Transformers: Generations Selects DK-3 Breaker is Something That Exists

You know what? Another Thursday Transformers bonus article! 

  The 1982 Diaclone "No. 5 4WD Hilux" Toy, blue and yellow variants.

 

So, last year, I was at the Brum Toy Fair, enjoying the company of the people I was with, and spending money. I spotted today's subject on discount, and felt tempted. This was a mould I'd completely missed out on during the chaos of Earthrise. I did some more browsing, and made a shocking discovery, loose examples of Hoist and Trailbreaker, the mass market releases, were going for equal or greater money. At that point, the random Diaclone-inspired repaint from a premium imprint seemed like the obvious choice. I'd just pretend that it was "faded comic colours Trailbreaker", or maybe the Shattered Glass version, and I'm sure you'd come to the same conclusion in similar circumstances. Something making that easier is simply that Breaker isn’t a character with any real history, even by the standards of Diaclone tribute toys. This is the first Transformers toy with this name, and his only fictional appearance is to be named-checked as somebody whom died off-page in a comic. Possibly the only trivia of note is the "DK-3" prefix on his name, a reference to Diakron, which was Takara trying to release Diaclone stuff in Western markets mere months before Transformers got going. As such, I’m gonna be spending a lot of time referring to the other uses of the mould, and how they came to effect this one.

 

The robot form is undoubtedly good, if merely Trailbreaker in blue. This is because the original Diaclone toys in this case were simple, one colour, variants of each-other and Hasbro haven't done anything to mix up the formula here. As Trailbreaker is therefore so evident in the toy, this prompts a discussion of character models. So, what often happened with the original Transformers is that their appearance in animation and comics was often wildly different from the toys they were meant to be. When the 1985 toys came out though, something odd occurred. The new character models were often a fair bit closer to the toys, but also retools of the 1984 cast. So while the toys might be near identical, fictionally they definitely weren't. This was weird. Trailbreaker and Hoist were a good example of this, and reimaginings since have had to tread the needle between these conflicting depictions while still being able to release them as the same basic toy. What seems to have gone down with this Earthrise mould is that the designers favoured Hoist, and treated Trailbreaker as the secondary retool. This has the ever-so-slight downside of Trailbreaker having Hoist's "friend-shaped" proportions rather than a heroic build. And, let's be real here, Earthrise was going hard on the whole cartoon accuracy shtick, so this choice was a self-defeating one.

That doesn't really matter as far as Breaker is concerned, he's a blank slate, but I offer the above as context and explanation. Breaker is a big chap, being a head taller and visibly wider than a deluxe of similar vintage. He’s not quite voyager sized, but definitely is edging that way. His gut-to-biceps ratio makes him look more fat than muscular, and in all fairness this is a bit of welcome variation. Not every Transformer needs the mechanical equivalent of washboard abs The blue is very attractive, with vibrant silver and red in the mix. There is a certain degree of overt hollowness at play though, something not uncommon for his vintage, definitely on the notable side here. It's where the impression of size comes from while still being a deluxe. Functionally, he's got a lot of the good stuff, Legacy standard articulation and the 5mm ports are plentiful. Due to a transformation quirk he technically has two sets of knees, which is useful, although the shoulder gubbins do limit the neck. His gun completely covers his fist, giving a nice gunarm, and you can untab part of the backpack to use as a shield. Certainly not a bad robot mode, with both presence and play features.

 

Breaker's altmode is a made-up and blocky camper van, one not dissimilar to the Toyota 4WD High-Lux of the original toy. That backend area is the main area of functional difference between the Hoist and Trailbreaker iterations of this mould, with Breaker obviously using the latter. Like all good remoulds, this does change the character of the vehicle, although this does end up benefiting the robot mode more. Breaker does not feature compatibility with the short-lived airlock system, but he can instead have his gun on top like an actual turret. As opposed to just plonking what is obviously a rifle on the vehicle for storage, or otherwise stowing it. Earthrise toys dialled the 5mm port thing back a touch, so having the turret option is welcome. You can also fudge it between the front wheels, if that’s your thing. The overall appearance of the van tends towards realism, but not from all angles. The dark colour palette helps a lot with the serious vehicle bits, but there's a lot of robot on the underside in contrasting bright colours. The hands are very obvious and ground clearance is minimal at best. On the plus side, translucent windows and headlights. Well, I say its a plus, I have a doubt. There is substantial use of translucent plastic in the chest area, which becomes the front of the van mode. I assume this is where they made up the difference for the toy's larger footprint, as opposed being to more selective in the use of such plastic. Or just simply just casting the whole bit in matching blue and just painting the damn windows. It's a breakage concern as the wheels connect to directly to that famously brittle plastic, and these wheels attach via mushroom peg. Of course translucent plastic isn’t an inherent negative, and this toy certainly does not have colour matching issues, so your mileage may vary. It could be fine. Then again, if you're a toy designer, and you're gonna do the entire front end in the stuff, only the paint it? I'd say you were probably doing things the wrong way around, and I hope you've taken preventative measures.

