As promised, I'm opening a couple threads for review and discussion of some G1 subseries.
The Minibots in question include:
1984
Bumblebee (Yellow or Red), Cliffjumper (Red or Yellow), Bumper, Gears, Brawn, Huffer, and Windcharger.
1985
Beachcomber, Cosmos, Seaspray, Warpath
1986
Hubcap, Outback, Swerve, Pipes, and everyone's favorite: Wheelie!
This is a small start, to get your reviewing neurons firing before we tackle some of the less known toys like Pretenders, Powermasters, and Micromasters... Don't forget you're also welcome to start posting figure-by figure reviews of current lines!
G1 Autobot Minicars: 1984-1986
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Time Traveller
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Ultra Magnus
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Wind Charger:
The upsides.
This guy has one of the coolest alt modes of any of the original autobot mini-cars. The vehicle mode is a muscle car, and actually looks sportier than some of the larger sports cars. In car mode he rolls and performs well, almost to the point were you are tempted to put him on a standard racetrack track for collectable cars.
In robot mode he has articulation in the shoulders allowing 360 degree motion of the arms, and knee articulation which means he is one of the very few G1's (especially from 1984) that can be posed in a semi-running position.
The downsides:
The transformation of this figure is the absolute most basic, of just about anyone outside of a happymeal toy. You pull the two arms out from the sides, and flip the lower legs over, and you are done.
The face is extremely plain. He really has no personality at all. He has a black visor, and a mouthgaurd that is the exact same coloring as the rest of the torso. He really is built more like a cheap imitation of the rest of the line.
Overall score: 3.5 out of 5. His vehicle mode and overall profile in robot mode pull him to the front of the pack in this 1984 group.
Bumblebee:
No collection would be complete without this bot. He was the star of the G1 cartoon, and he was featured prominently in the comic as well. He was the go between for humans and the bots.
The upsides:
His vehicle mode, while not perfect scale, was extremely "cute" and fun to play with. His character was supposed to be non-threatening, and this vehicle mode showed it. The transform into bot was on par with your average Go-bot or other TF minibot from the time. Rubber Tires!!!
The downsides:
When in bot mode, his head/face was basically a flat plate, in front of a gaping hole down into his chest cavity. Even though the arms have a 360 degree range of motion, they do not really stretch out beyond the "potbelly" chest. As with most G1's, his legs are locked into one position, with the feet together, so there is little point to him having separate feet at all.
Overall score: 3 out of 5 He gets a bump because his character is so popular, and the girls really think he is cute in vehicle mode, but the robot mode keeps him from really shining.
Cliffjumper:
The unofficial Bumblebee twin. Even though he is a Porsche, and BB is a bug, the construction and design are very similar. His character was the impatient, ready to go, looking for action type.
The Upsides:
If the rule is you *must have Bumblebee*, this guy makes your collection incomplete, also, if you don't have him. Simple, but fun transformation. Rubber Tires!!! (I would mention that there was die cast in both BB and CJ, but it was one the back panel of the robot mode)
The downsides:
His vehicle mode is way out of scale with the real thing, making it so that unless you really know cartoon versions of cars, you don't know what he truly is. Just like his "twin" he suffers from arms too short for his belly syndrome. If you have read my BB review, you know the rest.
Overall Score: 2 out of 5. Cliffy just doesn't get the same bump that BB does, as his character is less known, and less cared about. He rides BB's coattails, and that is just about all there is to him as a toy.
These are the only three currently in my collection. I have had most of the others, and will review them later, based on archival photos and memory.
The upsides.
This guy has one of the coolest alt modes of any of the original autobot mini-cars. The vehicle mode is a muscle car, and actually looks sportier than some of the larger sports cars. In car mode he rolls and performs well, almost to the point were you are tempted to put him on a standard racetrack track for collectable cars.
In robot mode he has articulation in the shoulders allowing 360 degree motion of the arms, and knee articulation which means he is one of the very few G1's (especially from 1984) that can be posed in a semi-running position.
The downsides:
The transformation of this figure is the absolute most basic, of just about anyone outside of a happymeal toy. You pull the two arms out from the sides, and flip the lower legs over, and you are done.
