Transformers One Mans Obsession: Review of DX9 D03I - INVISIBLE - TRANSPARENT PHANTOM - LIMITED EDITION 1000 PIECES Not Transformers Mirage

Ahhh the world of 3rd party Transformers. One day a figure is selling for $90 the next $50. Gotta love how the TF world turns. Luckily for me this happened to the Transformers Mirage inspired Invisible Phantom Edition. I was wanting to get a masterpiece styled Mirage figure but was torn between the MMC one and the DX9 one. So I figured why not give the cheaper phantom version a spin.

VEHICLE MODE

Phantom is a dark blue semi-transparent F-1 Ligier JS-11 racer. This race car is just plain awesome looking in all blue. Due to the crappy instructions, I miss transformed him the first time around and was hating it. That is until I popped off one of the back tires and figured out that there were 2 tabs that when pulled all the way locks the tire into place. Man, I felt like a fool. Once locked the tires spun easily and the car races a full 4 feet before losing steam. I also had to loosen the wheel mechanism to make it easier for the tire to be rotated back for vehicle mode. The drivers seat folds forward to allow his weapon to be attached to his vehicle mode.

Now this does look goofy as all heck but hey I never said it looked good. Issues aside the vehicle mode rocks and looks good in that dark blue plastic. Heck he looks even better with his twin:

Robot Mode

Stick em up!

Ok, they say a picture speaks a thousand words but this one needs more than a thousand. The deep blue color on this bot mode rock. It is all sorts of awesome. The plastic feels sturdy and the joints are tight. A little too tight on some areas. The arms, in particular, had to be popped in order to move easier, similar to marvel legends figures . It did freak me out with the fear that the mushroom peg would snap. All good though so my fears were for naught.

The one issue with this Autobot's robotic mode is those damn wheels!! Because they are free-wheeling and not lockable they cause the figure to be unstable. It does stand but any movement and it will flop like Obama's stand on Aliens. YES, FOLKS, HE IS AN ALIEN LIZARD!! ACCEPT IT!! ACCEPT IT!! Now you can mess with the wheel joint to make it a bit better but it takes some time to figure out the right angle. He also looks great with his twin:

See Barry no one can tell us apart bro!

Sorry, wrong pic. Or is it?!?

Boogie to the music baby!!

Phantom has all the right joints to make this action figure fun. Win win all around with this toy.

OVERALL

Phantom is fun. Phantom looks cool. Phantom is priced right. With that being said he does have issues. Fixable issues for the most part. The main issue on this Autobot is the back tires. Honestly, how can he fight Decepticons when he keeps flopping backward? The tight joints become easier to turn with play. And that's another selling point right there I was never afraid to play with this guy. Now I do recommend that you purchase him now at the lower price of $50. At it's original $90 price tag I think more should be expected in a figure. And it's ok to have expectations on your purchases. Being limited to 1000 pieces makes it more of a win. You can now be part of the Elite Lizard Alien Force like Barry and now me.