Phil's Micromaster Bases & Battlestations Review

[Philip Ayres]

Skyhopper

Micromasters Skyhopper is a Helicopter who transforms into a Micromaster base. It's piloted by a Micromaster of the same name, Skyhopper, who is a repaint of Stormcloud from the Micromaster Air Strike Patrol.

Skyhopper's Helicopter mode is mainly a pale beige colour with lots of Decepticon purple visible inside the open compartment in front of the rotor blades mount. The Rotor Blades - both the main 2 bladed set and the smaller 4 bladed tail rotor - rotate freely. A rotating 5mm peg under the tail is used as a mount for a purple radar dish while here's a fixed 5mm post under the nose of the helicopter. This post plugs into a long grey gun with a 5mm hole in the top - there's also a 5mm post underneath the gun. Two more grey guns with moulded missiles are also supplied - each has a 5mm peg which allows them to be plugged into 5mm holes in the side of the helicopter. All 3 guns are capable of being used as hand weapons by larger Transformers robots with 5mm peg hole hands. An additional 5mm peg hole can be found on the top of the Helicopter's tail. The pilot's compartment contains a yellow stand with a peg for mounting a Micromaster on. Remove the yellow stand and you get a space large enough to seat a Star Wars figure in. A Transformers Legend should fit, but a basic will probably struggle due to the alt mode parts. I've had Universe Legends Megatron riding around in mine.

TF to Base Mode: Remove all three guns and the main rotors. Fold the sides of the Helicopter down and from there fold a platform out to each side. Split the nose of the Helicopter in two and fold out to the sides. Remove the stand. Fold the tail upwards to form a tower then rotate the top through 180 degrees so the radar dish faces forward. Fold the side panels of the tail - attached to the engines - out to the sides. The three Micromaster ramps included can now be attached - there's a pair of ramps with attachments at one end - these peg into the purple platforms at the sides of the helicopter. The ramp with the attachments at both ends goes on the front. The two missile guns can be mounted on the sides of the base, with the long gun at the base of the turret and the stand on top of one of the engines. There are several spare 5mm holes allowing you to customise the base to your own liking.

I like Skyhopper's base mode. It's rather dominated by the radar tower, but the base itself has a nice through road from one side connector to the other- unique amongst the larger bases, but the Airwave Battlestation can be similarly configured. The front road is at right angles to the through road making Skyhopper a good candidate to be placed near the centre of your Micromaster city. The ability to link the Micromaster bases together passed me by as a youngster - it's not publicised on the packaging and I never had one to open. The only things that don't quite work in this mode are the figure stand - everywhere you plug it in it looks slightly out of place - and a slight clash between the pale beige of the helicopter shell and the Decepticon purple of the base.

One of the better Western Micromaster base toys.

Skyhyper

Sky Hyper is a Transformers Zone toy numbered C-346.

Skyhopper changes sides and is recoloured for it's Japanese release and this time is packed with Dead Wheeler, a red & black Cybertron (Autobot) repaint of Free Wheeler.

The repaint is a straight colour swap:

Beige becomes white - mainly the Helicopter shell
Purple becomes blue - the base made interior and radar dish
Grey becomes red - the weapons, 5mm ports and engines.
The black of the rotors and yellow of the ramps & figure stand remains the same

Wonderfully attractive and rare toy (at the time of writing TFU have no pictures of the toy and neither do TFWiki.net or CobraIsland toys). So instead I'll link to the All your (Micromaster) Bases are belong to us thread on the Hub Forum and Stardub's Micromaster Asgard video on YouTube. Because the toy is so white it does have a tendency to yellow somewhat though !

[legios]

I have to admit to never having owned Skyhopper, but from what I have seen of other people's he strikes me as one of the better Micromaster bases - he just feels more "basey" than some of them. I think it is the multiple ramps and the general layout that gives him a "busier" look. Whereas a lot of the others just feel a bit like small pill-boxes or somesuch.

Karl

[grahamthomson]

I do like Skyhopper as well. I'd love a Skyhyper one day!

[primenova]

That's another one that i've never heard of. Deadwheeler - but with that name he should be a con.