The face is extremely plain. He really has no personality at all. He has a black visor, and a mouthgaurd that is the exact same coloring as the rest of the torso. He really is built more like a cheap imitation of the rest of the line.
Overall score: 3.5 out of 5. His vehicle mode and overall profile in robot mode pull him to the front of the pack in this 1984 group.
Bumblebee:
No collection would be complete without this bot. He was the star of the G1 cartoon, and he was featured prominently in the comic as well. He was the go between for humans and the bots.
The upsides:
His vehicle mode, while not perfect scale, was extremely "cute" and fun to play with. His character was supposed to be non-threatening, and this vehicle mode showed it. The transform into bot was on par with your average Go-bot or other TF minibot from the time. Rubber Tires!!!
The downsides:
When in bot mode, his head/face was basically a flat plate, in front of a gaping hole down into his chest cavity. Even though the arms have a 360 degree range of motion, they do not really stretch out beyond the "potbelly" chest. As with most G1's, his legs are locked into one position, with the feet together, so there is little point to him having separate feet at all.
Overall score: 3 out of 5 He gets a bump because his character is so popular, and the girls really think he is cute in vehicle mode, but the robot mode keeps him from really shining.
Cliffjumper:
The unofficial Bumblebee twin. Even though he is a Porsche, and BB is a bug, the construction and design are very similar. His character was the impatient, ready to go, looking for action type.
The Upsides:
If the rule is you *must have Bumblebee*, this guy makes your collection incomplete, also, if you don't have him. Simple, but fun transformation. Rubber Tires!!! (I would mention that there was die cast in both BB and CJ, but it was one the back panel of the robot mode)
The downsides:
His vehicle mode is way out of scale with the real thing, making it so that unless you really know cartoon versions of cars, you don't know what he truly is. Just like his "twin" he suffers from arms too short for his belly syndrome. If you have read my BB review, you know the rest.
Overall Score: 2 out of 5. Cliffy just doesn't get the same bump that BB does, as his character is less known, and less cared about. He rides BB's coattails, and that is just about all there is to him as a toy.
These are the only three currently in my collection. I have had most of the others, and will review them later, based on archival photos and memory.
Last edited by Ultra Magnus on Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ultra Magnus
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Magnus's minibot mini reviews take 2.
Seaspray
Hey, why not a hover craft?
The upside:
Well, he isn't your standard car, now is he? He can go from land to sea, to land again. Hasbro released a Hovercraft for GI Joe this same year. I think someone there owned stock in a hovercraft company or something.
He has working fans (meaning they turn... not on their own, but they turn), so he has propulsion, and little bitty wheels on the bottom to make him seem as if he was floating on air.
The transform is standard for his time... pull out the legs, pull out the arms, flip back the head.
The downside:
This guy has a tiny little head between two huge fans... the fans are actually bigger than his head! For something that is supposed to go from land to water it didn't float well.... I found this out the hard way (down goes the hovercraft stock).
Remember that thing I said about BB and CJ not having leg articulation, so why even bother having two separate feet? Well, Hasbro heard me. because he has one huge foot. I see this working for a robot...gliding around on his rolling base (err... hovering!), but in the cartoon and comic he ran everywhere,
Add the little tiny head to the massive, half-his-body-mass foot thing, and we have one really off balance thingy here.
Overall score, he gets a bump for working fans and originality:
3/5
Powerglide:
The other autobot non-combiner plane.
The upside:
Powerglide was an extremely unique design. Hie transform was actually engineered quite well. You had to turn and flip and twist and pop. It wasn't complex. It was simply a lot for a bot that size! As my buddy Martha would say, It's a good thing.
The jet he was designed after... seems familiar... like something else Hasbro was using at the time....perhaps the GI Joe Rattler? And yes thay are both designed after a real jet. When Hasbro pays for blueprints, they make sure to use them well!
The downside:
Powerglide was the first of many, many to come with severe "Popeye Arm Syndrome" There had been some large forearms previous to Powerglide, but never ones such as this. They were half his body weight (were they not hollow). It looked like someone had deflated his biceps.
