Phil's Minicon Reviews

[Philip Ayres]

Drillbit

The Destruction team all involve moving parts powered by a gear arrangement. The vehicle can be rolled along on a flat surface using a small rubber wheel to power the gimmick causing movement. Alternately they can be clipped onto the underside of Cyclonus where an exposed gear wheel meshes with Cyclonus' blade mechanism to cause the parts to move when you use the trigger to turn Cyclonus' blades. The intention was that other toys should have this gimmick - Hoist obviously was planned to have it and I have my suspicions about Overload too. Incidentally after the Minicons peg & socket connectors and the clip under the jets for Swindle/Thunderclash this makes the third method of attaching a Minicon to a larger toy.

Drillbit is indeed as the name implies a drilling vehicle - not quite the drill tank that we're used to seeing. The cab - in orange as are the tracks and drill - is at the front of the vehicle with the drill behind it. The vehicle thus has to reverse to use the drill. The mechanism between cab and drill is grey with two yellow supports to either side.

He has one Minicon socket underneath the toy which enables it to be mounted on a character's forearm and used as a Drill. Megatron's a good toy to demonstrate this with and he can be paired nicely with Buzzsaw on the other arm.

TF: Fold the treads down under the vehicle as legs and fold the feet out. Fold the drill to one side as an arm and fold the exhaust pipe over the cab round to form the other. Swing round the cylinder on the cab roof to reveal the robot's face.

Like Buzzsaw we have a robot using his tracks for legs and with the mechanised gimmick forming one arm. The other is as I said above the exhaust pipe and looks tinsy like he's had his real arm chopped off ! He bends at ankle, hip & shoulder and his head turns.

Overall: 2 decent modes, good gimmick, great as an add on weapon.

From, the original Destruction Team review: "Onto the Destruction team - hehehe, moving parts. I've mounted them all on Megs in Robot mode - Today Megatron is modelling the latest in Minicon accessories and they all look great as added weapons - Dualor and Wreckage (from the Military team) as almost twin double barrelled cannons on each shoulder, Buzzsaw & Drill Bit on each wrist. You know looking at Drill Bit I'm suddenly struck by how much better Twin Twist would have been if his drills had revolved !

Drill Bit: What is the obsession with TF Drill stuff ? Gotta love em though and this is the first one for a few years (BWII Galvatron) Nice looking vehicle with a good variation in colour, orange Cab on one end and a drill on the other. The drill folds to one side of the cab, the exhaust to the other. There's a grey thing on the roof which revolves to form the head - hmm, seemed to have ended up with a robot on tracks here hehehe - fold the legs down and flip out the feet. 'rayyy ! We've got a robot with a drill for an arm :-) "

In Japan Drillbit is know as Crush who appears with the rest of the Destruction team in pack numbered MM-04, and also in giftset MS-04 with Sandstorm (Cyclonus).

Onto the repaints - the Destruction team are the Minicon repaint kings having more than any other team does without having a remould !

Road Wrecker Drillbit

The Road Wrecker team was for several years the only western repaint of the Destruction team. For this release yellow becomes light grey and the grey becomes green. The orange which is unique to Drillbit becomes green as well. These colour changes - especially the modifications to Drillbit - give the team a more unified almost military feel to them.

Dimension-X Crush

During Micron Legend limited edition repaints of the Minicon teams were released under the Dimension-X label but within the Micron Legend numbering system. The Dimension-X Destruction team are numbered MM-09. For this released grey becomes a copper colour and the yellow becomes a pale blue/green (the sort of colour copper goes when it oxidises) Crush's unique orange becomes a darker version of the green used elsewhere in the team, again helping to unify them somewhat. As with the other three first release Dimension-X sets these are quite hard to find.

White Crush

The White Destruction team were an exclusive to the "TF Station" affiliated stores and were given away during a promotion in the "Golden Week" holiday. All parts of this toy are cast in white plastic giving them a unique look. The intention was you would then paint the toy according to your own imagination & preferences.

Under Groove Crush

The Under Groove Destruction team members were give aways exclusive to the Ito Yokado store. Grey becomes a pale olive green and yellow becomes brown on this release. Blue paint highlights are added. The orange on Crush becomes a red pink. This works better than the other Minicons in the team !

Space Galaxy Crush

The Space Galaxy Destruction team were an exclusive to the Justco store where one of the team was packaged in with Supermode Convoy (Optimus Prime). So you needed to buy *three* of the Superbase Prime toy to own this team ! The image I've linked to is the only one I could find on the web at Fred's Variationquest. If you can get hold of a copy of the Micron Legend yearbook there's a better photo in there with the robot modes. Grey becomes black and yellow & orange becomes grey for this release. So not only are they rare, they're also effectively a black variant which is always popular ! Good going Takara !

Megalo Gritbit

The Megalo Destruction team were also a TF Station exclusive, but issued in 2005 during Galaxy Force (Cybertron) to celebrate the release of Megalo Convoy (Metroplex). Grey becomes white, and yellow becomes blue with some red paint applications and black painted tracks. Gritbit's cab becomes blue. These colours perfectly match Megalo Convoy and the forms for these Minicons compliment him too so they make a perfect match for each other.

These are one of the few Japanese Minicon exclusives I've ever been tempted to try and collect.

Cybertron Monocle

The Destruction Team return as releases in Wave 2 of the Cybertron Minicon VS packs. Monocle is an Autobot paired with Scattorbrain - a dark grey/black repaint of Iceberg from the Adventure team.

Monocle's tracks & drill arm become a light grey with most of the rest of the toy cast in yellow giving it a construction feel. You get the feeling that if JCB made a piece of heavy duty drilling machinery this is what it would look like !.

Nice repaint.

From the Cybertron Minicon wave 2 review: "Monocle exchanges Drillbit's orange for a yellow.... and looks all the better because of it. It creates a look that's standardised across the entire team, and should go well with Cybertron Buzzsaw - I've not got him to hand, but it seems closeish to the colour used on his minicon Crumplezone. Sadly he's a Decepticon, these are Autobots and my GF Buzzsaw has his gear mounted the wrong way for it to be of use ! Having got hold of Buzzsaw when packing the Christmas decorations away I can tell you that they are indeed close, but scrutiny will tell them apart, "

[Philip Ayres]

Dualor

The Destruction team all involve moving parts powered by a gear arrangement. The vehicle can be rolled along on a flat surface using a small rubber wheel to power the gimmick causing movement. Alternately they can be clipped onto the underside of Cyclonus where an exposed gear wheel meshes with Cyclonus' blade mechanism to cause the parts to move when you use the trigger to turn Cyclonus' blades. The intention was that other toys should have this gimmick - Hoist obviously was planned to have it and I have my suspicions about Overload too. Incidentally after the Minicons peg & socket connectors and the clip under the jets for Swindle/Thunderclash this makes the third method of attaching a Minicon to a larger toy.

Dualor is a little at odds with his team mates both of whom could be seen to be Construction machinery. Dualor is a tank, with a rotating turret on which are mounted a pair of gun barrels that reciprocate as the Dualor's gimmick is powered, Remarkably the turret which they're mounted on can rotate without affecting the gimmick. Points for Hasbro here. The tank is mainly grey with yellow gun barrels, robot feet, upper legs and waist/minicon socket.

He has one Minicon socket underneath the toy which enables it to be mounted on a character's or shoulder and used as a dual cannon. Yup, that's the sort of thing we want, more of that please.

TF: Turn the tank so the gun barrels face out over the shorter side of the tank. Pull down the front of the tank and fold the "feet" out. Fold the sides of the treads at the turret end out as arms.

Alternately you may wish to turn the robot's waist round to give a more socially acceptable waist piece and to turn the feet into heel spurs. Your choice.

Either way the robot's got joints at the hips & shoulders and a turning waist and head. He's the only member of the team with two normal arms with his weapon being carried on his back

Overall: Once again 2 decent modes, good gimmick, and great as an add on weapon. The Destruction team do some good box ticking.

From, the original Destruction Team review: "Onto the Destruction team - hehehe, moving parts. I've mounted them all on Megs in Robot mode - Today Megatron is modelling the latest in Minicon accessories and they all look great as added weapons - Dualor and Wreckage (from the Military team) as almost twin double barrelled cannons on each shoulder, Buzzsaw & Drill Bit on each wrist. You know looking at Drill Bit I'm suddenly struck by how much better Twin Twist would have been if his drills had revolved !

Dualor is a Twin Cannon tank - a bit like Stryka - and has exactly the same reciprocating barrel gimmick, this time driven (like all the team) by a rubber wheel on his underside. The barrels don't have any elevation, though the Turret they're mounted on does swivel 360 degrees. Stick him on one end with the turret as his back, pull the legs down, flip out some feet and flip the arms up there's the Robot on the instruction, but I'd rotate him at the waist too to hide the Minicon socket on his pelvis (why do the cons have the sockets and robots pegs - is there some Mail/Female imagery going on and what does this say for Grindor ?) and give him solid lower legs. His head turns as well as the waist. The gearing for the gimmick is exposed in the cheat. "

In Japan Dualor is know as Duster who appears with the rest of the Destruction team in pack numbered MM-04, and also in giftset MS-04 with Sandstorm (Cyclonus).

Onto the repaints - the Destruction team are the Minicon repaint kings having more than any other team does without having a remould !

Road Wrecker Dualor

The Road Wrecker team was for several years the only western repaint of the Destruction team. For this release yellow becomes light grey and the grey becomes green. These colour changes - especially the modifications to Drillbit - give the team a more unified feel to them and help bring out the military aspect in Dualor.

Dimension-X Duster

During Micron Legend limited edition repaints of the Minicon teams were released under the Dimension-X label but within the Micron Legend numbering system. The Dimension-X Destruction team are numbered MM-09. For this released grey becomes a copper colour and the yellow becomes a pale blue/green (the sort of colour copper goes when it oxidises) This results in Duster having a very off orange look to his tank mode - far too bright to be desert camouflage !

