Dave's Disney Label Transformers Rant Mickey Mouse Trailer Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Japan/Optimouse I'm presuming that the name on TFwiki is correct, since the actual package doesn't include the toy's name anywhere on it in English. :) I call it Optimouse Prime, though. Another trade with Wonkimus Major. When I first saw pictures of this I was expecting something that could hang out with Rescue Roy or Hauler Bot, but this is clearly NOT a toy for little kids. It's aimed at the adult collector market pretty solidly. CAPSULE Mickey Mouse Trailer: Cute, but small and not exactly sturdy (mine already has paint scratches after a few transformations). If it were two or three times bigger and a lot more durable, it'd be a great toy for a little kid. But it meets neither of those preconditions. Only get if you find sufficient amusement in its mere existence to justify the price. 3190 Yen price sticker on the one I got, and accounting for exchange rate and the fact that Japanese toys are always a lot more expensive than just the exchange rate, figure it's a $15-20 toy when you only account for currency issues. RANT The "Label" label continues to be used for licensed tie-ins (Sports Label for the Nike shoeformers, Music Label for the iPod stuff, Device Label for the upcoming transforming computer accessories), so this is Disney Label. I haven't seen any indication that there will be any other molds under this label, though, just a grayscale "Steamboat Willie" redeco of Mickey Mouse Trailer. Packaging: This comes in a window box 6" (15cm) wide and tall, 4.25" (11cm) deep, with clear windows on top and front. The border is mainly bright red, black around the bottom few centimeters. Mickey is in robot mode in package. On the front, the left border shows a photo sequence of transforming from robot to vehicle mode, with "Disney Label" at the top, a merging of Mickey's face and the Autobot symbol in the lower right, and the Transformers logo along the bottom. The toy's name is in Japanese only. The top just has various logos, the bottom has logos and legalese that's all in Japanese. The right panel shows photos of various action features of robot mode (arm-flapping, visor that can flip down), while the left panel shows how the driver Mickey vanishes from the cab and then flips out on the head during transformation. The back has photos of both modes, more legalese and some proclamations about the toy in Japanese. Opening the left panel reveals a baggie with the instructions inside, black and white on one side of a sheet. There's no other paperwork or trading cards or the like. The inner tray is corrugated cardboard that folds to cover back, right, left and bottom. It has a black with light gray square grid pattern on it, and the Mickey-Autobot symbol in light gray on the back panel. The inner plastic tray has a non-taped-on cover piece, two loose support blisters on either side of the figure. No twist-ties, the figure just lifts out. Robot Mode: 4.5" (11.5cm) tall, and generally bulky enough to count as a Deluxe in terms of the amount of plastic and general heft. It's a fusion of design elements from G1 Optimus Prime and the current model sheet of Mickey Mouse (including clever use of headlights to stand in for the iconic buttons on Mickey's shorts). The heavy use of metallic paints and plastics may help explain the higher price. Most of the toy seems to be made of a silver plastic, with metallic red paint used on the torso and upper arms, although at least some of the dark blue parts are dark blue plastic rather than painted over silver. He has no tail, but does have a "cape" formed by the shell of his trailer. The head is mostly Mickey Mouse but with Optimus Prime's crest and a flip-down visor. He has long smokestacks that point backwards, a little above straight back. The robot follows the old Super Robot tradition of having an external operator a la Tetsujin 28 (Gigantor), with a smaller Mickey figure in a pilot suit clinging to the top of the helmet and pointing dramatically. Sadly, it's glued in place rather than pegged on. Pilot-Mickey is in a white flight suit with orange cuffs and an orange "Mickey head icon" backpack, plus black boots. The head is normal Mickey Mouse colors, and I suspect the figure is made of black plastic. It's 23mm long including the pointing finger, but in a crouching/clinging pose... I'd estimate the standing height as about 21mm. According to WikiAnswers, Mickey is 5'3", so we're looking at about a 1:72 scale on this toy (assuming it's meant to be close to one of the "standard" scales, although anything from 1:70 to 1:80 is plausible). That makes the robot around 25 feet (a bit over 8m) tall. The head, arms and feet seem to be made of dark "Optimus Prime blue" plastic. The wheels are black plastic, the flip-down