Well, I actually haven't done one of these for a while. I'll try to ease myself into it…
The 2003 Transformers Armada Wheeljack toy (Note that he's yellow.)
Wheeljack, no, not that one, is a character I have only a passing familiarity with. I never experienced the media he was in, nor had his toy. Armada's take on Wheeljack is however quite compelling to me on the conceptual level. There are a good few Transformers whom have switched sides, we tend to get one whom features that as a play feature every few years. Armada in fact already had one in Sideways, a character way too complex to get into here. But what you usually DO NOT get is a character that rejects the Autobots so completely and joins the Decepticons in the name of revenge. And you especially DO NOT get such a character carving a chunk out of their chest to make it official. Its a such a needlessly edgelord thing that I would adore it if somebody revisited in new media. Seriously, pay it straight or subvert it, either is good, but commit to it. And now there's a new toy of him? Fingers crossed.
Wheeljack is, as you can probably tell, the umpteenth reuse of the Siege Sideswipe mould from 2019. First off, fucking hell, its now 2025. Second, its not that much of a stretch TBH; the original toy had a Sideswipey look. While the new toy features much retooling, especially involving it's accessories, it's not the first time we've seen this specific iteration mould. Rather this was previously an exclusive release as Shattered Glass Sideswipe, seemingly part of Hasbro's "repaint every fucking thing" and "fuck Fun Pub" initiatives. Its release in Legacy United seems to be mainly one of filler, with wave 5 in general seemingly just keeping the seat warm before the new Age of the Primes kicks off, by reissuing stuff. Its nice to see him, don't get me wrong, the omission of the partner mini-con does tarnish the experience a touch. This is a shame, as they otherwise have done a decidedly non-trivial amount of work here. Not quite on the level of Cannonball, but this isn't a mere headswap. There's a new head with a slightly better neck, a new chest, a decorative approximation of the original toy's gull wing doors, and his baton weapons which peg in and store. Its a good likeness too, if to the Japanese version with the teal, maybe lacking the odd paint app, and this version retains the two piece missile launcher common to the base mould, but not seen on the exclusive.
So, is this any good, or merely something that exists? Well, even after so long the base toy is very good. The Sideswipe mould is more or less the platonic ideal of the carformer, doing an awful lot right even if its not doing anything too clever. Wheeljack has been happily positioned near my computer for weeks as hand candy, something the mould excels at. The changes to the accessories do work. On the other hand, long standing weaknesses in the design go unaddressed, and there's some minor QC issues. I had to thicken his "belt buckle tab" to secure his robot mode for example, and the paint on the missile was not a good idea; little fucker doesn't want to stay in. If you already own a Sideswipe, you don't actually need this version, but I seriously doubt you'd have a bad time with this one.
I swore a lot in this one, didn’t I?