[The Doctor]

Skyhopper rocks very hard. Was happy to pick one up at Transforce 2002: my first MM base!

-Ralph

[Bogatan]

I think I got Sky Hopper one birthday and either because I didn't like it or it was broken I took it back and I think I got Groundshaker. I know I was disappointed by it though I can not remember why. I eventually got one from a local Scifi fair about 10 years ago and never did anything with it, its still sat in the same bag. Then end of last year I got one in a mixed lot of ebay and had a play with it and it brill.

I got a junk Skyhyper as well in the last few months, its missing one half of its front, but its a lovely looking toy. And I have a Dead Wheeler on the way which I can't wait to see as Free Wheeler was one of my favourite MM.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

Groundshaker

Groundshaker is a blue six wheeled ATV (all terrain vehicle) driven by the identically named Groundshaker who is a repaint of Whisper from the Air Strike Patrol. The ATV is dominated by a massive grey cannon that pivots up & down and rotates - this is mounted inside the driver's compartment at the centre of the vehicle. There's a 5mm peg hole on top of the cannon allowing a grey gun - sized for larger Transformer robots to hold - to be attached to the cannon. There are two pairs of moulded grey missiles with 5mm pegs on their underside that attach to the sides of the vehicle. Inside the driver's compartment there's a yellow figure stand with a peg suitable for the holes in Micromaster feet - you'll need this because the Micromaster supplied with the toy doesn't stand that well by himself.

TF: Remove the missiles. Fold the back down, folding the blast shield up out of it, then fold the sides of the vehicle down. Raise the two black supports up from the front of the vehicle, fold the front panel forward, raise it up on the supports at the rear to form a raised platform and slot the front supports into the front of the base. Missile launchers can be plugged into any one of the four 5mm peg holes at the corner of the vehicle.

Groundshaker's base mode has an odd half finished look. The exposed base components are in red, contrasting with the blue of the tank, but that just makes it more obvious that there's a panel in one of the folded down sides and not in the other. It looks for all the world like a cost cutting measure. There's two connectors for Micromaster base ramps on Groundshaker: The first is at the front of the base at the foot of the platform - all well and good - but the second is only slightly off to one side - the side with filled panel and at an odd angle. He'd have worked better with two ports towards the rear of the vehicle immediately opposite each other forming a through road across the base mode. The raised platform at the front of the vehicle is nice as a landing pad, though it makes me wonder if it wouldn't be more appropriate if Groundshaker came with a Helicopter Micromaster to land on it.... and thus were the other battlestations and base meant to have brand new Micromasters like Countdown and Skystalker?

Overall: Decent vehicle mode but base mode is a disappointment,

Landshaker

The Japanese release of Groundshaker is renamed Landshaker and is numbered C-345. Physically it's identical to the western version - bar some sticker changes - but the driver is different: Gunrunner a repaint of Roadhandler from the Micromaster Race Car Patrol.

[Jaymz]

The toy catalogue that came with my Skyhyper is interesting in that it shows Landshaker and Skyhyper with different Micromasters. It has a recoloured Flak and Sunrunner, in dark green and black, which look great, shame they never saw release.

[Philip Ayres]

Oooh, can you do us a scan ?

[blueshift]

Crossposted from ebay madness. Flippin 'eck:

cgi.ebay.co.uk/Transformers-G1-Micromaster-Tanker-Transport-Complete_W0QQitemZ110504373639

[blueshift]

Mar 18, 2010 22:07:20 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Groundshaker's base mode has an odd half finished look.

Fun fact - the prototype has a little cogged wheel on the helipad, and the pad itself would rotate when you turned the wheel. If you look at the helipad on the final version, you can see where part of that mechanism was gutted and where the wheel would have gone!

[Jaymz]

Mar 19, 2010 8:13:36 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Oooh, can you do us a scan ?

Yeah, I'll get one done next time I'm at my parents house.

[Philip Ayres]

Mar 19, 2010 9:21:07 GMT blueshift said:

Mar 18, 2010 22:07:20 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Groundshaker's base mode has an odd half finished look.

