Friday 11 September 2015

Review: DX9 Cocomone (Not-GoBot's Crasher)

I won't repeat my introduction to Salmoore (aka Cy-Kill), other than to say that I welcome more GoBots being made!

Salmoore was generally ok. There were a few things I wasn't overly keen on, but generally he was a good figure. The great news is Crasher is even better.




Like the Hasbro-released 'Fracture' from a few years ago, Cocomone started like as (not) Mirage and, being a straight-up repaint, she isn't perhaps as cartoon or original toy-accurate as fans would probably have liked. The major difference - as was with Fracture - is that her chest is white instead of black. Actually, having dug out Fracture, the colour scheme of Cocomone borrows a lot from that toy - such as the white spoiler and forearms. It's still definitely recognisable as Crasher despite these changes, however.


The one problem that does stick out for me is the head. In the cartoon Crasher permanently had either a giant maniacal laughing grim or an evil smirk, but Cocomone's is a (rather dull) neutral expression. I wish the budget would have stretched to include a new head sculpt for her.

I really like the transformation. It's simple (way simpler than Salmoore's) but effective. Having the car bumper fold and hide away in the stomach is nice. The rear wheels aren't brilliant, I will admit. You really have to pull and push to get them to lock/unlock (depending on the mode) and every time I do it I'm expecting the thing to break and come off.



While I'm on thoughts of breakage, I should point out that Cocomone is really well made. Quality is always the major concern (and risk if you pre-order!) when buying 3rd party robots, but the plastic quality here is high and all the joints firm. I had a few floppy bits on Salmoore so it's nice to see them completely gone with Cocomone. And she comes with rubber tyres!


Cocomone comes with one weapon (though retains the same packaging as Mirage so many people are likely to think a piece is missing as the missile-launcher space is empty). It's cast in a dull grey plastic and is devoid of paint. Needless to say it doesn't look great so, thanks to GoBots traditionally just shooting from their fists, I've just left this bit in the box.

In addition Cocomone comes with a card (actually made of plastic). This has a very GoBots-like 'Go DX9' logo, a nice (manically laughing) Cocomone picture on the other side and...that's about it. Every company - including Hasbro - seems to like including these cards but I completely fail to see the point.


If you own Salmoore, Cocomone is a necessary addition. Since Cocomone, despite her limited release, appears to still be very easily available I'm a tad worried we're never going to get a Cop-Tur (even if DX9 release a helicopter Transformer) to complete the villain trio, never mind any of the Guardians. I only own Cocomone and Salmoore, however based on these I will definitely be looking at any future releases from the company.

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