12 Oct 2016

Action Master Autobot Vehicles Sprocket and Wheeljack

Continuing our look at the Action Master line, today we’re looking at the Autobot Vehicles.  Some of the larger figures from the range, much bigger than the Action Blasters or Exo Suits, but smaller than the (for want of a better term) Leader Class toys of Gutcruncher, Megatron and Optimus Prime.

Sprocket

sprocket

Once again, some excellent character art for this guy, a lot of the times it doesn’t feature that prominently on the very busy 90s packaging, so it’s good to see it clean.  Fair play to Botch the Crab who does an excellent job archiving character box art on his site.

 

20161003_2218560

 
Sprocket looks great as a robot with some excellent choices of colouration, the white, yellow and orange colourations really offset his darker torso.  Straight away, we’re drawn to that oversized weapon, the fact that it’s gold plastic with a small 3-mil hand-peg makes us all want to handle with care.  His chest looks like he used to transform into a Cybertronian jet of some kind, with the stylings differing from many of the Action Masters usual vestigial Earth-modes.

300px-ateameffort_stealth_team
Sprocket is unique to Action Masters, with no other updates or homages released third party or otherwise.  Why no love?  Jackpot, Kick-Off, Axer, Circuit, Slicer and many more AMs have been homaged, but this guy gets nothing outside of appearances in TFCC fiction and cameos in More Than Meets the Eye (which is something I guess?).  His name hasn’t even been re-appropriated for a vastly different TF character or product. For shame.

sprocket_vehicle

As you can see on the artwork, the gold weapon doubles as missiles for the alt. mode, but these are solid pieces for display only with no working projectile ability.  Also, the car doesn’t fire huge lasers from it’s engine block and it cannot drive on it’s own.  Well done to Sprocket for maintaining a sensible “ten-to-two” hands on the wheel approach to driving amidst the chaos and gunfire.

20161003_222031

 

On it’s own, the vehicle isn’t that satisfying.  A green off-road vehicle with a fairly ugly design, I can’t see it appealing to many kids even in 1990 as it looks like a convertible Land Rover.  However, it’s transformation into an Attack Cruiser is quite involved, featuring only one breath-stopping forcing of a GPS liable block of plastic on the front end.

20161003_223026

This is pretty cool in my book; wings, helicopter blades, weapons, DeLorean / BTTF style folding wheels.  I never had this as a kid, but seem to remember a friend did, and it was great fun to convert and fiddle around with.  The extra driving seat adds an extra dimension and is a real highlight of the Action Master line, as these figures really do interact with each other and share a play pattern.

Wheeljack

wheeljack

Finally!  A Wheeljack with a proper face, with eyes and everything!  Even as a non-transforming fairly basic figure that was often ignored at the time, it still has more paint apps than the Combiner Wars version.

20161003_221754

As with Sprocket, the missiles from the Turbo Racer detach to become hand weapons.  There’s not much else to say about the figure, it has standard knee joints, ball-jointed hips held by elastic, lateral movement in each arm and ahead swivel, like the rest of the product line.

 

 

wheeljack_vehicle
Artwork looks great, and it makes me wish I’d popped out Bumblebee and Jackpot to recreate this scene above.

20161003_222210
It’s a fun, racey looking vehicle with obvious Testarossa overtones, although one negative aspect of molding a big red plastic race car is it sort of looks like it transforms into this:

stylish-twin-size-car-bed

Yup, Wheeljack’s car looks like it transforms into a bed.  Ah well, actually it transforms into the marginally more cool:

20161003_2227280

It’s supposed to be a Jet Fighter, but the way the doors fold up to become wings get’s drowned out when you fold the front end of the cars around to give it more of a nosecone shape.  Still, it’s a flying car, and in 1990, you would not have been able to convince me that this was not cool.  The stickers on this guy are also a bit phoned in, with generic “mech” detailing visible in the alt. mode.  A shame, as the trim detailing and hood emblem in yellow really set off the car mode quite well.

Overall

20161003_221656
These are fun toys.  Just as Micro Masters was a reaction to Micro Machines, I’d argue this was probably a move towards competing with the Teenage Mutant Ninja / Hero Turtles toyline, which had seen great success with it’s action figure and vehicle / playset product line the years preceding these releases.
20161003_222310

They are a fun part of the legacy of the line, and whilst they were considered a miss-step at the time, it seems opinions towards the line has softened in recent years, and I would encourage all TF fans to give them a look.

As always, thanks to Kapow for giving the blog a home!  Although we aren’t spoiled for choice for Sprockets, there are plenty of Wheeljacks on the market, check out what Kapow has right here!

21 Mar 2016

You’re not the Boss of me!

boss

 

This week, we’ll be taking a look at the Turbomasters, a quick one each day, and then a recap and group shots at the weekend.  They are firmly G1, sometimes known as Euro G1.5 and occasionally mistaken for G2 figures.  Some people know a few of the molds from Machine Wars and even the Universe line of repaints, but not all the molds have been re-used.

