Takara Tomy has been prudent when it comes to including die-cast parts in its Transformers figures. Outside of legendary heavyweights like the original Masterpiece MP-01 Optimus Prime—which stood as a glorious, die-cast-laden outlier in a long history of mostly plastic-fantastic releases—metal has been a rare commodity.
But that changes with the Adamas Machina line, where die-cast metal is no longer treated like a precious commodity to be rationed out one joint at a time. The latest addition to the line is the AM-T02EX Magna Regulus, joining the AM-T01 Rodimus Prime, AM-T01EX Lost Light Rodimus, and AM-T02 Predaking.
Anyhoo, at first glance, you might look at this bad boy and think, “Wait a minute, isn’t that just Predaking after joining the police academy?” Well, it kind of is, but Takara Tomy being Takara Tomy—the undisputed master of creative nomenclature—would like to politely inform you that this is, in fact, an entirely new character.
It is the classic Takara Tomy modus operandi, a tradition almost as old as the franchise itself: “When in doubt, slap on a fresh coat of paint, hand out a new badge, and write a backstory so serious that nobody dares to call it a reskin.”
If you think Magna Regulus is just Predaking wearing a high-vis jacket, you’re clearly missing the subtle artistic genius of a “strategic police redeployment.” After all, this is the same company that gave us Ironhide and Ratchet—two iconic Autobots who shared the same headless Vanette mould, separated largely by a red-versus-white paint job and Ratchet’s medical cross stickers.
Or better yet, look at the classic Datsun Trio: Prowl, Bluestreak, and Smokescreen. For over forty years, three completely “different” Autobots have been driving around with the same basic Datsun Fairlady Z body, convincing an entire generation of fans that swapping a police light bar for racing livery constitutes a completely new individual. To be fair, Smokescreen did receive some retooled bodywork, but the point stands.
Magna Regulus simply carries this proud repainting torch into the modern die-cast era. Takara Tomy took a roughly 50,000-yen giant beast mecha based on concept art by TRIGGER director Akira Amemiya, gave its five components law-enforcement names like Judge Bullet and Vector Line, and painted it black and white with high-visibility yellow accents to resemble a Japanese police cruiser.
Why spend millions engineering a brand-new mould when you can simply declare that the ultimate Decepticon combiner has turned over a new leaf to enforce cosmic traffic laws? Magna Regulus is the hero we didn’t know we needed, even if we definitely saw him on the shelf in orange and gold earlier this year.
Pre-orders for the 59,400 yen (tax included) [JP] Adamas Machina TT AM-T02EX Magna Regulus are happening in Japan. Shipping is expected to start sometime in March 2027.
Images: Takara Tomy [JP].
