Cliffbee.com Spyshot 6 Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Spyshot 6 (I've seen is officially as Spy Shot and Spyshot, I'm going to run with the latter)
Series: Real Gear
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Digital Camera



CAMERA MODE
Height: 6cm Width: 7.5cm Depth: 2.5cm

   A grey mini digital camera with silver around the lens, while the zoom is black. There's a silver painted flash on the top right (as you look at him), a transparent viewfinder on the left of the lens (which is actually pretty much in the middle) and on the bottom left there's "SPYSHOT 6" and an Autobot logo, which looks like a model name. On the left of the top edge there's a black button. The backside has a zoom button on the top left, an LCD screen there's a picture of Cybertron Ransack with some typical digital camera elements. The time is 7:47, a common theme amongst the Rear Gear toys. There are black black and forth buttons below the screen and couple of rounded buttons on the right. While he's not much to look at from below, from any other angle Spyshot 6 is a pretty good digital camera.

   Okay, so I've covered the colours and detailing all together - but then really the colours aren't much more than grey, silver and black - he's a realistic enough digital camera. Whilst Spyshot 6 is notably smaller than your typical digicam, this size is feasible (if unlikely). The details are all quite well done, and while the paint mask on the back could have included some button icons, at this pricepoint I can forgive this omission.

   There's not much play value here - again understandable at the pricepoint. The one element of play value Spyshot 6 does have is really cool, however. The button on top clicks - there's most likely a momentary switch mechanism inside, which works very well. Sure, he doesn't take photos, but the button makes pointing and shooting fun.

   A good camera mode with ample detail and sensible colours. He's only the second still camera Transformer, which counts for something. While there's no Reflector homage here, they share a rather scarce choice of alternate mode. It's a good update on the concept, and as with the Decepticon mail order toy, there's a fun shutter button play feature.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Everything more or less pivots around the lens, with the wider side becoming his legs and the narrow side and top becoming arms. while the head is stowed under the flashbulb. The transformation is highly asymmetrical, and while the limbs are also asymmetrical, the end result works well enough.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 11.5cm Width: 7.5cm

   A grey robot mode centred on the black and silver legs, Spyshot 6's robot only pieces are a gunmetal blue colour - namely his hands, thighs, shoulder struts and head. He has red circular eyes which have a spectacular lightpipe and a silver face. The shins are red and silver, the left foot is black and red and the right grey. The flashbulb sits at the top of his left shoulder. The colour scheme is more varied now, but still integrates both the camera colours and camera elements well.

   I like the focus (pun not deliberate!) on the lens. It's an elegant idea and makes for a very satisfying transformation - it would have been easy for the designer to simply unfold the box that is his camera shape any old how to make a robot with crap everywhere. Instead the lens makes for a great centrepiece, as well as a rather rounded torso. The forehead is a black pseudo-flash cube, which is cool. The back of his head is actually colourless, rather than the red plastic used for his eyes, which is interesting.

   While there aren't any gimmicks as such here, the poseability is great. His neck, shoulders, elbows and hips are ball jointed while the wrists are hinged, along with _both_ sides of his claws. The knees are hinged with rotators above them while his feet are large enough to ensure that action poses are generally stable. The hinges in his hands especially impresses me - neither Speed Dial 800 or Zoom Out 25x have any joints in their hand claws.

   A visually unusual robot mode thanks to the dominance of his lens, which forms a round torso. The poseability is great, along with the lightpipe. Spyshot 6 is surprisingly symmetrical for a toy with such an asymmetrical transformation. While I still think the camera mode is stronger, this is a great robot mode considering how ambitious his transformation is.

VARIATIONS

   None that I'm aware of. Photon T34 is a repaint of Spyshot 6.

OVERALL

   I'm really enjoying the Real Gear toyline - not only does it hark back to the Transformers' Microchange heritage, but it also represents a refreshing change from the standard stock of vehicles and animals. Spyshot 6 features the invention that's typical of this line. The camera mode is realistic enough, the robot mode comes off quite well considering how ambitious is transformation is. The transformation comes off well, and the robot mode is very poseable. While the only real gimmick of any sort here is the clicking shutter button, it's enough at this price point. Recommended to anyone who's a fan of G1 or smaller Transformer toys - 8.5/10

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