Biklonz toys
 

If these don't quite fit the forum's Tokusatsu theme, I apologize, but I thought these were similar enough to Sentai mecha that they'd appeal to you guys.

I recently received Taurus, Leo, Aries, and Scorpio in the mail. They're the initial four figures of the line, and they're really cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZpSU1Ojp-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb5A1vykmZc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaT8kM32hDI

Taurus and Scorpio are the standout figures of the four, they're just more solid and make better combiner parts than Leo or Aries.

Here's the picture of the teased 5 part combiners:

http://i.imgur.com/qnVkZcEl.jpg

I'm hoping that combiner is awesome, but I have my worries because of some problems I've noted with Taurus and Aries. Basically they can't properly form feet without putting a lot of stress on the same clips used to keep them together in animal mode.

For Taurus the tab used to lock the head into robot mode isn't long enough to reach without forcing the clip to hold the entire figure in a state of light stress. This can be mostly mitigated by telescoping out the bull's shoulders so there's more room to move, but that pushes the combiner peg into an odd angle, which might affect stability.

For Aries the ram's horns prevent the head from tilting back far enough to align the tab with the clip. To connect them you need to bend the horns out of the way, which means the horns will be putting a lot of pressure on the clip. I actually solved this by cutting small corners out of the horns so the hinge can fit, so I think it'll be fine.

They're not terrible problems, and otherwise the figures are really cool, but this kind of oversight brings back bad memories of the Star Dino Team. I remain optimistic, though, because Young Toys has a great track record with combiners:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADPF4Ja5zII

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJQQlOrtvdc

Quadrant is especially cool. It soundly beats Bandai at the Sentai mecha game, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Oh wow, I remember the car combiner (Tobot?) was shown a few months back. These are awesome! Where can we buy them?

You can find a lot of stuff on Amazon now.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...keywords=tobot

eBay works, too, but availability and prices are volatile. You can usually find the single figures for under $40+shipping if you shop around a bit, though.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw...tobot&_sacat=0

Taobao has them, too, but I have never ordered anything from there. My understanding is it can be a bit of a hassle.

http://www.taobao.com/product/tobot.html

Yahoo Japan seems to only have a limited selection. I also don't know much about ordering from Yahoo Japan.

http://auctions.search.yahoo.co.jp/s...erce&ei=euc-jp

If you're asking about more reliable online retailers, like HLJ or BBTS, I haven't found any, and I certainly have never encountered any preorders for Tobots. However, according to various articles I've read over the months Young Toys is trying to spread out of Korea and into the broader Asian market, with the US as an option.

This is really good news because some Tobot figures, like the X+Y combiner figure, Titan, are hard to find now. It'd also hopefully make it easier to keep up with new releases. For example, I'm trying to hunt down the new Adventure X figure, but no listings have shown up yet.

One nice thing, though, is Young Toys has an extremely active Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TOBOTYOUNGTOYS/videos

It's not subtitled, but you can watch the show there, see their commercials for new releases, and even see demos of their toys.

Hopefully they become more easily available internationally. Even a minor expansion would make them easier to get.

I'm kinda surprised BBTS hasn't at least put up preorders for Tobots yet just to gauge interest.

Then again, I have no idea how much other people know about Tobots. I think my perspective is a bit skewed because Youtube keeps suggesting Tobot videos to me, and I know where to look, so from my point of view their internet presence has exploded.

EDIT:

I sent this email to BBTS to see if Tobot preorders might be a possibility in the future:

Sorry but it isn't a matter of them being similar to sentai mecha. Unless it's a toy from an actual tokusatsu it doesn't fit with this sub forum, so this thread is being moved toe General Discussion.

Man i want those Biklon toys now, and the more tobot's i see the more i want them all

Found a CG picture of the 5 part combiner:

http://i.imgur.com/D3ST3H5.jpg

I like how bulky it is.

I just love that bulky aesthetic too. Really hope these guys get more exposure so we can see what they're like.

I found this at lunch today and haven't stopped looking at it. There are two things I would like to see from this line.
1) This mecha's name be Ursa Major
2) A sixth mecha the forms a wingback/chest plate and sword and shield, with a possible mask or helment.