Looking back at one of the best pieces from one of the best unlicensed TF companies.
Producer: Maketoys
Price: Approx. $400 USD on original release and $370 for the upcoming reissue.
Release Date: 2016 (Reissue est. 2022)
Item Height: Approx. 11.25 in.
Item Weight: N/A
Batteries: N/A
WHERE TO BUY: The Toy Source (Reissue)
Maketoys has had a preorder up for a reissue of their highly praised Guardia set for going on two years now. With constant release date delays I recently repurchased this set secondhand and really grew a strong appreciation for it that I didn’t have the first time I owned it years back. Not being a big fan of the Transformers G1 “Defensor” combiner team the Guardia set homages, it was easy for me to not pay it much attention compared to things homaging characters I had more attention to. However now being at a bit of a lull and having more time to focus on this set I can honestly say that the Guardia team is not only some of Maketoys’ best work but some of the best 3rd-Party, unlicensed Transformers stuff I own in general. I decided to go ahead and review it again them all again from a different perspective and updated photo and video equipment so check out this article and let know what you think in the comments.
Presentation: I can’t speak for how the reissued set will come packaged but the originals were sold individually and packaged as such. All of them come in a nice, thicker cardboard box eith the products secured inside of plastic clamshells. The boxes themselves feature really nicely laid out graphics showing the off the products in their robot and vehicle modes.
Build: They’re all plastic pieces and well made outside of Axle (Groove.) On that particular figure there was a poor diecast material used for the waist, kickstand, handlebars, exhaust pipe, and struts that connect its feet to the rest of the body. This material legitimately crumbles apart at no fault of the user and 100% of these produced are prone to breakage. It’s really unfortunate because the figure is very well designed but so poorly constructed that it really takes away from the value of the set as a whole.
Accessories: Each of the individual bots comes with 1-2 guns that all combine into two larger guns for the combined Guardia to hold. Katana also comes with a sword hidden within its propellers that also transformer into a holster for said sword. All of the weapons are nicely designed and have storage in the individual alt. modes but I wish that the blasters were able to store in the individual and combined bot modes.
Articulation: Both the individual bots and combined mode on Guardia feature articulation that are well above average. It’s so crazy having a combiner set where 4 of the 5 individual bots have double jointed elbows/knees, ab crunch, etc. etc.. Definitely check out the video portion because it all really shines in this regard.
Overall Score: 8.5/10 – This set would be an easy 10/10 score if it weren’t for Axle being so poorly constructed. I’d even give it more points if I could say “as long as you get a Guardia set with a good Axle” but unfortunately that isn’t even possible.
MakeToys Guardia Set for yourself, order yours at The Toy Source.