Fun fact - the prototype has a little cogged wheel on the helipad, and the pad itself would rotate when you turned the wheel. If you look at the helipad on the final version, you can see where part of that mechanism was gutted and where the wheel would have gone!

Oooh, have we a picture ? I *may* have seen this - does it have red base parts in both side panels ?

[blueshift]

Mar 19, 2010 10:35:20 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Oooh, have we a picture ? I *may* have seen this - does it have red base parts in both side panels ?

I'll try to dig out the pics tonight

EDIT:
Here we go: www.transformertoys.co.uk/content.php?/transformers-image/toysheets/g1/uksheet07/2.jpg/image.html

The hele pad is a seperate turning piece here. I'll dig out my groundshaker when I get home for the final version of that piece. Mine's a junker, I might even open it up. I think there was might have been bits inside it too.

[Philip Ayres]

I've found a similar photo on a Euro sheet I have. Yes both sides are filled, yes there's a third ramp attachment, the weapon pegged onto the gun is different, there's no missile launchers and he's pictured with the original colouring of the Micromaster - as as is Skyhopper who has different side guns.

My sheet also has the 4 battlestations with the original colouring of their Micromasters and Skystalker with Roadhandler

[Philip Ayres]

Airwave

Airwave is the Micromaster Air Port Base. The Airport itself consists of a blue hanger building with a door that lifts inside the building allowing the Airwave Micromaster - a red repaint of Nightflight from the Air Strike Team - to be parked inside. Mounted on the left of the building is an orange plastic control tower. The most interesting part of this mode is his runway and ramp connectors. It deviates from the norm established by the other 3 bases - it doesn't have one ramp connector facing front on the right with another on the side to the left. Airwave's base has a connector at either end of a runway that runs in front of the hanger building and has a length about twice the width of the main part of the battle station. This is a good thing - it enables the base to act as a trough road between other bases. The two halves of the runway are mounted on pivots and one or both can be turned so they face forward (or any direction in between). But when the Runway is moved two more ramp connectors are revealed underneath them on either side of the battle station - I never spotted these till I looked at the instructions online in preparation for writing this review ! This means it's a great toy for connecting to other Micromaster bases or battlestations.

An alternate configuration for this toy is to fold down the control tower and fold back the hanger building 90 degrees, giving a larger area to the base and a larger open front hanger. Alternately fold the hanger all the way back - as per the official TF bellow - to form a pit/jail cell.

TF: Fold the control tower down and fold the hanger back 180 degrees. Swing the runway halves round so both face forward. Fold the runway haves up as far as you can revealing the missiles.

The Airwave Missile Base mode is a bit of a let down. The missiles just sit there - this toy was made during the non firing missiles stage of Transformers. The missile control centre where the Micromaster sits is a bit something of nothing and there's no way to connect this mode to other bases and battlestations.

Airport mode is great though !

Airwave was released in Japan as C-345 where he was a Cybertron (Autobot) called Overair. The base - minus the Micromaster but with the addition of some PVC figures - was re-released in Japan as part of the Brave Police line.

[The Doctor]

It was in Brave too? I did not know this!

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

All 4 were. I have an image here somewhere, colourwise they're unchanged.

[Philip Ayres]

Hothouse

The "Hot House" Fire Station Battle Station comes with Hot House, a repaint of the Micromaster Tailwind.

The Hot House base mode is a Fire Station. It's built to the same configuration as two of the other bases with a Micromaster base ramp connector on the front at the right and another on the left of the base. Most of the base is moulded in red plastic, including the building on the left which is topped with an orange training tower. On the right is a blue garage with an orange fold up door. The garage would accommodate many Micromasters but the plane supplied with it has a wingspan that's slightly too wide for the width of the door.

Transformation: fold the garage door up, then fold both the garage & building forward. Fold the revealed panel that was under the buildings back, and fold the cannon out from inside the tower.

The Battle Platform mode is virtually a tank - complete with cannon and moulded tracks underneath. The only thing it could do with are some wheels on the underside. The garage forms a control centre for Hothouse to stand in. Almost uniquely amongst the four Battlestations, Hot House can still use Micromaster base ramps in this mode - you can attach a ramp to the connectors on Iron Work's tower but they're a little high up to actually reach anything. In fact both of the connectors for Hot House are at the right level and orientation to be connected. Quite ironic really that the only Battle Station that looks mobile can be connected to a building !

