Beachcomber is a famous pacifist in Transformers history. He prefers observing nature and wishes to not see the beauty of the new planet go nonexistent. He especially showed this in the Golden Lagoon episode, where he felt sad over the destruction of the countryside while everyone else was happy they won. Regarding modern toys, Beachcomber has had the Universe 2008 Legends and a more articulated and slightly bigger toy for Power of the Primes. Still, now it's time to see how the Legacy Evolution line updates our blue Autobot.
Here is Beachcomber in his dune buggy mode. It's a generally faithful recreation of the one he transformed into back in G1, and it does just about everything one would expect from a figure like this: recrreating many details of the cartoon and old toy, include a rollbar over the seats, and make the wheels oversized yet easy to roll on. in this case, the tires are made of a PVC material, which is great for better rolling, but it makes me worried they'll crack like the ones on MP-10. At the very least, this does what I'd expect a modern Beachcomber to do, though the hands might be slightly exposed, and the feet do block any normal view from the seats. His gun can peg on the front if you want a different display option that the normal G1 media does by not putting it there. The Paradise Parakeet might make a decent scale when put next to this guy, though the stand makes it look a little bigger.
In general, it captures the same kind of off-road look while also aiming to be a bit-less toyish than it normally is. I do wish that there'd be some silver paint applied onto the gray parts, especially on the rollbar and headlights, just so it can be less-bland.
For a size comparison, here he is next to some of the other Minibots we're familiar with back in the first two years of G1 Minibots. With Bumblebee, Cosmos, Huffer, and Warpath surrounding our peace-loving boy in blue, the scale may be wack, but the main priority is completing the cast in a way not possible with either the Classics-Thrilling 30 era or the Prime Wars era of toys. And yes, I do have Cliffjumper while I'm stoked to get Brawn while awaiting Gears, Windcharger, Seaspray, and Powerglide.
Transformation is a case of where it doesn't need too much added when the step count it already has does more than enough to keep people satisfied. The rollbar splitting in half does mean that one part of it is stuck on the back and the rest on the heels, but it is tolerable, especially when the rest of the transformation continues working as planned, from the front flipping down as the legs to the body collapsing down for the head reveal. Not much is needed for a guy like this. And the resulting robot mode is generally solid from what we normally expect from this guy. Blocky proportions, blue and gray color combo, simple torso details, not much else is needed. Well, on my copy, he could use a slightly better-aligned faction symbol. At the very least, the paint apps on the torso for the mechanical detailing does pop amongst the flat gray plastic, which is appreciative, and the same goes for his primary color belly buttons below that.
Head sculpt is very basic, capturing the silver under a mostly blue head with a helmet that vaguely resembles Motormaster's hood. At least he has a nose and a mouth. His general articulation is a ball-jointed head, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out, bicep swivels, elbow bends, wrist swivels, a waist swivel, hips that move front and back as well in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle pivots. Oh, and his evo-fusion gimmick has him holding his gun. Nothing more, honestly.
The Paradise Parakeet can per on the 3mm pegs so it can recreate that scene where it meets Beachcomber in the Golden Lagoon episode. A nice accessory to include for a guy like this, as it makes him a bit more unique and easier to remember than a lot of other G1 characters, to be honest.Itis also very rubbery, as I felt it back when I first got it.
For a robot mode size comparison, he is about the same height as the Year 2 Minobots, with Huffer and then soon Bumblebee both, with a scale that you'd expect to find in the G1 days. So yeah, I do recommend you get this guy, especially like me where you headcanon a version of G1 where he is played by JonTron because both people have pet birds.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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