The third series of G1 in 1986 brought in the first waves of Transformers explicitly designed for the series. Many of the new robots featured gimmicks, such as a continuation of the Triple Changers including Octane, who transforms into a gray and chrome fuel tanker semi, or a Boeing 767-200 wide-body jet airline.
Origins
Sandstorm is one of the first designs not sourced from Diaclone, Microchange or other toylines. He did, however, come from the pen of Koujin Ohno, the father of many of the Diaclone-orign Transformers. Various prototypes in catalogs and other promotions show some key differences from the final design, namely chrome arms or fists, and a sliding waist joint that allows the legs to be more directly under his torso. This feature was likely removed to make the figure more sturdy, but the function can be restored by cutting away plastic to re-create the track inside his separate waist pieces. Octane's US Patent, titled Reconfigurable toy vehicle tanker (aka Transformers G1 Octane) was filed on December 24, 1985 (U.S. Patent No. USD297038 S).
Description
Octane transforms into a non-descript conventional sleeper cab semi, pulling a large chrome tandem-axle fuel tanker trailer. Interestingly, this is the only non-cabover semi truck depicted in G1. This mode is lacking in detail and realism, however, and largely relies on stickers to imply the shape and details of the cab. The trailer has one pair of rolling wheels, and one pair of non-rolling faux wheels. The cab has one pair of rolling purple wheels housed by the blocky front fenders. The rear cab wheels, however, are only represented by a pair of circular red stickers on the purple blocks that form Octane's arms. Between the arms, the cab is supported by a small landing-gear-like pair of rollers.
The airliner mode is formed by rotating the trailer sides out to form the wings, removing the large chrome cover, and folding the rear wheel segment around to form the cockpit. The cab of the truck folds around on itself, clasping the gray tailfin/shield to form the tail. Finally, halves of the fuselage slide to line up, and the purple arm-blocks form the underwing turbofan engines. This mode is more accurate, using molded and stickered details to represent the plane.
The robot mode is formed from the truck by removing the trailer top, separating the legs, and folding the entire truck cab down to form the chest. In this mode, he can wield his purple rifle, mount the trailer top as a shield on the peg on his arm, and (ostensibly) wield the opened up tail fin in his hand as a shield. He features little robot mode detail that is not used for either the truck or jet mode, other than his sculpted blocky fists and his head.
Collector Notes
Octane’s blocky design is much more stable than most of Koujin Ohno’s designs, but he does suffer from a common damage to his wings. The gray wing panel extends past the chrome trailer facade near the shoulder shoulder joint. Due to its proximity to the the large shoulder joint, it can easily collide, causing a stressmark along the edge of the chrome portion. Furthermore, his huge chrome areas are exceptionally
Variants
Unlike most 1986 figures, Octane did not have any production variations.
Availability
Octane was available world in 1986, with or without a glow-in-the-dark Transformers: the Movie promotional poster. He was available again in Europe’s G1 extension in the 1991 Classics sub-line.
Redecos & Retools
Octane’s mold has never been re-used.
