Transformers 2014 Asia Kids Day Protectobots Evac Squad and Protectobots Emergency Response (Hot Spot, Blades, First Aid, Groove, Streetsmart)

These two sets are something of a mystery.  They are available on Amazon.com listed as “Asia Kids Day Exclusives”.  So, apparently these will not be released in the USA accept online through Amazon.com.  Both are members of the Thrilling Thirty.  I will not rehash my feelings about that.  You can read my thoughts on the Thrilling Thirty here.

Also interesting is that they are some of the only toys (along with the discount store Legends) released in the new 2014 packaging style without the Age of Extinction logo.  Since the end of Transformers: Prime: Beast Hunters, they had dropped the “Prime” name giving us the designation “Transformers 2014”.

Evac Squad

Hot Spot

Hotspot is a pretty nice toy.  It’s a great mold.  I like the colors they used, Guard City red instead of G1 blue since they already did that.  The only problem is that they used the Grapple mold instead of the Inferno mold.  Hot Spot has never been a crane.  This was a really dumb move.

Blades

In vehicle mode, Blades looks awesome.  Unfortunately, his robot mode is horrible.  The blue helicopter tail parts on his back don’t lock in place and tend to flop to one side.  He has outside panels of the helicopter on the sides of his chest.  It’s just overall not a very good toy.

Emergency Response

Groove

I suppose their options were limited to keep this the same price point as the other set, and it does keep them all in better scale, but using a Legend Arcee mold for Groove doesn’t work great.  It’s not terrible, but not great either.

First Aid

Both of his daggers have bent tips.  Not sure if that was by design or just bad packaging.  I like the colors and it’s a good mold, but they used soft rubbery plastic for his knees.  If you hold him and shake him you can see his lower legs swing back and forth held on by rubbery plastic.  I’m honestly surprised he can stand up at all.

Streetsmart

They managed not to screw up anything about Streetsmart…accept his name.  They’ve not had the trademark on Streetwise for a long time which is unfortunate.  He’s a really great toy though, really nice colors and paint apps in vehicle mode.  He could have used a few more paint apps in robot mode.

Overall: Considering how badly flawed each toy is accept Streetsmart, it’s kind of hard to justify $70 for these from Amazon, but on the plus side, with these not being released in the USA, the chance of next year’s Combiner Wars including Defensor goes way up.

Thanks for reading!