Decent base & decent battle station - well worth a look.

Hot House was sold in Japan under the same name as Transformers Zone toy C-434. An identical Battle Station with the addition of some PVC figures but without the Micromaster was sold as part of the Brave Police line in Japan.

[Philip Ayres]

Ironworks

The Battlestation supplied with Micromaster Ironworks - a repaint of Powertrain from the Off Road Patrol - is the Construction Base. The base is mainly grey with a ramp connector on the front at the right and another on the left side. I brought the toy downstairs this morning to work with and it was immediately seized by my son who's been running his toy cars up & down the ramps !

At the back of the base on the right is a small pile of construction materials - sand, barrels and a ramp of some description. They're all the same grey as the base - it might have worked better with a little paint or using the yellow found elsewhere on the toy. To the left is a tower - grey base, yellow cage top - which has two 5mm peg holes on the top on which you can mount the crane arm that comes with the toy. The cage top is removable, revealing that the grey base is hollow, but unfortunately the cavity in the base plus the capacity of the cage isn't great enough to accommodate Ironworks in it standing up though he just about fits sitting down. I use the space within for storing the missile for Battlestation mode. The colours used on this toy and it's general theme nicely complement the Micromaster Transport Erector - you should be able to mount Erector's crane arm on the tower too.

TF: Remove the crane arm, cage and ramps. Fold the underside of the left hand half of the base down 90 degrees and stand on the back of the base. Fold the front right quarter of the base out clockwise 180 degrees locking it onto the front left of the base to form a tower. From within the tower fold out the red sail - this is 3 identical pieces folded behind each other- spread them out at 120 degrees to each other to form a satellite dish. Or it might be a windmill, who can say for sure ? See bellow for more... Turn the cage upside down and peg into the side of the tower to act as a viewing platform. Fold the crane jib up, slot the missile on to the top of the crane arm and peg onto the base as a missile launcher.

Ironwork's Tech Spec lists his function is a communication bay which would lend credence to the thing on the tower being a Satellite dish. But you can see the Autobots as being early adopters of green energy and building a Windmill to create Energon - is Energon created from renewable sources green in colour ? Discuss. The tower design is nice, with lots of little compartments for putting Micromaster figures in including the cage platform mounted up the tower. 5mm peg holes on the under side allow you to attach weapons here though you'll need to source them from other toys as the crane arm missile launcher clearly attaches to the base where there's a compartment behind it for it's controller to stand. The missile launcher can equally be used by one of the larger Transformers with a 5mm peg hole fist as a hand weapon. The tower does include an exposed Micromaster Ramp Connector the right way up but since it's a good 10cm up in the air it's not much use for connecting this mode meaningfully to most other toys unless they are themselves raised up. The only possible exception to this is Sky Garry where the ramp is very steep but looks just about useable.

Decent toy - some thought has gone into it making it the right colours for a construction toy, aligning it with another toy out the same year.

Ironworks was sold in Japan as Transformers Zone toy C-344. The base was identically re-released in the Brave Police line with some PVC figures but missing the Micromaster.

[Philip Ayres]

Greasepit

The Micromaster Greasepit - a repaint of Mudslinger from the Off Road Patrol - is packed with the Gasoline Battlestation. A pair of yellow petrol pumps and a red flag stand on a forecourt at the front of the base - there's a ramp connector on the left side of this and another at the front on the right. There's a grey building at the back on the left and a blue one on the right with a yellow roof. Both have stickers on them and neither open out onto the forecourt like some of the other Battlestations. Unfortunately there's a huge open gap on the front of the base which looks a little odd.

TF: Fold the front left side of the base out and lock against the back of the left side which reveals a 4 barrelled gun station. Remove the flag - which you'll need later. You can remove the petrol pumps at this stage too - it's not in the instructions but they can be stored on the underside of the panel they're pegged into. Stand on the back of the base and fold back the grey building revealing three more guns that raise up. Fold the right side of the base up as a tower revealing a missile launcher and search lights that both fold out. Slot the flag into the side of the tail.

