Noah Diaz Exo-Suit (Studio Series/Core Class)

One of the more unique toys from Rise of the Beasts is this Core Class figure of Noah Diaz, one of the main human characters from the movie. Hoping not to spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but this toy represents a scene when Noah wears an Exo-Suit for a battle scene (I'll leave out further details just in case). Like many others, I thought the suit looked cool and did an internal fist pump when the figure was announced and ecstatic to find out he was a Christmas gift from my wife. Core Class is becoming my favorite size class in modern Transformers and it's a good size range for a human figure. Unlike other Exo-Suit figures released in the past, however, this one's pretty unique. Unique as in... he's not really a Transformers is he? Of course the character isn't, but the toy doesn't exactly transform.

Technically the alt mode is a jet, however the jet can be fully removed from Noah and serve as it's own toy. Noah more or less wears it as a backpack. On his own, Noah is a fairly decent action figure with a respectable amount of articulation. He has a arm mounted sword molded into his right arm and a blaster that can be held or attached to the jet. 'Transformation' more or less is adjusting Noah under the jet and arranging some parts. Like i said above, the jet can also be removed as it's basically an accessory similar to an Action Master partner. I had made comparisons to Takara Sci Fi Land with prior Exo-Suits and will be doing so again here. It's hard not to notice the similarities between this toy and a modern Diaclone driver. He almost could pass for a 90's Microman, I've seen some attach the jet backpack to various Microman figures as well. That's neat! While I'm sure being human character and the lack of actual transformation would be a turn off for some... I think it's a neat toy. He's different, but in a cool way.