Dave's Japanese TF Rant: K-T Figure Collection Convoy Bust Frenzy/Rumble Figure Devastator Diorama AI Diorama A collaboration between Kaiyodo and Takara (hence K-T), this is a blind-packed set of five pieces that aren't exactly PVCs, and aren't exactly statues. Most places that have them for sale have opened the boxes to ensure compelte sets. None are bigger than about 3" in any dimension. CAPSULES Convoy Bust: Looks good, nice action feature. Recommended. Frenzy/Rumble: In cartoon colors but with the toy names, they're the same figure in two color schemes. I like the paint job on the red one better, the purple one has some weird white airbrushing that looks wrong no matter how I assemble it. Recommended you get one, mildly recommended to get both. Devastator: Really good colors, but some wonky sculpting issues, and Arcee's pose doesn't seem to fit into the rest of the diorama. Still, recommended. AI: This is the creepy one of the set, with peeping tom Fire Convoy and naked bathing AI. Even given the differences in sexual attitudes in Japan, this is a bit skeevy. I like the SD Gelshark, though. Mildly recommended, but probably not something to display in your home. RANTS Packaging: Each is in a blindpacked box 5" (13cm) tall, 3.5" (9cm) wide and 1.5" (3.5cm) thick. The front of the box features Optimus Prime from the first Pat Lee Prime poster, with an inset picture of the AI diorama. The back shows all five sets, with names in English so that there's no mistaking their FIBRIR stance. Convoy is #1, Frenzy is #2, Devastator is #3, Rumble is #4 and AI is #5. In addition to the disassembled figure in several layers of plastic bags, each box has a trading card featuring Dreamwave poster art on the front (not necessarily of the relevant character) and then a picture of the figure on the back with some sort of bio note. Each also has a flier for a mailaway for a golden Masterpiece Prime. Collect points from various little things (K-T's, World's Smallest, PVCs, bottlecaps, Microns) and paste 'em in to reach 20 points. I'm guessing this is more of a drawing, since 20 points seems awfully low for simple redemption. Except for Devastator, each figure comes with a 2" (5cm) diameter sturdy black disk to act as a base. On top of the base is the K-T logo (A K and a T in a box, with the company names written across the bottom). AI doesn't really need her base, so it can be given to Devastator if you want. CONVOY Or, as he's better known here, Optimus Prime. This is an odd bust, with head, chest and abdomen like most busts, but incomplete on the sides and back, shaving in a bit to reveal mechanical details. The paint is faintly metallic and the chest windows are clear pale blue plastic, the Matrix visible inside. Not counting the black base, he's 2.3" (6cm) tall. Pressing a button on the back causes the chest to open up and thrust forwad, displaying the Autobot Matrix. The Matrix itself is removable and has a cloudy clear blue center. No chrome, but it looks better than most Matrix toys. The doors are not spring-loaded, but it's easy to grasp the activation button and pull it out. Prime's head is on a simple round peg, not a D-peg, so it can turn. His card shows Prime from above in robot mode, with vehicle mode Bumblebee at his feet. FRENZY/RUMBLE As mentioned above, these molds are identical, just given different colors. The figures are crouched, 2.3" (6cm) high at the backpack guns but about the size of the original toys if they could be made to stand up straight. They crouch on bases of shattered rock, and their arms are in piston mode. Their faces bear expressions of gleeful destructiveness. The arms can swing on pegs at the shoulders, although the backpack guns get in the way a bit. The pistons can move in and out with a maximum extension of about 14mm. The central rods of the pistons are rigid plastic rather than the somewhat soft plastic used for the rest of the figure. There are no degrees of freedom other than those mentioned in the arms. One card has the Prime/Megatron clash used on the cover of one of the TF novels, taken from a Raiz G1-on-Cybertron battle poster. The other has the complete Pat Lee Decepticons poster with Devastator and the Insecticons in the background behind Megatron and Soundwave. DEVASTATOR This one is a diorama featuring Devastator tearing apart a wall to see Hot Rod and Arcee (as per the movie). The piece is about 6cm tall, but it's only an upper body shot on Devastator. He's in a nice metallic green with bronze helmet and silver face, plus niecly shaded purple parts. The wall he's tearing through is a too-garish copper. The posing of Devastator looks good from the front, but it's odd from the back, with most of his right arm being absent. Hot Rod pegs onto the base by one foot, and he's clearly reeling back from the rip in the wall. He stands 1" (2.5cm) tall and has pretty good paint work. Arcee is molded into the base, and is in a sprawled position that makes it look like she was kneeling in front of Hot Rod before the wall was torn open. Read into that what you will, just save some sniggering for the AI set. There are no degrees of freedom on this one, it's completely static. The card has art from a cover I don't recognize or a poster I don't own, with Devastator looming over a bunch of Autobots who are facing the wrong direction. :) AI Okay, you've probably heard of this one. AI (T-AI in the U.S.) is naked except for her hat (which has nice clear red plastic siren flashers on the sides, by the way), with a chibi Gelshark (Sky-Byte) between her legs and squirting water, and a chibi Fire Convoy (Optimus Prime) peeping on her over the rock wall that surrounds her pond. And while there's nothing "showing" on AI because of her pose and the opacity of the water, this definitely goes beyond the simple "Japan has looser attitudes towards this sort of thing." It's just plain creepy. I mean, she's squeezing Gelshark and making him spit water while Fire Convoy looks on. The assembled diorama is about 2" (5cm) high and 3" (8cm) wide. AI's head is on a ball joint, so can be posed pretty well. Gelshark is fixed in position, part of the baseplate (as are AI's knees). Fire Convoy's ladder can be swung around, but always points down. The whole thing pegs together pretty firmly. Fire Convoy is 3cm tall, and as I've seen others point out, it's worth separating from the set and displaying separately. Maybe I'll put mine peering over the rim of my iLamp's monitor. :) The card with this set is first Autobot group shot poster from Dreamwave, the one that has Omega Supreme's legs visible in the background. Overall: I paid a total of $32.40 for this set, including shipping, and I think it was worth it. These are all well-made and painted, and if they lack the poseability of the PVC sets, they definitely look better sitting on your shelf. Dave Van Domelen, doesn't have many guests, so might just keep AI on display too. Heh.