This base mode has weapons everywhere ! The missile launcher at the tower's base is mounted on a 5mm peg so it can turn, there's a pivot in it so it can elevate and the missile is removable. The quad gun too is mounted on a 5mm peg so both are interchangeable and both can be used as handweapons by larger toys with 5mm peg holes in their fists. The quad gun also turns and elevates. In between the two there's an array of three cannons that elevate together - there's a little command post in front of these and another platform on top of the tower for a Micromaster to stand on. The only real problems with the base are that you can't use any of the ramp connectors in this mode and that Ironworks does the tower style base better.

The real plus point of the base mode is the weapons but otherwise it's merely adequate and done better elsewhere.

Greasepit was released in Japan as the Cybertron(Autobot) Transformers Zone toy C-341 Glasspit. The Gasoline Battlestation was re-released in Japan as part of the Brave Police line with PVC figures replacing the Micromaster.

[Philip Ayres]

Right:

One more Micromaster team with base connections to go - the Race Car Patrol who've got some repaints with Japanese bases. I've just won these on eBay so I'll do them when they arrive.

So next up - I think - is the mighty Skystalker in both his car and spaceship forms.

[Philip Ayres]

Skystalker

Micromaster Skystalker is an orange Porsche 959 sports car. Hmmm, Orange is an "interesting" colour choice for a Decepticon. More later .... He's one of only two Micromasters issued in the first full year of Micromasters that isn't part of a team or a repaint of a team member - the other is Countdown. He's packed with the interstellar shuttle and wasn't available separate to it.

TF: He's a Micromaster Car, what do you expect ? Fold the back of the car back to form the legs, stand, fold the bonnet down onto his back and swing the arms up.

Robot mode reveals Skystalker's real flaw. In addition to the black upper legs - matching the wheels - we get a Decepticon purple chest. Who thought that was a good idea ? Well ye, a good idea for a Decepticon, but one whose alt mode - and thus his arms and lower legs - are orange ? This is possibly *THE* worst colour clash on any Transformer toy. No, I've just had a look at the Energon pale blue and bright orange of Energon Strongarm, who still wins. But Skystalker's robot mode is right up there in the "bad for the eyes" stakes. Which is a shame as it's a great sculpt complete with Decepticon symbolesque head framed by a shoulder cannon on each side.

Decent mould spoiled by a colour clash. Perhaps a black car mode might have been better but then he'd have been similar to Blackjack from the Sports Car Patrol.

Skystalker wasn't sold in Japan, instead being available as an unnamed mail in toy packed with the Thunder Arrow spacecraft (Japanese release of the Skystalker Interstellar Shuttle)

Metrobomb

Metrobomb was included with Metrotitan, a repaint of Metroplex. Metrobomb is a simple repaint of Micromaster Skystalker with black replacing purple, resulting in a less Decepticon looking toy but one with a far superior colour balance.

Metrobomb is one of only six Destron Micromasters - The four members of the Race Track Patrol plus the above mentioned Thunder Arrow pilot.

Rabbicrater

Rabbicrater was a pack-in with a Transformers Zone video numbered C-350. Rabbicrater is also a straight colour swap of Micromaster Skystalker - orange becomes blue and purple becomes black. He acts as the pilot for the Rocket Base, which is the Japanese issue of Countdown, numbered C-330, that was sold with Rescue Patrol.

[Philip Ayres]

Skystalker

Micromaster Skystalker is packed with the Interstellar Shuttle toy. The Shuttle itself is an off white toy with a blue underside and grey wings. It comes with a dark blue "jet pod" with grey wings - almost like a mini version of a shuttle.

