2024.
The reveal of the HasLab Omega Prime, a modern, crowd funded take on the main leader from Robots in Disguise (2001), stirs up some deep-rooted memories.
I didn’t back any of the HasLabs for Unicron, Starsaber or Deathsaurus but this one… this one hits different. Despite only ever owning a single RID 2001 toy, a Spychanger Crosswise, I decide to mull it over whilst watching how the HasLab campaign performs.
2001.
I’m a lucky man; recuperating at home after a car accident that I escaped with just a shattered leg. Being housebound limits my entertainment options, and so between using the family PC for Napster and finding popular music chords for guitar, I pass the time diving into various internet rabbit holes.
One such rabbit hole takes me to a Transformers fan site, and here I learn some exciting news. In Japan, Transformers has once more become a car-based robot toy line. It’s called, uh, Car Robots.
For the sake of clarity, I have never been a “trukk not munky” idiot – Beast Wars is great. Still, Car Robots resonates deeply. New versions of Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus mean that the Transformers I love are no longer consigned to the past.
It’s not just the concept that excites. There are toys.
Optimus Prime – or is it Fire Convoy? – is the star. The fire engine alt-mode is inspired; heroic and far more fitting than an articulated lorry.
Fire Convoy’s base robot mode looks… okay. The red and blue colour scheme evokes Convoys of the past, but from the waist down it reminds me of some of the mis-proportioned bot modes of the Beast-era toys. However, this is just the start.
Super Fire Convoy is an upgrade mode in which Optimus becomes a powered up version of himself – and he looks glorious.
The upgrade fixes all the proportions of the base robot mode, giving Super Fire Convoy a heroic silhouette. The addition of orange to the palette works wonders, giving the noble Cybertron leader a fresh new look. And then there’s the glorious chrome, which just makes him sparkle.
This is a stunning robot toy for any era. And yet, it doesn’t stop there…
Ultra Magnus – AKA God Magnus is… less striking. With legs all the way up to his biceps, it’s clear that the Cybertron’s second-in-command is making sacrifices for the alt-mode; another take on the familiar car transporter.
But, much like Fire Convoy, there’s another mode to come – because Magnus and Convoy combine to form God Fire Convoy, an absolute unit of an Autobot gestalt. My only experience of combiner teams are the classic Scramble City teams. God Fire Convoy is something else entirely, and it explodes my fixed concept of what Transformers can be.
God Fire Convoy looks good, great even. But Super Fire Convoy has stolen my heart. If only these weren’t only available in Japan, I lament. If only I wasn’t “too old” for toys.
Better to focus on learning the guitar and re-learning to walk. With visiting toy shops not something I do at the grand age of 17 (and not even possible while housebound) the UK release of the Car Robots toy line – re-named to Robots in Disguise in English – will completely pass me by. It’s another year before my Transformers renaissance truly begins.
2024.
The HasLab Omega Prime hits target in near-record time.
I’m older now, standing on my own two feet and more than comfortable being a toy collector. If ever there were an opportunity to finally experience Super Fire Convoy – in the greatest possible way – this is it.
I back the HasLab, and I don’t look back.