The Turbomaster Cars for instance, were released in 1992 in Europe by Hasbro, and they were also released by Takara as part of the Operation Combination series in Japan later the same year, but they never saw release in the United States, ever, and to date have never had any repaints, retools or reissues.

The gimmick for this series (other than Transforming, of course) was missiles!  Lots and lots (and lots, seriously) of missiles.  Their rivals are the Predators (sometimes called the Predator Jets, who we will be looking at next week) also has the same gimmick, but with much more generic – and fragile – launchers.

First up, we look at Sub-Commander of the Turbomasters; Boss.

 

20160228_205814

 

 

As a robot, Boss looks simple enough.  His paint job and stickers don’t do much for him, and only a few things make him stand out from the crowd; One is his incredibly Prime-esque head and faceplate – possibly a case of primus apotheosis, and the second is his pink windshield / chestplate, which may be what confuses some people into thinking of him as a G2 piece.  His over-sized weapon also looks quite boss in this mode.

 

0__0 (43)

 

It’s his alt. mode and the simple but fun transformation that make this guy shine.  The Turbomasters each have unique missile launchers which can be integrated into their vehicle modes and in the case of Boss this is very much essential to his transformation. His spare missiles can be stored on his alt. mode as pictured and while they can be stored the same way in robot mode, the results are not quite as photogenic.

boss2

Obscure European card artwork

Like a lot of the toys from this era, I love this guy.  Away from any “Master” gimmicks, be they action, target, head, micro or shell based, and just fun transformations that look like cool cars and fun robots.

Boss has had relatively few fiction appearances, other than a never resolved Dreamwave sub-plot and some appearances in the IDW continuity, certainly nothing that has showcased him like some of the other European figures such as Pyro.

Boss is also known by the name Blizzard in France, and Mach Road in Japan where he was packaged in a two-pack with Flare Jet (Snare) in some of the best packaging I’ve seen, packaging so nice I did start to try and collect them even though I’m a loose collector and I already have both the toys.  I’ll try and get some good photos of some of at least one of these two packs for the final article.  While nothing about the toy was changed for this release, his packaging artwork was reworked to give him a more toy accurate face.

 

OC-art_MachRoad

Japanese Vs. Europe

 

To date, Boss has had no re-imagining (despite how easy it would be to release him as a retooled CHUG Blurr – are you listening Fun Publications?), third party or official, and his name has not even been re-purposed.  He remains a woefully under-used part of the TF lore.

13 Mar 2016

‘Scuse me, while I Scorch this Sky…

EagleEyeG2-card

US G2 card-art

We mentioned the Skyscorchers a lot in the mid-week post, as the counterparts to the Autobot Axelerators.  Exactly the same deal applies with these guys; they were released in Europe as part of the Euro 1.5 era / continued G1 (complete with what we now consider the G2 logo) after Transformers had stopped in the US AND Japan.  Transformers stopped in the US after Action Masters effectively killed the line dead, and Japan continued until 1992 with Operation Combination.  Leaving Europe carrying the torch, which meant little old England got a few exclusive figures for a change (we did miss out on Perceptor, Swoop, Blaster, Trypticon, Fort Max, Sky Lynx, Omega Supreme and a whole host of others though).

s-l300

Euro version, notice the different artwork.

Of course, their exclusivity was short-lived, as they were re-released as part of the G2 range proper the same year alongside the Axelerators, and like their European wave-rivals they also suffered re-branding, now known as the “Small Jets” and featuring all new names.  Pshh, I’ll take Skyscorchers over Small Jets any day of the week.

g2 logo con

Like the Axelerators, they also feature a similar weapon storage gimmick, where the hand-held weapons double up as a plane part – rather than engines, they become under-carriage radar / sonar devices.  These figures are also gang-molded, featuring alternating primary and secondary colour-schemes, and unlike the Autobots there are no differences between releases (I’m quite shocked they didn’t remove the green light-piping and canopies for a more boring smokey grey).  We present them here under their European names first, and US names second.

Axelscorch

 

Hawk / Eagle Eye

0(08)
This was the only Skyscorcher I actually bought at the time of release, the rest were picked up on the after-market a few years later.  Hence the missing toe / rear landing gear, lost somewhere to the mists of time.  It’s the eccentricities of collecting like this that I love, where I’ll happily pay big money for big ticket items, yet completely forget to hunt out a minor piece for a £5 figure.

Hawk is listed as an Infiltrator, which makes him no different to most Decepticons really… He’s  a fun toy, with a simple transformation – the simplest of the bunch – but even then it features a few surprises to make you feel its not just ANOTHER jet-to-robot transformation.  In this respect, these guys do outshine the Axelerators, as the transformations are generally more involved.

0(17)

In jet mode, he becomes a Dassault Rafale jet or a Eurofighter Typhoon jet, depending on who you believe, one with great stickers on his wings, and a nice sticker proudly presenting his year of production; 93.  Bless him.

