Phil's Minicon Reviews

[grahamthomson]

I knew Incinerator was a re-used name, but I couldn't put my finger on it!

Thank you for calming down my insanity slightly today, Phil!

[Philip Ayres]

You only had to ask !

[Philip Ayres]

Over Run

Over-Run is a jet (complete with fold out front landing gear again like the Air Defence Team)

He's mainly composed of the silver plastic that makes up Prime's exhaust pipes except for the landing gear and a joint in the robot's shoulder that are the same blue plastic as the waist and pieces that connect the arms to the body of Prime's robot form (you can tell - on Crystal Over- Run these are still opaque blue as are the corresponding pieces on Crystal Prime). The rear wheels on Over-run are black.

He has one Minicon socket on top of the jet's body. Mounting in using this socket just makes it look like it's second alternative mode, which is a gun: Fold the tail back to pop the handle out then if you want to fold the wings down to flatten the sides and hold upside down. Nice gun resembling Superbase Prime's hand weapon. Prime's the first Supercon Armada toy to have a hand gun ! This gun mode can be hand held or plugged into a socket in Prime's flatbed behind the cab.

TF to robot: Fold the wings up. Stand on end. Fold the undercarriage out to each side to form the arms. Bend the nose down to become the chest and reveal the head.

What's revealed is a serviceable "cone head"esque robot marred slightly by the nose of the jet projecting out the front of the body.

In Japan Over Run was known as Surge and came with Std Convoy (Supercon Optimus Prime) as Micron Legend Toy MC-06.

In the Dreamwave Armada/Energon comic Over-run was a Minicon from another dimension last seen communicating with Cybertron. I'd like to think that when Cybertron rolled around in comic continuity Over-Run would be reborn as Safeguard, Vector Prime's Minicon as there's lots of similarities between them.

Run Over

Run-Over is the Minicon used by Nemesis Prime. You've got to love the name, a neat reversal of the toy's original name giving a much more evil sounding one. Run Over is cast in a dark grey almost brown plastic with the exception of the landing gear and shoulders which are a dark blue. The rear wheels remain black

Sweep

Sweep is the Minicon for Micron Legend Scourge. He's silver in colour, with purple painted trim on the wings and black wheels, landing gear & shoulders. See Crystal Surge bellow for distribution details on this toy.

Crystal Surge

See Remy Act 153 and Remy Act 154

Crystal Surge came with Crystal Convoy in Japan - an exclusive released in a pair with Micron Legend Scourge as a limited edition of 5000 for TV magazine. All the silver is cast in clear plastic. The blue remains solid blue - when you look at Crystal Convoy a very few of the blue pieces are still solid on him too. The rear wheels are a clear smoked colour.

Gorgeous. I want.

Universe Over- Run

Universe Over-run is a companion to Battle-In-A-Box Ultra Magnus. Silver becomes pale grey, blue becomes white and black remains black.

Cybertron & Universe Over-Run

There are no Cybertron and Universe/Classics Over-run. The Armada Supercon Prime's in these ranges come with modified planet keys to operate their gimmicks. Both would be very similar to the original - Cybertron's would have very dark grey/black shoulders and landing gear and Universe's would be dark blue.

[grahamthomson]

Jan 19, 2009 14:31:27 GMT Philip Ayres said:

You only had to ask !

I'll know for next time!!

[Philip Ayres]

Text me and I'll only be too happy to help out !

Typing a toy's name into TFU.info is a good way of checking as well - the page for each toy lists name reuses.

[Philip Ayres]

Inferno

Inferno is a four-wheeled Minicon armoured vehicle with a missile launcher on it's back. The colours used on him are thus:

Dark green for the cab and body of the robot - the same as Thrust's shoulders. Pale green for the robot's shoulders, waist, legs, launcher trigger and the missile - same as Thrust's missiles, upper legs, waist, chest middle and chest Minicon socket. Grey for the arms and missile launcher - same as Thrust's chest and feet
Black for the Wheels - like Thrust's upper arms.

