The Home for Odd, Ugly and Neglected Toys

Disney Overtakes Earth. Next? Cybertron.

Disney Overtakes Earth. Next? Cybertron.

“WOW!”

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

That’s what immediately came to mind when I first saw this Mickey Mouse Transformer (and I also thought if Minnie Mouse and Optimus Prime had a child, it would look something like this).

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

This toy is such a cool combo of cute, fun, iconic Mickey Mouse and the cool, high-tech, mechanical-giants Transformers.

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Mickey Mouse Transformer Mickey Mouse Transformer

And it’s Japanese. Yep. It seems like the Japanese have come up with another cool thing that we folks in the U.S. can’t enjoy without importing it (a costly import I might add). I could easily see this thing for sale at Disney shops or whatever (do those stores still exist?). I wonder what they’d call him. Optimus Mouse? Mickey Prime? There’s no name on the package (at least not written in English), so I think we should call him “Mechy Mouse” (thanks for the great pun, Mike).

Here’s a look at Mechy Mouse in his robot form. You can see the robot has elements from Mickey Mouse’s design – the shorts with the big buttons, the white gloves, and the plump cartoony shoes.

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

Takara has managed to stay true to the original Mickey design elements while still giving it a robotic twist. The only real addition are the wings, which really make this robot that much cooler.

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

He’s pretty detailed, but his transformation isn’t really that complex (that’s not a bad thing).

Now let’s see his truck form.

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

The truck form actually seems a little more cartoony in style than the robot. I’m not complaining. It actually looks like a cartoony truck you’d see in an animated Mickey Mouse short (you know, if he were just hired to drive a big rig cross-country).

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

One of the coolest and most charming parts of this toy is the miniature Mickey Mouse that directs the robot and drives the truck. I love how he’s just riding on the head commanding the impending doom of Donald or Goofy or someone (probably Minnie).

What’s great is Mickey’s change in costume. When he’s riding the robot, he’s in a full space gear, helmet and everything, but when he’s driving the truck, he’s actually wearing a trucker’s hat. Ha! So great. (I don’t know why that amuses me so much.)

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

Also, note that he’s driving on the right side of the truck. That ain’t no American truck.

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Mickey Mouse Transformer

The toy is pretty detailed and has a great paint job.  It’s not super-articulated or super-poseable, but he still looks nice, is well-built and has tiny surprises like the miniature Mickeys and other details like the poseable robo-visor.

Mickeybot Icon

I was even surprised by the inclusion of the mouse-themed Autobots logo.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention some stuff. This toy was released by Takara Tomy in collaboration with Disney in March 2009. It was actually the second of its kind.  The toy you’ve just seen is the Monochrome Edition. (I think the toys were related to the 25th Anniversary of Transformers. There’s a little “25 Years” icon on the box.)

Mickey Mouse Transformer

Mickey Mouse Transformer

Mickey Mouse Transformer

The original version of the Mechy Mouse toy which was released a few months prior to the monochrome one. Instead of the gray, black and gold color scheme, it actually has a full-color paint job reminiscent of Optimus Prime’s red, blue and gray color scheme. I think it looks pretty nice, but I still favor the monochrome version. It just seems a bit more “classic,” “darker” or “badass” or something.

Mickey Vs. Mickey

I wonder if the two versions are supposed to reflect vintage Mickey vs. modern Mickey. Makes sense.

I know this toy can be seen as a “sell-out” kind of thing for Disney or Takara. I think there’s a big divide by fans out there that don’t want their chocolate Disney to get mixed with their peanut butter Transformers.

Some fans are even knit-picking the fact that if this was a “true” Transformer, it wouldn’t have to be controlled by Mickey. Therefore it’s just a lifeless machine, so it’s not supposed to be Optimus Prime. Gimme a freakin’ break. It’s a damned toy (and a fun one at that). You might as well say something like, “I sure as hell hope his truck doesn’t have a manual transmission, because Optimus is an automatic.” Who cares??

I honestly think it was this unexpected pairing that made me pick the toy in the first place. I don’t give two craps about Mickey by himself (or do I?), but when he’s a 30-foot-tall robot that transforms into a semi-truck, you have to admit, it’s cool and fun.

The toy may seem a bit costly (retail price is $50 or so) for a casual fan of Transformers or Disney stuff. I’m a very casual fan, but this Mickey/Transformers combo toy really just pulled at my weirdo heartstrings.