Snipe / Afterburner

 

0(10)
I never really noticed until now quite how plain (should that be plane? ho-ho!) he looks in robot mode, it’s certainly a sharp contrast to his alt. mode.  At least his weapon compliments his European name of Snipe, and it makes you wonder if Eagle Eye was originally intended for this guy, as it certainly would have made more sense, but then again his function is Technicians Master rather than long-range offense of other such.  His transformation is much more than meets the eye (knocking them out of the park today), and I think anyone who has experienced the basic Beast Wars assortment variety of transforming present in Machine Wars would be very surprised by the involvement required for this sub-line.

 

 

----)

 

In alt. mode, he really shines, with great decals and paintwork throughout destracting from an otherwise generic blue jet (which are admittedly way more common in Transformers than real-life), and a gnatty revised Con logo right in the centre of the fuselage.  His tail-fin logo is also really great in a naff nineties sort of way, I can imagine it being tattooed on Will Ferrel in Blades of Glory.  He transforms into a Lockheed F-104G Starfighter jet.
Terradive

 

0(9)

Hooray!  A name that is consistent amoungst all territories!  Although as a fun-fact, it’s worth mentioning that his working title was Terraswoop.  This guy is easily my favourite of the bunch, even though his transformation is less involved than the others (but still would feel perfectly suited on a bigger toy), a transformation which gives him a very unique silhouette in the shoulders, which is needed, as the colour scheme on the robot mode needs something to help it pop.  It’s worth noting the under-wing engines become the lower legs of the robot, another factor contributing to his somewhat unique look.

0(20)

It’s his alt. mode that makes this guy stand out so much, it’s not like the Ling-Temco-Vought A-7E Corsair II jet is a favourite of mine, with it’s rounded features massively different from the typical style of fighter-jet we usually get in Transformers, making it look more like a transporter of some kind.  Looks can be deceptive, as a bit of research shows it is a fighter jet in service from Vietnam through Desert Storm, with it’s heavy emphasis on radar and accuracy, and it’s under-cockpit air-intake giving it it’s distinct look.  The plane mode on the real-world fighter jet isn’t quite as fat as the way the toy presents it, but I think that helps give this toy an identity.

 

Tornado / Windrazor

 

0(07)

 

Saving the leader until last, a grey Decepticon jet with blue parts and red trimming… hmmm, where have we seen that before.  He doesn’t look to offer much in the way different to a lot of other jet robots, but actually – once again – his transformation is remarkably involved, needing a few more twist and turns than expected.  His profile describes him as an evil genius, but how sad we never get to see that in any of his comic-book appearances.

 

0(18)
As a F-16 Fighting Falcon, he definitely wanders back into the more recognisable sort of fighter jet, although his single tailfin does differentiate him from the F15 Eagle of Starscream and company.  Even if his bad tattoo flash on his tailfin might be more at home on an Eagle.  Or on Eagle Eye.  Honestly, their names seem very interchangeable for the most part, and this guys working title of Whirlwind could easily apply to all of them.

0(16)

Overall, I’m a big fan of these toys, especially their transformations and Terradive in particular is a stand-out figure.  I can’t help feeling that they look less visually appealing than the Axelerators, and for the time, the colour-schemes are very subdued – although paint-apps and stickers do attempt to give them more personality.

 

Mostly, my favourite thing about these guys are their uniform head-sculpts, which manage to have a lot of sinister personality considering they have no real faces so to speak.  Nowhere are these heads better presented then on their US box artwork (Sadly, it’s really hard to find the Euro artwork, which wasn’t printed in the otherwise amazing Transformers Legacy artwork book), and I’m pleased to say over on my personal blog I’m sharing some exclusive paperwork from the Hasbro offices, showing the work in progress in developing that artwork.  Most interesting are the notes on Snipe, where a new head and leg have been re-drawn and stuck over the original sheets.  Check it out here on my blog.

 

PW1

Just a sample.

 

They have never been re-released or reissued outside of their Euro 1.5 / G2 origins, nor have they been recoloured, although, they too came close with Takara’s planned Block Town line, where it’s presumed they would have adopted the names of Hawking, Snipe, Terradive and Sky Tornado, respectively, as their original colours would have been called had they been released in 1993.  It’s of note, that these guys would have all jumped faction to Autobots for the Block Town release.  Sadly, as they never got released, I will have to resort to customs one day, but without stickers and tampo, I can’t see them working as well.

 

blocktownterra

He’s not fat, he’s big-boned.

 

Despite their awesomeness, these are not big collectors pieces and are excuse the pun, under the radar for a lot of collectors (ho-ho), despite recent fiction appearances in the Regeneration comic series – in fact the best part of that series was probably all the cameos by obscure latter-day G1 / G2 characters.  There have been no homages or re-imaginings of these characters at all, in twenty years… no Fun Publishing toys, no e-hobby exclusives… nothing.  A shocker.

 

They can still be picked up relatively cheap, and while I get most modern collectors have drifted toward Masterpiece and Combiner Wars, I implore you to at least pick up one of these toys and give them a look, and remind yourself what simple fun these toys used to be.

 

0 (6)