As with the other three first release Dimension-X sets these are quite hard to find.

White Duster

The White Destruction team were an exclusive to the "TF Station" affiliated stores and were given away during a promotion in the "Golden Week" holiday. All parts of this toy are cast in white plastic giving them a unique look. The intention was you would then paint the toy according to your own imagination & preferences.

Under Groove Duster

The Under Groove Destruction team members were give aways exclusive to the Ito Yokado store. Grey becomes a pale olive green and yellow becomes brown on this release. Green paint highlights are added.

Again another Military looking theme which suits Duster, but leaves Wheel looking odd because of the colours of one toy being mirrored on the other.

Space Galaxy Duster

The Space Galaxy Destruction team were an exclusive to the Justco store where one of the team was packaged in with Supermode Convoy (Optimus Prime). So you needed to buy *three* of the Superbase Prime toy to own this team ! The image I've linked to is the only one I could find on the web at Fred's Variationquest. If you can get hold of a copy of the Micron Legend yearbook there's a better photo in there with the robot modes. Grey becomes black and yellow becomes grey for this release. So not only are they rare, they're also effectively a black variant which is always popular !

Good going Takara !

Megalo Zapmap

The Megalo Destruction team were also a TF Station exclusive, but issued in 2005 during Galaxy Force (Cybertron) to celebrate the release of Megalo Convoy (Metroplex). Grey becomes white, and yellow becomes blue with some red paint applications and black painted tracks. Although Zapmap's form doesn't match the construction theme of his two colleagues and Megalo Convoy the colours perfectly match giving a complimentary feel to team & larger toy that is shared by few other Minicon teams (see also Dimension-X Air Military & Skywarp and Dimension-X Sea and Shockwave)

The Megalo team are one of the few Japanese Minicon exclusives I've ever been tempted to try and collect.

Cybertron Ascentor

The Destruction Team return as releases in Wave 2 of the Cybertron Minicon VS packs. Ascentor is an Autobot paired with Payload - a dark blue Decepticon repaint of Ransack from the Adventure team.

Ascentor is effectively an inverse repaint of Dualor - Yellow becomes black and grey becomes yellow.

An attractive if inauthentic looking repaint.

My original Cybertron Minicon Wave 2 review agrees: "Ascentor is essentially an inverse Dualor. Looks good, though it easy to loose the detail in a bright yellow head on the robot."

[Philip Ayres]

Of course after I finish I do find pics of the Space Galaxy team on the web: see Black Gears site

Tomorrow: Well whatever I do the words "unreleased variants" will be appearing !

[blueshift]

Jan 8, 2009 17:04:13 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Odd painting errors then probably

Other Brits reported it, I personally think it is horrid cost-cutting which thankfully never carried on

[Philip Ayres]

Oval

Original Street Speed team review: "Street Speed: Backtrack's Green, Spiral's Blue and Oval's the orangey one.

Backtrack: Pull out the legs at the front and pull his feet out. Arms pull out the side and then slide upwards. If you can do this without using a tool or loosing an arm or forearm you have my admiration ! Back folds down to create the chest and swing round at the waist.

Spiral: Nearly the same except here the door panels form stabilizers down the back of the legs, and the arms fold down off the roof.

Oval: A Gobot with a jointed legs, and a small clever as the front folds down.

All 3 have joints at the hips, knees and shoulder, Spiral and Backtrack have ball joints there and waists too. There are elbows but they only bend about 10 degrees and the fore arms fall off at will ! But they all look OK as cars and seem quite stable as robots so..... All 3 have a powering socket somewhere underneath them in car mode.

They are the first set of Minicons I've got that don't do anything apart from be small robots !"

Oval - like the rest of the Street Speed Team - is a car. In his initial release he was orange with a grey underside. His headlights are oval shaped and he has a small spoiler at the rear behind some cooling vents.

If you turn the car over there's a Minicon socket at the back and to one side. This can be used to mount the car on a larger robot and (with some imagination) you can pretend it's body armour or a power pack.

TF: Pull back on the back of the car to form the legs. Fold the front of the car over onto the robot's body. Swing the sides down as arms, fold the roof down as the robot's back, Fold the head up.

Robot maintains the orange from the car exposing some grey on the body and upper legs, and having a silver visor on the face. He's got ball jointed hips, arms that move at the shoulders and bend in the middle. The mid arm joint is weak like the rest of the SST. Generally he holds together better than the other though, but the point where car front locks to robot body is weak.

OK but small car (especially for a Minicon). Flimsy robot.

Oval was available with the rest of the Street Speed Team as the Micron team numbered MM-06 where he was known as Nitro This team was also packed in giftset MS-05 with Silverstreak (Blurr). The Street Speed Team are the only Minicon team not to have a Dimension-X release in Japan (The Dimension-X Street Action team is packed with Final Battle Prime & Overload)

Nightscream

Nightscream comes packed with Armada Airazor

Nightscream is a car - a purple repaint of Oval from the Street Speed Team. The other 2 members of the team are repainted with Armada Predacon. Looks much better than the original. Robot maintains the purple from the car exposing some grey on the body and upper legs, and having a green visor.

The colour on the car is a good match for the bird and the two work well together.

Unreleased Armada Oval

According to the Transformers Wiki there's an unreleased black-and-white redeco of Oval was planned to be released as part of a "refresh" version of the Street Speed Team in Armada. The coloration of the Team was a "one-off" of the Takara Overdrive Edition version, with each toy's main colour shifted over to another one.

Flatout

Flatout is a member of the Super Stunt Team which were all available packed with Micron Legend DVD volume 1 - the other twelve volumes each had one Minicon pack not a whole team. He's made with black car bodywork and an orange robot body - this colour is common to the whole team.

Nice repaint.

Overdrive Edition Nitro

The Street Speed Team Overdrive Edition were given away at Street Speed Team Overdrive Edition World Hobby Fair 2003 and to Itoyokado stores in Japan in 2003.

Nitro has red car bodywork & white robot body (common to the whole team)

Brakedown (Unreleased Energon Oval)

See also Transformer Wiki

The original intention was that Energon Ultra Magnus would be released with a set of Street Speed team repaints. According the Transformers Wiki this version of Oval would be Brakedown. Pictures show a burgundy car body with dark blue windows. I've not been able to find any pictures of his robot mode so I'm unable to say what colour the body parts would be.

Cybertron Oval

Cybertron Street Speed Team Oval was originally released as Cyana in the Galaxy Force Auto Micron team. My original review of the Auto Micron Team reads: "All are in new colours as you can see above and all have lots of detailing changed on them. But - like the Energon Sabre last year - they are essentially the same toys, and seem so far to suffer from some of the same problems - though I've only pulled one limb off so far. The bubble that holds them onto the card has to be the thinnest ever ! You'll get cos you want more minicons."

All three Minicons in this set have major molding changes in the surface detail of their car bodies but maintain the same basic shape, TF and robot mode. In particular Spiral looses his back window gaining some extra detail that starts on the roof and continues over the back of the car. His doors gain several moulded horizontal lines in them.

The car body in this case is moulded in bright light blue - hence the Japanese name - while the robot body and upper legs continue to be grey.

Micron Booster Plug

Cybertron Oval is then recoloured in Micron Booster V3 as Plug. The original Micron Booster V3 review says "Plug (white) is a repaint of Cyana (blue) who is a remold of Oval (orange) who was used to make Nightscream (purple) who appeared with Airazor in Armada My reaction as this came out the box was "oooh, nice". The car in white looks great, though the stark uniformity is broken by the grey in robot mode. My fave of the 4 main versions of this. "

[Philip Ayres]

Spiral

Original Street Speed team review: "Street Speed: Backtrack's Green, Spiral's Blue and Oval's the orangey one.

Backtrack: Pull out the legs at the front and pull his feet out. Arms pull out the side and then slide upwards. If you can do this without using a tool or loosing an arm or forearm you have my admiration ! Back folds down to create the chest and swing round at the waist.

Spiral: Nearly the same except here the door panels form stabilizers down the back of the legs, and the arms fold down off the roof.

All 3 have joints at the hips, knees and shoulder, Spiral and Backtrack have ball joints there and waists too. There are elbows but they only bend about 10 degrees and the fore arms fall off at will ! But they all look OK as cars and seem quite stable as robots so..... All 3 have a powering socket somewhere underneath them in car mode.

They are the first set of Minicons I've got that don't do anything apart from be small robots !"

Spiral - like the rest of the Street Speed Team - is a car. In his initial release he was blue with a grey underside. He has a small spoiler at the rear behind a long sloping window.

If you turn the car over there's a Minicon socket at the back and in the middle. This can be used to mount the car on a larger robot and (with some imagination) you can pretend it's body armour or a power pack.

TF: Fold the sides of the car down under the front, pull down on the front extending the legs, pull the very front out to form the feet and fold them up. Fold the boot down to become the robot's chest. Spin the waist round 180 degrees. Split the roof of the car in two and fold to the sides to become the arms.

The robot maintains the blue of the vehicle mode and adds the grey into the body that the rest of the team have. He's got ball jointed hips & shoulders, arms that bend at the elbow and a waist. The mid arm joint is weak like the rest of the SST.

OK but small car (especially for a Minicon). Flimsy robot.

Spiral was available with the rest of the Street Speed Team as the Micron team numbered MM-06 where he was known as Jiiku. This team was also packed in giftset MS-05 with Silverstreak (Blurr). The Street Speed Team are the only Minicon team not to have a Dimension-X release in Japan (The Dimension-X Street Action team is packed with Final Battle Prime & Overload)

Skid-Z

Skid-Z comes packed with Armada Predacon & Side Burn.

Skid-Z is a brown repaint of Spiral from the Street Speed Team. The one of the other members of the team is repainted with Armada Predacon, the other with Armada Airazor.

Don't like the colour scheme on this one so much.