While Breaker is clearly something that exists, I want to like it more than I do. As a repaint of a mould I missed out on, Breaker does have value. And he is a nice blue. The base toy meanwhile seems to suffer with some unforced errors. I wonder if Hoist was somebody's pet project, because the mould is too specific to him, and, sorry to bang on about it, the use of translucent plastic like this is something they know not to do. I certainly feel I got my money’s worth, don't get me wrong, but if you just want a boxy carformer, or merely a Diaclone tribute, there’s other options. I mean, there's another Selects version of this mould on the way now, and, as near as I can tell, they've removed translucent plastic completely for that.

Transformers: Legacy Burn Out Is Something That Exists

While Legacy promised a return of variety, its taken a bit of time to make good on that promise. Wave 1 had the look of business as usual, with a very high percentage of G1 characters, repacks, and toys that could have been in Kingdom. The Prime Universe toys, the main exceptions, screamed repaint fodder, and it would have been very easy to assume Hasbro would not go further. Happily, the balance is definitely shifting with wave 3 and what is known about Evolution next year. The first real evidence that Hasbro was serious came from the “Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection”, a sub-line of exclusive repaints that replaced Netflix Siege. This went hard on the whole alternate universe thing, visiting 6 different continuities immediately, whereas Legacy wouldn’t really begin to branch out until wave 2. This brings us to today’s subject: Burn Out, a massively obscure repaint of a rather obscure character that plays homage to something that was Transformers before Transformers was a thing. Burn Out is also notable for being, well, a girl. The Speedia stuff has a good gender balance, which does mean I have to talk about gender issues again, although I’ll try not to repeat myself. I picked this one up on sales on the last day of a vacation, with the hope of returning to work in a good mood. It worked.

The Diaclone Honda Turbo, and its variants, circa 1982/83

Now, I had to shelve my first draft of this post, as I was struggling for a focal point. I had skipped the original version of this toy, Skids, because I already had a toy of the character. Its kinda hard to avoid mentioning him, but also hard to talk about for any real length of time. He had a very limited fictional presence until the highly regarded More Than Meets The Eye comic series by James Roberts, and basically everything that happened there probably counts as a spoiler. There is something of a tradition of comics writers taking blank slates and making them desirable, its called the Furman Effect, although it seems that it didn’t stick. Legacy Skids, and for that matter the unexpected Masterpiece version, is very faithful the G1 iteration, which as mentioned didn’t get much to do. Burn Out has even fewer fictional appearances, and is very much in the exclusive/obscurity bracket. She’s a character with a distinctive paint job, but is so far from the mainstream that nobody would mind that she is an exclusive, unlike, say, half of Earthrise. Her singular claim fame is that she’s based off a colour variation from Takara’s Diaclone, one of the toylines that would provide raw material for Hasbro’s Transformers. Diaclone is kinda of a big thing in collectors circles, with a boutique modern reboot, but in the Transformers context its mainly a convenient source for repaint ideas. So, yeah. Burn Out is obviously part of the black repaint phenomenon, but given that she is referencing a rare variant from 1983, this is about as deep as cut as you can make. If you want actual legacy in Legacy, why not homage the gestation of Transformers brand, and something that was probably only one marketing decision from a western release?

Righty, that’s the context established, on with the show. Burn Out's vehicle form is a legally distinct copy of the Honda City Turbo. Its a vehicle type that isn't really seen in Transformers that much, unless realistic cars are the main thing that year. It is more blocky than big or speedy looking, but it is distinctive. I have read that this car is a big thing in japan which is probably half the reason Skids gets any attention at all. Nerds like myself may recognise it from the anime/manga You’re Under Arrest. As to how much this differs from Skids? More than is immediately obvious, but once you get past the black its a bit subtle. Burn Out retains the stripes, red plastics and translucent blue of Skids, which is faithful to the source, but possibly faithful to a fault. Less obvious are the grey wheels, gunmetal front bumper, clear sunroof, and tail-lights. All-in-all its a nice looking car, with plentiful 5mm ports for weapon storage. The basics are there, and in black, so that’s good. Of course, the vehicle mode also inherits the same problems of this mould, such as overuse of translucent plastic, clip-on wheels, the face visible from the underside. While Burn Out has seemingly has not suffered the issues with tolerances Skids did, and mine seems fine, a certain degree of care is recommended with regards to anything blue.

