Toy Island Sonic X Mega Bot Action Figures

Sonic the Hedgehog Toy Island Action Figures
Toy Island started another 3 lines of action figures in spring of 2006. These are the Mega Bot, Space Fighters and Figures With Emeralds lines. They also re-released their first (larger) figure line, this time including keychains. The keychains are a smaller PVC version of the figure, except in the case of eggman, who comes with a Chao instead.

Sonic Gear Main

Mega Bot Line
This line is named for the "Mega Bot" which you can build if you collect all the figures. Each figure comes with 1 piece of the robot, which then snaps together. However...this series has a deceptive twist!
There are actually SIX characters in the line (not including the mega bot). For some reason, there's a duplicate Sonic. He comes with a 'catapult' and 'exploding robot' accessory. This Sonic has a different leg pose, flat feet and open hands. The MegaBot one has fists and a bent foot. It is a mystery as to why the spare Sonic was included on the line, as he makes it tricky to put together the RBX-D05 robot....which you can see below.

Notice the quality of his hand sculpt. The fists are realistic, detailed and nice.

Here's their first Sonic. This is the guy that comes with the most crucial piece of the Mega Bot, but unfortunatly due to his double, he may be squeezed out of stores!
The head is made of a semi-soft matte finish plastic. The body is solid and hard, while the legs and arms are PVC-like. The colors are all painted on, except his shoes. Watch these guys for paint-errors! As you can see, his poses are rather limited by his feet and permenently bent legs. His expression is OK, but he's stuck looking up.

All the figures seem to be trying to imitate the old ReSaurus ones, joint-wise. But they don't compare...The shoulder, and hip of each figure has a sort of ball-joint which is too small to do it much good. They are also limited by the sculpt of the leg AROUND the joint, and so don't actually seem to 'action' much. ReSaurus had a type of joint which could rotate, but also raise, and smooth areas around it to allow more motion. These are simple.

Credit has to be given though, because the Sonic X characters own designs are...rather unstable with huge heads, stick legs and large hands. None lend themselves to balancing very well.

Here's the culprit!
Why is this figure on the mega bot line? It's like someone had an idea that HAD to be included somewhere, so here it is. The "X" thing is a catapult. You can set something on one side, and slam down on the other to try and send it flying. It's MEANT to make Sonic 'jump' onto the little widget gun thing you see there...but it barely propels him an inch--unless you risk breaking it.
The gun turret thing appeared in Sonic X episode 1, and shot Eggmans' machine by accident, leading to the chaos control transport.

The finger of his hand is touching the gun tip in this photo, so you can see the size. The robot is meant to fall apart...so naturally it's nearly impossible to keep it together.
Also WHY is there Engrish on the package? They already forgot Missile Wrist's name, now they can't formulate a proper sentance? Hmm....

His single pose looks rather cool, though.

Engrish Alert!
"Place your Sonic the X catapult and activate jumping action. Aim at robot and watch Sonic land on it and activate it's exploding action."

Here's Toy Island Tails. His sculpt is pretty nice, with rotateable tails, and an appropriately detailed face. He has only a minor case of 'big body' which is also a plus. The feet are flat, which combined with his vaguely jointed hips does not lead to so many poses. But...look at his eyes! What is that black line on there! They ALL have this, too. He's the only one and it makes him look like a bizzarre robot or something.

Watch the paint on Shadow, they can put his red eye-edge literally onto his eye for a wierd look!

Shadow unfortunatly suffers some on this line. His hands are WAY not as good as any Sonic hand, as seen here. There's almost no detail to the fingers. His nose is HUGE and his mouth is quite round, instead of the famous 'downward smirk' that his fans love so well. His body also suffers from being nearly 2 dimensional! It is flat like a pizza-slice and it really shows. Who did they have sculpting this guy? Also the bottoms of his shoes are blank, where they should have the glide-emitting holes.

For a figure with such high expectations, this guy doesn't really deliver. He's mediocre at best...but don't let this stop you getting him! Shadow stuff is always popular, and this figure is not likely to do you wrong in your collection.

Knuckles has only a vague case of 'saucer head', which is a plus. His expression is nice, but the eyes are a bit big, and if you own him, it shows better.

Knuckles Break Alert!
The arm dropped out of the package separate from this figure when it was opened. It pops back in but...

It should be noted that his head won't turn at all. His arms have limited mobility due to the hanging quills, but that's standard Knuckles territory. The tail of this figure is quite long, but it's also flat, with a distinct kink in it.

Gear is the papparazi of action figures! This gives a view under her skirt, where the legs are ball jointed into it. As you can guess, they don't really move that much.

And finally Amy Rose!
Their amy is nice, with a good expression and decent sculpt. Her arms are a bit long and her hands are rather strange. She has an odd open fist, like they couldn't decide what to have her doing. Her hands rotate as well, at the bracelets.

Notice the difference! See Toy Island's amy photo in the middle there? It has peach arms. The real Amy figure has pink ones. Another error-on-purpose seems to be the heavy black line by her eyes. The figure looks much better without it. Amy is also the only one with her mouth painted on, not cut-in.

Back of Mega Bot Toy Island Assembled Figure

Mega Bot RBX-D05 Giant Robot Action Figure

Of course what you've been waiting for...the Mega Bot! This is the RBX-D05 robot you can build if you manage to buy the right sonic. Here 'interesting hands' Sonic illustrates the size, along with a pencil.

The claws of the robot can open and shut, but won't rotate. It has shoulder, knee and up/down ankle joints. The head turns and the hips can rotate the legs. You snap the pieces in by pushing the buttons visible on the back. You can also take him apart that way. There are no stops on the elbows so they're pretty much 180+ range of motion. It's pretty well constructed and nicely painted. This definately deserves the title "Mega Bot"!

In all, the Mega Bots line is much nicer than their 6 inch figure line. The sculpts are over all better, and it has the range of characters people want to collect. The mega bot itself is a fun concept, but this is jeopardized by the "Red Herring" catapult figure. Since Sonic has the torso of the robot, if you miss getting the right one, you'll NEVER build the bot, and be stuck with boring pieces. The Red Herring is so EASY to mis-represent on Ebay and in online stores since it's "MegaBot" labeled, but has nothing to do with it. It also replaces the torso figure in the store, limiting your ability to buy the right one. Toy Island is putting forth an effort, and this line is proving it.

Be on the look out if you are buying anything on the Mega Bot Line in 2008, late 2007.
Why? Varient figures abound now! Toy Island is messing around with this line for an unknown reason. Just look at these interesting photos! The most noticible one is Knuckles and his giant twin. Why is one so much larger than the other? They come in identical packaging, but the 2nd one (larger size) didn't start showing up until long after the initial release.

The next thing you may notice is the Sonic figure. Why is one looking up? Because he's got the Space Fighters' head! Yes, for some reason they felt the need to change out his head mid-production. The Amy is more subtle, but the 2nd one has smaller green spots for her eyes. Comparison photos thanks to Retro.