Unreleased Armada Spiral

According to the Transformers Wiki there's an unreleased A red-and-white redeco of Spiral was planned to be released as part of a "refresh" version of the Street Speed Team in Armada. The coloration of the Team was a "one-off" of the Takara Overdrive Edition version, with each toy's main colour shifted over to another one.

Servo

Servo is a member of the Super Stunt Team which were all available packed with Micron Legend DVD volume 1 - the other twelve volumes each had one Minicon pack not a whole team. He's made with yellow car bodywork and an orange robot body - this colour is common to the whole team.

Nice repaint.

Overdrive Edition Jiiku

The Street Speed Team Overdrive Edition were given away at Street Speed Team Overdrive Edition World Hobby Fair 2003 and to Itoyokado stores in Japan in 2003.

Jiiku has grey car bodywork & white robot body (common to the whole team)

Clocker (Unreleased Energon Spiral)

See also Transformer Wiki

The original intention was that Energon Ultra Magnus would be released with a set of Street Speed team repaints. According the Transformers Wiki this version of Oval would be Clocker. Pictures show a blue car body with orange windows. I've not been able to find any pictures of his robot mode so I'm unable to say what colour the body parts would be.

Cybertron Spiral

Cybertron Street Speed Team Spiral was originally released as Gagenta in the Galaxy Force Auto Micron team. My original review of the Auto Micron Team reads: "All are in new colours as you can see above and all have lots of detailing changed on them. But - like the Energon Sabre last year - they are essentially the same toys, and seem so far to suffer from some of the same problems - though I've only pulled one limb off so far. The bubble that holds them onto the card has to be the thinnest ever ! You'll get cos you want more Minicons."

All three Minicons in this set have major moulding changes in the surface detail of their car bodies but maintain the same basic shape, TF and robot mode. In particular Spiral looses his back window gaining some extra detail in vertical slits that cover the space where the rear window would have been.

The car body in this case is moulded in red while the robot body and upper legs continue to be grey.

Micron Booster Jack

Cybertron Spiral is then recoloured in Micron Booster V3 as Jack. The original Micron Booster V3 review says "Jack (red) is a repaint of Gagenta (red) who is a remould of Spiral (blue) who was used to make Skid-Z (brown) who appeared with Predacon in Armada

I say red but it's not a bright vibrant red like Gagenta, more a pinky raspberry colour. Very nice again. "

[Philip Ayres]

Backtrack

Original Street Speed team review: "Street Speed: Backtrack's Green, Spiral's Blue and Oval's the orangey one.

Backtrack: Pull out the legs at the front and pull his feet out. Arms pull out the side and then slide upwards. If you can do this without using a tool or loosing an arm or forearm you have my admiration ! Back folds down to create the chest and swing round at the waist.

All 3 have joints at the hips, knees and shoulder, Spiral and Backtrack have ball joints there and waists too. There are elbows but they only bend about 10 degrees and the fore arms fall off at will ! But they all look OK as cars and seem quite stable as robots so..... All 3 have a powering socket somewhere underneath them in car mode.

They are the first set of Minicons I've got that don't do anything apart from be small robots !"

Backtrack - like the rest of the Street Speed Team - is a car. In his initial release he was green with a grey underside. He has no spoiler or rear window.

If you turn the car over there's a Minicon socket at the back and in the middle. This can be used to mount the car on a larger robot and (with some imagination) you can pretend it's body armour or a power pack.

TF: Pull forward the legs from the front of the car, separate them, pull the feet forward from the front and bend up. Slide the sides of the car out to form the arms and then pull back to lock them in place. You're probably best turning the car over and manipulating the pins through the slot with the end of a small screwdriver or similar. Fold the arms down and fold the boot down to reveal the robot's head. Turn legs round at waist.

Resulting robot is very articulated for a minicon - bending elbows, knee and ankles plus ball jointed hips and shoulders. Because the toy is so small there's low tolerance on all the joints and it can come to bits very easily - especially the elbow joints The robot maintains the blue of the vehicle mode and adds the grey into the body that the rest of the team have.

OK but small car (especially for a Minicon). Flimsy robot.

Backtrack was available with the rest of the Street Speed Team as the Micron team numbered MM-06 where he was known as Auto. This team was also packed in giftset MS-05 with Silverstreak (Blurr). The Street Speed Team are the only Minicon team not to have a Dimension-X release in Japan (The Dimension-X Street Action team is packed with Final Battle Prime & Overload)

Sideburn

Sideburn is a red repaint of Backtrack from the Street Speed Team. He comes packed with Armada Predacon & Skid-Z - a repaint of Spiral. The third member of the team, Nightscream (Oval), comes with Armada Airazor.

Nice set of colours on this, red always suits a robot.

Unreleased Armada Backtrack

According to the Transformers Wiki there's an unreleased A grey & white redeco of Spiral was planned to be released as part of a "refresh" version of the Street Speed Team in Armada. The coloration of the Team was a "one-off" of the Takara Overdrive Edition version, with each toy's main colour shifted over to another one.

Redline

Redline is a member of the Super Stunt Team which were all available packed with Micron Legend DVD volume 1 - the other twelve volumes each had one Minicon pack not a whole team. He's made with red car bodywork and an orange robot body - this colour is common to the whole team.

Apart from the robot parts this is very similar to Armada Sideburn.

Overdrive Edition Auto

The Street Speed Team Overdrive Edition were given away at Street Speed Team Overdrive Edition World Hobby Fair 2003 and to Itoyokado stores in Japan in 2003.

Auto has back car bodywork & white robot body (common to the whole team)

Override (Unreleased Energon Backtrack)

See also Transformer Wiki [/size][/b]

The original intention was that Energon Ultra Magnus would be released with a set of Street Speed team repaints. According the Transformers Wiki this version of Oval would be Clocker. Pictures show a yellow car body with orange windows. I've not been able to find any pictures of his robot mode so I'm unable to say what colour the body parts would be.

Cybertron Backtrack

Cybertron Street Speed Team Spiral was originally released as Sullow in the Galaxy Force Auto Micron team. My original review of the Auto Micron Team reads: "All are in new colours as you can see above and all have lots of detailing changed on them. But - like the Energon Sabre last year - they are essentially the same toys, and seem so far to suffer from some of the same problems - though I've only pulled one limb off so far. The bubble that holds them onto the card has to be the thinnest ever ! You'll get cos you want more Minicons."

All three Minicons in this set have major moulding changes in the surface detail of their car bodies but maintain the same basic shape, TF and robot mode. In particular Backtrack gains what looks like a police lightbar on his roof - it's not painted and the colours of the toy don't match that of a police car

The car body in this case is moulded in yellow while the robot body and upper legs continue to be grey.

Micron Booster Dice

Cybertron Spiral is then recoloured in Micron Booster V3 as Jack. The original Micron Booster V3 review says "Dice (purple) is a repaint of Sullow (yellow) who is a remould of Backtrack (green) who was used to make Sideburn (red) who appeared with Predacon in Armada

Lovely purple here, looks great in both modes

All 3 of these together make up probably the best set of these so far ! All 3 are very realistically painted, you can quite easily believe you could see all 3 as real vehicles"

[Philip Ayres]

In case you read the first two reviews earlier I've found an image of the unreleased Armada Street Speed Team recolours at images3.wikia.nocookie.net/transformers/images/d/de/SST-UniBat.jpg

[Philip Ayres]

Hope you're all still enjoying these. We're over half way through the Armada Minicon teams now.

Onto the Adventure team and another set of unreleased repaints !

[Philip Ayres]

Iceberg

Iceberg is an orange vehicle with grey exhaust & robot legs and black tracks & plough. Iceberg has the snow plough at the front with a cab immediately behind it. The sides of the vehicle are tracked - solid, with wheels underneath - and the back is low, simulating a moulded engine with a pair of tubular exhausts on the back.

Roll him along a flat surface and the jaws of the snow plough open and close. Alternately clip him to the underside of Armada Cyclonus and Cyclonus' rotor spinning action powers the plough moving gimmick.

Minicon post underneath. Use on the forearms pointing forward as a claw. Alternately turn the other way round and use as a dual cannon of forearm or shoulder.

TF: Pull the back out to form the legs. Pull up and back on the cab to reveal the head which is folded out. Close the cab up. Spin the waist 180 degrees.

Resulting robot moves at the waist, hips and shoulders. It's not a bad robot though like the rest of the team the gear gimmick is exposed in the chest

In addition to being packed with the rest of the Adventure team Iceberg also appears in the TRU Bonus Minicon packs with either Powerlinx Cyclonus with Crumplezone or Powerlinx Hot Shot with Jolt. These were a Black Friday exclusive to TRU in 2003. The entire Adventure team and the Sea team are then packaged together in Energon as a Minicon six pack.

In Japan Iceberg is known as Junk and appears with the rest of the Adventure team in MM-16 and also with Super Mode Grapple in giftset MS-07

My original Iceberg review reads: "More geared gimmicks here, and some nicely hidden ports.

Iceberg: Some sort of snow plough - minor rant time: Why is Mr Plow not on the new Simpsons: Risky Business DVD ?? Anyhow the flaps at the front move slightly as you move it along. Minicon port underneath. Stand it on it's end, and flip the head up from the cab Build Team wedge stylie. Taller than most Minicons.... shoulder, waist and hip joints here. OK again. "

Amorhide

Amorhide is a Snow plough - a repaint blue vehicle with black replacing grey and silver paint over the existing black. He's packed with a repaint of Beast Wars Transmetal Rhinox that has added Minicon posts. Iceberg is appropriately matched to Rhinos as his vehicle mode could possibly be a Snowmobile. Doesn't really marry well with Rhinox's beast mode though ! Amorhide maintains Iceberg's gear gimmick.

Unlike Airazor & Predacon's Street Speed Team packs ins this doesn't fall doesn't fall apart !

Decent pack in, though I always thought Rhinox worked better with a Land Military Minicon - would give him a missile launcher ! - and that the Beasts might have worked better as a marketing exercise with 2 of the combining weapons spread between them.