The transformation ticks all the boxes you'd expect it too, presenting a similarly pleasing robot form, but if you were paying attention to the first picture above, you may have clicked what is different. Yes, Burn Out has a mouthplate, whereas previous iterations have either used the Skids head, or a new feminine sculpt in the case of the Masterpiece. This brings us to the promised, if brief, discussion of gender issues. Burn Out is on the other end of the scale from Elita-1, and is a toy which makes no attempt to use gender coding at all. On the one hand, this totally sidesteps the design compromises that affected Elita-1 and others. Burn Out is not a shellformer with a mannequin body shape, and is instead a classical "door wings" carformer with merits that I will shortly get into. There is no requirement for a robot to fit gender norms in the first place, and if this means a better toy, maybe this is a justifiable route? I mean, I we’re getting a Gobots character this way too, and then there’s Override, whom probably needs her own article. People seem to like them a lot. On the other hand, if you told me this was gonna be Crosscut, until someone realised that they could save him for later and thus get more repeat sales on the mould, I'd believe you. I’m cynical like that, and a black paintjob is the sort of thing you get an intern to do. For its faults, the Elita-1 mould tried harder. That having been acknowledged, Burn Out’s status as a premium redeco is more evident in robot form. The shoulders that were neglected on Skids are picked out in red and blue, with the limbs having more grey and black. Burn Out lacks chromed thighs, but the there’s a smoother transition between chrome grill, gunmetal bumper and charcoal grey plastics. Its a good look, if understated still. She also benefits from an earnest attempt to improve on Skids’ characteristic weapons storage. The two silver ones can be either forearm via dedicated ports, combine into a bigger gun, and further combine with that blue axe thing for a bigger gun. I clearly wasn’t paying this energon weapon business due attention, because its working out pretty well here. Posability is similarly pleasing. Its a good toy.

My point? Only that Legacy Burn Out is something that exists. And exists in the shadow of rather obscure character in the first place, which I wasn’t rushing out to buy. I’ll admit to having been a little unimpressed by Transformers: Legacy at time of writing; I’ve liked what I’ve chosen to post about, but I haven’t brought much, and I have yet to find a must-have. Wave 3 and Evolution look like more my sort of thing. Burn Out however suggests maybe I should have taken a few chances.

 

 

Transformers: Legacy Road Hauler is Something That Exists

 

Hauler’s brief G1 cartoon appearance

Like most people in England, I took a chance on a Black Friday sale in 2022. I was fully aware, and in support of, the Royal Mail strikes, and striking in general. So, I accepted a lengthy delay out of solidarity. What I did not account for was the habits of the online retailer Zavvi, which based on the experiences of myself and others, seems to only want to dispatch items after you ask what’s going on. If at all. Eventually, I received today's subject: The Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection Road Hauler. Brace yourselves, this is gonna be a bit of a trip.

The 2003 eHobby RoadHauler toy

Road Hauler is something that could only really exist when you have the combination of diehard fans and a shoddy production. An orange Autobot crane, he appeared for one brief scene in episode 1, getting name-dropped, but no lines. That sentence took about as long to write as it does to watch that scene. Now, if you have any familiarity with the Sunbow cartoon, you might be going "Orange Crane, do you mean Grapple? AKA the Inferno retool?“. And the answer is no, he came out the year after, and there is some speculation that" Hauler' was a victim of a last minute case change and eventually became Grapple. Much later on, eHobby decided to revisit the name for one of their exclusives, as it is/was common for the various crowd fillers and generics of the cartoon to be given names and profiles after the fact. See my article on Hotlink for another example. Hauler, of course, used the Grapple mould, but as the orange crane slot was now filled, a colour change was needed. So they did him in green, and tied him to the Constructicons. Doing a construction vehicle in green is up there with seeker repaints in the easy money category, and the only real limit on this is the availability of suitable alt modes. Hauler goes for a different shade of green than the Constructicons usually have, and more black instead of purple, but the influence is there. When it comes to the bigger picture, Hauler is very much akin to Burn Out, having very few fictional appearances and even fewer toys. So, having him turn up in the Speedia 500 sub-line was probably a good call, even if it was kinda weird to have a crane truck in a race. He's never had anything approximating a mass market toy before, and it's not like he's a Ramjet situation, where a popular character largely vanishes in distribution. 

 

So, here's the thing: I did not expect to like this toy as much as I actually do. I ordered this half because I hadn't tried the mould, and half as a goof. But it is also an unexpected fave. We'll come to the "goof" aspect shortly, but let's start with the crane mode. This is the first Transformer I've had in a while that makes a compelling case for its own alternative form. What do I mean by that? Well, it's about there being a legitimately different experience in both modes, and thus a compelling reason to keep in a mode other than robot. Robot modes since Siege have been pretty damn good, but often there is not the same level of rigour being applied to the other modes. With cars and jets, it's often a matter of compressing the toy down, pegging the guns on, and making your own sound effects. So, Hauler here has a moving and collapsing crane arm, and that opens up a few possibilities. He's also got a claw attachment for it, which has an airlock clip in the centre, so he can lift bits of modulator. This is a lot of uncomplicated fun, and it's the kind of thing simply omitted from recent toys, at least in the Generations sphere. There's no shortage of 5mm ports or weapon storage either so functionally, this is very complete. Visually, its certainly not bad either. The green and hazard stripes work well, and touches like painted hubcaps and transparent windows are nice. There"s a couple of oddities though, like the big bar on the cab that's painted, and the way the front tires spin, but the hubcaps are fixed. It's also fair to say the fidelity to the original Diaclone mould produces some flaws. It's pretty obviously a set of robot arms on the back, and maybe something could have filled that gap between, but the overall effect works. 