The other drawback was the legs. For all the design work in the upper body, the lower legs were just one connected piece that slid down to show two puny upper legs. That is right, not only did he have Popeye Arm Syndrome, but he also had connected cankles. If you look at the example set by the Go-bots' Leader-1, you would have expected two separate legs from a jet by this point in line such as this.
Overall Score, for the fun of the transform, and the great alt mode, even some pluses in the bot mode, though cartoony....
4/5
Beachcomber You know what? I fondly remember my beachcomber figure. I liked him a lot. There was a problem with my beachcomber, though....
Upon researching beachcomber for the purpose of this review, I found out I never owned beachcomber... I had the blue dune buggy from the Go-Bots... BUGGYMAN!!!!
They were so close, that I just used one for the other.
I am sure I was aware, at the time, that I had the Go-Bot, but I usually preferred the go-bots for this scale in the first place, so it is no surprise that I never picked up the Beachcomber.
So, sorry I cannot review this one. Anyone want to lend a hand?
Over rating for Buggyman, as he had my memory completely convinced?
4.5/5
Seaspray
Hey, why not a hover craft?
The upside:
Well, he isn't your standard car, now is he? He can go from land to sea, to land again. Hasbro released a Hovercraft for GI Joe this same year. I think someone there owned stock in a hovercraft company or something.
He has working fans (meaning they turn... not on their own, but they turn), so he has propulsion, and little bitty wheels on the bottom to make him seem as if he was floating on air. The transform is standard for his time... pull out the legs, pull out the arms, flip back the head.
The downside:
This guy has a tiny little head between two huge fans... the fans are actually bigger than his head! For something that is supposed to go from land to water it didn't float well.... I found this out the hard way (down goes the hovercraft stock).
Remember that thing I said about BB and CJ not having leg articulation, so why even bother having two separate feet? Well, Hasbro heard me. because he has one huge foot. I see this working for a robot...gliding around on his rolling base (err... hovering!), but in the cartoon and comic he ran everywhere,
Add the little tiny head to the massive, half-his-body-mass foot thing, and we have one really off balance thingy here.
Overall score, he gets a bump for working fans and originality:
3/5
Powerglide:
The other autobot non-combiner plane.
The upside:
Powerglide was an extremely unique design. Hie transform was actually engineered quite well. You had to turn and flip and twist and pop. It wasn't complex. It was simply a lot for a bot that size! As my buddy Martha would say, It's a good thing.
The jet he was designed after... seems familiar... like something else Hasbro was using at the time....perhaps the GI Joe Rattler? And yes thay are both designed after a real jet. When Hasbro pays for blueprints, they make sure to use them well!
The downside:
Powerglide was the first of many, many to come with severe "Popeye Arm Syndrome" There had been some large forearms previous to Powerglide, but never ones such as this. They were half his body weight (were they not hollow). It looked like someone had deflated his biceps.
The other drawback was the legs. For all the design work in the upper body, the lower legs were just one connected piece that slid down to show two puny upper legs. That is right, not only did he have Popeye Arm Syndrome, but he also had connected cankles. If you look at the example set by the Go-bots' Leader-1, you would have expected two separate legs from a jet by this point in line such as this.
Overall Score, for the fun of the transform, and the great alt mode, even some pluses in the bot mode, though cartoony....
4/5
Beachcomber You know what? I fondly remember my beachcomber figure. I liked him a lot. There was a problem with my beachcomber, though....
Upon researching beachcomber for the purpose of this review, I found out I never owned beachcomber... I had the blue dune buggy from the Go-Bots... BUGGYMAN!!!!
They were so close, that I just used one for the other.
I am sure I was aware, at the time, that I had the Go-Bot, but I usually preferred the go-bots for this scale in the first place, so it is no surprise that I never picked up the Beachcomber.
So, sorry I cannot review this one. Anyone want to lend a hand?
Over rating for Buggyman, as he had my memory completely convinced?
4.5/5
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Catalyst Prime
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Gears
Gears transforms just like Windcharger except he's a Truck... A wierd truck.