Unreleased Armada Iceberg

See also Remy's Act 232

Like the other two Wave 3 Minicon Teams (Street Speed and Space) there is an unreleased Armada version of the Adventure team. The same base colours of grey and black are used but the main part of Iceberg's vehicle mode now becomes a pale orange. Looks nice.

Dimension-X Junk

During Micron Legend limited edition repaints of the Minicon teams were released under the Dimension-X label but within the Micron Legend numbering system. The Dimension-X Adventure Team are numbered MM-19 For this version grey becomes black and black remains black. The body of Junk is moulded in neon lime green and looks awful. Like the unreleased Armada version you would spot it in a snowdrift though !

Micron Booster V1 Spoil

Spoil is toy number 12 in Micron Booster V1. The Adventure Team repaints in this set swap white for grey and keep the black.

Spoil's bodywork is cast in bright purple plastic.

Cybertron Scattorbrain

Wave 2 of the Cybertron Minicons pairs together both gear gimmick teams. The Adventure team swap black for grey, and grey for hideous neon green. They all have silver Decepticon symbols mounted on top of them.

Scattorbrain is packed with an Autobot Minicon Monocle (Drillbit from Destruction). Both Adventure and Destruction teams are referred to as Exploration Team on their members Bio sheets - I'll call them Decepticon Exploration team ( for the Adventure team repaints) and Autobot Exploration Team (for the Destruction team repaints).

A very dark grey/black body works well on this Scattorbrain, though the neon green parts do it no favours ! Never been a white version of these yet which might be quite nice as a snow camouflage version...

[Philip Ayres]

Dune Runner

Dune Runner is a Dune Buggy with a gun mounted on the back. He's moulded in olive green with a grey roll cage & gun and green painted seats. The only black on this toy is the wheels. His roll cage lifts up and opens, and the gun can be rotated right the way round. His minicon socket is located on a block to the rear of the car.

You can roll him along a flat surface and the gun moves from side to side if the gun is facing forward - odd things happen if the gun points off to the side. Alternately clip him to the underside of Armada Cyclonus and Cyclonus' rotor spinning action powers the gun moving gimmick.

TF: Fold the front of the car down to form the legs, Spin the block round to show the face. Raise the arms up on the rear wheel axles.

Tiny robot has neck, shoulder, hip and knee joints. I've owned much less articulated larger toys.

In addition to being packed with the rest of the Adventure team Dune Runner also appears in the TRU Bonus Minicon packs with either Powerlinx Cyclonus with Crumplezone or Powerlinx Hot Shot with Jolt. These were a Black Friday exclusive to TRU in 2003. The entire Adventure team and the Sea team are then packaged together in Energon as a Minicon six pack.

In Japan Dune Runner is known as Spike and appears with the rest of the Adventure team in MM-16 and also with Super Mode Grapple in giftset MS-07

My original Dune Runner review reads: "More geared gimmicks here, and some nicely hidden ports.

Here's the star of this set. Here the gun moves from side to side as it roles. Turret rotates, though the gimmick only really works when the turret is facing forward. Flip the roll cage up at the start of the tf, and it's standard MM stuff from there, except that by rotating the head round you hide the minicon port. Hips, Knees and Shoulders here. Like him a lot. "

Ironhide

Ironhide comes packed with a repaint of Beast Wars Transmetal Terrorsaur with minor remoulds to add in some minicon posts. Ironhide is moulded in an orangey brown, with dark brown gun & rollcage and black painted seats. He still has his gear gimmick intact (as he does in all subsequent releases). Unlike Airazor & Predacon's Street Speed Team packs ins this doesn't fall doesn't fall apart !

A nice addition to the Terrorsaur, though perhaps one of the combining teams would have been better to encourage people to buy all the beasts - collect them all and build 2 extra weapons.

Unreleased Armada Dune Runner

See also Remy's Act 232

Like the other two Wave 3 Minicon Teams (Street Speed and Space) there is an unreleased Armada version of the Adventure team. The same base colours of grey and black are used but the main part of Dune Runners's vehicle mode now becomes blue, with some olive paint covering the robot arms and green painted seats. It's possible at this point the arms have been moved from one parts tree to another - see bellow. Looks nice.

Dimension-X Spike

During Micron Legend limited edition repaints of the Minicon teams were released under the Dimension-X label but within the Micron Legend numbering system. The Dimension-X Adventure Team are numbered MM-19 For this version grey becomes black and black remains black. In addition the arms are now black and will remain the same colour as the wheels for all further releases of this toy. The body of Spike is moulded in silver and looks .... odd. It's almost as if it's unfinished metal. A dark green military version may be a better choice !

Micron Booster V1 Crunch

Crunch is toy number 10 in Micron Booster V1. The Adventure Team repaints in this set swap white for grey and keep the black. Crunch's body becomes orange on this release with blue painted seats.

Cybertron Kobushi

Wave 2 of the Cybertron Minicons pairs together both gear gimmick teams. The Adventure team swap black for grey, and grey for hideous neon green. They all have silver Decepticon symbols mounted on top of them.

Kobushi is packed with an Autobot Minicon Landslide (Buzzsaw from Destruction). Both Adventure and Destruction teams are referred to as Exploration Team on their members Bio sheets - I'll call them Decepticon Exploration team ( for the Adventure team repaints) and Autobot Exploration Team (for the Destruction team repaints). Kobushi in Japanese means either Fist or Old Warrior according to the brief research I've made.

I can't make my mind up which side of the taste divide Kobushi's Purple and Neon green colour scheme falls on - yes it's Cybertron Dirtboss' colours again. The purple looks good but the green.....awful.

[Philip Ayres]

Ransack

Ransack is a green jeep with black tires & robot arms and grey robot legs.

He has a tow rope on the front that can be pulled out. Roll him along a flat surface in either direction and the rope retracts. Alternately clip him to the underside of Armada Cyclonus and Cyclonus' rotor spinning action powers the rope gimmick. The problem with doing this is there is only a small amount of rope available. Once it's reeled in there's no mechanism for letting it out again while still attached. You'll need to remove the toy to extend it again.

Ransack's Minicon port is placed in the middle of the spare tyre mounted on the back of the vehicle. Quite innovative way of hiding it ! However it does mean that Ransack sticks out rather when mounted on the pegs of most Armada toys. The only toy he works really well with is Hoist (who the Japanese version is twinned with) The toy can fit onto the end of Hoist's arm between the claws and used as a grappling line.

TF: Fold the back down to form the legs. Raise the arms. Pure Micromaster. Simple.

As is articulation on the robot - he bends at knee, hips and shoulders.

In addition to being packed with the rest of the Adventure team Dune Runner also appears in the TRU Bonus Minicon packs with either Powerlinx Cyclonus with Crumplezone or Powerlinx Hot Shot with Jolt. These were a Black Friday exclusive to TRU in 2003. The entire Adventure team and the Sea team are then packaged together in Energon as a Minicon six pack.

In Japan Ransack is known as Winch and appears with the rest of the Adventure team in MM-16 and also with Super Mode Grapple in giftset MS-07

My original Ransack review reads: "More geared gimmicks here, and some nicely hidden ports.

Jeep/Flatbed type thing with a towline out the front that winds up when you roll him forward. Quite fun. Minicon port is the spare tyre ! Blessed with hips, elbows and shoulders in the articulation dept. OK "


Cliffjumper

Cliffjumper comes with Armada Cheetor - a repaint of the Beast Wars Transmetal toy that's been remoulded to include Minicon posts on the ends of the boosters - inaccessible in robot mode, and pointing forward in "Vehicle" mode. Only certain Minicons would look right attached to this - ones with ports at the back. Sky Blast is one - see previous comments in other reviews about packing a combining weapon with the Armada Beasts. Another is Ransack of the Adventure Team.

He's been repainted as Cliffjumper using the same purple and red/pink as Cheetor (so not red and black as per G1). I seem to remember somewhere that Armada Cliffjumper is a she. The gear gimmick is intact - as it will be on all subsequent releases. More of the red/pink is visible when she's transformed to robot mode.

Not bad combination - especially in terms of how the Minicon attaches.

Unlike Airazor & Predacon's Street Speed Team packs ins this doesn't fall apart !


Unreleased Armada Dune Ransack

See also Remy's Act 232

Like the other two Wave 3 Minicon Teams (Street Speed and Space) there is an unreleased Armada version of the Adventure team. The same base colours of grey and black are used but the main part of Ransack is a sandy desert colour which is a good use for a green jeep repaint.


Dimension-X Winch

During Micron Legend limited edition repaints of the Minicon teams were released under the Dimension-X label but within the Micron Legend numbering system. The Dimension-X Adventure Team are numbered MM-19 For this version grey becomes black and black remains black.

Winch would be described as a nasty neon orange and would be worst coloured Micron in the set if only he wasn't packaged with the foul neon lime green Junk! Not Great.


Micron Booster V1 Torque

Torque is toy number 11 in Micron Booster V1. The Adventure Team repaints in this set swap white for grey and keep the black. Torque's body becomes a cyan blue on this release. Bright but decent looking - possibly the only decent repaint to ever use this colour !


Cybertron Payload

Wave 2 of the Cybertron Minicons pairs together both gear gimmick teams. The Adventure team swap black for grey, and grey for hideous neon green. They all have silver Decepticon symbols mounted on top of them.

Payload is packed with an Autobot Minicon Ascentor (Dualor from Destruction). Both Adventure and Destruction teams are referred to as Exploration Team on their members Bio sheets - I'll call them Decepticon Exploration team ( for the Adventure team repaints) and Autobot Exploration Team (for the Destruction team repaints).

Payload's blue jeep mode looks very nice. Keep it that way and you won't see the clashing monstrosity of said blue and aforementioned yucky neon green that is his robot mode !