All the smaller Micromaste bases & Battlestation have the figures just standing - the Battlestations don't even have the foot mounting pegs. In Skystalker they sit. Now I'm older than the average Transformers fan - born 1973 - and I grew up with Star Wars toys. So I automatically like larger vehicles which my figures sit in. This is a bit harder with larger Transformers toys but Micromasters are suited to this purpose - indeed the common leg articulation means they're more than capable of it. Yet this is the smallest Micromaster toy that the Micromasters can sit in. The idea of Transformers operating larger vehicles is carried over into the Action Master line with older character returning as non Transforming figures that control transforming vehicles. Now if only they'd done the G1 characters as Micromasters instead ..... a missed opportunity by Hasbro. But I've significantly digressed here.... Skystalker has a clear blue cockpit canopy that lifts revealing a space for the Skystalker Micromaster to sit in. It's perfectly sized for him and most other car Micromasters but your mileage may vary with other figures. Mobility is imparted to the shuttle via three wheels on the underside - one near the front, the other two at the rear. The grey wings each feature a peg to allow you to stand members of your Micromaster army on. Underneath each wing is a 5mm peg socket - there's two more on either side of the nose. These allow you to add some weapons to the Skystalker shuttle. He comes with a pair of dual barrelled lasers (which are intended for the nose ports) and a a pair of triple barrelled cannons (for the wings). Each is mounted on a 5mm peg so they can be easily swapped between the ports. Under the nose is a hatch which is used in the transformation. However if you open it inn this mode it gives the shuttle the appearance of having a mouth similar to the Autobot shuttle Sky Lynx.

A second cockpit is found on the Jet Pod - the front half of the pod splits in two down the middle allowing your figures to gain access. The pod is held onto the shuttle by 2 5mm pegs on the shuttle that match holes on the pod. This allows you to use the shuttle as a seperate unit. Mounted round the tail is a very large twin cannon - it's pegged into the top of the pod's engines using an easily lost connector. Which I have lost. Anyone got a spare ? The wings each have a 5mm port passed through them allowing you to plug any of the Shuttle's collection of weapons into it. The underside of the jet pod features a large cavity which makes you think that something was meant to go in - looking at the shuttle it's a bit flat without the pod so maybe it was meant to have a tail originally ? The back of the jet pod features a pair of clips used for attaching the transformed jet pod to what was the shuttle's nose in base mode. These clips are frustratingly a centimetre or so too short to attach the pod to the front of the shuttle in Spaceship mode which would have been a lovely extra bit of play value for the toy. What the jet pod does emphasis is that the Interstellar Shuttle is a toy for playing with in conjunction with other Micromaster toys. There's two cockpits - one on the shuttle, one on the pod - which means you need 2 figures to crew it which means you use other Micromasters with the toy. Genius.

Transformation: I've been dreading this. Whenever I try to transform Skystalker after not having touched the toy for ages I get in a terrible muddle. The problem is the first stage involves moving a part that feels secure. In preparation remove the jet pod, it's cannon, all four of the Shuttle weapons and any Micromaster sitting/standing on the shuttle. Turn the shuttle over and fold the rear wheels in. Then the wing and base of the rear folds back 180 degrees to stretch out behind the shuttle. No, really it does. The sides of this piece are locked round two tabs on the sides of the shuttle body and need to be coaxed over them. Turn the shuttle over with the rear towards you. Fold the ramp down from what's now the front of the base facing you. Fold the wings so they point up. Fold the top of the middle of the shuttle out to the right side. Fold the base of the front of the shuttle out to the left, and from there fold the blue platform out so it rests over the side. Fold the shuttle's nose up so the underside is facing down the base. Fold the flap under the nose down.

The jet pod meanwhile can be attached to the base in two different ways. If you fold the clips projecting out the back of the pod down under the pod then the entire pod as is attaches to the sides of the nose cone at the back of the base. Alternately fold each half of the cockpit canopy right the way back and swing the clips round through 270 degrees so they face straight up. Turn the pod over, fold the wings up and then, with the pod's front cannons facing forward, clip the pod onto the nose cone as before.

