L-26 Rocket Base comes with
exclusive Shining Edison. Shining Edison is done in dark clear
green color. He also has green color LED bulb. He is
probably the only reason many fans will buy the Rocket Base.
Accessories
Shining Edison Energy Backpack
Micro Rocket Base
includes a mini-comic book which also double as catalog. The comic
book interestingly ended with Arthur left on Earth with Shakunetsu,
while Edison, Odin, Walt and Izam blasted off into space.
In vehicle mode, the mobile launch
pad can hold a LED Microman figure nicely inside the drive seat.
The rear gunner seat however is just a bit too small but the LED
Microman figure will sit inside with some adjustment.
Alternatively, the rear gunner seat can easily accommodate the old Magne
figure.
The rocket itself can be remove and
transform into a space ship. Microman figure can be seat inside
the rocket cockpit. Interesting, the figure will fit inside with
cockpit with the door either open or closed. In a closed position,
the Microman appeared as if he is the astronauts ready to be launch into
space.
Below is a picture of Micro Rocket
Base in base mode. The base come with several ramps, and
helicopter pad which since the base was original design for Transformers
mini-car type figures. The base also has several 2mm pegs for LED
Microman figures to stand on.
** Special thank to Rik Ruff for
sending this toy to me at rocket speed**
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L-26 Micro Rocket Base
Takara released L-26 Micro Rocket Base on
October 29th, 2000 as part of the new Shining Tector series.
Micro Rocket Base vehicle/playset is a repaint of old Transformers toy
Autobot Rocket Base named Countdown. Transformer Countdown
was released back in 1989 during Micromaster series as a play-set for
the small Transformers figures which were the main theme of the line at
the time. These small Transformers were the same concept as the
earlier Mini-Car. Rocket Base was a
mobile rocket launch pad that can transform into a base. On
the original toy, the vehicle was blue and the rocket was in white,
Microman version the vehicle is now black with silver rocket. The
booster section of the rocket however is now in smoke clear plastic
which look very nice. Takara also included a very nice full-size
sheet of gold color stickers to decorate the vehicle and
playset. The toy also came with a mini-size comic book which
also double as a catalog.
Micro Rocket Base was simply a reissue of
old Countdown toy with new sticker and color scheme. Takara did
not modified the toy to better suit Microman figure and one can't help
but feel that the toy just did not fully belong as part of the
line. To be fair the old Countdown was not exactly a great
toy to begin with but the toy became even more awkward interacting with
Microman figures. While some parts of the toy seem to accommodate
Microman figure ok, others just seem to be out of scale most notably the
rear gunner station on the vehicle. On the package box and
instruction Takara simply stands the figure on the seat which just look
really silly. LED Powers Microman figure actually will fit into
this particular seat by adjusting the feet of the figure, however once
the figure is seated it can become very difficult to remove.
It actually amazing that the toy even fit Microman figure at all since
the Rocket Base was originally design for the small 2" tall
Transformers figures.
The rocket can be remove from the base
and transform into a spaceship. The front section of the rocket
open to reveal a cockpit which will seat a LED Powers
figure. The figure can be seat inside the rocket with the
door open or close. The booster section can be split into two halves and
the side panel open up and can be use as passenger section. While
the instruction show the figures standing inside the small slots, they
can also be seated using the door panels. The rocket reminds one
of the vintage Microman toy Hoodman MicroNASA Space Shuttle.
Rocket Base also transform into a base
for Microman. When transform, the play set is actually quite
large and can take up quite a bit of display space. The base
itself is not very exciting and actually look slightly out of scale with
Microman figure. The base came with several ramps and runways
which were originally design for Transformers cars and helicopter.
While it is hard to fault Takara for
trying to save money by using the old mold during the company financial
trouble period, one can't help but feel that Takara could done more to
make the toy more "Micro-friendly". While the
rocket does tie in nicely with the old Hoodman theme (if that was the
intention), there are others old Transformers toys that would have work
better with Microman figures. In the end if you buy this toy
expecting to get top notch Microman playset like last year Micro-Station
then you will be very disappointed besides the nifty Microman stickers,
this toy is essentially a reissue of Transformers Countdown.
Package
Micro Rocket Base came in a very big
box. The box shows Micro Rocket Base in various modes.
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