Dave's Transformers Artifacts Rant: Cybertron Spin-Pops Optimus Prime Megatron Found these in the cheapo toys aisle at Wal-Mart. There's not a whole lot of Cybertron merchandising out there, so I snagged 'em. CAPSULES Optimus Prime: Cute little toy, worth about what you pay for it. $1.97 at Wal-Mart. Megatron: Likewise, if a tad more garish. $1.97 at Wal-Mart. RANTS Made by Cap Candy under license from Hasbro. Common Elements: Unlike most spin-pops, these are manually cranked rather than battery operated. Not that most kids retain interest in any given spin-pop long enough for the battery to die, but I expect this is much more environmentally friendly. The bottom section is a squeezable handle 2.75" (7cm) tall molded of a single color of plastic and with a sticker on the half that doesn't have the spinny part. Both have the same sticker, with the Cybertron logo, red techish background and package art of Optimus Prime's upper half. Clear plastic wrapping with hangtab and a sticker carrying the nutricional info and UPC is shrink-wrapped around the upper part. They come with the usual Chupa-Chups suckers, both strawberry in my case. The upper, spinning part is made of a single solid piece of softer plastic, molded with the relevant character standing in front of a bit of technobit wall. The wall sections are identical, and have the Transformers Cybertron logo molded in the back. The bottom front of each piece has the character's name and faction symbol molded, but not painted. Each character gets three paint colors, and stands about 1.75" (4.5cm) tall. The spinning gear mechanism works kind of like those battery-less flashlights that you squeeze to power. In theory, the escapement of the gears lets the handle spring back to beginning position without spinning the character backwards, but in practice there's some backspin. Also, even forward there's not a whole lot of torque, you need a light touch of tongue on sucker to actually get it to spin instead of gear-stripping. In any case, the spinning seems to be more an excuse to try to get Prime or Megatron to throw up or something...it's kinda fast. They will stand unsupported for display, and together take up about as much shelf space as a Deluxe or a largish Scout. Optimus Prime: Handle is medium blue, character is red plastic with blue, silver and gray (faceplate only) paint. The non-super mode is used, and the sculpt is...okay. No obvious "My lIFe iS PaIN" issues. Could definitely stand some more paint, but for a $2 toy it's decent. Megatron: Handle is purple, character is orange plastic with a lot of dakrk gray paint, light gray on the face, and dark purple on the forearm armor chunks. The detailing is decent, although a bit globby in places for those thinking of doing touchup paints. Suckers: Well, I haven't opened these, but one Strawberry Chupa-Chups is much like another, and I've had them before. Tasty and inoffensive (not "the kids like it sour" tart, thankfully). Dave Van Domelen, happy to be getting to update the "Plastic" side of his Artifacts page for the first time since, like, Fall 05.