Retro Transformers Wheelie review

G1 Wheelie is far from my favorite character, especially when I don't see him in a positive light from his design, voice, and personality. Sure, rhyming is his quirk, but Sky-Byte's haiku's are way better and far less annoying. I don't find much else to say about him when his TFWiki article gets old with the constant rhyming, though they apparently removed a joke that brings up him not rhyming in Japanese media. He hung out with Daniel in Headmasters, bit Prime's ankle in Dreamwave, did stuff in IDW, perved on a stupid anime chick in Japanese continuity, and somehow made it to the Energon Universe before a single Dinobot could. His one vintage storybook about him, the same one where his wiki article's main pic came from, is badass and easily the best media revolving around him. He's been increasingly getting merch as either an accessory for Grimlock or a Core Class figure, both in Studio Series 86, and now we have a Deluxe figure (the first since his GDO retool of Reveal the Shield Jazz from over a decade ago). Let's see if this size bump makes him worth getting once more.

 

Here we have G1 Wheelie in his vehicle mode. It's a pretty goofy alt mode that resembles a baby carrot mixed with a shrub and a butt plug on wheels, but this was the 80s, and far more convincing Cybertronian altmodes hadn't existed yet. TFWiki says it may be inspired by the Fiat Abarth Record Car, but even that is a stretch. I guess the two tone orange is a good color combo, but the gray on the tires and cockpit make it look less appealing as a whole. And yes, the slingshot can be used as a secret cannon.

While I don't really care for an altmode like this, the design is at least accurate but I will question the approach towards the color break up on the cockpit section. Shouldn't there be orange painted in the bottom portion where the canopy is? The thing is orange plastic painted gray so maybe that can be rectified if you don't care about being THAT slavish to the old toy.

For a vehicle mode size comparison, here he is next to the SS86 counterpart. For anyone wondering, the colors don't match because one is meant to be closer to the old toy and the other is directly based on the old cartoon. Personally, I like the altmode shape on the Deluxe, even if it still looks like a butt plug, yet it is at least less like one than the Core Class version.

Transformation is a bit more involved than I expected, all to make him more cartoon accurate with this design given this will eventually be a Sunbow release in the near future just watch. The transformation is about as similar to the Titans Return and SS86 versions, so at least it's consistent between the most recent versions of the character. I also like that we have some panels to help keep this figure secure, though they could stay in place better. The robot mode is far from the dopey, stupid toy design, which makes sense given this screams "pretool" for the cartoon version; much like with Seaspray, this is almost a genius move for Hasbro because putting the toy-inspired version in the Retro line before getting the cartoon version is a smart move given how most people likely skipped Brawn and Gears (as well as possibly Bumblebee given we have too many G1 options back to back + no toy accurate face), so this should help get people into the mold, and if they like it enough, then the inevitable cartoon version will be made. While the bot mode feels like a more refined version of the SS86 Core Class, you at least have the back of the altmode placed in a more natural place for a Transformer rather than some weird upside down crap catcher.

Head sculpt is meant to be a far more refined version of his stupid face-in-a-mascot-costume me do, though we have a condensed version of the canopy that covers his oompa loompa face. Seriously, I will appreciate it when Hasbro does some proper color break up with the Sunbow head. With a slingshot in his hand, his articulation consists of a ball jointed neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, hinged elbows, wrist rotation, waist rotation, universal hips, thigh rotation, hinged knees, and slight ankle rockers.

For a robot mode size comparison, here he is with the Core Class version we got 2 years back. With how little I view in the character already, that size class works fine for me; in fact, the scale between Grimlock and his own figurine of the guy confirms that the Core works best for when he's in your Season 3 display. Maybe the Deluxe could work better as sort of an older Wheelie like when he and Daniel Witwicky sacrificed themselves to blow up a ton of Nightbird drones? Could be a good idea. So to wrap up this review, he's alright for what you get, and while I wish we got the cartoon version first, maybe doing this pretool is the point of extending the wait. However, Hasbro should also do two repaints like the digibashes we got here, with eHobby style Dion cing with his orange Hot Shot counterpart while Shadowstriker comes in a 2-pack with an unmasked ROTF Bumblebee in reference to the 2-pack they made years ago (which also predated their brief Cyberverse rivalry).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