Disney Label Transformers: Donald Duck

Have you ever wondered how can a Donald Duck transform? What he would be transforming into? Yes, basically the idea of blending transformers and Disney cartoon character is the main selling point for this Disney Label Transformers toyline. What I am going to share out today is the Disney Label Transformers: Donald Duck! This would be my 2nd Disney Label Transformers in my collection beside the earlier Mickey Optimus which i have shared previously. Still have the curiosity of finding out how a Donald Duck can be a transformer? Well, read on!

I basically like the Disney Label Transformers toyline. For me, it is unlike normal transformer. The blend of Disney characters into Transformers is really a bold and creative approach by Takara Tomy which does stand out being the unique piece of Transformers of its own. Moreover, the color and quality for the toy line is often very striking (or metallic) and better plastics (most often is of glossy smooth plastic) as compared to others.

The Packaging
One thing about the Disney Label Transformers is they have different color themed packaging for different robot. Remember the Mickey Optimus? It has red and dark blue and for this Transformer Donald, it has blue and yellow. Anyhow, the box is quite small as the robot is not much bigger itself.

Back of the box.

Alternate Mode: Volks-Donald
The alternate mode for the Transformer Donald is actually a cute, yellow colored and adorable Volkswagon Beetle-like vehicle. It does really fit in the cute characteristic of Donald: Round, fat and cute.

The overall color for the vehicle is glossy yellow color which makes the overall vehicle mode very stand out. Apart from yellow, metallic silver color can be seen throughout the front and back bonnet, the top of the vehicle and the window frame.

Notice that there’s a skateboard on top of the vehicle. That’s the only accessory he has and it is detachable. A point to note here, the connection between the skateboard and the vehicle is quite loose and the pegging doesn’t work well here.

See the small details like the wiper on the windscreen (which is not movable), the unique insignia he has and a smiling bumper . The headlights are painted instead of transparent plastic being used.

I particularly like this front smiling car design. It does make your day cheerful with bright yellow color and a big smile on it!

You can see there’s a smaller version of Donald Duck sitting inside the car which is of course one of the gimmick for the toy. I will touch more on this in the gimmicks section.

Here’s more details:  the smiley back bumper as well as you can see the metallic silver bonnet here. The rear car lights are painted in glossy red which does add in the overall coloring as well.

A striking blue is being used for the skateboard coloring.

Robot Mode: The Transformer Donald  Duck
Here you go with the Transformer Donald. You can see the little Donald is now on the head of the robot. The overall headpiece of the robot has a close resemblance of the cartoon, however, they have a minor tweak on it with goggles and HORNS (yes.. horns for the robot Donald) You can notice it more clearly in the rear view of the picture below.

Anyhow, the articulation for the robot Donald is quite limited especially the leg portion which you can only move upwards/downwards for both of the legs together and not individually. The arm portions also only has articulation on the joints between the arms and body.

Well, from the side profile, this robot Donald does have the cute characteristics of being fat, short and rounded!

You can notice the horns here closely. Does this mean he is being a Decepticon with the evil horn pointing out?

Here’s a close up of how the robot Donald will look like:

Transformation Process
The transformation is quite intermediate. This is especially true when 1st time transforming him with stiffer joints. There’s one part where you need to be caution when transforming him for the first time, i.e from Step 5 reversed to Step 4 (the package comes in robot mode). You have to bend the heads down to reveal the small Donald and here you really need some strength in bending it with caution of not breaking the neck.

Gimmicks, gimmicks, gimmicks…
Some of the gimmicks for the Transformer Donald:

Conclusion
Overall the Transformer Donald is colorful, cute and really adorable in both mode. It’s really worth collecting as the quality and QC is quite good. However, there’s a downside for it, i.e. the joining pegs for the skateboard doesn’t work really well while in vehicle mode as well the robot mode. And moreover, for those who like to pose with their robots, i guess this piece of collection is a big NO NO for them as he has really limited articulation which i guess he only has a single pose? If you just don’t like fancy poses, guess this is quite a cool and cute piece to have.

My personal rating for this collection is 8.5/10.

If you are interested in getting it, guess you have to be fast. It is getting lesser and lesser in the market nowadays as it has been in the market for quite sometimes. Or if you would like to have the black & white version, there are still a lot in the market (which i saw in Graffiti Toys @ Times Square Malaysia) selling at a dirt cheap price. Here’s a snapshot of how the black and white version would look like:

Or you are being adventurous on having very unique design of him, you can try scouting for the Halloween version which is quite rare actually.

Well, i guess blue and yellow still my cup of tea for him afterall 🙂