[blueshift]

The Street Speed minicons really shouldn't have been released in their current state. Oval was fine but the other two just fell apart when you tried to transform them. They should have ignored the balljoint in the shoulders and just gone for a more secure swivel instead. Because /jeez/

[Philip Ayres]

amen to that. The first time I went out with the boys In London I took the SST with me. Pieces everywhere.

[Philip Ayres]

A small change of pace here - since I've just finished the Adventure Team I thought I'd look at the one other Minicon toy to feature the gear gimmick outside of them and the Destruction Team. Since the giftset he's in contains the Adventure team he can probably be considered an honorary member.

Another reason for for doing so is it gives me a precedent for including the honorary fourth member of the next team I'm going to review .....

Refute

My original Hoist review contained the following "Refute rolls along with his jaws/arms/whatever opening and closing - he's got a geared gimmick and will connect with Cyclonus and work. "

Refute is the Minicon packed in with Armada Hoist. I've no idea what kind of vehicle he's meant to be ! In the Armada story Hoist is an upgrade of Smokescreen, whose Minicon was Liftor, a forklift truck. Refute may be meant to be something similar (and indeed may be an character upgrade of Liftor)

The main body of Refute is long and orange more racing car like than a piece of loading machinery - there's even four exhaust pipes sticking out the back ! The body is moulded in bright orange - different from the orange used on Hoist's shovel arm, waist and feet - and unique to the Minicon in this set. His rear wheels are the same brown as Hoist's legs and shovel (see Japanese information bellow) and his "claw", robot arms & upper legs are the same grey/blue as Hoist's bumper, left elbow and Minicon ports.

Refute's Minicon port is on his underside allowing him to be wrist mounted as a claw weapon. Alternately rotate him so his back is facing and use him as a quad cannon with the exhausts forming the gun barrels.

What's odd about Refute is that he has a gear gimmick just like the Destruction & Adventure teams. It is strongly suspected that hoist was meant to be the second toy that could power the gear gimmick, possibly through a port on the shoulder of his shovel arm where the Autobot symbol now is located. Roll Refute along and the claw opens & closes.

TF: Pull out the back of the vehicle, rotate at the waist and stand on the rear.

Robot has bending hips, rotating waist and bending elbows on arms that are far too thin. His claw is raised either side of his head Shrapnel style. The head itself is huge, far too big & tall for the robot which is itself amongst the taller Minicons (beaten by Rollout)

In Japan he was known as Sparklift and available in MC-11 with Supermode Grapple. Grapple's original Micron was called Lift so I think we can be sure that in Japan at least he's a powered up version of Lift (Liftor). Sparklift also has a small paint difference to Refute - his wheels are moulded in silver plastic matching Supermode Grapple's shovel & legs. They are also available in MS-07 with the Adventure team.

Universe Refute

Refute returns in the Universe "Battle in a Box" series as an exclusive to the Meijer and Kohl's stores in the USA. They were also released through the Entertainer in the UK. He's packed in with a Decepticon version of Hoist recoloured, slightly remoulded to remove the Autobot symbol and renamed as "Ransack". also in the box are Autobot recolours of Smokescreen & Liftor.

Refute's wheels stay brown matching Ransack's legs. His claws and robot arms & upper legs are now pale blue, again matching the bumper on Ransack. His body is cast in a bright green - a horrible car crash of colours.

I've long maintained that both of these rank amongst the worst repaints I've ever seen. This is what my original review of Ransack said: "Horrible. And as for the green Refute that just clashes badly with the rest of him....... "

But I've been thinking. What if the colours ended up on the wrong bits ? Move the green to where all the purple is on Ransack. Move Ransack's purple to his legs and Refute's wheels. Get rid of the brown or move it to Refute. You then get an eminently sensible Constructicon Scavenger with colours close but not exactly like the G1 originakl (scavenge and ransack aren't that far removed in meaning so you can see where they plucked the name from) packed with a Minicon you could have easily named Shrapnel for a second G1 hommage.

Micron Booster Clamp

In Galaxy Force in 2005 four Armada toys - Hoist, Sideswipe, Cyclonus & Blurr - were substantially remoulded to resemble older toys and to link their gimmick to a Galaxy Force planet key. These toys were then put in VS packs: Longrack (Hoist) came with Runabout (Sideswipe) and Blurr (Blurr) came with Buzzsaw (Cyclonus). What the toys didn't come with was the Minicons their predecessors had. By this time Fandom had worked out that the Minicons were (mostly) being made on the same parts trees as the larger toys and wondered what had happened to the parts for the Minicons. In due course these then showed up in Micron Booster V3.

Clamp is a repaint of Refute - Hoist's Minicon - and nominally is Longrack's partner. Clamp's a more sensible colour scheme than the last Refute repaint we saw with Ransack But teal green - why ? you have total freedom on his body colour as it's separate from anything in the main toy - and red (same as the excavator's hands) clash slightly. Gimmick still works which is a blessing.

There's a fourth version of Hoist out there - the Armada 2006 Dinobot. Somewhere out there they may be another new set of Refutes waiting to go with sandy coloured rear wheels and bright blue claws & arms ......

[The Doctor]

Jan 10, 2009 18:19:30 GMT blueshift said:

The Street Speed minicons really shouldn't have been released in their current state. Oval was fine but the other two just fell apart when you tried to transform them. They should have ignored the balljoint in the shoulders and just gone for a more secure swivel instead. Because /jeez/

I was moaning about this just today. That team brought me great pain! Fell apart if I looked at them funny.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Astroscope

Astroscope is a space station that forms the front of the barrel of the Requiem Blaster. There's two pairs of solar panels mounted a third of the way along the station with the opposite end of the station being comprised of a spring loaded missile launcher. Six and half years later the launcher is still in good condition on mine. The main colour of the station is a darker blue that's unique to this toy in the Space team. The missile, trigger & supports for the solar panels are red which is shared with both other members and the solar panels and a block on the side of the station are a lighter blue that's also used on Skyblast.

The Minicon socket is mounted on the other side of the station to the the solar panels closer to that end of the station. Astroscope looks good bolted onto a character - a kind of futuristic missile launcher.

TF: Fold the opposing solar panels together to form the legs and rotate the toy so these point down under it. Bend the missile launcher and opposite end of the station down. Fold up the block on the side of the station. Fold the halves of the middle of the station up round it - they clip in place.

The resulting robot has a very big upper body and missile arm and thin legs formed from the solar panels. The legs look like they shouldn't balance at all but actually they do quite well, especially without the missile in the right arm.. He has ball jointed hips, arms that fold up at the sides and a bending left elbow. Sadly the missile arm can't be raised to fire in robot mode which is the only real black mark against the toy.

Clever toy, especially how the TF works.

In Japan Astroscope was known as Mir, after the Russian space station, and appeared with the other two official members of the Space team in Minicon pack numbered MM-13. There's no giftset featuring this team as their obvious partner Jetfire is a toy larger than Supercon size.

Unreleased Armada Astroscope

See also Remy's Act 281

The Space Team's first brush with misfortune occurs late on in Transformers Armada - along with the Adventure & Street Speed teams who were also in Armada Minicons wave three - when their Unicron Battles recolour was cancelled. Red remains red in this team, but the other common colour in the team becomes black.

The blue used for Astroscope's body becomes an off white/grey for this release.

Dimension-X Mir

The Dimension-X Space Team were issued as Micron Legend toy number MM-14 and are easier to obtain than the first wave of Micron Legend Dimension-X toys. Red becomes an sandy olive colour throughout the release, the light blue on Mir & Apollo as well as the black on Move becomes brown and the white of Apollo & blue of Mire becomes dark green with lime green zigzag patterns on it suggesting a sort of radiation theme.

This is the only time that the Space team gets the same paint scheme used on all three parts.

Change Micron Mir

Change Micron Mir is nearly identical to Astroscope except that it's missing some of the paint operations on the solar panels.

Energon Astroscope

The Space team did eventually get a western recolour when they were released with Energon Ultra Magnus, making them rare in the US and very common in the UK. Ultra Magnus was originally scheduled to come with a Street Speed Team repaint set, it's unknown quite why this change was made. See the Requiem Blaster review for one of the consequences of this choice.

Red becomes grey on all three toys and the light blue used on Astroscope & Skyblast becomes a teal blue. Astroscope's dark blue becomes grey.

Rather plain compared with his predecessor.

Unreleased Universe Astroscope

The Space team were next scheduled to be released in Transformers Universe as the Spacewarp team with Spacewarp - a Decepticon Armada Jetfire repaint that was eventually released through the Transformers Collectors Club as Astrotrain.

Red remains red on all three toys and the light blue used on Astroscope & Skyblast becomes a pale grey blue. Astroscope's dark blue becomes a rust red..

Scrap Iron

The Space team return in the fourth & final wave of Cybertron Minicon VS packs as the Decepticon Deep Space team fighting against the Autobot Street Action team that make up the Energon version of Perceptor.

For this team Red becomes Purple, Light Blue becomes Grey, Darker Blue - used on Astroscope/Scrap Iron - becomes a very Pale Grey, Black (only on Payload/Blastcharge) becomes an Off White - these 2 are very similar but different when you see them next to each other and White (on Skyblast/Backblast)becomes a Rust Red.

Scrap Iron is the repaint of Astroscope and is packed with the Grindor repaint (the hovercraft)

[Philip Ayres]

Skyblast

Skyblast is a rocket which form most of the middle of the Requiem Blaster.

The main body of the rocket is white - unique to this toy in the team. The engines at the rear are attached using red plastic common to the entire team and the middle of the five engines is cast in blue.

The engines themselves have a very odd uneven arrangement - they look like they should be points of a square with one in the middle but some are close together and other father apart !

As well as forming part of the Requiem Blaster Skyblast combined with Payload - find the side of Skyblast with two pegs sticking out and put these into the holes on the back of Payload's vehicle with the nose pointing forward for Payload to act as a transported for Skyblast.

Skyblast also has a Minicon peg. It's not explained on the instructions what it's for but I believe it's designed to incorporate a fourth Minicon into the Requiem Blaster.

