Did not notice my name was so close to Kohdok's...oops... >_>

Testing out some names..

Rubbish Reviews: Quick-Change Transforming System

By now, anyone has even the most basic of understands of toys knows what this is a rip-off of. Yep, you guessed it, that ever-popular series Transformers.  It's even got box art that looks suspiciously like Optimus Prime. (Apologies for the glare, still setting up a good place for pictures) Anyway, these can't be worse than Hawk Overlord, can it...?

To answer that question, yes, it can get worse. The basic figure of Hawk Overload, as flimsy as it was, made sense. The arms and legs were the correct lengths, etc. Quick-Change, however, just seems to try to create an appealing vehicle, or in our case, animals, and then shove a robot down its throat and hope it sticks.

For the animal forms, they're okay in terms of ascetics, aside from the non-sticking stickers. The designs were actually a lot more detailed than I thought they'd be, but that's not really saying much. When it comes to functionality, however, it trips on its shoelaces and falls flat on its face(s). There's no articulation in both the legs and the arms at all.  The only thing you could call articulation is in the bird-thing's wings, and that just allows it flap around awkwardly. In the end, you get a bird...like thing, and a humanoid shark. I can somewhat understand the bird, albeit the fact it's not a vehicle makes it seem completely out of place, but I'm not quite sure where a two-legged shark comes from. Atlantis? Maybe.

The robot forms are somehow worse, though. Didn't see that one coming, right? The arms are just tiny bricks of plastic, barely jutting out in front of its chest, or in bird-things case, nowhere. There's a small hole in each of the hands, as if there was supposed to be an accessory that came with this. The legs are just carved out sections of the plastic brick, heck, the bent-backwards animal legs keep it more upright than the actual legs do.

Upon further notice, I've found tons of scratches on bird-thing. Tsk tsk, Polyfect.

TL;DR Summary

Don't really feel like I got my two bucks worth.

Head's Up, Beyblade v. Battle Strikers

I figured I'd start off by doing something I have on me, but wasn't too terribly overdone. I thought about Beyblade, but then again, you can't go ten feet without stepping on one. On the other hand, there's Battle Strikers, but there's not a terrible amount to talk about with them. So, I decided to pit them against each other to see which is the better top.

This is not a clash of brands, but just of the tops themselves.

Left: Battle Striker, Right: Beyblade

To begin with stating the obvious, the Battle Strikers tops are bigger than Beyblade's. This may be due to the fact that Battle Strikers seem to be for younger children. Heck, even I can't fit in my mouth...not that I tired, or anything...it slipped...

The materials couldn't be more different. While Beyblade uses a metal ring with plastic attached, Battle Strikers are made of a hard plastic, which keeps it from getting damaged. This further supports the idea of it being for younger children rather than 12-15 year olds.

The Beyblade's packing was not able to found. (I think someone threw it away) >_<

Compared to the Beyblade packaging, the Battle Striker's is pretty bland. It's just a box with a picture, some numbers, and a red outline. Concerning the designs of the tops themselves, Beyblade's were the most interesting, while with Battle Strikers, it felt like if you got the one or two you wanted, you had them all. With Beyblade, the designs were so diverse and varied, it felt more like collectables. What also helped this was the fact the stats were better done than Battle Strikers, if it is a tad confusing at first.

Beyblade's smaller plastic tips compared to the ball and point tips of Battle Strikers

Freedom of use, however, is the one category Battle Strikers takes the lead on. I used to test the Beyblades on a stone surface, the closest flat surface at the time. I found out that the stone had begun to chip at the tip, taking off bits of plastic. However, I did not have this problem with either the ball or plastic of Battle Strikers.

TL;DR Summary

Beyblades are great examples of how something can be made into a collectable, although for them not to be damaged on the tip, you have to get their "Beystadium", which at the cheapest, is about 15 bucks.

However, if a child just wants to play with a semi-collectable top and doesn't really care about it all that much, or if they're still in the habit of putting things in their mouths or throwing toys around, Battle Strikers are your thing. Just remember, though, they may become obsolete.