 

The transformation is similarly based on the Diaclone mould but with more modern touches. It's also fixed. The original version of this toy, Earth Grapple, had a major problem with the foot pegs breaking, something that put me off, although subsequent releases fixed that. Now, we have much to talk about here, but let me cut to the chase, and share with you the reason that I rolled the dice on this guy. Yes, that head sculpt. 

 

I don't know what possessed them to do this, but it's not often you get a Transformer that seems to shouting the word "fuck" at the top of his lungs. I know it's juvenile, but I find this to be hysterical. More generally, we might imagine this as roaring or screaming-as-you-fire-on-automatic sorta face, and there is a 3rd party kit that gives him a cigar, so there's that. Moving on, we come to a slightly less successful, but still rather fun robot form. With respects to the visuals, the flaw of this mould is quite apparent, he is very hollow. Whereas Legacy Bulkhead had an unflattering hollow chest which served his transformation, every extremity on Hauler here has exposed cavities that really don't need to be there. It's not great, and I can't deny that is a probable deal-breaker for some, but it doesn't bother me that much in person. Possibly because its everywhere, rather than a singularly obvious cut corner. Otherwise, Hauler is a fairly blocky dude, that doesn't really bring new out new colours for robot mode, and who seems rather upset about something.

 

While not as unexpectedly compelling as crane mode, the robot mode does bring something to the table rather nice to go with Siege Standard joints and ports. It offers a simulacrum, read a book, of the Diaclone fist-launching, where the hands or missiles could be fired from the wrists. This was the inspiration for Inferno and such having a tool/gun arm in the cartoon, and possibly several others now that I think of it. Hauler doesn't fire his fist off, spring-loaded missiles don't seem to be a thing in Transformers any more, but he does retain the option to fold his hands away and plug something into the 5mm port that results. So you can plug in that grabber bit in one arm, and the pointy thing in the other. Or, indeed Combiner Wars era hand/foot guns. It's joyful, it really is. 

 

My point? Only that Legacy Road Hauler is something that exists. And he's fun.

Transformers: Gobots are Something that Exists

Righty, lets try another doubleheader review. Featuring two repainted toys on a common theme. Well, two common themes. Let’s start with Crasher.

 

OK, let's pull on the obvious thread: Crasher is a Gobot. You may not have heard of the Gobots, but the short version is that they had a console war thing with Transformers back in the day, and lost. Think of them as the Digimon to Transformers’ Pokemon, if Digimon had died a few years into it. I'm long since past caring about that rivalry; I didn't see much of Gobots as a kid, some of the toys were nice, but people can be really effing weird about it. Good robots is good robots, you know? Hasbro, again, short version, it's messy, owns most of the Gobots I.P and thus Gobots turn up occasionally in Transformers media. Often these can be mean-spirited Hi-&-Die cameos, loving tributes, prolonged fanwank by FunPub, or whatever the hell Tom Scoli was trying to do. This has also meant a non-zero amount of toys, mostly in the realm of exclusives. These aren’t super common, the legal aspects and relative obscurity kept it that way, but they are definitely more common of late. Much like Diaclone and G2, Gobots has become another vector for repaints of G1-inspired moulds. This is how Crasher comes to us today, as a former exclusive repackaged for Age of the Primes.

The other thread is that, and I realise certain people may have a reaction to me even raising this matter, is that Crasher is a girl. Yes, a female coded character. Not in the awkward Smurfette sense, but more in the "this character is a girl, so are several others, why are you asking?"  sort of way. This is something that Gobots just did much, much, MUCH better than Transformers. It wasn't until Beast Wars that we got female character toys in Transformers, and truthfully a mere handful since. Gobots did that from day one. Crasher is probably the best known girl, having a highly placed antagonist role like Evil Lynn or the Baroness. As her name implies though, she's a bit more brutish than those examples. This toy is based off the Kingdom Mirage mould, itself a retool of the Siege version I've talked about previously. As such, the figure is basically competent, but not spectacular, robot with a F1 Racer mode and a lot of faux kibble bits. It's a mould that seeks to ape the cartoon model, but does not transform like it. All the modern conveniences are are there, with a more refined altmode than the Siege toy, but loosing the shoulder mounts in the process. The toy uses the Diaclone style head and a buttload of paint to create something that looks great in both modes, approximating the best known Crasher toy as best it can. With three accessory weapons, too. It is not admittedly the best possible Crasher. That would have a new head, a fairly obscure car mode, and possibly require a court ruling. But it is definitely on the realms of good enough, and I'm struggling to think of a modern deluxe that would fit Crasher more, and there is precedent here. The entire reason Hasbro is using a Mirage here is because it worked so well before, way-back in 2008. I just wish mine clipped together better in altmode. I don’t like that longitudinal seam on it, and I found this toy tricky to photograph. Its the white and glossy black.

