Oh god, I love this package. It’s a standard looking box, but it has a pop up handle and its simply taped on the sides, so you can open it up like a cardboard briefcase and put everything back inside when you’re done. Cool and functional! Take a look at these boxes, Lego, because its so much nicer to open one of these rather than having to chew through the side of one of your boxes. Inside you get a meaty instruction book, a sheet of stickers, and a bunch of baggies that contain the 310 bricks. Each of the Kreons are individual baggied too. As we do with Lego, let’s start with the minifigs… er, um… Kreons!

So, the Kreons are indeed basically minifigs and they come in two types. You get some humans that can intereact with the Transformers Kre-O toys and you get some that are made to look like little super-deformed versions of G1 Transformers themselves. The Megatron set comes with two of the humans: A specialist and a cop; And two Transformers: Megatron and Shockwave. I absolutely love the Transformer Kreons, especially Megatron as he comes with a huge fusion cannon and an evil smirk. These little guys are just fun and highly collectible. I’m tempted to say Hasbro should be blind-bagging them, but right now I think the strategy is to use them as an incentive to buy the sets. The humans are ok, although I’m not sure what the Specialist is supposed to be all about. Nonetheless it is really cool to have little figures in scale with the Transformers.

Laying aside the Kreons, let’s move on to the pile of bits that will eventually become Megatron. I found building this set to be a lot more challenging than any Lego set I’ve done so far. I think part of the reason is that the instructions aren’t quite as clear as the ones in the Lego sets. There were a few times where I couldn’t quite figure out where the selected bricks were supposed to go until a little bit of time spent studying the picture. Another reason may have been the fact that the majority of this set is comprised of just three different color bricks: Black, grey and light grey, and there’s a fair number of the same bricks in different colors. It also doesn’t help that none of the baggies are numbered as with Lego sets, which means you basically have to dump all 310 pieces together and hunt for each piece in a much larger pile. Good thing you can use the box as a dump for all the pieces. I’m not complaining, mind you, I actually enjoyed the challenge and the fact that it took me so long to complete.                                    

The instructions first show the build to truck mode and then, starting from scratch again, show the build to robot mode. Yes, unlike those shitty Built To Rule sets Hasbro put out back in the Armada days, these Kre-O sets don’t transform, rather you build each version. It’s a cool idea that gives a lot more build value out of the sets, but it is kind of a bittersweet moment when you finish the first mode and realize its time to tear it apart to build the second.

Megatron’s alt mode is a truck cab similar to the one seen in Dark of the Moon. Typically with Lego sets, I tend to find the final result a lot smaller than I was expecting. That’s certainly not the case with Megatron here. The cab is huge and can seat two minifigs. It rolls along on its six wheels rather well and looks fantastic. Both doors open, the sideview mirrors are hinged, as are the claws on the front of the bumper. Megatron even has a little prison cell in the back of his cab. There are actually a number of left over pieces that are used for the robot and not the cab mode, but I managed to work everything onto my finished cab by getting a little creative, or just putting them on underneath where they won’t show. I think my only complaint here is that Lego vehicles are usually designed so the top can easily come off to seat minifigs inside. Metagron’s cab is so intricate that you really can’t do that and you’re left tucking them in from the side, or just building the cab around whichever Kreon you want in there.

So far, I’m really sold on Kre-O. This was a really fun and challenging build that creates a huge, fun toy, and I’ve only seen and done half of what this set has to offer. I love the fact that you can even put Lego minifigs in the cab, and if I compare it to the Lego City tractor trailer I own, it’s just massive by comparison. Tomorrow I’ll be back to take a look at Megatron’s robot mode. Until then… I’ve got some building to do!