DNA Design DK-18 SS-56 Upgrade Kits

DNA Design have produced some truly excellent upgrade kits for the Studio Series line, though most are for figures I've not bothered picking up, or just don't quite add enough justify the expense to me, personally. I've yet to write up the first two kits I bought, for Studio Series Grimlock and Ironhide, despite them both offering substantial improvements over the stock figure. I'll get around to them eventually, I'm sure, but this one for Studio Series Shockwave - which I'd been eagerly waiting on for since its announcement around the middle last year - really earnt its swift write-up.

I finally received notification of despatch in the early part of this month, from which point it was almost two full weeks before it arrived from China. Now that I finally have it in-hand, let's see how big a deal it turned out to be after so long a wait.

Hm... Upgrades

Today's post yielded a surprise arrival for me - DNA Design's upgrade sets for Studio Series Grimlock and Ironhide. I ordered them via eBay only two weeks ago, and wasn't expecting to see them till next week so that's a good start to the week.

Just a quick photo of the boxes for now... I'll do a full post once I have an opportunity to take photos of the upgraded figures. Not sure yet whether I'll do one for each set/'bot or one post covering both... Briefly, though, the Grimlock set is a nigh-perfect match to the original toy in terms of plastic and paint, while the black plastic of the Ironhide parts isn't as glossy as on the original... though it makes up for that to a degree with a few small paint applications on the feet that were missing from the stock figure, and with the extra weapons. The badge on the new bumper - "ROAO ARMOR" - looks a bit silly, but the 'mistake' is understandable as it avoids the set infringing on GMC's trademark in addition to Hasbro's intellectual property.