12 Signs I Wasted My Money
This is a review I've been wanting to do for years on end, but was unable to find the bot anywhere online. In what seems like ages ago, I was reading my copy of Hobby Japan and saw an article about some small robots that were modeled after the 12 signs of the Zodiac, and then they could become weapons or even combine into a single giant robot. They were made of bright colors and translucent plastics, the entire thing looked incredible. Since then, I forgot which of my Hobby Japan magazines this review was in and have long since forgotten the name of the figure.
That is, until the other day while I was scrolling on Facebook. An ad for Temu was showing off a knockoff of the robot I had been searching for. I downloaded the app, was presented with far too many push notifications and promos, and eventually settled on a deal where I bought 4 items and got 4 for free; one item I ordered on accident because I had zero clue how to use the frustrating app. I ended up with a set of several DBZ figures (all different forms of the villain Frieza), a King Kong figure fighting a Warbat, a mini statue of an anime figure, a ko lego set of an SR-71 (I've mentioned in the past my obsession with this plane), a ko lego set of six dinosaurs that can combine into a robot (review sometime down the road), a ko lego set of Barad-Dur from Lord of the Rings, the Zodiac Robots, and two tiny plastic tools to remove hair from a hair brush. Can you guess which of those items is the one I ordered on accident? Overall the order cost me $82.26, so...kind of spendy for just wanting a single ko robot set (which was one of the four free items).
The items arrived very fast, in under two weeks. Like all things from sites like this, the boxes were a little beat up and the products themselves were not on the up and up. Still, the quality of everything wasn't that bad. The Zodiac Robots arrived in a squished box which meant, out of the box, one of the figures, Sagittarius, was stressed so badly on a joint, that it broke. Thankfully, this figure had a design that still allowed me to transform it, more or less. This robot was much larger than I expected and I'm sure it's one of those double-sized kos; again, I have zero reference to the original robots. Here is a rundown of each bot, its transformation, and some of my feelings on these toys.
Each bot is numbered and we'll go down the line based on that order (the numbers were on a sticker sheet). #1 is Aquarius, represented by a vase that sits on a pedestal. As mentioned before, it transforms into a gun and even has a handle, I think the original bots might have worked with 5mm ports maybe? This is a solid piece and the transformation is simple and easy.
#2 is Pisces, two fish that can be posed on top of a stand. The smaller fish is very well done, while the bigger fish is hollow and is kind of missing its entire back end. They can combine into a more complete fish and this looks very good; not sure how it's a weapon though. Taking them apart is confusing at first and will make you think you broke the toys.
#3 is Aries the ram. It's a pretty basic ram figure and has that feel of the late 1980s to 1990s in design, several of the animal figures do. I'm not sure if this was on purpose, or just limited by the original size of the figures. Aries transforms into...something. I have no clue, it almost looks like a wheeled vehicle, or maybe some sort of handheld saw weapon. No idea. The conversion isn't anything honestly and this feels lazy.
#4 is Taurus, a bull, and again, very simple. This toy almost feels like it could have been a G1 figure with a little more effort. With a little bit of tweaking, this becomes a decent-looking hammer. Now, if memory serves, the original figures came out before the Smashdown figure from War From Cybertron. When you compare these two, they are beyond similar in design, though the transformations vary widely.
#5 is Gemini, the twins. Seen here, they are two upright soldiers on a stand, almost looking like chess pieces. I don't know why, but for something so insanely simple, I really like the way these look on a shelf. These two become guns and are pretty basic overall.
#6 is Cancer the Crab. This is a basic figure, with some articulation in the crab arms, but not the claws. He is very thin and splits in half to create two swords. The more I played with these Zodiac Robots, the more I feel that several would have worked as modern Power Ranger Zords, especially with the current lines’ obsession with modulation.
#7 is Leo the Lion, and the greatest piece of disappointment in this set. I'd use other words to describe him, but these reviews are staying PG13. The problem is that this KO forgot something in the design process and the lion’s head cannot be reattached to the main body! That's a massive flaw in the figure for sure. It turns into a handheld weapon, but that's not happening here. I have this toy pictured with some extra parts for the combiner that didn't seem to go with or incorporate into any of the figures.
#8 is Virgo, and a rather unique take on this concept. Here, Virgo is presented as a winged angel and looks kind of cool, even if simple in design. Her weapon transformation is just folding in the wings and she becomes a shield for the combiner.
#9 is Libra, the scales, and my personal favorite since I'm a Libra myself. This is one of the more complex toys and requires a bit of shuffling around to turn from the scales into a large sword for the main bot.
#10 is Scorpio, and again, this is a flat and very simple figure that would look great as a modern Power Rangers Zord. This figure has the widest range of articulation, thanks to the segmented tail. When transformed, he is a whip sword that refuses to hold its shape. Oddly, one of the spare combiner pieces serves as a stand for this figure, even though it doesn't need it.
#11 is Sagittarius and this was the figure that came broken in the box. This figure is made of two major parts, the front half and the back half. The back half is where the joint broke, and I've included pics of that section. The good news is, thanks to the overall design, I was still able to salvage the toy and make it work. This is kind of a neat-looking bot and it's supposed to turn into a bow, however here, the broken piece stops that from happening.
#12 is Capricorn, the goat. This figure is based on the original “sea goat” design of the Zodiac and looks kind of cool. I love the goat head design and the toy is simple but solid. It transforms into a star-shaped shield with the goat head at the center.
Still with me after all of that? Good, now we can dive into the combined mode of these toys. The instructions that come with the toy are useless and you'll have to reverse engineer this figure. I wish I had known that before I took him apart without looking at the terrible instructions! Leo and Aries form the legs and fit onto basic stands that count as feet. From there two unused square pieces are attached to the top of the legs; you have to be very careful to use the right holes on these squares or nothing will line up properly. The chest and head are made from the Taurus' body, the chest is the front half of Sagittarius, and Leo's head becomes the main head for the combiner. The shoulder sections are the ram horns, then the two square stands from the Gemini figure. These, like the leg squares, have to be put on a very specific way or they will not work. Attached to the back of these are the two Gemini figures, now acting as cannons. The right arm is Virgo, with parts from other bots attached on the back end. The left arm is a combination of Capricorn with Pisces. The sword is an extension of Libra, using a few extra parts from other bots. The shield is just Virgo, nothing too fancy there. Finally, the back is made up of Scorpio, Cancer, and the legs of Sagittarius. This whole back assembly feels like an afterthought and doesn't really add anything to the overall toy, maybe just add a bit of bulk to the figure’s physique.
After all of this, I find myself a little let down. I know, when dealing with kos, you have to expect some poor quality control, but this figure left me wanting. Maybe it was the build-up of waiting years to get some version of this toy I saw in a magazine all those years ago, maybe part of it is fearing the real version may share some of the faults this oversized version has. It's an ok figure, but with issues like Leo being unable to form at all, fears of pieces breaking (or having been broken), and unclear instructions, this is a figure I'd only suggest to die-hard Transformer fans. You have to be able to figure out a lot just by looking at pictures and understanding how figures like these work. It's so rare for me to be bummed out with a figure, even when it's a ko. I love off-the-wall stuff like this, but so much was faulty I found myself just trying to get the photos taken so I could combine the toy, put it on a shelf, and be done with it.
At the end of the day, a very cool concept, but in this state, a terrible toy overall. I'd say walk away unless you're a die-hard like me, and even then, don't end up spending $80+ just to get one in for “free”. Good news, out of all of this, the other items were enjoyable, and as mentioned, down the road we'll have Transforming “Lego” dinosaur combiners to look forward to!
