Review – Unofficial Transformers Minions, Yin and Yang

I reviewed the basic Minions from BTS earlier this year (review here) and while I wasn’t completely happy with the toys the colors on this Yin and Yang set were just too bright and obnoxious for me to ignore. Unfortunately, the quality of these two is no better than the earlier run and, unlike the first run, one of these actually broke on me while trying to transform it.

Bright Colors

As you can see in the pics, Yin and Yang are very brightly-painted toys that take the Transformers Rumble and Frenzy character designs and make them something disgustingly bright to stare at. I’m not sure what these are supposed to be an homage to, but with colors like this I don’t care because both toys pop out when surrounded by other cassettes and my various Soundwave toys. Gorgeous colors and now I kinda wish the Warrior Type-R (review here) would be released in these colors since they would make great Constructicon-flavored Targetmasters.

Articulation

My earlier review of this sculpt covered the articulation fairly well BUT there’s one joint I missed: there is a neck swivel. My earlier Minions toys have the joint and required some twisting and pulling to make it work; fortunately, the joint worked perfectly on Yin and Yang and I had no problems at all swiveling the head from side-to-side. Be sure to check that earlier review for the complete articulation breakdown.

Pile Drivers

The batteries as pile drivers trick remains in effect, but one of the pieces snapped off on me as I tried to extend it so that I could attach the pile driver to the action figure. Last time one of these was jammed and I was slowly able to work it loose, but this time around it just twisted right off as I tried to extend the part. Very frustrating. I’m not sure if it was bad plastic, loose paint in a joint, or what, but something really welded those parts together and the plastic simply couldn’t handle the strain.

Closing Thoughts

Yin and Yang may just be recolored versions of an earlier release (original Minions review here), but when the colors are this bright and fun it is tough for me to resist ordering. I’m going to say avoid these, though, unless you’re specifically collecting variants on Soundwave and his cassettes. Neat colors, but there’s nothing here so amazing that a casual Transformers fan should feel that these are “must buy” toys.

Philip Reed really does like the colors and wishes his toy hadn’t broken. And while these aren’t horrible toys there’s just something about them that makes them less fun to play with than Philip expected. Yes, it’s easy to skip these.