Pathfinder meanwhile is what prompted me to finish this article as a double feature, as another female Gobot executed as a repaint. This was an impulse purchase at TFN, this being an orphaned member of a multipack, as I hadn't played with this mould before. As I’ve already mentioned femme coding and legal matters, I'm gonna talk more about the toys here, because frankly I have far less knowledge of the character. And, I didn't actually know this going in, it's not actually a good representation of Pathfinder. A friend of mine pointed out, and I made a point of checking, that these blue & yellow colours are derived from a Cosmos prototype, whereas Pathfinder is more grey & black. This originates from a trendsetting eHobby set, which did a lot of stuff like that, skirting around potential legal issues, not using names on the box, but the basic logic here is Pathfinder = UFO. See also: Scrounge. But, we're arguably starting from a worse position than Crasher above.  In 2004, Gobot fans were so desperate for anything that a Japanese-exclusive based off G1 prototypes, with a hint of being Tonka, was the best thing ever. You would not believe how far Fun Publications ran with this idea. But maybe it wasn’t the best thing ever. Because, and this is perhaps a subtle distinction, while Crasher had compromises, it was an earnest attempt. This feels more like Player 2 Colours Cosmos. A new head would have made all the difference. Pathfinder instead makes do with the Guardian logo on a flag/gun.

That said, a new head may not have been practical. This mould is noted on the wiki for it's usually low number of parts and sprues. Originally the Speedia 500 Cosmos was intended to be a Bumblebee retool, but clever design allowed for a completely new toy with the same budget. Reuse possibilities may have been cut out. The base toy is therefore something of a minor marvel, a triumph of necessity driving invention. In so far as basic functions and appearance goes it's got a lot going for it. But it's not without compromises, the hollow forearms being the most obvious. There's also  elements of faux kibble in both modes, the joint and 3mm port count is a touch low and the UFO mode needed some wee castors. You might also find the proportions to be a bit of a marmite; it's very round in robot mode, and feels somehow exaggerated in UFO mode, like a pug. The yellow paint doesn't look brilliant on the blue plastic, but it rarely does, does it? She's pretty good, but one suspects exclusivity may be giving the mould undue hype. Also: a tricky toy for me to photograph. That yellow just eats the sculpted detail.

So which is better, Crasher or Pathfinder? The answer is nuanced. Both are exclusive repaints of exclusive toys, and are subject to a degree of hype or confirmation bias. Crasher is definitely the most thorough and earnest of the pair. The base toy however isn't my favourite, and there's signs of mould degradation. Pathfinder is much, much, much lazier as a repaint, but the Cosmos mould is far less common and more interesting as a concept. Both suffer with faux kibble issues, but Crasher has arguably better fundamentals and more accessories. Both are nice, but not the Ironfist & Carnivac nice. I would probably give it to Crasher, but it's a close run thing. Crasher is kinda mid deluxe with a spectacular paint job, whereas Pathfinder is a good/interesting deluxe with a mid paintjob. In any case, Crasher and Pathfinder are something that exists.

Transformers: Legacy Diaclone Universe Clampdown is Something That Exists

And now for an article that got pushed back a wee bit... Actually from before TFNation.

The 2003 eHobby Collectors Edition Clampdown Toy

I'm not really sure if the concept of an "exclusive" actually means much any more, assuming it meant much in the first place. Because, in so far as the UK market at least, any transformer with a limited release has this habit of turning up discounted in odd places six months later. It's not immediately clear why this is the case. Stock Liquidation may be involved. Speaking from personal experience, Hasbro is to retail distribution what the sudden downpour is to the English Summer, but they've been trying harder of late with Hasbro Pulse. And yet, we continue to see the supposedly Smyths or Amazon or whatever exclusives from online sources and even meatspace retailers. This brings us to Clampdown of the Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection. What he is perhaps more interesting who he is. He's very much the same story as Burn Out, in that he's a tribute to Diaclone, the Japanese forerunner to Transformers. In this case, he's inspired by the toy that would become Red Alert, the Autobot Security Officer and walking advertisement for therapy. Existing largely as a repaint opportunity, and as exclusive tribute to an exclusive, Clampdown is not much of a character, even by the standards of such things. While Burn Out had the advantage of being a female-coded minivan, Clampdown is a dude that changes into a not-Lamborghini, and there's really no shortage of such blokes. Part of the reason for that is Hasbro's extremely aggressive reuse of the Siege Sideswipe mould, and while I've touched on that before, Clampdown is a good opportunity to talk about it some more.

The 2019 Siege Sideswipe toy

The Siege Sideswipe toy was a fairly conservative reimagining of the character, one that claimed to have an alien vehicle mode, but really didn't. While my Gaslands work has made me more inclined to notice the nuances of these matters, the alt mode was closer to cyberpunk or the modern hypercar than something off-world. This was reinforced by his mouldmate Red Alert, whom had retained his fire service decals and a light-bar/siren. One thing to point out here is that the mould featured numerous weapons that we're only selectively being issued. Sideswipe got a modular missile launcher like his shoulder mounted one, but if he wanted a sidearm he'd need to for a battlemaster or use the missile as a pistol. Red Alert meanwhile got the aforementioned light bar and a more conventional gun, but that also had a 5mm port, so you could make a "fire axe" from the two accessories. The mould would then see ten and counting releases, most of these falling under the banner of exclusives or Generations Selects. The Netflix tie-ins left the accessories as they were, focusing on paintwork, but the Selects releases put both gun and launcher in the box. Then Earthrise happened, proceeding redo every big name that Siege did, not even two full years after, and often in hard to find two-packs. The Sideswipe mould avoided this dignity, but only briefly. Like many others, the design was changed to have a more conventional and nostalgic altmode, and became an exclusive release during Kingdom. Time progressed, as time is inclined to when you're not looking, and the mould turned up in the Speedia subline, giving us Clampdown. Kinda. He was reportedly short-packed, subsequently reissued, and yet still only seen in finite numbers up until the point where Hasbro was offering surplus stock on eBay for a tenner. If you wanted to make a case file on Hasbro and it's ability to find it's collective bum with both hands, you could do worse than starting with Clampdown