visor is clear slightly smoky plastic, and the lightpiping is clear aqua (more likely aqua paint on clear plastic). The pilot figure and the ears are rubbery plastic, probably black. The torso, upper arms and pelvis are made of red plastic, although only the fact that the paint job has started to scratch already tells me that with certainty. I think the thighs and kibble cape are silvery plastic, but they may be one of the other two colors painted over. The chest is molded in a simplified fake truck front pattern as has become pretty traditional for Optimus Prime toys, and is mostly painted metallic red over the red plastic. The upper arms are also painted metallic red. Silver paint is used on the face, forehead crest, gloves, smokestacks, pelvis and the taillights that are at the toes of his Mickey-style boots. Possibly more. Matte black paint is used on the nose and the non-moving molded wheels at the heels. The chest windows are light blue, the headlight "buttons" on his pelvis are painted yellow, and there's a red and white Mickey/Autobot logo printed on his abdomen in lieu of a grille pattern. Articulation is minimal. The head turns a bit, but to get more than a wiggle you need to lift up the kibble cape. The shoulders are on swivels, plus they lift up to the sides (but mostly as part of an action feature). The hips are swivels, but the legs want to move together, and the range of motion isn't that great, being somewhat limited by his arm-flapping motion gimmick trigger. If you press down on the body so that the hip joints are pushed down, the arms flap out to the sides a bit. If the arms are raised forward you can barely tell that something is happening. Interestingly, the pegs that hold his hands to his hips for robot mode are somewhat short Mini-Con hardpoints. The silver paint makes them a little on the large side, and there's no real clearance for attaching things, but I was able to get Dropshot's rifle pegged onto Optimouse's palm. The corresponding hip holes are a little too large to hold a 5mm peg firmly. Transformation: Reminiscent of Cybertron Optimus Prime, in that his vehicle front is on his back and transformation mainly involves sitting down and straightening his legs while stowing the head. Of course, with such a big head (the ears are made to fold away), it takes the entire trailer to cover it. Going to vehicle mode, you need to manually flip the pilot away inside the head, and it won't stay until the kibble cape has been raised. Folding the grille section of the cab down will make a driver figure fold out of the roof of the cab, on the right side since this was made for Japanese release. When transforming to robot mode, lifting the grille will make the driver "vanish" and then lowering the kibble cape makes the robot pilot spring out on top of the head. Vehicle Mode: 3.75" (9.5cm) long, 2.25" (6cm) tall and 2.25" (6cm) wide, it's a chibi sort of 10-wheeler variant of G1 Optimus Prime (okay, six wheels, but the style of van has double wheels on all but the front axle). Assuming the same 1:72 scale, it's about 23' (just under 7m) long. That's reasonable moving van size. It has Prime's iconic blue and white stripe on the sides of the trailer, but with a molded Mickey-bot symbol in red instead of an Autobot symbol. The cab, mostly hidden in robot mode, has clear colorless plastic on the front and side windows and is otherwise red plastic that's fully painted. Mostly metallic red paint, with yellow headlights and silver on the smokestacks, side mirrors, roof lights and horns, wiper blades, grille, bumper and secondary headlights. There's some small gaps on the sides, and a hinge at the top rear of the cab, but otherwise there aren't too many sacrifices made for the robot mode. The Mickey driver inside has an orange baseball cap and white gloves, and only exists from chest up, attached to a panel of blue plastic. The passenger side has a molded chair in blue plastic. Only four wheels actually turn (the middle pair being just painted details molded into the sides), and the clearance is less than a millimeter, but it will roll along well on a smooth flat surface. The pegging that holds this mode together is solid, and prevents the sort of warping that would prevent it from rolling on all four wheels. Structurally, the only real weakness is that if you squeeze the trailer sides together too hard the doors in back will spring open. The rear bumper halves go along with them, so it's a bug rather than a feature. Overall: Unless your reaction to the very idea of a Transformers Mickey Mouse is "HUZZAH! IT MUST BE MINE!" then you should probably pass on this. It's rather expensive, susceptible to paint scratching, and probably intended for sealed box collectors in general. Dave Van Domelen, may bring it to work and use it to freak people out.