You're now left with the weapons to distribute around the toy. The instructions suggest that the large dual cannon laser from the Jet Pod's tail pegs onto the front of the Jet Pod. The three barrelled cannons then clip onto the sides of the Jet Pod's wings. It doesn't say where the guns that attach to the nose go, but seeing as the blue platform on the right has a 5mm hole in the front of it, I think it's safe to say one should got there especially as the console under the hole in the platform has a foot peg on it allowing a Micromaster to stand on the platform and act as a gunner. There's another peg on the fold out platform projecting from the shuttle's nose and a third in the space on what was the bottom of the jet pod but now is the top of the Gunner bay, giving an instant crew complement of three to this mode. If you fold down the shuttle wings at the front, which is a little trick as the right one catches on the platform on that side, that'll give you two more foot pegs making a total of five - Skystalker plus a complete Micromaster patrol.

Like all the other Micromaster Battlestations and Bases, Skystalker is capable of connecting with the rest of the base modes. He's got two ramp connectors - one at the rear on the right and one at the front on the left. Both are opposite to where panels are folded out on the other side completely removing the option of a through road across Skystalker. I find it a little odd that the main ramp folded out the front of Skystalker's base hasn't got a ramp connector on the bottom, or indeed the connectors to hook it onto another base. Yes it's wider than most Micromaster ramps but then so are those on Star Convoy.

I did have them all of my Micromaster bases connected together on the floor but the picture I took wasn't that good. So You'll be spared that. Instead see my friend Nick's much larger collection in the All your (Micromaster) Bases are belong to us thread on the Hub Forum and Stardub's Micromaster Asgard video on YouTube.

Of the nine Micromaster base toys* I have at the moment (the four Battlestations, Groundshaker & Skyhopper, Star Convoy, Sky Garry (well his Death Garrygun repaint) and Skystalker I think Skystalker's my favorite. It's just such a fun toy with lots of compatability with the Micromaster figures.

Skystalker was sold in Japan as the mail-in toy Thunder Arrow with the same Micromaster pilot who doesn't have a Japanese name.

* Number ten is en route ! This review series will continue !

[Philip Ayres]

Box Pic of the Brave Police bases

[Jaymz]

There you go Phil. It's a tiny image, and i was in a rush, but I'll try for a higher quality scan next time I'm at the parents house.

[Philip Ayres]

Oooh, that's interesting. Ta James !

[Philip Ayres]

Graham's done some Micromaster Reviews and reviewed a couple of the Battlestations:

www.the-hub.co.uk/greasepit/
www.the-hub.co.uk/airwave/

[grahamthomson]

Crikey! I still have unfinished drafts of the other two Micromaster Stations.

Thanks for all the links, by the way!

[Philip Ayres]

Micromaster Battlefield Headquarters

The Micromaster Battlefield Headquarters is the largest Micromaster Combiner toy. It comes packed with two unique Micromasters, Full-barrel & Overflow, whose combined form of a Truck with Trailer mirrors the vehicle that they drive. The Battlefield HQ's vehicle mode is a blue cabbed truck. The front end of the vehicle is spot on, complete with upright black exhaust pipes behind the cab and a chromed bumper & grill on the front. The window section of the vehicle folds up allowing you to sit Full-barrel & Overflow or any 2 other Micromasters (bar hugely sticking out wings and back kibble) inside the truck. Underneath we have four pairs of wheels, 2 wheels at the front, 4 in the middle giving the illusion of a flatbed stretching under the vehicle and 2 wheels at the rear: another double pair here may have looked better. The top of the vehicle trailer has a sloped & rounded front with a more blocky rear which has a pit sunken in to it for Micromasters to stand in with a pair of laser machine guns mounted on 5mm pegs at the front of this pit. The lower half of the rear of the vehicle folds down to reveal a chamber, divided in two down the middle, that you can use for storing your Micromasters in. Unfortunately the rear of the vehicle is rather divided in two and while the lower half works as we've seen the rounded top half doesn't really fit in with the flat back of the truck. You can just about get away with it here because you don't spend that long looking at the back of the toy. But it's the sides of the vehicle where the problems really are, and in particular the huge V shaped gap in the middle of the sides taking up maybe a third of the area of the truck side and allowing you to see what's within. It would have been easy to fill with more panels, and bellow I'll tell you what would happen to them when you transform the toy. Mounted on the tops of both halves of each side is one of four orange forward facing missiles. The truck is big and chunky, but this does make it feel like a toy for a much younger child than the average Transformers fan, especially a Transformers fan who'd come on board at the start of the line in 1984 and was now six years older.

