Here we have G1 Gears, one of the first 1984 Autobots to grace the franchise and many a collection. Right off the bat, he is a super-deformed truck of a made-up model, common for most Minibots from the classic toyline. The chrome accents on the puny grill and rims are a treat. Some other details try to make this feel like a convincing truck, such as the wheel arches and the exhaust ports, but things like the legs and the non-specific model details don't help. Transformation is standard for the line, with legs flipping down and arms extending out. Nothing too crazy. The robot mode is also typical for the line, from the stumpy proportions to the articulation consisting of arm rotation. Still, there isn't much else to complain about for the Minibots given the engineering limitations at the time. Now is he originally a Micro Change toy or is he from the cancelled Mysterians line? You decide. Anyways, mine is the Walmart reissue with a slightly bent inward leg.
As far as reuses are concerned, this is the Brazilian-exclusive Pick-Up, representing the country-exclusive Malignus faction. You have the wine/hot pink variant as well as a lime green and purple variant, the latter looking very Constructicon-esque.
Some repaints were specifically made for Gears rather than separate characters, but photos are hard to find. Forgive me as we go to Takara's G1 GoBots set, which features the Guardian Small Foot trading in blue for orange. Amusingly, her face is also pink, though this head sculpt isn't used for the Generations Selects version.
After that, we have Swerve...ooooorrrrrr a Mexican variant of the mold that is Gears in Swerve colors. The red is more burgundy, making him look more like a half-assed custom from a kid who can't get Swerve but wants him.
There we go. This figure has the upper body retooled to accommodate the new head and torso. The original version had a blank face.
Finally, we have the Encore version, which features newly painted face details to make the visor and mouth region more visible.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Up next, here we have Seaspray in his vehicle mode. So far, he has yet to be remade for the WFC Trilogy/Legacy line, but he was previously seen in the Prime Wars Trilogy as well as a Movie-style figure from Hunt for the Decepticons. This little boat is right for what Hasbro went with, between the trio of colors, the rubsign integration, and the propellers on the back. Some wheels can roll in the bottom decently, and the transformation is a little more inventive. The leg extension is usual, but the upper body's propellor set-up has the head and arms integrated. Robot mode looks to be on-model with the character design we'd get, especially when it comes to Hasbro and Sunbow aiming to make the animation appearances match what we have. Arm articulation is still a thing, but he still rolls around.
As far as reuses are concerned, he only has the G2 version with the blue plastic now covered in chrome. That's about it, but it does look nice.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jumping from the mid-80s to the early 2010s, we now have TFP Arcee from the Cyberverse subline of Prime toys. Long before the name was used for a once-filler and later fleshed-out franchise with Evergreen designs and eventual creativity, Cyberverse referred to a line of Transformers toys that were much smaller than the usual Deluxes and Voyagers and served as neat pocket-money alternatives in addition to having playsets in mind. As such, Legion Arcee lies around a size somewhat smaller than a Core Class Transformer we got since 2021, though Legends/Cyberverse/Generations Legends/Core Class have all varied over the years. The motorbike mode is decently sculpted, representing how it appeared in the show with a few chunky deviations to make room for the robot mode pieces and to make it function as a figure. I wish there were some of the metallic pink accents and some silver around the wheels to make the bike mode less reliant on the black and blue. At least the windshield and headlights are painted silver. You can also peg the gun on the side of the altmode, though it will look a bit ridiculous and oversized. Of note, this looks more like the arm cannons Bumblebee used, though a lot of Cyberverse Legion figures shared the same guns. The reason why it's translucent and PVC is to accommodate the light-up gimmick found in many Cyberverse playsets, such as the Jackhammer or Optimus Maximus.
For a vehicle mode size comparison, she is a lot closer to the real-world scale that many would expect motorcycles to have in the Transformers series, giving fans the option to place her with the Deluxes and Voyagers rather than the Deluxes. She could be a tad bit smaller, but she fits in better than either the Deluxe we got in the First Edition or PRID lines.
Transformation is similar to the duo of Deluxe TFP Arcees we got, mostly with the leg transformation, the arms being made from around the seat of the altmode, and the front section is the backpack. Differences include both tires going on the legs and the back of the seat now serving as blades for the robot-mode arms. Said robot mode looks on-point to the series, even with some proportions being altered as a smaller figure (in addition to the right knee spike looking incomplete). The wings and arm blades may look oversized, but I appreciate how faithful she manages to be despite the scale. She even has a bit of a smirk sculpted in. Her articulation consists of ball joints for the shoulders and hips while the knees are on hinges. Next to Cliffjumper, she still isn't entirely to scale in robot mode given how she was much taller in the cartoon, but it's still an option for anyone who doesn't want her to look oversized. Oh and her right boob has an Autobot insignia that wasn't on the show model.
When it comes to the reuses, this is the Takara EZ Collection version included in an Autobot multipack, where the characters had metallic or darker colors depending on the figure. You should be fine with the Hasbro version.
