Japanese Transformers Prime Vehicon with Arms Micron Noji

Box:  The boxes for the deluxe toys have no windows.  I assume this is due to the lack of paint apps (see below).  They look kind of awful without the stickers, so leaving out the window will hide that.  Good marketing, but it’s only necessary because the toys are so plain without the stickers.  Also, the internal packaging is cardboard, and these were very hard to even pull out of the box without damaging the outer boxes.

Arms Micron Noji

Kit:  The kits are fairly easy to assemble, and so far the stickers seem to be staying on well.  The plastic is higher quality than the Kabaya kits.  They have no paint apps and are perfect for customizers to paint up for a more elaborate look.  Each Arms Micron includes something like a spark crystal, but I’m not sure if that is the intent of it.  A sticker goes on before the outer translucent plastic to form it.  They look nice, but I had some problems getting the crystal to stay in on some of them.  Might need a little glue.

Weapon Mode:  This is possibly my favorite Arms Micron yet.  As they have with some other toys (Megatron and Knockout most notably) they have tried to make the Arms Micron an approximation of the same weapon from the cartoon/USA toy.  They did a marvelous job on this one.  It could have used some more silver stickers rather than the dark purple, but that’s a minor thing.

Robot Mode:  Since the gun needed to have a triangular barrel, what better animal to choose than a pig?  It looks great, one of the best animal modes.

Vehicon (Based on Transformers Prime Deluxe Vehicon)

(No Stickers)

(With Stickers)

(With Weapon)

(Comparison – Japanese [left] and USA [right] – No Weapons)

(Comparison – Japanese [left] and USA [right] – No Weapons – From Rear)

(Comparison – Japanese [left] and USA [right] – With Weapons)

Vehicle Mode:  They have added Arms Micron ports on Vehicon’s front fenders.  I’m not sure why, as he already has ports on his rear fenders, and the gun looks much better there.  (I suppose they are good for use in robot mode.)  He also has a port added on the rear of the vehicle, but again, other than in robot mode, I’m not sure what you’d use it for.  He, much like his USA counterpart, suffers from a lack of details.  Should have been more purple stickers.

(No Stickers)

(With Stickers)

(Comparison – Japanese [left] and USA [right])

Robot Mode:  In robot mode these guys are nearly identical, accept for some color differences between sticker and paint.

Overall:  Since both toys suffer from a lack of paint apps, the difference really comes down to the gun.  The Arms Micron Noji is so awesome that I highly recommend the Japanese version.  Now, if you already have the USA version and don’t want to double up, there is another deluxe Vehicon coming out in Japan, a major remold with wings, but still based on the original design.  He is coming with the same Arms Micron mold (possibly in different colors).  I do not believe the jet Vehicon is being released in the USA, so you can always get the Arms Micron that way, if you aren’t fussy about the color.

Thanks for reading!