Review – Transformers Collection Perceptor
NOTE: This is another older review (see Transformers Collection Inferno review) from 2009 that I thought I should move to battlegrip.com where it will be safer and I’ll have more control over what happens to it. I would hate to lose the review . . . even if it’s old and I have learned a lot since 2009.
Originally released in Japan, then released in the US, and then taken back to Japan, Perceptor (search Amazon.com*) is a working microscope that spent a lot of Transformers Season Two (back in the eighties, for those of you just joining the Transformers universe) acting like he knew what he was talking about. Perceptor was one of those annoying characters in the cartoon but I loved him anyway; I’ve got a weakness for robots with shoulder cannons.
Sculpt
For a toy from the 1980s, Perceptor actually looks pretty nice. His robot mode is far superior to his microscope mode (which has some questionable design decisions where the arms fold up and the entire base of the microscope looks terrible), and Perceptor has lots of clean, smooth lines and beautifully sculpted robot details. The face is your basic Transformers-style head from 1985 – mouth shield and eyes – but it’s functional and recognizable so it works.
Paint
I’m giving Perceptor a low mark in his paint score for one reason: paint wasn’t really a part of this toy’s design. Every piece – except for the face and the silver detail on the top of his forehead – is cast in its color and any color details on the body parts is executed with stickers (which came pre-applied in this reissue, so that was a nice touch). The paint on the eyes, mouth shield, and forehead detail is well applied, but there’s so little of it that the painters couldn’t help but get it right.
Articulation
I’m giving Perceptor a higher articulation score than he probably deserves, but that’s only because he has better articulation than most Transformers toys from the eighties. Perceptor’s arms swivel at the shoulders, his elbows and knees are hinged, and his hips swing outward (Perceptor can do the splits). Every point of articulation on this guy exists solely to enable his transformation; the Transformers designs from the eighties weren’t really designed as action figures so the toy designers didn’t add any extras beyond what it took to get the robot from one mode to the next.
Fun
Perceptor’s fun because he’s a transforming robot microscope that works. Sure, he doesn’t have much in the way of magnification, but twist the knob on the microscope and he can focus on whatever tiny thing you place in front of him. He’s also fun because the designers armed him well – Perceptor’s missile launcher is spring-loaded so you can fire missiles at other toys in your collection – and even went so far as to give him a pretty crude tank mode. And at 7-inches tall, Perceptor towers over most of the mid-sized Transformers from the eighties; who would have thought this robot microscope could give the great Optimus Prime a run for his money when it comes to toy height? Well, Perceptor’s actually taller than the original Prime robot.
Value
This reissue was pretty expensive, coming in at about $50, but I was mostly paying for nostalgia and not an awesome toy. There’s no argument that most of today’s Transformers toys are far superior designs to the toys from the eighties, but there’s something exciting in owning a piece of Transformers history. If I was comparing his value to that of an original, MIB Perceptor I’d place this guy at a 10. As it is, though, comparing him to other toys on the market today, Perceptor isn’t a good value.
Philip Reed has even more reissue Transformers toys that he hasn’t reviewed. He should do that.