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So, let’s start by talking about the vehicle mode. Its a police style, Lamborghini-inspired-but-legally-distinct sports car. The specific details are based of Japanese police cars, although the tiny-tiny text says “Cybertron”, which is the local term for “Autobot”. Its general shape is also meant to match Sunstreaker, whom is characterised as Sideswipe’s brother and has the same altmode. Its predominately done in white, and the colour matching isn’t bad at all. The shoulder assemblies on this mould usually end up in black, breaking up the deco around the door area, but Clampdown is the first to cast them in white, greatly improving the look. The criticisms I’m inclined to make here is that sides are bit messy with panel gaps, and the “police” deco kinda draws attention to those gaps. I know that’s a shallow criticism to make, but there’s at least 10 of these, so little flaws like that become more noticeable. Otherwise it looks good, I might even touch up that chip on the roof. Functionally, the car is obviously much like its numerous kin, although we do see some subtle differences between this mould and the Siege original. While more noteworthy in robot mode, the peg for blast effects is missing, and the missile now lacks its handle. That’s better for looks I suppose, but if you’re gonna take the handle off the missile, why not use that plastic to fill in the gaps? 

 

 

Transforming Clampdown revealed to extent to which the Siege mould was changed, and TBH its obvious from the moment you flip him over. All the vehicle bits either cast or painted in white are new. The wheels, light-bar, the weapons in black, and, as near as I can figure, everything not explicitly part of the robot mode is unchanged. This is what’s known in fandom circles as “reshelling”, that is to say that the nature of the vehicle mode is an outer-shell, which can be replaced without changing the nature of the robot form. While not extreme, or as literal as some, I do find myself wondering which version actually came first. On the positive side, Clampdown features a very clean and fun transformation. On the downside, they didn’t take the opportunity to do something about the panels in the knee area, so they locked in. All versions of the mould seem to have this, and its not actually a problem, but it does take the shine off.

With the robot mode, we come to the fundamental strengths of the basic design and where Clampdown does his best to separate himself from Red Alert. This toy drastically reduces the amount of red versus the inspiration, replacing it with grey. Red remains on the missile, and the waist area, with the latter drawing attention to an unwelcome gap that could have been fixed during the retooling. Generally though, its pretty nice. The white and grey look works, with touches of blue and black stop that it from becoming boring. Nice blue eyes too. Its far from an ugly deco, and its being applied to what is a fundamentally solid robot mode. The Sideswipe mould was a wave 1 entry in Siege, which introduced a new standard in articulation and 5mm-based weaponry. While other toys would inevitably do this better, Hound was arguably the best of wave 1 for example, the robot mode Clampdown inherits is a pleasing all-rounder that benefits from an increased accessory count. You want a gun? He’s got a gun. It can also be a fire-axe, or use the missile as a pick, or possibly an orky tankhammer. The launcher is fine by itself too, it just looks like a grenade launcher, or possibly it stores the explosives within the tube. AND THEN we can start talking about weaponizers and such.

 

My point? Only that Clampdown is something that exists. I don’t think he’s good enough to call a must-have, but if you see one of these in the wild, I think you’ll have a good time. If not in these colours, then definitely in a scheme you like, just make sure all the extras are there.

 

Transformers: Buzzworthy Bumblebee Creatures Collide Set is Something that Exists

Hmm, I may have to keep on posting Transformers on a Thurday, got a bit of a backlog. Anyways, one of these days, I need to write about the "Buzzworthy Bumblebee" line. As the name implies, this is a line entirely about the very-very over-exposed Bumblebee character, although it's since become more of catch-all for various exclusives and reissues. As you might imagine, this has given me repetitive strain injury from rolling my eyes, but then something magical happened. I saw Iin a shop one of the Buzzworthy multipacks on discount. Deep discount. A pack of 4 deluxes originally 90 odd, sold at 45, and finally reduced to £12.98.

Obviously, I said yes to that. I was thinking it was daft not to, and if I didn't like any of it, gifts/donations were an option. Now, I could do an in-depth breakdown of each toy here, but I feel that would get boring pretty quickly. These are principally repaints of better known characters/toys, and the cadence of the discussion would be quite similar for each. So, I'm going to try to keep this to a paragraph for each before tying it all together in the conclusion. 

