Review – DX9 Cocomone

Third-party Transformers toymaker DX9 adapted their unofficial Mirage to create Cocomone*, a toy inspired by the 1983 Gobots character, Crasher. The result is a (mostly) successful and fun transforming robot design.

Vehicle Mode

An F-1 racing car, Cocomone* in vehicle mode looks good with the only flaw that open cockpit. It’s accurate to Mirage, yes, but the Crasher toy included a closed canopy and it would have been nice if DX9 had found a way to adapt this mold to include the canopy.

The cockpit issue is the only problem that I have with Cocomone* in vehicle mode; everything else — from the look to the rolling wheels (with rubber tires!) — is excellent and fun. Thw toy could have used a bit more paint detailing, but that’s easily fixed with a brush and paint if the minimal paint apps bother you all that much.

Transformation Design

Cocomone* has a satisfying transformation that’s not too complicated. The toy is generally a marked improvement over the Salmoore design (see review here) with one point in common: getting the arms of both toys neatly aligned when transforming into vehicle mode is a bit of a pain.

Fortunately, the arm issue with Cocomone* isn’t anywhere near as frustrating as the Salmoore design’s arms (see review here) and after a couple of transformations the parts are closing and connecting easier than they did at first.

Robot Mode

Once transformed, Cocomone* makes a great robot toy. Standing 6.25-inches tall, the robot has just enough articulation to be poseable without so much that getting everything aligned for transformation is annoying. There are a few more hollow spots than I like to see in a third-party design — the forearms are the worst offenders here — but the overall heft and feel of the plastic is high quality. Good design.

Actually, if it weren’t for the competition this would be the best example of a Masterpiece Mirage design out there. The toy is satisfying and fun all on its own, but once you play with Cocomone* and Mastermind Creations’ Sphinx together then the DX9 work starts to feel like the inferior design. Cocomone* is good, but Sphinx (shown below) is a much better toy.

Closing Thoughts

DX9’s Cocomone* is an excellent third-party Transformers design that feels like it was released about a year too late. Over the last few years the third-party toymakers have really upped their game, and this toy feels like it would have been a lot more popular and successful if it had reached us in 2013 or 2014. As it is, Cocomone* is an easy pass unless you’re simply a fan of the design and collecting every Mirage and Mirage clone out there.