Review – Polar-Light Transforming Robot

Sometimes it’s fun to type in a search for “transforming robot” (Amazon.com search*) just to see what happens. Well, every now and then what happens is that you score an unidentified transforming robot toy on eBay that’s totally worth the $10 you wind up paying . . . and this is one of those times.

Great Colors

This teal transforming robot with yellowed-gold accents, gray detailing, and orange claws is really striking to look at. The paintwork is a bit sloppy, but nothing’s so dramatically off to ruin the charm of the design. I’m completely happy with the work considering it’s a junky little robot toy made by a company I’ve zero experience with. This feels like something I should have found at a flea market and I wish there had been a package; the toy came in pieces in a baggie and I had to snap on the turret and parts onto the legs.

Articulation

While not a brick-like robot from the eighties, this Polar-Light transforming robot doesn’t feature the elaborate ball joint articulation of a lot of newer designs. The legs have a pair of swivels on each hip (for transformation), swivel shoulders, swivel hinge elbows, and that’s it. Every joint is designed around transformation and the head, which doesn’t swivel at all, folds forward into the chest cavity as its only trick. Knee articulation? Nope.

A Fun Design

About seven-inches tall, this Polar-Light transforming robot is a lot of fun to transform between modes because the transformation design is quick and easy. I sometimes feel like designers create transformation designs as engineering puzzles and not as playthings, so seeing a cheap robot toy with a fun transformation design is a joy. I personally am not a fan of the head — too Bayverse-styled for my tastes — but if a design similar to this with more G1-styled head and chest appeared I would grab it up immediately.

Tank Mode

This robot transforms into a standard “H-Tank” like we see in a lot of Transformers fiction and I’m now left wondering about the lineage of H-Tanks in Transformers toy history. Hardhead (see the TFWiki) in 1987 was the first H-Tank, right, but has anyone ever constructed a comprehensive history of H-Tanks in the transforming robot genre? I’d like to see such a thing!

This transforming robot H-Tank design isn’t as compact and nice as the Transformers Generations Warpath* design from Hasbro, but it is functional and works surprisingly well considering this guy actually has a third mode . . .

Scorpion Mode

Below you can see the toy’s final mode. By rotating the rear arms of the H-Tank and extending the claws, then revealing legs and folding the gun barrel, you can create an enjoyable robot scorpion mode that is making me wish I had this toy in Scorponok colors. Those rear legs in scorpion mode aren’t holding up any weight — the toy’s actually resting on the tracks — but the design looks cool. The barrel folding into a tail is a pretty decent trick.

Closing Thoughts

The plastic isn’t the greatest, the scorpion legs don’t like to stay on, and the head is too movieish for me, but this Polar-Light transforming robot looks exciting enough that I can ignore the negatives and just be happy displaying this robot in my collection. I’m still unsure where to display it — do I put this with bootlegs, or does it go with old robots? — but that’s a non-problem that I’ll solve soon enough.

I’d be happy to see one of the third party Transformers toymakers attempt a recreation of this design, improving the basics and going for a Scorponok-inspired coloring. At the size, though, I suspect they would charge $100 or so for the finished design. Ouch!