Wheeljack is a character that got more attention in the 2010s, no doubt thanks to stuff like the Generations figure and his appearances in TFP, DOTM (albeit as the Einstein-esque Que), and Cyberverse, though he did show up in the Armada series with a Sideswipe-esque body. As for the G1 guy himself, there's not really much else to say about him beyond the fact that his ears light up, and that his inventions always blow up in front of his face. It's not really bad that he's lacking compared to other Transformers like Optimus Prime or Ironhide, but I don't think there's much to say about him overall. Still, there is a chance that the Earthrise figure might make me like him more. Will that be the case? Let's take a look!
Here we have Wheeljack in his vehicle mode. This car mode recreates the old Lancia Stratos vehicle mode that he took the form of in the old series, and the deco looks good on it as well, even if the white plastic does have a bit of a greenish tint in some lighting. This image has it in the nice white that Wheeljack is known for, though. The green paint could be a little more vibrant, especially since it looks somewhat faded like the red tires are, which would look a little nicer if they were a more natural red. Not horrible, but it's something I feel like mentioning. The black windshield nicely contrasts itself from the white body of the car, even if there's a small bit of molding that needs a bit of black paint.
Let's go over a handful of the decals he comes with (and don't worry, they're not actually stickers): He's got 638 instead of the 539, an Autobot insignia, Praxus, a checkered flag, Modulator, Wheeljack Invenzione, W Motors, Cyber Tron Con, Rally X, Ricochet, Aerobolt, Japanese text that translates into Cybertron (the Japanese name for the Autobots), Supreme-esque Swerve decals, Iacon Modulator, and Velocitron Racing 1984. Try not to scratch these decals up!
The cannon can be placed on top of the roof for weapon storage if you want. It does look a little off given how it would normally be upright, but it kinda works, I guess.
Let's reuse the vehicle mode image from Cliffjumper and see how Wheeljack looks next to some Autobots in vehicle mode. He might seem a little too long for a car to be in scale with a fairly basic tow truck and a small coupe. Still not as bad as, say, putting Cybertron Hot Shot next to them due to his size, but it's noticeable.
Transformation is a little different from what we expect from Wheeljack. While it's got the norm of the front becoming the legs and the roof becoming the waist, a waist swivel is involved with this figure's transformation. It's a little deviated from how Wheeljack usually transforms, but it's at least faithful enough to how he normally turns into his robot mode. I'm not going to lie when I say that the chest opening up did make me think it was going to be a Titan Master feature. The wings of the robot mode are made simply from the spoiler. The resulting robot mode actually looks pretty good, though I find the wheels on the back of the forearms a little weird and the wings fairly stubby. While it's not quite as refined as I'd want him to, it at least does look a little better in-hand than some of the stock images did...aside from the white being a little nicer. The aforementioned wings could be longer, though using the spoiler to make them in the first place does feel a little neat, and hey, you can easily switch them with other ones because of a 3rd party kit.
Head sculpt is most certainly based on what he should look like. The face is a little dark, and his eyes, while painted, are hard to see in some lighting. At least the silver is nice and shiny (if a little scratched).
Articulation is about the same as you'd expect from Cliffjumper, so I won't cover it much here. I will say that the forearms do come off if you're not careful. The forearms do look a little odd in terms of how they look when the wrists are swiveled. Like, the inclusion of the tires on the forearms make them look a little normal when they're supposed to be on the back. The sole accessory he comes with can be held on his hand if you want him to have the shoulder cannon as a gun.
Alternatively, the shoulder cannon better fits where it belongs...on his shoulder. The 5mm post sticking out does look a little ugly, though.
Additionally, you can take off the spoiler halves if you want, though there's no real use for it unless you want to take his back away.
Let's go over the reuses. Here is the Netflix version of the character, who is in a fairly accurate deco based on the war-driven show. While he does remove the sponsors and is fairly pointless, at least he's nice for those that want him to be the Cybertronian version of the character instead of the Earth version...could be remolded to look more alien, but it's better than having him turn into a fucking vacuum cleaner with an Italian deco.
And here we have Exhaust, who is based on the Diaclone repaint of the Lancia mold and also had a deco different from the Masterpiece version due to the Marlboro legal lawyers going apeshit over a toy having a similar deco. This guy also comes with a new head and a nicer painted shoulder cannon. He's got a Mercenary insignia, which is a little neater than having him be a Decepticon.
And here we have him repainted in the Shattered Glass line as Slicer, who can also double as the regular G1 character if you don't want him to be an evil version of Jackie. While he had an Autobot insignia in the comics, he has a Decepticon one instead so he can be whatever you really want him to be. He comes with a repaint of Black Roritchi named Exosuit, who can be armor, weaponry, or a buggy if the new guns Slicer comes with aren't enough.
And here's another reused image from Cliffjumper's review! He looks normal next to the other Autobots, though I can't help but wish that his white plastic was the same as the shade used on Mirage. Either way, he is a nice figure but not quite mindblowing. Better proportioned than the Generations version and obviously better than the Combiner Wars version, but there is a little bit more room for improvement in terms of quality control for some copies and the obvious lack of accessories. Otherwise, you can get him if you see him.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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