was exciting! And he’s huge!
Does your outer 30-year-old like this?
Totally. I might not have got twitchy excited like the 10 year old. But the sense of satisfaction was gratifying. When I finished I want to run over to my friends to show them what I made. Makes me wanna have a son to have an excuse for doing more of them.
Did you, at any point during the construction, make a “transforming” or shooting noise with your mouth?
Oh yeah! As I pieced his arms on the transformers theme song began to play in my head. And I said “Autobots, transform and roll out!”
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Pretty awesome looking. Too bad it doesn’t actually transform, though. I wonder how the Lego people feel about this…