 

Not making the best first impression, Preadacon Skorponok is the weakest of the set. He's a 90's toy colours variant of the modern Kingdom toy, rather than a separate character, so not a huge amount of creativity going on, and the basic execution wasn't great in the first place. The robot mode is fine, a good approximation of the CG model with an optional head based off the old "mutant head" gimmick. He's not doing much of the 5mm port thing, but he is using in his claws for a set of decorative missiles and his Cyberbee. His beast mode legs are kinda just there, but the scorpion tail is articulated. The bad stuff starts with the transformation, which I found counter-intuitive, finicky, and ultimately doesn't do a great job of hiding the robot bits. One entire leg ends up stowing into the tail, not actually concealed, and it hampers the tail articulation. His head meanwhile sticks out on the underside. Also his joints are on the loose side, tolerances seem a bit off with this one, and a lot of him is translucent plastic. That said, the scorpion mode did grow on me, this being one of those toys that ends up appearing bigger in altmode, and there's some nice organic texturing on the bug bits. I don't think I can honestly say that this a great toy. I find myself comparing it to a RID 2015 warrior class toy which did the scorpion thing better, while the deco is outside of my nostalgia bubble and not especially interesting. Mind you, he's far from the worst in modern Generations, and I can see myself displaying him with the spare head.

Predacon Skywasp is obviously a Waspinator in new colours, although it's slightly more creative than the above. The colours are taken from a cancelled exclusive, by way of a Diaclone-inspired Botcon toy with a name too generic to trademark so they made him a beast wars tribute to Skywarp. Waspinator was possessed by Starscream that one time, and has had jet modes, so it's not really a stretch to have another seeker involved. As colours go, it's definitely striking with those blood red wings and eyes, but when it comes to wasp mode this doesn't do much for the organic realism. Wasps can be all kinds of colours, but not this specific scheme. I took a moment to check. Your mileage may vary on that point though, it certainly doesn't look bad in wasp mode, just toyetic, and that may be what you want. Otherwise, I'd say the basics are here, with little to apologise for. There's siege/Legacy standard articulation, a splattering of 5mm ports, more than most beasts in Kingdom, weapon storage, and an alternative humanoid head, as another nod to the mutant face thing. It's just with Waspinator, things got swapped around for the TV show, and the mutant face is considered his usual one. There's been a few Waspinator remakes over the years, and I don't quite know where this sits in the rankings, but this seems decent. I mean, I'm not a fan of the robot bits in wasp mode, but lots of beast formers have that problem. Less subjectively, one wing likes to pop off and there's a few cut marks that stick out. 

 

Ransack is the most modern of the toys here, the largest overall, and perhaps the one with a disproportionate amount of the paint budget, as there's an awful lot of translucent plastic painted over. Ransack is actually a G1 original, one of the larger "Deluxe" Insecticons, but you'd be forgiven for not knowing that. The toy wasn't a Takara original, and that seems to have meant no cartoon or comic appearances in the 80’s, or much after. Ransack here is a headswap pretool of the much better known Kickback, something which the Legacy release telegraphed with two otherwise inexplicable sword accessories. Ransack therefore looks an awful lot like Kickback in both modes, and only becomes more so if you apply the alternative head. (Said head goes unmentioned in the documentation, and seemingly exists as a toy-accurate head for Legacy Kickback.) Due to a quirk of design the robot mode and bug mode head are the same thing, just at different angles, so the rounder head is doing the heavy lifting here, although the swords do become a butt extension for bug form. As the mould is basically a 1983 design upscaled and given modern joints, Ransack isn't doing anything especially clever, but they aren't failing at it either. There's probably a third party "not-Ransack" out there that more faithfully updates the 80's original, but in so far as headswaps go, this is entirely acceptable. Decent robot mode, three weapons, not quite the right bug mode, but close enough. 

 

And finally, after a trio of bugs, we have a beetle. Autobot Goldbug was undoubtedly the most desirable of this set, although as a retool of Earthrise Cliffjumper, also the most familiar to me. Who is Goldbug? Well, he's Bumblebee after an emergency repair job and reassignment to the Throttlebots, which obviously didn't stick, but I did have that toy back in the day. The point of interest here is the fully licenced Volkswagen Beetle car mode, which like the boombox version of Soundwave seems to be under some sort of exclusivity arrangement. This is only the second time we've seen this specific toy released, while the original Cliffjumper variation has seen five releases. As a base mould, Cliffjumper was pretty good. A shame about the back-end of the car being a partsforming bit, but pretty good regardless. This means that Goldbug benefits from a strong foundation, I.e. a pleasingly involved transformation and a huggable shape, but if you're not a big Herby and/or Throttlebots fan it's more of a sidegrade than a slamdunk. The new vehicle bits omit 5mm ports, a tangible loss, with the instructions presenting a decidedly compromised alternative for weapon storage. Goldbug retains the modular bazooka/waterski/twin-blaster/random-greebly thing, and as fun as that is, it's very specific to Cliffjumper. Mind you, it looks great in gold, caramel, black, and blue, and the play value is there. Definitely worth a look, but it's very easy to overpay here.

