Cubrar is the latest release from Fansproject, and is their second entry into their transforming dinosaur line. It took us some time to get our hands on it due to an order mishap but Kapowtoys was able to deliver! The figure was for my son, another figure that he saved up for and upon arrival immediately went to town on it. He was transforming the figure left and right and could not wait to take pictures of it. Every time my sons start playing with a modern version of a toy from youth (decades ago) it makes me shed a tear.
Cubrar is a fantastic figure and works much better than Columpio (who I liked). The dino-mode and robot modes are a ton of fun to play with and the transformation is complex enough to give me challenges. I’m still not certain which mode I prefer more, dino or robot, which is a good thing as it keeps me interested in the toy. I can create scenes with him ravaging towns as an over sized dinosaur or playing the hero as part of an Autobot squadron.
There is a lot of debate about the aesthetics of Fansproject, personally I like the look as they stay true to the CHUG (Classics, Henkei, Universe, Generations) that they’ve tried to emulate in their lines. Cubrar, and Columpio for that matter, are large figures in the Voyager class range and fit well with the Fall of Cybertron Grimlock. For now at least, we know that Fansproject was looking to do their version of a transforming Tyrannosaurus.
Fansproject plastic always gives me the willies, it never feels like industrial grade “throw the toy at your fence and it won’t break” plastic. Rather it has the feel of hobby kit plastic and I am always concerned about forcing a part and it snapping right off in my hand. When I play with the figures they aren’t constantly posed like Marvel Legends, rather they inherit a pose and pretty much stick with that one pose. But then these aren’t being bought for the rough play factor. They are being bought to transform and to display.
Additionally there is minicon thing that comes with the figure. I have no idea who it is supposed to be, some throwback to the Diaclone Driver. I got that far in my research and had to stop since I realized I would be traveling into a slippery dark path of Japanese Transformer history and would be lost for hours in nostalgia. What you need to know: he’s little, cool, and transforms into the robot mode weapon. And in dino-mode drives the beast!
Playing with Cubrar and Columpio really take me back. It’s hard to say how much of the Transformers cartoon I really remember these days but I remember the Dinobots being super cool and the toys were tons of fun. I’ve purchased some of Hasbro’s dinos over the years but none of them have really wowed me in the same way that Fansproject’s dinos are currently wowing me. If you aren’t a collector of 3rd party transforming toys then this is an easy pass for you. But for those of you out there that don’t care about where the toy came from because you just want transforming Dinobots then this is the toy for you. In robot or dino mode Cubrar looks fantastic.
You can still pick up Cubrar at BigBadToyStore.
