[Machine Robo Battle Hackers] It Was Really Cheap.

Every time I think that I have prices figured out on eBay, something always throws me for a loop.

Meet R-Jettan, BH-05 in Bandai's Machine Robo Battle Hackers line. I won this foot-tall beast from some d00d in the Hollywood area of California for about $10. Shipping, I think, almost cost as much as the figure itself.

Who is it?:

I have no idea who R-Jettan is, other than that he was a character in the MR-BH line important enough to warrant a huge figure. Battle Hackers, I believe, was the last animated series in the MR universe in its initial run (ending in the late 80s).

Design/Sculpt:

R-Jettan is a quadra-changer- is that a word?- with robot, jet, gerwalk (!!), and guntank modes. As all mecha-fans know, awesomeness is directly proportional to the number of legitimate transformations. The "giant hand" mode on Devil Gigatron was a little creepy, though.


R-Jettan also comes with a shitload of accessories. I don't think I even got them all in the box- but I don't really care, because it was $10. I haven't figured out what the white thing with the wire is. My guess is that it fires the BBs and disks and stuff from the various guns. My box did not have said BBs included. Boooo.


Robot mode kicks ass. It's giant, pink, and the little black part over its eye can flip down for sniper scope action (complementing the giant sniper rifle in his left hand). Only complaint is that the hands hold the guns a little loosely, which can be problematic when posing him.


Jet mode doesn't look so impressive with the tail-fins missing. Kind of reminds me of the Legioss/Alpha Veritechs of Mospeada and Robotech. The cockpit of the jet pops open (not shown) and it looks like it can fit a little person in there.


Fortunately, Gerwalking the jet makes the missing pieces much less noticeable. I particularly like the Gerwalk transformation on this thing, because it looks good and is far less of a pain to execute than for the Macross jets. R-Jettan's shoulder cannon has to be attached to the white thing-with-the-wire, in order for the whole ensemble to clip on to the wings.


Finally, the tank mode is a nice surprise. Usually multi-changers have that one odd mode that really doesn't fit in and involves some kind of half-assed transformation. I guess this tank really isn't that odd, if you look at it in the context of SDC Orguss, which had a tank mode for the main mecha as well.

Despite transforming into four different things, R-Jettan really doesn't have a weak mode. All of his modes utilize a distinct transformation and accessory set, which is pretty remarkable for a brick.

Articulation/Transformation:

Articulation is brickish. The arms swivel at the upper-arm portion.

Transformation is simple enough- the hardest part is getting the accessories to fit on to the figure. The coolest feature shows itself when you transform R-Jettan into tank mode: the legs split apart to form a long set of tank treads.

Materials/Color/Paint:

R-Jettan is a lot higher-quality than some of the earlier MR offerings. Good, hard ABS plastic on a die-cast frame with ratcheting joints. Paintwork is also quite clean, as would be expected.

Price & Availability:

I have no idea what the true price of this figure should be. The highest price that I've seen for an MIB specimen is USD $350.

Due to its large size, and presumably low distribution during a series that was failing in popularity, this figure is extremely rare in any condition. This is only the second example that I have found for sale. To illustrate just how rare it is, one of the admins of a prominent Transformer board told me that he was still searching for one.


This figure is awesome because: it has a Gerwalk mode and a sniper rifle. These are a few of my faaaavorite things....