I mean obviously, I didn't. But looking at the eBay listings, a few people have.

The Spare Head Three...

Conclusion

As I lucked out as got this set for 13 quid, it's honestly a little difficult to judge it from any sort of value-for-money metric. I could have had any single one of these for that price and feel quite happy about it. Hell, it was reduced from £45, and that's an objectively good deal as deluxes go for 25 each these days. That leaves broader creativity commentary, and whether or not something has an overt problem. On the overt problem front, only Scorponok has issues. He's not terrible, the vast majority of Generations isn't, but with his engineering and QC, he's in the "fine for now" tier. In terms of grander commentary, I'd say this demonstrates the issues that can occur when moulds are designed to be a specific character, but then reused for different ones. If you do a new head and new paintjob, or if the character is somewhat generic like a seeker, you're usually OK. That largely isn't the case here. For example, Goldbug, as mentioned, has the same accessories as Cliffjumper. These were based on memorable scenes in the Sunbow cartoon, so great for the mould original, but Goldbug never used them, and truthfully Cliffy-J didn't use them more than once. Maybe some small arms for all the other minibots would have been a better call? You could also make the case that Goldbug doesn't actually match his character model; and given how anal-retentive Earthrise was about such things, it's noticeable. You can make similar observations about the other three.

Ultimately, the Creatures Collide set is a multi-pack through and through. There's one you probably want most, but also one you don't, with two you're probably neutral on. As the toys are generally good ones, your choice will likely be based on your budget and how it fits into your collection. I got absurdly lucky with the price, and that three of the moulds were new to me. Regardless, the Creatures Collide set is something that exists. 

 

Also, the week after? I heard Game was offering this has as part of a "2 for £20" offer. Because of course it would :) 

Plamo: The V Link Mecha Frame Striker & Logistic Set

Yes, once more the gnawing emptiness that serves as my soul drives me to purchase some random robot bits off the Intarwebz. This time, it's one of Rihio's MultiAbyss kits, a line of 1/60 scale toys on the lower end of the pricing scale. Further details seem to be obscured behind the language barrier, but this never stopped me before. Its my birthday! I'm allowed to indulge.

 

The first thing I want to say here is that this does not feel like a model kit or even a gunpla once assembled. The plastic here has a more robust, "toy-like", vibe. I was reminded of the time I attended a Botcon custom class and built an actual Transformer from factory runners and sprues. Had this come to me pre-assembled in the packet, I would have had no reason to assume it was a kit. This is not a criticism, just something that frustrated my need for categorisation. Model kits don't normally sit on my desk once completed, to be played with, like a Transformer.

Anyways, this kit features 5 sprues and a baggy of pre-painted parts. Probably an excessive amount of parts, to be honest, but we'll comeback to that. The build is maybe 1 hour of work, with nothing especially difficult. You get a choice of building it as the battle ready Striker, or the sentinel-power-loader-lookalike Logistic version. There's also a third style not explicitly named in English, a static gun turret type thing that's less impressive. Its possible to, and largely the point, to swap between the variants after assembly. Or indeed create your own versions. In the absence of anything pressing to do, I touched up some bits, cutmarks being a thing, and applied some contrast paints to the little pilot figure.

Once assembled, the toy is a small but perfectly formed robot, based around balljoints and 3mm pegs. The overall style puts me in mind of Votoms, and those boxed mechasuits you see in the modern Diaclone. Detailing is effective for the scale, but not lavish. This can make some parts a little indistinct, but you do get a great many of them. Mainly guns. Enough guns to satisfy The Punisher, and I'd like to highlight the rifle and sword with their two tone metal effect. In no particular order, there are also, 2 pistols, 2 larger pistols with top handles, a twin flamer assembly with a flexible plastic hose, 2 shoulder missile launchers, 2 things which I think are TOW launchers which I don't like, 4 stowage packs, a probable grenade launcher, a missile rack, paired shoulder cannons and some other stuff I don't recognise. That's an insane amount of ordnance, more than two of these mecha could easily carry. Also 5 assorted faceplates. I am not photographing all of it. 

 

 

This makes the set some spectacular conversion fodder, and I could easily see myself building some Killa Kanz, or possibly T'au battlesuits from this. You get two sets of legs, could save a lot of time... However, what makes it all work is the articulation. Its simple, but very well-executed, moving exactly as well as something that looks like this should. The Striker form has a huge range of motion in the arms, enough for it to grab for weapons on its back, sufficient balance for on legged poses, and it collapses into a Votoms style sitting mode. Logistics form however puts a new slant on things with completely different shoulders and reverse knees. It's all very nice.

As noted, I'm hesitant to call this a full-fledged model kit, but this little dude was rather up my street. Its as a projects go, its a nice little palette-cleanser, and the end result is such fun. I'm very pre-disposed to like posable and tiny robots, especially when they have a daft amount of gun. In fact, it has so much gun that the dial rolls over and the omissions become glaring. There's just so many spare bits, it makes you wonder why you can't just build two robots at once? Because they want you to buy two. Mind you, that's about the worst I can say of it.