The Minicon socket is the middle engine of the five. This means you can mount the rocket on a toy as if it's about to launch - works quite well with Hoist's peg in the middle of his claw or on his (or Overload's) shoulders. However the central engine can be swung out the side of the toy allowing it to be mounted on an arm and pointed along the arm. You can also turn the missile round like this and use the rear engines as a quad cannon. Both modes here have the advantage that the minicon can be turned while mounted. Skyblast can also be held as a weapon by his Minicon peg.

TF: Separate the rear engines and fold under the toy. Rotate the front of the spaceship up 180 degrees and then fold down the nosecone to form the arm.. Fold the blue head - revealed amongst the engines - up onto the body. Point the middle engine up, and then fold down where it meets the white shuttle body to form the other arm. Rotate the toy till the white waist piece faces front.

The robot has a good colour mix between the three used. If you look at the robot's feet from underneath one has the engines close together and one has the engines further apart. He bends at the knees, has ball jointed hips, his shoulders turn and bend to the sides. The knees are the problem on the initial release - they're assembled wrong so the knees bend forward and not back. The Mincion peg ends up on one shoulder and the socket at the end of an arm.

Overall: good rocket, great add on, good robot bar the knees.

In Japan Skyblast was known as Apollo, after the US moon missions using similar looking rockets, and appeared with the other two official members of the Space team in Minicon pack numbered MM-13. This release fixes Skyblast's knees and also removes the dirt off his tail fins. There's no giftset featuring this team as their obvious partner Jetfire is a toy larger than Supercon size.

Unreleased Armada Skyblast

See also Remy Act 281

The Space Team's first brush with misfortune occurs late on in Transformers Armada - along with the Adventure & Street Speed teams who were also in Armada Minicons wave three - when their Unicron Battles recolour was cancelled. Red remains red in this team, but the other common colour in the team light blue becomes black.

Like the light blue the white on Skyblast also becomes black giving a good looking monochrome red and black colour scheme to this repaint. The knees would have been correctly assembled on this release.

This version may be the remoulded one mentioned in the Change Micron review bellow.

Dimension-X Apollo

The Dimension-X Space Team were issued as Micron Legend toy number MM -14 and are easier to obtain than the first wave of Micron Legend Dimension-X toys.

Red becomes an sandy olive colour throughout the release, the light blue on Mir & Apollo as well as the black on Move becomes brown and the white of Apollo & blue of Mire becomes dark green with lime green zigzag patterns on it suggesting a sort of radiation theme.

This is the only time that the Space team gets the same paint scheme used on all three parts.

Change Micron Apollo

Change Micron Apollo is nearly identical to Skyblast colour wise - the only change is what little blue that was used on him is now a shade darker and matched the main body of Mir/Astroscope. However it's a completely new mould permanently correcting the knee problem and spacing the engines out more evenly - noticeable in spaceship mode it's more obvious in robot mode if you turn the toy over and look at the feet - the engines are spaced evenly and close together on each foot. I'm told the entire team was remoulded at this stage but can't see any signs of it on the other toys.

Energon Skyblast

The Space team did eventually get a western recolour when they were released with Energon Ultra Magnus, making them rare in the US and very common in the UK. Ultra Magnus was originally scheduled to come with a Street Speed Team repaint set, it's unknown quite why this change was made. See the Requiem Blaster review for one of the consequences of this choice.

Red becomes grey on all three toys and the light blue used on Astroscope & Skyblast becomes a teal blue. Skyblast's white becomes black.

This is the second attempt at doing a black Skyblast: I prefer the black & red unreleased Armada version

Unreleased Universe Skyblast

The Space team were next scheduled to be released in Transformers Universe as the Spacewarp team with Spacewarp - a Decepticon Armada Jetfire repaint that was eventually released through the Transformers Collectors Club as Astrotrain.

Red remains red on all three toys and the light blue used on Astroscope & Skyblast becomes a pale grey blue as does the white used on Skyblast.

Cybertron Backblast

The Space team return in the fourth & final wave of Cybertron Minicon VS packs as the Decepticon Deep Space team fighting against the Autobot Street Action team that make up the Energon version of Perceptor.

For this team Red becomes Purple, Light Blue becomes Grey, Darker Blue becomes a very Pale Grey, Black (only on Payload/Blastcharge) becomes an Off White - these 2 are very similar but different when you see them next to each other and White (on Skyblast/Backblast)becomes a Rust Red.

Backblast is the repaint of Skyblast and is packed with the Sureshock repaint (the quad bike) Backblast's name goes nicely with name Blastcharge, the repaint of Payload in this wave of toys.

[grahamthomson]

These are my favourite Mini-Cons; fragile as they are.

[Philip Ayres]

Street Speed or Space ?

[grahamthomson]

Space!

[Philip Ayres]

I don't think they're that fragile.... says the man who broke a peg off Skyblast when it was plugged into Payload

[Philip Ayres]

Payload

Payload is a rocket transporter which forms the stock and handle of the Requiem Blaster.

The main body of the vehicle is black - unique to this toy in the team. The middle of the toy used the red plastic common to the entire team and there's a small amount of the light blue at the back. There are eight wheels moulded into each side of Payload, but the moving wheels are found hidden under the toy.

As well as forming part of the Requiem Blaster Payload combines withSkyblast - find the side of Skyblast with two pegs sticking out and put these into the holes on the back of Payload's vehicle with the nose pointing forward for Payload to act as a transported for Skyblast.

The Minicon socket is the under the front of the toy and to one side. Attached to a larger toy he just looks like a transport vehicle but you can then attach Skyblast to him to appear like a missile & launcher.

TF: Separate the front of the toy and fold the handle that's between both halves up and onto the back of Payload. Turn the toy round 180 degrees in the middle. Fold all of the back of the vehicle down exposing the blue head - the sides fold down further to form arms.

The robot is mainly black but the red of the legs & waist and the blue breaks it up a little and works nicely. He's got knees that bend, ball jointed hips, a waist and shoulders & neck that turn.

Overall: plain vehicle that only exists to form transport for another toy, poor add on for the same reason, but a really good robot

In Japan Skyblast was known as Payload was known as Move which is a pretty descriptive name for him! He appeared with the other two official members of the Space team in Minicon pack numbered MM-13. There's no giftset featuring this team as their obvious partner Jetfire is a toy larger than Supercon size.

Unreleased Armada Skyblast

See also Remy Act 271

The Space Team's first brush with misfortune occurs late on in Transformers Armada - along with the Adventure & Street Speed teams who were also in Armada Minicons wave three - when their Unicron Battles recolour was cancelled. Red remains red in this team, but the other common colour in the team light blue becomes black.

The black of Payload becomes bright purple. Purple and red is another of those colour combinations that should be avoided on TF toys !

Dimension-X Move

The Dimension-X Space Team were issued as Micron Legend toy number MM-14 and are easier to obtain than the first wave of Micron Legend Dimension-X toys. Red becomes an sandy olive colour throughout the release, the light blue on Mir & Apollo as well as the black on Move becomes brown and the white of Apollo & blue of Mire becomes dark green with lime green zigzag patterns on it suggesting a sort of radiation theme.

This is the only time that the Space team gets the same paint scheme used on all three parts.

Change Micron Move

Change Micron Move is nearly identical to Payload colourwise. The head uses the darker blue of the rest of Astroscope and looks a bit better for it.

Energon Payload

The Space team did eventually get a western recolour when they were released with Energon Ultra Magnus, making them rare in the US and very common in the UK. Ultra Magnus was originally scheduled to come with a Street Speed Team repaint set, it's unknown quite why this change was made. See the Requiem Blaster review for one of the consequences of this choice.

Red becomes grey on all three toys and the light blue used becomes a teal blue. Payload's black becomes grey.

This version looks very plain and unappealing.

Unreleased Universe Payload

The Space team were next scheduled to be released in Transformers Universe as the Spacewarp team with Spacewarp - a Decepticon Armada Jetfire repaint that was eventually released through the Transformers Collectors Club as Astrotrain.

Red remains red on all three toys and the light blue used on Astroscope & Skyblast becomes a pale grey blue as does the white used on Skyblast. The black of Payload becomes a horrid lime green. The Energon version might look plain but this just looks bad !

Cybertron Blastcharge

The Space team return in the fourth & final wave of Cybertron Minicon VS packs as the Decepticon Deep Space team fighting against the Autobot Street Action team that make up the Energon version of Perceptor.

For this team Red becomes Purple, Light Blue becomes Grey, Darker Blue becomes a very Pale Grey, Black (only on Payload/Blastcharge) becomes an Off White - these 2 are very similar but different when you see them next to each other and White (on Skyblast/Backblast) becomes a Rust Red.

Blastcharge is the repaint of Payload. The name is the same as the Beast Machines/Universe toy and the colours used on this version are very similar to the Universe release of Blastcharge. The name helps to emphasise the linked nature of the Payload & Skyblast toys - they're Blastcharge & Backblast in Cybertron. Cybertron Blastcharge comes with a repainted High Wire - the motorbike member of the Energon Street Speed Team

[Philip Ayres]

Requiem Blaster

The Requiem Blaster is the combined form of the three official members of the Space team. A fourth unofficial member can be added to the Blaster

To form it:

Payload Separate the front of the vehicle, fold out the handle then reattach the front of the vehicle to each other. Turn the vehicle over and bend the front of the vehicle up.
Skyblast Fit the three pegged side of him onto the now pointing upwards underside of Payload with the point of the rocket facing out the back of the vehicle. Fold the point to one side.
Astroscope Fold the solar panels together. Fold the opposite end of Astroscope to the missile out to the side. Slide the other side of that end into the gap at the end of Skyblast.