In normal configuration Inferno can't fire the missile launcher by himself. He need's to be connected to a larger toy and pulled back, moving the minicon socket which triggers the missile launcher in the toy. The missile launcher can however be removed and mounted the other way up to trigger it manually. In order to fire his missile when connected to Thrust, Inferno mounts in a tray to the rear of Thrust, between his engines - it's the only point in plane mode with an upward facing Minicon post. I believe this makes Inferno the only pack in Minicon with a missile launcher and the only Minicon with a gimmick activated by it's Minicon socket. This makes Inferno a great Minicon to be added onto a larger toy as additional missile launching firepower.

Inferno has an easy Transformation - fold the cab down to form the legs, and fold the arms out from the sides of the launcher. The launcher can then be placed either way up on his back - courtesy of 2 horizontal tabs on Inferno and matching holes on the launcher - or the pegs that were used to secure the arms to it can be attached so the launcher is mounted on the outside of the arm or in his fist - the only real posable use for it is to place it on his shoulder though. When the launcher is removed from Inferno the pegs on either side of the launcher also match a couple of sockets towards the rear of Thrust's engines allowing you to mount it on the larger toy - said holes end up on the wrists of Thrust's robot mode.

Inferno is blessed with shoulders that rotate and move to the sides, hips and knees that move fore & aft, and a waist. The waist piece is mounted the wrong way round. This is the same on all Infernos: one side is detailed, the other has a hole and I reckon the detailed side should be the front - but seeing as the pegs that hold the legs on are virtually posts it's trivia to pop them off and put them on the other side.

Decent Minicon with launching missile, great add on and good robot. Overall I prefer the Minicon to the Supercon toy it comes with !

Powerlinx Inferno (Red)

For a toy that's so similar in both his forms Powerlinx Inferno has a long history all dependant on his parent toy Powerlinx Thrust: The Powerlinx line was announced as being G1 style recolours of the Armada characters. 3 Toys were initially shown - Hot Shot as G1 Hot Rod, Cyclonus as G1 Springer and Thrust as G1 Thrust. Demolishor was planned in wave 2 as a white and green as G1 Sixshot homage along with the Black Nemesis Prime Repaint - a homage to the previous year's RID Scourge.

Then the Armada cartoon makers animated Demolishor in red which meant the toy had to be red. So not to make too many red toys they made Thrust blue and brown like G1 Dirge. There was a massive outcry amongst fans, not just because the red toy had already been shown but it was the natural recolour for the toy with that name. Hasbro then promised to change to Red Thrusts and put them in later wave. Said later wave (also containing blue striped Wheeljack) never came out in the US. Some Red Thrusts were sent to Japan in a limited quantity exclusive for Toy's Dream Project who shipped almost all the US exclusive Armada toys to Japan. Since then there have been limited sightings of Thrust round Europe. Then Thrust showed up with some other unreleased to the UK Armada recolours - Hot Shot, Cyclonus & Airazor in the Entertainer.

For the Inferno that comes with the red Thrust these changes are made:

The dark green for the cab and body of the robot becomes white.
The pale green for the robot's shoulders, waist, legs, launcher trigger and the missile becomes grey
The Grey for the arms and missile launcher become black
The black for the Wheels stays the same.

The new Inferno looks much nicer than the original! For a toy associated with the legendary Red Thrust there's actually no red on it !

Powerlinx Inferno (Blue)

The Inferno which sold with the blue & brown Thrust (Dirge) is very nearly identical to the "Red" Powerlinx Inferno - just his shoulders, waist, upper legs and Minicon socket have changed colour from pale grey to blue

Once again he is mis assembled with the legs on the wrong way. As I remarked previously it is the work of seconds to correct it.

Universe Inferno

Inferno comes up for sale again with a Sunstorm recolour of Thrust and a recoloured set of the Minicon Street Action team. The dark green for the cab and body of the robot becomes black.
The pale green for the robot's shoulders, waist, legs, launcher trigger and the missile becomes orange
The Grey for the arms and missile launcher become white
The black for the Wheels stays the same.

Another great recolour of this Minicon ! Must try the white missile launcher on the white Powerlinx Infernos.

[Philip Ayres]

Just Nightbeat and Windsheer to go on the Supercons !

[grahamthomson]

Jan 19, 2009 22:20:56 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Text me and I'll only be too happy to help out !

That's very kind of you and I'll--- Ho! Nice try.

