While we saw Wheeljack as an homage to both Albert Einstein and Q in Dark of the Moon, his younger self closer resembled the G1 version as we have seen in the opening of the Bumblebee movie. But while Wheeljack is normally seen as a lean Autobot, the Bumblebee movie did make him look pretty stumpy. He didn't really do much and did and said even less than he did in DOTM, but his screencap in the Bumblebee movie was almost reminiscent of meme we'd get of Craig from Halo Infinite. It would have been seen as a meme had it not been for the press and Geewunners going nuts over the nostalgic pandering, but I guess the design will make sense for his Rise of the Beasts appearance. Until then, let's see how this figure stacks up, shall we?
Here is Wheeljack in his robot mode. Like I said before, it's a very stumpy and rounded design, especially where the torso and arms are concerned. I supposed it was meant to make them more alien without any of the Earth mode parts that would make them reminiscent of how the G1 characters worked on Cybertron back in the old days, but it's still amusing that they're already set to resemble what they're about to look like if they have the character-appropriate alternate modes that come from them being based on the Diaclone toys first. Wheeljack's mostly a greenish shade of white and gray, similar to the Earthrise toy, and while he has some paint apps to break up the color scheme with the character-appropriate green and red, notably on the chest, the legs do feel rather basic by comparison. Wheeljack's at least able to fill in any hollow parts perfectly fine with the way he transforms, especially with the torso, though the wings are stuck on the shoulders, even if they're noticeable compared to the Earthrise version.
Head sculpt is very much a heavily detailed G1 Wheeljack design that'll give Pat Lee a run for his money, it's amusing how it manages to look a little more like G1 Jackie compared to the on-screen model almost looking like Craig cosplaying as Wheeljack, though my favorite WJ head goes to the Prime version. His ears are painted in a metallic blue instead of being transparent, which is fine by me. His articulation is just the same as we've come to expect with these figures: ball-jointed neck, shoulders that are on ball joints, bicep swivels, double elbows, a waist swivel, ball-jointed hips, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ball-jointed ankles that are far too stiff. His gun can be stored on the back with the 5mm port on the side (which I forgot to show but it's easier to do thanks to the peg), but here, it looks pretty cool in his hand, and appropriately fitting for his character design.
And here is a size comparison with him and the other Autobots in the line-up so far. No, I don't have the updated B-127 yet. But more importantly, he's more or less the same height as Bumblebee and slightly taller than Brawn. I'm actually surprised that this is a thing that happens if you ask me, because Wheeljack would be more or less in-between the height of the Minibots and Ratchet.
His transformation is very much like what any Wheeljack would transform, though interestingly, the back of the legs become the front of the alternate mode, which is reverse for the norm when it comes to Wheeljack having bumper toes. The front wheels do unclip a little too uneasily, and I don't like that there isn't much clearance for the side panels that would pass off as doors, I guess. Now with Wheeljack in his vehicle mode, I can say that this is a pretty decent take on the vehicle mode in question, and while it's nothing that mindblowing since it's reminiscent of the High Moon Cybertron games much like Bumblebee (Brawn's still my favorite and Soundwave is pathetic), this is not a terrible alt mode if we're being honest. I think the colors could be a little more prominent for the back of the altmode since it's more noticeable on the front, but at least it's decent-looking otherwise. The rims could be a little better painted without them feeling like they'll clash with the plastic coloring of the toy, though. The weapon has a different tab that can fill in the gap of the spoiler decently.
For a size comparison, here he is with Bumblebee and Brawn in their respective vehicle modes, and I think he looks the part alright as fas as designs are concerned, so much like Brawn, Wheeljack is a solid enough figure to have in your collection, though I do think Brawn's the more creative of them all in spite of his loose shoulders and not-so-great tabs for the gun storage. A real challenge, however, would be giving him a transformation with the new vehicle mode for Rise of the Beasts!
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
No comments:
Post a Comment