You can see what they're getting at here. The idea is that the Micromasters will have an Optimus Prime like truck base which mirrors it's drivers vehicle mode. However they also decided that the large truck should be made of two vehicles that combine in a manner similar to Full-barrel & Overflow! Yes the truck splits down the middle of the longest side, between the second and third set of wheels to give you a front half made of the cab and the front of the trailer and a rear half made of the rest of the trailer.

Take the front half. Fold the trailer sides down as wings. Fold the wheels under the vehicle so the hubcaps face down (this stage isn't essential, but it's in the instructions). Fold the top of the vehicle over the back to form the nose of a jet. Turn the vehicle round so the shuttle nose is the front. Remove the exhaust pipes and re-attach pointing forward via the 5mm peg on their side as the jet mode's Scrambler Guns. Remove the missiles, turn them round and replace. Open the cab and, since this is the front half of the vehicle, sit Full-barrel in it. Now I'd have had half the panels to fill the V shaped gap on the truck's side attached to the jet's nose. They'd have folded out to the sides at this stage to provide forward wings.

Take the rear half of the trailer. Remove the laser machine guns. As per the front half,fold the wheels in under the vehicle so the hubcaps face down (again this stage is in the instructions but not essential). Fold the top forward over the join between the two halves of the vehicle to form the nose of a space shuttle. Fold the sides of the shuttle down as wings. Peg the guns into the wings and let Overflow take command of this half of the vehicle. Again as per the front half, I'd have the remainder of the panels to fill the gap on the truck's side attached as fore wings, a bit like Dirge's, to the nose of the shuttle.

We end up with two similar quite similar looking vehicles. The shuttle has a moulded nose with the crew riding in a sunken pit behind the cabin windows which has two Micromaster foot pegs in it as well as a moulded control panel at the front. The shuttle's cargo bay doors open, but the door sides won't fold flat unless the guns are removed or the wings angled down. What's revealed within the Cargo Bay is the split compartment we glimpsed when we opened the rear door of the truck. Each side has two Micromaster footpegs with the edges of the cargo bay doors each having two 5mm peg holes for you to mount guns in. The rear door still opens in this mode. If you've left the wheels folded down then the shuttle will happily roll along on them as will the jet. The jet's paler blue nose includes a fold up canopy to allow you to sit your Micromaster pilot inside. The body of the jet is dark blue and flat until it suddenly bulges up at the rear. And here's the real problem with the jet: IT'S GOT THE TRUCK CAB HANGING OFF THE BACK! No attempt has been made to disguise it, no joint so it can be folded down to give the jet a flat appearance, no engines or tail fins to be folded over it to disguise it. It's just there. I thought it looked awful when I played with one in Hamleys all those years ago, I think it looks awful today and it's quite possible the piece of Transformers I'm most embarrassed by. Well that and the Bay movies.

The two toys have one last trick to perform: they combine in vehicle mode too. Close the shuttle cargo bay doors. Match the large pegs on the roof of the cargo bay with the holes on the bottom of the jet, resulting in the jet resting on the shuttle in the same way that a real life space shuttle is transported by aircraft or Micromaster Skystalker's Air Unit rides on his shuttle.

The only thing I've not managed to mention that needs attention drawn to it is the lack of Micromaster ramp connectors. This is the only Micromaster "base" toy not to have them. Technically no part of this toy *is* a base but it would have been nice.

In 1990 the 17 year old me hated it. In 2010 the 37 year old me sees that the toys have some worthy play value but could be improved by filling the gap in the side of the trailer mode and loosing the frankly awful truck cab on the back of the jet. I can see the influence of the Action Master toy line, which was running parallel to the Micromaster combiners, in that we have a vehicle turning into another vehicle (vehicles in this case) both of which the figures supplied with the toy can play in.

The Micromaster Battlefield Headquarters, Full-barrel & Overflow were sold in the US and UK during 1990 and continued to be available in the UK at least during 1991. It's the last large toy released in the original Transformers line in the USA.