Jan 19, 2009 22:20:56 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Typing a toy's name into TFU.info is a good way of checking as well - the page for each toy lists name reuses.

I shall do that in future.

[Philip Ayres]

We've established I have your number !

[Philip Ayres]

Nightbeat

Nightbeat is the Minicon that comes packed with the Armada Sideswipe toy. He's a motorcycle made up of three of the colours of plastic used on the larger toy:

Black is used for the wheels & front fork - same as Nightbeat's hands, feet & wheels.
Yellow is used for the exhaust pipes and the rear fork - same as Nightbeat's upper limbs.
Silver grey is used for the body of the cycle and the head lamp - same as Nightbeat's body and head.

I can't help feeling that the name Nightbeat is more appropriate for the larger car toy than the bike who maybe should have been Groove. See the Nightbeat review for me loosing my rag about this. And while you're at it the Armada Wheeljack one too !

There's not a lot to say about the bike really, got two wheels, doesn't fall apart. It is a little insubstantial for a Minicon though, there's not a lot to it and you know that this will affect the robot.

There's one Minicon socket under the bike. At a stretch the bike when mounted backwards on an arm could be a sort of cannon using the exhausts as barrels. It's not the greatest Minicon to be used as an add on. Even Nightbeat just tucks it into his boot and powers his gimmicks through other means.

TF: Pull the head back onto the middle of the bike. Fold the exhausts down under the bike. Turn both so the headlamp faces you and the front forks are to your left. Fold the head lamp down so the struts connecting it are folded up behind it.

Is this the worst Minicon robot ever ? Possibly. The arms are both wheels, with the forks being unable to turn towards you all you get is a little movement to the sides. The waist turns & bends. The legs move at the hips - and are horribly thin !

Avoid. But you probably were going to anyway because you didn't want Sideswipe.

Nightbeat & Sideswipe were sold in Japan as Cha and Stepper under the number MC-10 in the Micron Legend range.

Search & Destroy Robot

Sideswipe was recoloured as Oil Slick and packaged with the Search & Destroy Robot in a VS pack with Crystal Widow for K-Mart stores. Although Oil Slick's car body changes the inner robot still uses the same colours resulting in his Minicon - not even named properly here - looking exactly the same (bar a little variation in the yellow on the legs) as that sold with Nightbeat.....

Universe Nightbeat

.... and then they pull the same trick a second time ! Sideswipe is recoloured as Treadshot in a Battle In A Box vs pack with Ultra Magnus and Minicon Over-Run. Once again just the outer car shell of Sideswipe changes and we end up with our third near identical Minicon.

Micron Booster Gauge

Sideswipe is remoulded in Galaxy Force to resemble the G1 Battlecharger Runabout. In the process they eliminated the Minicon which later shows up in Micron Booster V3.

Black stays the same
Yellow becomes blue
Silver grey becomes black

At last one that looks different, almost a "dark" Nightbeat, much more apropriate to the name. It's still a useless Minicon though !

[Philip Ayres]

Windsheer

Windsheer is a stealth fighter. When pictures of him first appeared it was wondered if he was part of the air team continuing the stealth vibe that Terradive (SR-71 Blackbird) and Thunderwing (Stealth Bomber) had. As it turns out he was Wheeljack's pack in - reusing the name first used for a Decepticon jet in RID.

Windsheer uses the following colours of plastic from Wheeljack:

The majority of the jet is moulded using the near black of Wheeljack's car body
The robot's arms, feet, hips and shoulder joints are the same yellow plastic as Wheeljack's Missiles, knees and elbows.

He has one Minicon socket under the jet: Use it to attach him to an arm as a shield or as a plane about to be launched.

TF: fold the undercarriage out from under the front of the body to out the front of the nose of the jet. Fold down the nose cone and fold the arms down from under the jet.

Robot mode has the nose of the jet forming the chest with the wings as the shoulders. His arms - which end in three pronged claw hands - bend at the elbow, the hips turn and the knees are ball jointed.

Overall: Decent jet and add-on. Something bothers me about the robot - it's adequate without being special.