The latter half of the Prime Cyberverse line did give us Flamewar, a Decepticon who shared the body type associated with Arcee in addition to homaging the BotCon toy that was previously a repaint of Energon Arcee. We did get a Flamewar from the PRID and Legacy versions of Arcee, but they represent the G1 version (or Shattered Glass for the latter). Her gun looks somewhat like the blasters those Snipers in TF One used.
And finally, we have Groove, who is a straight repaint of Arcee, comes with two guns now in a grayish blue plastic, and has more color break-up in a vague attempt at looking like a police cycle. Hasbro Asia put this in a 3-pack along with other TFP repaints, such as First Aid from Ratchet and Streetwise from Prowl/Smokescreen. I know this was the only mold we got for a motorbike figure, but unless there is an Ask Vector Prime post that describes this as some universe's gender-bent version of the character, then I'm going to question why Groove thinks he could usurp Ranma Saotome.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
About a decade later, we go to an era where mainline toys are now scaled back in terms of engineering while making play features feel more like a mixed bag than they ever were in the past. This is Battletrap from the Autobots Unite subline of toys seen in Rise of the Beasts, which I believe was more commonly found in discount stores after the movie's theatrical release and probably even the home video release. Given how Battletrap was sorely under-represented in the toy line beyond the Studio Series Voyager, this made me curious to see what the Power Plus figures were like. So far, Battletrap's vehicle mode is more like a typical 1980s pick-up truck with large smokestacks rather than be a pick-up truck like in the movie. The windows are pitch black rather than the Voyager's toy, though it matches the film prop. Honestly, I don't think the altmode looks bad on its own, but it clearly doesn't match the way it looked in the movie, something that plagued a lot of other Autobots Unite toys.
His play feature includes shoving an igniter core into the back, which reveals some cannons that look vaguely familiar to a certain Autobot we all know and love. If you press on the lever, you wind up the wheel in said igniter before it propels the toy at a surprisingly good distance. The transformation includes bringing the arms out, bringing the chest down with the back, rotating the legs, and separating them. Robot mode definitely looks less like Battletrap and more like Ironhide, complete with a left arm representing another one of his cannons (articulation at the shoulders and elbow included). Now why does Battletrap look like a version of Ironhide, you might ask?
That's because this was originally an Eneron Igniter version of Ironhide from the Bumblebee movie toyline, which depicted him in the Bayverse design but with an 80s truck mode and a color scheme that reflects on the G1 design that can also be seen representing some of the red-decos he had as well as the TFP design we nearly got. I rather wish we got this look instead of a Geewunish Cybertronian design, though hopefully with a properly assembled waist. A similar design treatment was done for Ratchet in the same line.
Remember when Transformers fans came up with stupid ass fan theories on how Scourge was a reincarnated version of Bayverse Prime, and how the same went for Battletrap being an undead Ironhide? I guess to Transformers fans, similar alt modes and design cues equal a new version of an old character. By that logic, RID Scourge is an undead G1 Optimus Prime, or how about Armada Wheeljack being an undead G1 Sideswipe? I swear to God, their fan theories were just as stupid as the "Who are Rey's parents" speculation whorehouses that generated back in 2015. What about Nightbird? Anyway, this figure is with me solely because I like imagining how Ironhide and Battletrap would react to seeing a hypothetical love child pop out of nowhere.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
And now, it's time to talk about what may be the one Go-Bot I would ever own. Road Ranger transforms into a red and blue truck like Optimus Prime, and that's where the comparisons end. The truck mode is entirely integrated a la Dark of the Moon Megatron or G1 Motormaster, meaning the trailer is permanently attached to the truck. We get chrome accents for the rims, trailer, and grille, while the cab is made out of die-cast and the windows are tinted in orange. Between the trailer-type, the overall truck design, and the scale, I don't get where many would confuse this character for Optimus Prime.
He is about the size of the Minibots like a lot of Go-Bots were, though it does mean there is a bit of shared play value for the trailer. While the size comparison with Bumblebee is funny, the scale with Seaspray looks to be about right.
Transformation is a little more involved than I expected, mostly with the trailer folding into the legs and the truck shifting in place, but the arms can flip out in place. The resulting robot mode could have some people confuse him for Optimus Prime...if they have very poor eyesight. Beyond the colors and maybe some vague design choices, I still don't see the similarities, though the IDW Go-Bots comic did say he would have an optimized version of himself, so shrug. Arm articulation is all you get. If you want to see what Transformer he got turned into, the G1 GoBots set we talked about earlier features Road Ranger as a black and orange redeco of Huffer, a redeco we later saw in the Kingdom line as a retool of the awesome Huffer mold.
For a size comparison, here he is with the other Minibots we saw earlier. He's taller than the usual Minibots from the G1 line, but he would probably be shorter than the Autobot Cars. I don't think I plan to get any Go-Bots right now beyond maybe Leader-1 and Cy-Kill, but I feel happy to own the original version of Road Ranger to go with my Kingdom version. That being said, I still question the wisdom of people who say that the 80s were the best when it came to toys or cartoons, but they'd immediately contradict themselves by shitting over the Go-Bots line. Then again, Geewunners are known to look down on anything that isn't their precious cartoon they still dickride even to this day.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
No comments:
Post a Comment