After the PaleoMax Megazord was sold out in Jurong Point, the last known information brought me to Lot 1 Shoppers' Mall in Choa Chu Kang. Almost as remote as Compass Point, I was caught by surprise when there was only 1 box of Mach Megazord left in the pile. At this point, it seems that the PaleoMax Megazord was following closely behind the ValveMax Megazord's footsteps.
Given the short evening, I only had time for one last stop at Causeway Point, Woodlands. Quite a reverse situation as Causeway Point has a considerable flow human traffic but the Kiddy Palace had a huge stack of RPM Megazords; probably the largest pile ever since the new mark-down pricing...
Apparently, my action of flipping through the stack attracted the attention of some parents and kids which also started thinking of getting them as Christmas presents. Luckily, I was able to pick out a decent PaleoMax Megazord out of the remaining 5-6 boxes.
With the new acquisition, it's now 3 down 1 to go!
DX PaleoMax Megazord: A Brief Review
Note: There are no individual names for the PaleoZord (collective term for the train mode), so I'm going to refer to them as PaleoMax Mammoth, PaleoMax T-Rex and PaleoMax Triceratops.
First Impressions
The PaleoMax Megazord was slightly heavier than the Mach Megazord first out of the box, but plastic quality and sturdiness were comparable. In other words, it was also suffering the same issues as the Mach Megazord.
Nothing much for the paint applications since there wasn't much in the first place. Color-wise, the PaleoMax Mammoth wasn't show accurate - the toy has a cherry tint instead of maroon.
Design and Prototyping
Other than the obvious down-scaling, the PaleoMax Megazord underwent a couple of retooling and proportion changes. Aesthetically, the PaleoMax Megazord looks sleeker and more streamlined than Kyouretsu-Oh.
Like the Mach Megazord, the PaleoMax Megazord went through approximately the same reduction required to fit the new price-point. In addition, some functions of the individual zords are stripped as well.
Again, the down-scaling came at a price. The PaleoMax Megazord was not a very well-engineered piece of toy because some parts did not lock very well in Megazord mode, especially the torso and body.
The PaleoMax Mammoth still looked significantly large after the down-scaling which was nice. However, the interior was actually quite hollow and the various parts were locked together only by the wheels/Megazord arms. The trunk do not work and is now molded-on instead.
Both the PaleoMax T-Rex and Triceratops lost their chubby-selves in the transition so as to give the PaleoMax Megazord more proportionate legs. I can understand if the Falcon Copter and Tiger Jet had no wheels because kids would simulate them as flying. However, these two are freaking trains with no real wheels! I can only rely on the PaleoMax Mammoth to pull and drag in the train mode. Also, the leg connectors were not well-designed because they were part of the Engine Cell compartments, when constantly pulled in the long run, will become very loose.
Despite not having the ValveMax Megazord on hand, I also tried out the RPM Ultrazord configuration and the very first thing that annoyed me was the "mouth-piece" for Lion Hauler. It kept dropping off because the connectors don't really fit. The other major complain would be the two extremely loose arms (T-Rex and Triceratops). Basically, they literally just "hanged" there by the connectors and pose-ability is practically zero.
Conclusion
In the end, I still have to give credit to Bandai America which attempted to make the RPM Ultrazord affordable and yet functional in spite of the several flaws which I pointed out. The end result was 4 functional Megazords relatively similar in size and more streamlined than their Japanese counterparts. Consider it as a compliment.
While this is the third year that Bandai America is producing its own version of Megazords, I feel that they should continue to work and improve on the combination aspect as evident in the poor connector-and-joint designs. Having said that, the sad truth is that the target market is still kids who don't give a shit about quality. As long as the toy remotely resembles the representation in the show, it's "good enough". Therefore, if Bandai America really improve over the years, it should be considered as a bonus given the above mentality.
If you ask me, the DX PaleoMax Megazord is at most worth S$30.00; nothing more.
And for now, it definitely looks like it's impossible to find the ValveMax Megazord now...
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