Transformers Universal Monsters Frankenstein Deluxe (a big Deluxe)
Item No.: No. F7141 Manufacturer:Hasbro Includes:Blaster, energy piece Action Feature:Transforms from tank to robot Retail:$34.99 Availability: October 2023 Other: The third retool of Impactor, but the first one as a different character
When I first heard there was a sneak peek of a "Frankenstein Transformers" toy, I had no idea what to expect. But Frankentron is a pretty clever toy. Most crossovers to date have been reusing engineering or existing tooling, so it makes sense that this toy used the existing Impactor Siege tooling... which has, to date, been released four times. And all of them were Impactor. This one replaces the orange sprue with the head, hands, chest, accessories, and thighs with a new mold featuring green monster parts. And the results are really good - I'd love to know if they just picked a mold that had the biggest bang for the buck as part replacement goes, or just wanted to use Impactor since he was taller (and could probably command a higher price.)
It is worth noting that Impactor was a $20 deluxe, and now it's a $35 Frankentron that's fundamentally not a plussed-up figure. Is it work the asking price? If you like it, sure. The license costs money, although I'm surprised Hasbro is paying a licensing fee given that these characters - but not the Jack Pierce make-up or Boris Karloff likeness - are in the public domain. What's also amazing is how much this figure looks like Lockdown, who himself was inspired by - you guessed it - Frankenstein's monster.
As a robot, you get some really interesting changes to the existing mold. Frankentron's hands are rotating 90 degrees with the palms facing down - this lets him hold his arms out, lurching forward. The neck has a little wobble to it, so you can have him tilt his neck a bit. The legs have spikes on them, looking like they were made from other robots. The same is true of his chest and especially the head, which seems to be multiple helmets welded together. As much as I hate a 75% mark-up from a toy from just a couple of years ago, I will say the packaging is fancy and the head shows a lot of creativity. There are even tiny little neck-bolts, an exaggerated brow, and bright red eyes. It's a robot with a lot of personality given how much of him wasn't changed, which certainly makes me wonder what else Hasbro could do by just changing out one segment of parts on other figures. It's really clever.
Articulation is same as the previous release. I wish they had swivel wrists because he looks like he just watched a John Woo movie when he holds his cannon in his wrists, but honestly he looks better just holding his hands out.
Deco is good - I like the silver and grays, and I love the green. The painted interior of the shoulder cannon no doubt exists due to the blessings of the higher retail price, and there's a purple Decepticon symbol on his chest that disappears in darker rooms. There are also bigger ones on his shins, which I don't feel really show up unless light is directly glaring off of them. Given the character's nature is not exactly evil, I also wonder if it was necessary to give him a faction at all. On one hand, it gives him some character - but without it, he might not feel like he fits in with the rest of your collection.
Converting Frankentron is pretty easy. The wrists rotate in, the head tucks in the back, and there are a lot of fun flips and twists. Curiously, the 5mm holes behind the wrists are absent from the retool. His accessory becomes his tank cannon, and you can plug in the purple energy blast there if you like. Due to how silver paint reacts over time, and how any paint reacts to the clear energy blasts, I do not recommend keeping those pieces touching for the long-term. (A day, a week, fine - but not months at a time. That silver is probably going to come off.)
As a tank, it looks like Impactor in new colors. All the Frank parts are largely tucked away, but you have big Decepticon energy on the treads and it does look pretty cool. With little wheels and an articulated cannon, it does more than the average vehicle mode. Does it make sense for Frankenstein's Monster? I mean... it doesn't make any less sense than the monster as a robot, does it?
As a concept it works really well, but I'm a sucker for weird Hasbro monster toys. Remember the Xevoz Franken'Punker [FOTD #998]? That was cool, and so is this Given the fact that this toy uses a $20-$25 Deluxe toy that's about the size of a $35 Voyager, I don't feel that badly about paying the medium bucks. I've heard more companies justify strange crossovers (not this one specifically) in the sense of "fans want to express their fandom and buy something but not everybody wants an action figure or a model kit, so we made an XYZ." It strikes me as a weird choice - a movie from the 1930s, appealing to kids from the 1980s (and later), in 2023. But I guess I'm the weird monster movie fan who loves robot toys, so I see this as something I want despite having never seen Draculus on the shelves so I'm incomplete. Maybe it'll turn up on closeout some day soon.
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