Disney Label Donald Duck Review

Sunday, February 28th, 2010 2:02AM CST

Categories: Toy News, Reviews
Posted by: Blurrz Views: 44,301

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In summary, it's a cute novelty and a fun, if flawed figure....

Japan Resident and Seibertron.com member Diem has gotten his hands on the latest Disney Label figure - Donald Duck. Disney Label mixes Transformers and Disney characters into one. The first was Mickey Mouse and Optimus Prime, while this time around Bumblebee and Donald Duck are as one. However the third figure in Disney Label line, Buzz Lightyear does not resemble a Transformer, but simply transforms. Check out what Diem has to say about the Takara figure below.

Like his precursor Mickey-Robo he's a scout-sized figure with a voyager-sized pricetag and has been designed more for display or novelty.

He's got a couple of fun features in robot mode. His snorkel can slide up onto his forehead, and pressing a button on the top of his hat makes his mouth open and close for traditional Donald-style incoherant ranting. The "real" Donald is inside Donald-Robo's head and automatically pops up when the head is turned. Unlike Mickey he comes with an accessory: a surfboard which is rather awesomely styled to look like Donald's body with a yellow beak-like section and a red cross on a blue background. The surfboard (or skateboard, I guess) has a minicon-esque button on it; plugging the board into Donald's foot causes the engine and exhaust pipes to pop up.

The figure itself is fairly hit-and-miss. He boasts only modest articulation (ball-jointed shoulders, rotating neck, waist and ankles, flip-down feet) and suffers from kibble-issues. His car doors are stuck on his arms and his headlight farings are stuck to his legs. Worst of all, his car mode bonnet, roof and boot all end up on his back as kibble. It's not an unforgivable problem since Donald canonically has a lot of junk in the trunk and the silver used for the car parts is the same as the silver used for his hands, face and lower torso (ie. what would be white on the "real" Donald) so the kibble does look kinda like a tail. It restricts his waist movement though. Also his hands are moulded open.

Transformation is way tricker than on Mickey. I would have felt confident that a young child could easily transform Mickey but Donald is nore elaborate. He's something of a shellformer and folding his various little tabs and pegs in. It'll present no problem to anyone who's transformed a movieverse figure or Universe Sunstreaker but it may be worth noting for anyone planning to buy this for kids.

The car mode is very small and neat with a small amount of undercarriage kibble but no other real problems. The driver Donald pops up semi-automatically and is seated in the middle ofvthe car, oddly enough. The surfboards mounts neatly to the top of the vehicle. I like the faction badge on the front

I guess his paint scheme in vehicle mode is one of the big points of contention for most fans. The bonnet, roof and hood appear to be styled after Herbie the Love Bug while the doors and wheel-arches are yellow. I'm not going to go into possible explanations or excuses as to why this is but I think the colours will grow on people. It's not unusual to see real life cars (especially beetles, and especially at the beach) having paint jobs like this.

In summary, it's a cute novelty and a fun if flawed figure but it's up to you whether you can afford to drop that kind of money. The figure is obviously far less TF inspired than Mickey who was more or less half Disney, half Optimus Prime, so it may be harder to justify fitting it into your collections.

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Credit(s): Diem

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Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050480)
Posted by Mykltron on February 28th, 2010 @ 3:35am CST

I thought these things were delux size. Wow, they are so over priced, especially as, after importing, the price would be close to Leader price tag!

I'd have thought if you have Mickey then Donald would be easy to fit into the collection as Mickey acts as a transition.

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050500)
Posted by Diem on February 28th, 2010 @ 6:29am CST

Mykltron wrote:I thought these things were delux size. Wow, they are so over priced, especially as, after importing, the price would be close to Leader price tag!

They are hilarously pricey. They seem to be selling well though.

I'd have thought if you have Mickey then Donald would be easy to fit into the collection as Mickey acts as a transition.

With Mickey, the transformer-to-Disney ratio is about 1:1. This figure however is far less transformer-y. I think it may be a bridge too far for a lot of fans, especially since the forthcoming Buzz is not transformer-y at all (apart from transforming)

If I had my way Mickey would've come with a keyblade and Donald with a magic wand.

Blurrz wrote:Thanks buddy. Nice Drossel in the background

Thanks! If you look carefully you can see Bludgeon stealthily hiding behind some Febreeze. You'll have to look really really hard to see Waldo though.

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050508)
Posted by Mach on February 28th, 2010 @ 7:24am CST

I think the little ducky is shorter than Mickey, am i right?

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050510)
Posted by Diem on February 28th, 2010 @ 7:32am CST

Real Devastator wrote:I think the little ducky is shorter than Mickey, am i right?

Sure is:

Also:

Transforming:

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050524)
Posted by Dead Metal on February 28th, 2010 @ 8:21am CST

Does he come with an alternate "insane angry" face and an axe?

God I think this is the most hilariously badass official TF toy of all time. But freaking hell is he expensive, but damn I want him.

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050570)
Posted by cannonfodder4000 on February 28th, 2010 @ 12:40pm CST

DROSSEL!

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050571)
Posted by Dr. Richtofen on February 28th, 2010 @ 12:41pm CST

am i the only one hoping for kingdom hearts themed remoldes?
i know it wont happen, but a guy can dream, cant he?

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050578)
Posted by kirbenvost on February 28th, 2010 @ 12:58pm CST

Bloody tears wrote:am i the only one hoping for kingdom hearts themed remoldes?
i know it wont happen, but a guy can dream, cant he?

Probably not, but it could be cool. Hah, I was actually brainstorming ideas for more with my girlfriend the other day. How about:

Captain Hook as Megatron (turns into a pirate ship with cannon)
Jafar as Galvatron
Baloo as Grimlock
Stitch as... I dunno, but he'd be cute as a robot, no?
Reflector as Huey, Dewey and Louie?
Gizmoduck as Prowl (best idea ever)

The ideas could go on and on! I actually think this line is pretty cool, as long as they keep the TF references. If not...meh. We're skipping Buzz.

Anyway, nice review Diem, thanks! I've already been commited to buying this guy for my girlfriend for some time, but it's nice to know he's still pretty cool, if a little flawed.

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050587)
Posted by icenemesis on February 28th, 2010 @ 1:38pm CST

tiny little guy isn't he. i thought he would at least be bigger than a scout class. Pass. still cute though.

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050702)
Posted by Liftgate on February 28th, 2010 @ 8:20pm CST

Maybe the stripes are homage to Animated Bumblebee?

He sure is tiny though, seeing him next to a G1 combiner really puts his size in perspective. Somehow I thought these guys would be more like Voyager size, their price and proportions fool one into believing that I think. Still want them though, hope they won't be overpriced too badly at Botcon.

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050785)
Posted by Mykltron on March 1st, 2010 @ 5:54am CST

Diem wrote: They are hilarously pricey. They seem to be selling well though.

I'm glad you find it funny!

Diem wrote:I'd have thought if you have Mickey then Donald would be easy to fit into the collection as Mickey acts as a transition.
With Mickey, the transformer-to-Disney ratio is about 1:1. This figure however is far less transformer-y. I think it may be a bridge too far for a lot of fans, especially since the forthcoming Buzz is not transformer-y at all (apart from transforming)

What a great paragraph!

I'm waiting for a Duckman repaint. It's not Disney and I still won't buy it but I think it'd be funny.

Re: Disney Label Donald Duck Review (1050810)
Posted by El Duque on March 1st, 2010 @ 9:00am CST

Damn, these things are tiny. Never realized they were that small until seeing them posed with those ROTF Scouts.