Buy the Mickey Mouse Transformer on eBay!


16 Responses

  1. Monty says:

    He’d be cooler, if he wasn’t such a shellformer (When the alt-mode is basically a shell around the robot that hangs off the robot mode, like Optimouse Prime’s wings, for the non TransFans).

    There is a Donald coming up in the Disney Label line (He’s a VW Beetle). If they make a Goofy though, I’d be all over that.

  2. Yeah, he is a bit of a “shellformer.” I don’t mind so much though.

    Also, “Optimouse Prime!” I wish I’d thought of that. It seems so clear now. I can’t wait to see Donald.

  3. "Oldman" says:

    Quite a find. Your Blog gets better every post. You did a ton of homework
    on this one. And great photo’s too. This will get a lot of comments I believe. Good luck on your T-shirt idea. That looks like a winner to me.

  4. Ben says:

    This is a perfect example of a “crossover collectible,” something that appeals to two or more different fanatical groups of collectors (in this case, Disney collectors and Transformers collectors).

    I wish I would see this show up at a toy show or something. The cost of importing anything lately has gone sky high.

    You were wondering about Disney stores. There are still a few Disney stores in some malls across the country, but the best stores are the flagship stores in the theme parks and in New York City. These stores sell a ton of merchandise that are exclusive to the parks. They’ve made many, many different Star Wars/Disney amalgamations over the years, and they just did a Mickey as Indiana Jones figure. And for what they are, I think they’re very reasonably priced. The Disney Store in NYC is close enough for me that it’s a “must-stop” for me every time I go, since a train ticket into the city is far cheaper that a trip to one of the theme parks.

  5. Tom says:

    You know, if you hate Mickey Mouse, I recomend you watch the cartoons The Mad Doctor and it’s spiritual successor Runaway Brain. You can find them on You Tube. And ya know, if Disney didn’t try to bland him up so much, perhaps people would be less likely to hate him as a corporate tool.

  6. […] just caught a new post over on WeirdoToys featuring a collaboration toy between Disney and Takara. I usually just pop over there once in a […]

  7. Jason says:

    Great fun. B&W version is much cooler than full color. This toy def makes mickey mouse cooler. Now should we be waiting for a Donald Duck Megatron?
    Thanks for sharing.

  8. Reis O'Brien says:

    Oh my god! I love this toy! I’m not really a huge Transformers fan, nor a huge Mickey Mouse fan, but mash those two together and I’m in love!

    On another note, I just realized that Weirdo Toys was no longer on my blogroll. Does that happen? Blogs just disappear from your blogroll? Did you try to break up with me, Justin? 😉

    Great to see Weirdo Toys again!

  9. @ Oldman – Thanks! I think the desaturated color scheme of the toy makes the photos really interesting. ALl black and white except for the little colorized Mickeys.

    @ Ben – Glad you get to have some Disney store visits. I also agree the “crossover collectible” is really appealing… even when I didn’t care about either of the original products.

    @ Tom _ Thanks for the tip. I’ve seen a really cool Runaway Brain Mickey statue. It definitely stood out to me as being different from the same ol’ “corporate” Mickey.

    @ Jason – Yeah, the black and white is pretty nice. Donald Megatron would be hilarious, but I think it’s gonna be a Donald Duck Bumblebee.

    @ Reis OBrien – Hey Reis, I’m glad you’ve rediscovered the blog. Not sure what happened with your blogroll. I thought you dumped me 😉 Also, I agree, this combo is cool. I may be in love too.

  10. LEon says:

    There will be a Bumblebee coming. This time, it is Donald duck. 🙂

  11. Oldman says:

    I hope your serious about that Runaway Brain comment. Because
    I bought you one off the Sideshow Toys website.

  12. The King Of Bootlegs says:

    Mickius Prime? Wow not much else to say but Damn that’s sweet!

  13. LizzyMac says:

    It just feels bad – seeing sweet little Mickey pumped and titanium plated. The truck looks more toddler-friendly than he. The tiny Mickey on top is a pretty neat detail.

  14. Mickey Mouse as Optimus Prime (Disney Transformer’s) http://t.co/5LKT6A2C and this is the review –> http://t.co/2CssMQNj

  15. Hey @joeyellis, I hope you have this http://t.co/BhwELEvB even tho this one is kind of cooler looking: http://t.co/QQ835vZ0

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