Name: Power Up VT6
Series: Movie Tie-ins
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alternate Mode: Handheld Games Consoles
Thanks to Goktimus Prime for loaning me Power Up VT6, making this review possible.
CONSOLE MODE
Height: 5cm Depth: 2cm Width: 11cm
A grey handheld games console, wider than he is tall. Power Up VT6 features black sides and a screen in the centre. On the screen we see a picture of Cybertron Jetfire, some scores and indicators, a crosshairs and a Decepticon logo in the bottom right corner. The right side (as we look at it) of the console features four game buttons - red, blue, yellow and green, the left side has a single black button pad, under the screen are two more small black buttons. There are purple buttons on the top corners, rounding out a fairly simple yet credible colour scheme. The screen is a bit a cheesy and I'm not quite so sure about the purple button, but these are pretty minor issues really.
There's really not all that much to this mode - it's a box with screen and buttons. To be fair to Power Up VT6, that's exactly what most handheld gaming devices are. He lack any obvious cartridge port or disc bay, which is really the only other aspect I could ask for - but this isn't something I'm worried about. I'm more pleased with the fact that the are no gaping holes or anything along those lines.
We don't get much play value - I wouldn't expect him to contain any sort of actual game at the basic pricepoint. The coloured buttons and directional button pad have springs or something underneath, so you can press on these buttons. While he's small, he is big enough to be held - and potentially played with - in adult hands.
A good console mode, although considering the shape required, that wasn't too much of a challenge. Don't get me wrong, Hasbro could easily have done the thing in fluorescent orange or something - but didn't. The buttons are cool, the screen is decent if cheesy.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Pull down the sides to form the legs, plug the groin pieces together and rotate his boots. Pull the purple buttons out to the sides and down, forming the arms. This also pushes the head out from the top of the robot. It's a very simple - and unimaginative - transformation. It's essentially a copy of Soundwave, without the effort than made the same idea work in 1984.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 12.5cm Width: 8.5cm
A grey, black, fluorescent green and purple robot. The chest, arms and shins are grey while his shoulder struts, head, thighs and elbows are black. His feet, crest and mouth are green and his eyes are transparent green. The hands, hips and groin are purple. The green eyes make for a great lightpipe, the eyes look very Little Green Man which is kinda cool. The legs are a mess, with big gaps in the front and the green feet looking very gaudy. The cheesy picture on the chest really looks bad here - Power Up VT6 really feels like a knock off now.
As much as I like the eyes, I don't think much at all of his legs and throwing in the chest panel really kills Power Up VT6 for me. Leaving the screen sticker on the front doesn't show much imagination - in this sort of design the sticker has to work for the robot mode, and it doesn't. Anyway, the Decepticon logo on the screen is again visible, and this is again his only allegiance symbol.
Power Up VT6's poseability is decent, if slightly below the high standard which seems to be the norm for the Real Gear line. The head turns, his shoulders rotate and lift out to the sides while his elbows are ball jointed - although they bend inwards. The hands are pincers which don't close, although the wrists can fold in. His hips are ball joints and there are rotators below them. His knees only fold forward, and there's nothing approaching ankles. So his arms are fairly poseable but the legs don't offer too much movement, I'm afraid.
Easily his weaker mode, and Power Up VT6's robot mode is the weakest amongst the Real Gear line to date, in my opinion. The poseability isn't poor - but it's not as good as the other Real Gear toys. The screen on his chest is really cheesy - I wish the designer had covered it up or used a slightly more appropriate sticker. The colours should work, but the green is awful and the purple a little too random.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of. Hacker X3 is a repaint of Power Up VT6, in similar colours.
OVERALL
The only Real Gear toy I've skipped to date. Granted the console idea itself doesn't especially interest me, but then either did the gamepad, but I'm a big fan of High Score 100. The fact is the display is cheesy and the robot really suffers because of this. I don't watch to fixate on this aspect - but it overshadows everything else on an already mediocre robot mode. On the upside, the console mode is fairly good. Not enough for me to like this toy, but works well - 4.5/10
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