The resulting blaster is relatively stable in it's connections between the components. In fact the weakest point is probably the connection between the body & the shoulder of Astroscope that's linked to the rest of the toy ! As a weapon it can be held by any toy with a 5mm peg hole or it's stable enough to be pegged onto larger toys by the exposed Minicon socket. Alternately fold out Skyblast's Minicon port arm and attach it to a larger toy using that as a mount & pivot. The missile in Astroscope can still be fired in this mode giving the Requiem Blaster some ammunition. The solar panels under Astroscope look like magazine cartridges and the projecting tip of Skyblast could be a handle to support the weapon with a second hand.

The only thing the blaster really lacks is a sight/scope. But Hasbro/Takara have provided that. The Minicon post mysteriously unused on Skyblast now comes into play: it's used to attach Jetfire's Minicon Comettor (Sonar in Japan) to the top of the toy - leave him in vehicle mode and attach so he faces forward along the barrel of the blaster. The red and blue on Comettor are a good match for the Requiem Blaster.

In Japan the Requiem Blaster was known as the Astroblaster and was released in Minicon pack numbered MM-13. There's no giftset featuring this team as their obvious partner Jetfire is a toy larger than Supercon size.

Original Requiem Blaster review: "Requiem Blaster: Take the vehicle modes: Separate Payload's legs to unfold the gun's handle, reconnect them and bend the front of the vehicle down. Fold Sky Blast's nosecone to one side. Fold Astroscope's solar sails together to form to energy magazines and then the back to one side via the elbow. Peg Sky Blast into Payload and slot Stereoscope into Sky Blast. The monster weapon for the Armada toy of your choice but I suggest the forthcoming Jetfire or Op probably get first Dibs. The aforementioned use of Sky Blast's arm as a mount does indeed turn the entire cannon into something that can adorn a Powering connector on a shoulder.

We like these a lot !"

Unreleased Armada Requiem Blaster

See also Remy Act 271

The Space Team's first brush with misfortune occurs late on in Transformers Armada - along with the Adventure & Street Speed teams who were also in Armada Minicons wave three - when their Unicron Battles recolour was cancelled. Red remains red in this team, but the other common colour in the team light blue becomes black. The blue on the Requiem Blaster's front becomes an off white/grey and the black of the stock becomes purple.

Somehow this all works together quite nicely ! The purple was a mistake in Payload's individual form but isn't so bad here where it's next to the black.

Dimension-X Astroblaster

The Dimension-X Space Team were issued as Micron Legend toy number MM-14 and are easier to obtain than the first wave of Micron Legend Dimension-X toys. Red becomes an sandy olive colour throughout the release, the light blue on Mir & Apollo as well as the black on Move becomes brown and the white of Apollo & blue of Mire becomes dark green with lime green zigzag patterns on it .

This is the only time that the Space team gets the same paint scheme used on all three parts and it produces a coherent Astroblaster that I've seen termed the Radiation Blaster which would fit the colours used.

Works well with Armada Predacon !

Change Micron Astroblaster

Change Micron Astroblaster is nearly identical to the requiem Blaster colour wise. The only real change is the light blue on all three of it's components is now the darker blue of the rest of Mir/Astroscope.

Energon Requiem Blaster

Original Energon Requiem Blaster review: "The Space team haven't been used before so they get the nod.... which is a little bit of a strange decision as Ultra Magnus can't hold their combined form in his hand - well not without some help from a Zoids Blox & connector peg. Both the Emergency and Destruction teams might have been better matches.

OK - colour swap time - have your original space team to hand: Black and Darker Blue become the same shade of pale Grey, Light Blue becomes a shade of Greeny Blue close to the old Darker Blue. Red becomes a pale beige Grey. White becomes Black. Some orangey gold paint highlights on Payload and Astroscope, and some nice heat re-entry details on Skyblast's underside. To be honest - with the exception of Skyblast - this new team looks very washed out. I wonder if an all black colour scheme with white/grey/gold for the red and light blue on the original may have been better ? We will never know.... until someone gets their paint pot out. A shame, as my fave Minicon team has not yet been repainted satisfactorily anywhere :-( BTW the Skyblast in this set is from the Japanese version with the knees folding in the right direction. Not the best US Minicon repaints. "

Unreleased Universe Payload

The Space team were next scheduled to be released in Transformers Universe as the Spacewarp team with Spacewarp - a Decepticon Armada Jetfire repaint that was eventually released through the Transformers Collectors Club as Astrotrain.

Red remains red on all three toys and the light blue becomes a pale grey blue as does the white used on Skyblast. The black of Payload becomes a horrid lime green. Astroscope's dark blue becomes rust red. I can't find any combined pictures of this team but I suspect it's the hilt that sticks out !

Cybertron Umbral Blaster

The Space team return in the fourth & final wave of Cybertron Minicon VS packs as the Decepticon Deep Space team fighting against the Autobot Street Action team that make up the Energon version of Perceptor. Astroscope becomes Scrap Iron & is paired with Grindor, Skyblast becomes Backblast & is paired with Sureshock and Blastcharge comes with High Wire.

For this team Red becomes Purple, Light Blue becomes Grey, Darker Blue becomes a very Pale Grey, Black (only on Payload/Blastcharge) becomes an Off White - these 2 are very similar but different when you see them next to each other and White (on Skyblast/Backblast) becomes a Rust Red.

The purple and the white/grey used here give a little more coherency to the overall toy which would further have been improved if Backblast was also this colour. It makes a good match for the then unreleased Universe version of Astrotrain, the purple being a very Decepticon colour.
I'd be failing if I didn't suggest a few colour schemes for this toy to be released in:

All white - sensible colours for a Space team.
All black - always a winner
All red - re-entry space team.
As ever clear red/green/blue for the missile would be nice - and maybe all clear versions to go with them.

I feel there may be life recolouring these yet !

[Philip Ayres]

FYI: Umbral means shadow, phantom or ghost.

There is a deliberate spelling error thrown in that review for all the old time hubbers to commemorate one of my best typos.

[Philip Ayres]

While compiling the Starscream stuff I gathered together all the material on Thunderclash too !

Armada Thunderclash

Original Review: "Thunderclash himself resembles an old Pretender toy - but I can't remember which one. His legs fold down underneath him, and the cockpit folds down to form his chest. Spacecraft mode is good but robot mode is a little interesting."

It's far easier to check these things now: Thunderclash looks like Pretender Bomburst at least in vehicle mode. Thunderclash is grey with some lilac guns pointing out of his wings.

Thunderclash is designed to take the place of Minicon Swindle on Skywarp, the recolour & remould of Armada Starscream. To do this his cockpit clips into the holder on the underside of the toy - he'll attach to any of the versions of this toy but the next step requires Skywap or ones of his repaints. The wings then fold upwards, then the wing tips down & to the sides to replace the small cockpit wings Skywarp lost when he was remoulded. The tail fins turn too but there's not much need to move them.

Thunderclash has one Minicon socket under his nose. He looks OK attached as a spaceship but if you fold his wings right the way up and then fold the tips down he almost looks like he has a weapons mode.

TF: Got it a tiny bit wrong above. Fold the legs out of the front of the spaceship from under it. Bend the cockpit down. Fold down the points on the middle of the wings to form the arms.

Robot bends at shoulders, hips & knees.

Decent Minicon. Points for using it to replace another Minicon on the Starscream mould.

Universe Thunderclash

Universe Thunderclash is fairly similar to Armada Thunderclash but just has bright blue arms, tail wings & upper legs.

Saber

Three revisions of Thunderclash show up in Micron Booster V2.

The first, Sabre, is moulded in blue chrome with blue guns & robot upper legs. His nosecone has bright orange highlights.

Very nice.

Sabre was the chase piece in Micron Booster v2 and was not packed in every box.

Processor

Processor is moulded in red/orange and black. His colour scheme is reminiscent if the Breastforce warrior Gaihawk.

Triac

Triac appears in pink & white. I originally thought these colours were Breastforce related too, but I've checked and there not. Now to work out where I have seen them before !

Original Micron Booster v2 review reads: "Sabre (Metallic Blue), Processor (Orange and Black) and Triac (Purple and White) are 3 recolours of Skywarp's Minicon Thunderclash. Skywarp didn't get a Japanese release (apart from the limited USA edition) The tail jets on these are a little stiffer to turn, and Processor and Triac look a tad gaudy. However Sabre and Triac between them have a Leokaiser's arm colours thing going so that's forgivable. Sabre is the chase minicon"

[Philip Ayres]

Start the Sea team tomorrow. Guess the G1 Minibot identity of all three members !

[Philip Ayres]

Waterlog

Waterlog is a hovercraft. I don't know about you but whenever I see a transformer hovercraft (which is rarely) and especially a small one (has there been one larger than basic sized ?) I automatically think of G1 Seaspray. Unlike Seaspray Waterlog is a rusty brown colour with a lilac/purple missile launcher mounted on his roof. The missile launcher is a Cyberjet style ball launcher and can be rotated to face in any direction.

Waterlog's Minicon socket is underneath the vehicle in the middle of the toy. He's automatically earning points by providing a missile launcher upgrade to a larger toy. His shape is different to all the other Sea Minicons - they all have a prow which gives them a sort of upside down triangular look when mounted on a flat surface. Waterlog tapers as he goes up so looks much better. As a bonus Waterlog can be reversed so the fans at the rear are facing forward appearing as if they're some form of weapon too.

TF: Fold the back of the vehicle down hinge in the middle - so it's pointing down underneath the rest of it. Fold the back - this time using the hinge at the bottom - down to form the lower legs. Fold the fans out to the sides and down to form the feet. Fold the cabin roof out to the sides to form the arms with the missile launcher mounted on the right arm.

Our robot's stability is helped by having big feet but he still needs leaning forwards slightly. He bends independently at both knee & hip, the head turns, the shoulders shrug up at the body and have a ball joint connecting them to the arms.

Decent hovercraft, add on and robot. My only quibble is the colour balance on the toy - doesn't look too good to my eye.

Original Review:

"These should not be good. They're boats, they're a brick orange colour, and they've got lilac missiles. And yet somehow they're great ! The ball Missiles help....