In vehical mode he sorta looks like a Blue truck with a red camper. but it's not really a camper it's his feet.
He suffers from the same blandness in Robot mode as windcharger not much detail in the face area, monotone coloration, Popeye arms. But like Windcharger he's one of the few that can be put in a 'running' pose.
Gears transforms just like Windcharger except he's a Truck... A wierd truck.
In vehical mode he sorta looks like a Blue truck with a red camper. but it's not really a camper it's his feet.
He suffers from the same blandness in Robot mode as windcharger not much detail in the face area, monotone coloration, Popeye arms. But like Windcharger he's one of the few that can be put in a 'running' pose.
All that was needed is a catalyst... and the machines of war are set in motion.
If at first you don't succeed, Destroy all evidence that you tried.
If at first you don't succeed, Destroy all evidence that you tried.
Warpath
Warpath transforms into a tank with a typically interesting approach to military camoflage being a charming shade of burgundy with grey tracks and rear section. The transformation is initially similar to Seaspray in that you pull out the legs and lift up the body. Unlike Seaspray you then have to pop out the arms and finally push the turret section back (otherwise it tends to flop down and he'll appear to be trying to read his own rubsign) and flip up the head.
Unlike most of the other tank G1 figures (eg Brawl, Blitzwing, Quake, Bludgeon etc etc etc) Warpath has the mixed blessing of having his cannon barrel sticking out in front of him. On one hand hes arguably the only autobot minicar figure besides Outback that doesnt want for a weapon, on the other it does make him look a bit odd and there is the aforementioned problem of overbalancing. It would probably send him cross-eyed aswell
Unfortunately like Powerglide, Warpath doesnt have feet as such, rather simply two-thirds of his main tank section, but on the positive side he does have 2 of the 3 wheels hidden beneath his tracks touching the ground in robot mode so he can roll forward rather than scrape.
Overall its a busy transformation for such a small figure and the tank mode looks convincing and well-designed compared to the 'fold in half, stick a weapon on top and try not to think about the fact you can still see the face' approach to smaller G1 figures in later years. Downside is the leg/feet section doesnt make him appear particular mobile. And if you want to be really picky about realism you could point to the fact that when he transforms to robot mode his tank tracks come apart.
Incidentally, Warpath has a crazy speech impediment in the G1cartoon when him make sounds like 'BLAM' and 'KAPOW" in between words. I wonder where they got that idea from
Beachcomber review will be along soon, waiting for one to arrive from ebay
Warpath transforms into a tank with a typically interesting approach to military camoflage being a charming shade of burgundy with grey tracks and rear section. The transformation is initially similar to Seaspray in that you pull out the legs and lift up the body. Unlike Seaspray you then have to pop out the arms and finally push the turret section back (otherwise it tends to flop down and he'll appear to be trying to read his own rubsign) and flip up the head.
Unlike most of the other tank G1 figures (eg Brawl, Blitzwing, Quake, Bludgeon etc etc etc) Warpath has the mixed blessing of having his cannon barrel sticking out in front of him. On one hand hes arguably the only autobot minicar figure besides Outback that doesnt want for a weapon, on the other it does make him look a bit odd and there is the aforementioned problem of overbalancing. It would probably send him cross-eyed aswell
Unfortunately like Powerglide, Warpath doesnt have feet as such, rather simply two-thirds of his main tank section, but on the positive side he does have 2 of the 3 wheels hidden beneath his tracks touching the ground in robot mode so he can roll forward rather than scrape.
Overall its a busy transformation for such a small figure and the tank mode looks convincing and well-designed compared to the 'fold in half, stick a weapon on top and try not to think about the fact you can still see the face' approach to smaller G1 figures in later years. Downside is the leg/feet section doesnt make him appear particular mobile. And if you want to be really picky about realism you could point to the fact that when he transforms to robot mode his tank tracks come apart.
Incidentally, Warpath has a crazy speech impediment in the G1cartoon when him make sounds like 'BLAM' and 'KAPOW" in between words. I wonder where they got that idea from
Beachcomber review will be along soon, waiting for one to arrive from ebay