New Beast Hunters Kre-O Sighted at Retail: Beast Blade Optimus Prime and Ripclaw Strike

It's kind of a shame they aren't doing more classics characters in this line, but I can understand why they aren't, tying it in with Beast Hunters and all. I'm quite happy with Sideswipe, Ratchet and Bee, though I wouldn't mind finding Prowl and Megatron for cheap.

kenshen wrote:the design on these Kre-os are really attractive. but i've heard the plastic quality is kinda bad. one of the main reasons i'm avoiding the line

Who'd you hear that from? I wholeheartedly disagree, it's at least as solid as the average Lego stuff. That said, the tolerances on the hip joints are off on one in every few kreons, but it only causes a little stressing, it's not going to damage anything.

The scarcity of kreons in these sets is kind of a relief. I almost only ever buy the building sets to get the mini-figures (which means I had to wait for them to go on sale or clearance...or to end up on eBay). Most of the building sets just become fodder for displays.

As for the conversation on the quality of the building sets, my impression is that Kre-o relies more heavily on plates than bricks. Where a Lego set seems to stack up a couple of bricks, Kre-o seems more likely to ask the builder to layer two or three times the number of plates to achieve the same height or thickness...which, in my opinion, are often a real pain to take apart. It is harder to get a grip on plates than bricks, and many plates end up with little gouges on their edges cause by fingernails or instruments I've had to use as wedges to separate pieces.