Review – HeadRobots’ Cobra Blue Soldier “Snake”

HeadRobots is a company producing unofficial transforming robot toys designed to be used with classic Headmaster Transformers toys. I was doing a pretty good job of just admiring these toys without getting involved, but as soon as the G.I. Joe-themed variant popped up on my radar (mentioned here) my resistance broke down and I ordered one for myself. I may not have any Headmasters, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a little robotic snake tank.

Packaging

A customized clamshell and backing card, this is an excellent design that I’m gonna keep. A great homage to the classic G.I. Joe action figure packaging of the eighties, this “H.D.Robots” card gives us the “Snake” robot illustrated on the front and a file card on the back. It’s a fun, silly package that was clearly created by people who love both Transformers and G.I. Joe.

Head Mode

With Cobra Commander-coloring, this transforming robot toy is ready to turn any Headmaster Transformer into a design that brings a little Cobra into a Transformers collection. Since I don’t have a Headmaster to test the toy on the best I can do is point you at this review at Random Toy Reviews. The review author, Flywheels, shows the robot attached to Skullcruncher (Transformers wiki) and reportedly the new head is a great fit. Neat! And this makes me want to find a headless Headmaster so that I can give “Snake” here a body.

Robotic Snake Tank Mode

Flip out the top of the head, swing the entire piece up, fold the head over, pop out the tail, attach the gun . . . bam! One robotic snake tank ready for battle! It’s a good thing that the transformation is so simple because there aren’t any instructions included with the toy. At first I thought my toy was busted, but checking out the photos at the official site slowly led me through all of the steps. It’s cool that I eventually figured out the transformation, but the lack of printed instructions is a serious flaw with what’s otherwise a neat toy.

Impressive Sculpt, Disappointing Paint

I suspect the toy was designed in a computer program, because everything’s tight and the details are so mechanical that if someone sculpted this by hand then I’m seriously impressed. As it is I’m very happy with the toy’s sculpt; the treads, detailing on the cobra “hood,” and even the “face” in head mode all look great.

Unfortunately, the sculpt isn’t a good fit with the paint. Molded in blue and black plastic with silver and red paint, this toy has minimal paint aps and would have benefited from a wash.

It’s a minor complaint, but it’s sad to see such a neat sculpt hidden behind plain, uninspired paint.

Closing Thoughts

Priced at $25 over at the HighEndTFs webstore, this exclusive colorway is slightly more expensive than the basic colorway but it’s such a cool concept I had to grab one. Unfortunately, it’s not as neat in-person as I was expecting; not owning a Headmaster to use with the toy is more of a drawback then I had anticipated.

I’ve gotta say that this toy is one to skip unless you’re either a hardcore Transformers fan or have an old headless Headmaster that you’re willing to paint to match the “Snake” colors. I wish I could rave about how fantastic this is and how much you need it in your collection, but the $25 is about $5 to $10 too high for me to send all of you out after your own.

I’m gonna keep my eyes on HeadRobots — they’re releasing Hothead this summer — but until I get a headless Headmaster or two this “Snake” is going to be the only toy of theirs that I buy.

Philip Reed constantly wonders how small groups keep producing Transformers-related toys without Hasbro stepping in and stopping them. It’s cool that so many third party Transformers toys are hitting the market, but how have these not been crushed by lawyers?