Waterlog

The Hovercraft. Again the back folds down to form the legs BUT THEN the fans rotate from the knees to become the feet. The cabin splits in half to form the arms - taking the missile launcher to the right, and the remaining front of the skirt folds down to become the chest. No elbows this time but we get a neck joint here. Fun again.

I dunno, I just like these 3 - I think they're fun and work better than you think the missile launcher on a boat idea should. "

Unicron Battles Waterlog

The Sea Team were returned to sale in the last wave of Unicron Battles toys in Armada. Rust brown becomes blue and lilac becomes grey, Much improved over all the team.

The new colours help to emphasise that Waterlog is in fact a Minicon version of Seaspray. In fact two of the three Sea team Minicons (Waterlog & Oceanglide) have obvious 1985 Minibot connections. The third (Stormcloud) is perhaps less obvious but when you have the other two you should be lead to a certain name for the remaining toy

Micron Legend Float

The Japanese Sea team were released as MM-15. Waterlog is known in Japan as Float. The Japanese version of the team is significantly different to the US version and matches the images seen on the packaging as well as the animation in the cartoon. Rust brown becomes red and lilac becomes yellow.

Much improved.

Dimension-X Float

During Micron Legend limited edition repaints of the Minicon teams were released under the Dimension-X label but within the Micron Legend numbering system. The Dimension-X Sea Team were numbered MM-18 Rust brown becomes purple and lilac becomes grey. The recolouring of this team perfectly matches the Micron Legend Shockwave toy which is a recoloured version of Armada Tidal Wave.

Original review: "The business. A purple that matches Tidal Wave, and makes the boys look rather evil. Get them "

DVD Freeboot

The Sea team are renamed the Aqua Raider team for the DVD releases and are packed with Micron Legend DVDs volumes 8-10. Rust brown becomes brown and lilac becomes black.

Freeboot has blue & red painted highlights and is packed in DVD volume 8. Not my favourite version of the toy.

Micron Booster Hover

This repainted Sea team is found in Micron Booster v1. Original Review nearly says it all:"Repainted Tat Sea Team in a horrible bright pale green for red and pale yellow for purple colour swap ! "

Hover has some pale blue highlights on the top of his cabin and on the deck. Hover is Micron Booster V1 toy number 8.

[Philip Ayres]

Oceanglide

I'm not sure what sort of boat Oceanglide is - we've got engines at the back but mounted on top of the lilac Cyberjet style missile launcher we have a large solar panel. The missile launcher's really nice on this toy, it pivots up & down as well as rotating through 360 degrees.

Oceanglide's Minicon socket is underneath the vehicle in the middle of the toy. He's automatically earning points by providing a missile launcher upgrade to a larger toy. Since he has a prow it gives him a sort of upside down triangular look when mounted on a flat surface or a Mincion socket which does make him look a little odd when attached. The larger toy might get a missile launcher in the deal but it automatically gets the boat as well.

TF: Turn the missile launcher round so it faces out over the prow of the boat. Spilt the solar panel in two and fold out to the sides to form the arms - the right arm takes the launcher with it. Fold the front of the boat forward to become the lower legs. Stand with the underside facing forward.

Once you've got the robot it's obvious the source of his name - the head is a dead ringer for the G1 Minibot Powerglide. The colours are suitable too for the name, I'm wondering if that may have influenced the decision to colour this set how they have ? His legs separate and can be moved independently at knee & hip. His arm move backwards at the body and are ball jointed at the shoulder,

Odd boat, boat form hampers it as an add on but decent robot with G1 influences.

Original Review:

"These should not be good. They're boats, they're a brick orange colour, and they've got lilac missiles. And yet somehow they're great ! The ball Missiles help....

Oceanglide

Look it's the one that's left and I haven't a clue what it's meant to be. The thing on top of the missile looks like a solar panel, but I suppose it could be a sail. This entire section swivels 180 degrees, and pivots up maybe 20 degrees. The front folds down to form the feet here, the missile section thing breaks in 2 to give the arms, with the missile again going to the right. Knees, Hips and shoulders here..... and a face that Powerglide owners mat find familiar.

I dunno, I just like these 3 - I think they're fun and work better than you think the missile launcher on a boat idea should. "

Unicron Battles Oceanglide

The Sea Team were returned to sale in the last wave of Unicron Battles toys in Armada.

Rust brown becomes blue and lilac becomes grey, Much improved overall. If the first set's colours are driven by the need to make Oceanglide look like Powerglide then these are to make Waterlog look like Seaspray. Given that we've got two G1 1985 Minibot references what does that make Stormcloud then ?

Micron Legend Sail

The Japanese Sea team were released as MM-15. Oceanglide is known in Japan as Sail so I can see the Takara team thought the same as I did about the solar panel. The Japanese version of the team is significantly different to the US version and matches the images seen on the packaging as well as the animation in the cartoon. Rust brown becomes red and lilac becomes yellow.

Much improved

Dimension-X Sail

During Micron Legend limited edition repaints of the Minicon teams were released under the Dimension-X label but within the Micron Legend numbering system. The Dimension-X Sea Team were numbered MM-18 Rust brown becomes purple and lilac becomes grey. The recolouring of this team perfectly matches the Micron Legend Shockwave toy which is a recoloured version of Armada Tidal Wave.

Original review: "The business. A purple that matches Tidal Wave, and makes the boys look rather evil. Get them "

DVD Sunburn

The Sea team are renamed the Aqua Raider team for the DVD releases and are packed with Micron Legend DVDs volumes 8-10. Rust brown becomes brown and lilac becomes black.

Sunburn has red & gold painted highlights. Not my favourite version of the toy. Sunburn is packaged with DVD volume 10.

Micron Booster Solar

This repainted Sea team is found in Micron Booster v1. Original Review nearly says it all:"Repainted Tat Sea Team in a horrible bright pale green for red and pale yellow for purple colour swap ! "

Solar has some dark blue highlights on his robot chest. Solar is Micron Booster V1 toy number 10. Micron Booster managed to give another appropriate name for a member of this team !

[Philip Ayres]

Stormcloud

Stormcloud is a speedboat (Lovely, Super, Smashing, Great. Let's have a look at what you could of won. Ooh, it's the Speedboat !" He's got a Cyberjet style ball missile launcher mounted into the middle of his passenger compartment. Said launcher is hinged at it's base and where the connecting strut meets the missile. it can't be moved off of the forward pointing direction.

Stormcloud's Minicon socket is underneath the vehicle in the middle of the toy. He's automatically earning points by providing a missile launcher upgrade to a larger toy but it comes at a cost as he's got a pointed prow which gives him a sort of upside down triangular look when mounted on a flat surface or a Minicon peg. You get the missile launcher but you do get the odd shape which can't be anything other than a boat too.

TF: Pull the front of the boat out to the sides and down a bit. Fold the back of the boat down to become the legs.

Unlike the rest of the Sea team Stormcloud doesn't have his missile launcher arm mounted in robot mode. Instead it's on his back. It can be folded down to give extra support or over his head to be fired forward. His legs - despite first appearances - do separate allowing him to bend independently at both knee & hip. In addition the shoulders shrug up at the body and have a ball joint connecting them to the arms. The arms also have an elbow joint on them which is much more solid than those seen on the Street Speed team.

OK boat, poor add on despite the launcher but good robot.

Original Review:

"These should not be good. They're boats, they're a brick orange colour, and they've got lilac missiles. And yet somehow they're great ! The ball Missiles help....

Stormcloud

A speedboat. In fact bar the black paint job this is Nightboat, the crime solving boat ! The missile launcher on this pivots back and forth on the boat and up and down, no sideways movement. As with all the port is underneath the vehicle. The front splits and pulls to the sides to form the arms, back folds backwards to become the legs. Hips, knees, elbows, and ball jointed shoulders PLUS a missile launcher which can either hang on his back or pear turret like (ala Hotshot) over his head. Fun !

I dunno, I just like these 3 - I think they're fun and work better than you think the missile launcher on a boat idea should. "

Unicron Battles Stormcloud

The Sea Team were returned to sale in the last wave of Unicron Battles toys in Armada.

Rust brown becomes blue and lilac becomes grey, Much improved overall these colours help to emphasise that Waterlog is in fact a Minicon version of Seaspray. Given that Oceanglide is obviously meant to be Powerglide (especially in the original colours) what does that make Stormcloud ? Given the 1985 Minibot connections of the other two I suggest looking these as well - and the obvious choice is Beachcomber both for the blue & grey colourscheme and the sea related name.

Micron Knot

The Japanese Sea team were released as MM-15. Stormcloud is known in Japan as Knot. The Japanese version of the team is significantly different to the US version and matches the images seen on the packaging as well as the animation in the cartoon. Rust brown becomes red and lilac becomes yellow.

Much improved. The name is good for a Speedboat (as in travelling at a rate of knots)

Dimension-X Knot

During Micron Legend limited edition repaints of the Minicon teams were released under the Dimension-X label but within the Micron Legend numbering system. The Dimension-X Sea Team were numbered MM-18 Rust brown becomes purple and lilac becomes grey. The recolouring of this team perfectly matches the Micron Legend Shockwave toy which is a recoloured version of Armada Tidal Wave.

Original review: "The business. A purple that matches Tidal Wave, and makes the boys look rather evil. Get them "

DVD Bilge

The Sea team are renamed the Aqua Raider team for the DVD releases and are packed with Micron Legend DVDs volumes 8-10. Rust brown becomes brown and lilac becomes black.

Bilge has sandy & red painted highlights. Not my favourite version of the toy. Bilge comes with DVD volume 9.

Micron Booster Mile

This repainted Sea team is found in Micron Booster v1. Original Review nearly says it all:"Repainted Tat Sea Team in a horrible bright pale green for red and pale yellow for purple colour swap ! "

Mile has some orange highlights on the his robot chest & forearms. Mile is Micron Booster V1 toy number 9.