In Japan Wheeljack & Windsheer were sold as Rumpage (surely a transliteration of Rampage ?) and Hawk in Micron Legend set MD-07. They both also appear in giftset MS-08 with the Japanese versions of the Air Assault Minicons.

Unreleased Universe Windsheer

Wheeljack was in line to return as Drench in a Battle In A Box vs pack facing him against Smokescreen (Armada Hotshot repaint) and Jolt. Drench would have swapped his near black for a similar grey blue and the yellow for a cyan blue with the same colours changing on Windsheer (The white not used on Windsheer became a dirty grey). The set was never released.

Whisper

The "Drench" coloured Wheeljack continued to be a requested toy so in 2008 Botcon offered a recoloured Wheeljack named Sideswipe in similar colours except the dirty grey was now more an off white grey. This means that Whisper - the Windsheer mould packed with Sideswipe - is nearly identical to the Windsheer that would have been in the Universe set.
Possible future versions Armada Wheeljack (in black, white and yellow) has a number of possible recolours that would involve new Windsheers being made:

G1 Sideswipe in red, black and white giving a red & white Windsheer.
G1 Sunstreaker in yellow, black & I suppose red (There's some on the shoulders of the G1 version) giving a yellow & red Windsheer.
G1 Red Alert in white, red and black giving a white & black Windsheer.
Armada Autobot Wheeljack in white, grey and dark grey (It's in the Cartoon !) giving a white & grey Windsheer

And that's just using the obvious colours !

[Philip Ayres]

Longarm

Longarm is a crane - six wheeled with two at the front and four at the rear. There's a driving cab at the front with a crane arm that lifts & cab mounted on a turntable at the rear. The colours used on Longarm are:

Black is used for the crane truck body, crane cab and wheels - the same as Red Alert's wheels.
Beige is used for the crane arm and robot legs - the same as Red Alert's elbow joints and his functional Minicon port.
Blue is used for his chest - the same as Red Alert's limbs and the moulded colour of his head.

He has one Minicon socket underneath the crane in the middle of the vehicle. However you mount him on a robot he still looks like you've attached a crane to them, but some fun can be had with the crane arm and turntable.

TF: Fold the front half of the crane arm back on top of the back half. Fold the cab forward and down to form the lower legs. Stand. Fold the sides of the vehicle forward to form the arms.

At this point I need to introduce the Longarm segment from my original Red Alert review: "Longarm the Minicon is more traditional MM"

Ha ! what I didn't know at the time is that Longarm effectively *is* a Micromaster. Compare the pictures linked above to Iron Lift's TFU entry (part of Six Build). He's the Micromaster combiner that would end up as Hightower (Hook) in the Micromaster Constructicon Devastator. Exactly the same form, TF, robot.... even the way the crane arm bends

You've got turning shoulders, independently turning hips and bending knees. The crane cab forms quite a hefty backpack. Yes he might be a Micromaster, but sometimes the simple stuff works and here it definitely does. A good addition to your Minicon collection.

As well as appearing with Red Alert Longarm showed up in a giftset exclusive to K-Mart also containing a painted gold Armada Superbase Optimus Prime with a normal Sparkplug, Powerlinx Jetfire with Powerlinx Comettor and the Adventure team.

Longarm & Red Alert were sold as Hook & Ratchet in Japan in Micron Legend pack MC-02.

Powerlinx Longarm

Longarm receives a Powerlinx repaint in Armada. Along with Red Alert's changing colours the beige becomes orange and the blue becomes grey.

Powerlinx Red Alert & Longarm were available in Japan as Micron Legend MC-12: Ratchet Super Mode & Sparkhook.

Energon Longarm

Red Alert was repainted in Energon as Prowl using a colour scheme similar to the earlier Energon deluxe Prowl. This was available as an exclusive for Sam's Club stores which was later sold through the Entertainer in the UK. As well as a repainted Longarm - which swaps out beige for blue and blue for white - they were packaged with a repainted Starscream and Zapmaster (Mirage)

Movie Longarm

Four years after his last appearance Longarm returns with Red Alert repainted as Movie Inferno in an exclusive for Toys R Us - this exclusive did show up at Toys R Us stores in the UK. Beige becomes grey and blue becomes dark grey on this slightly lacklustre repaint.

[Philip Ayres]

Sparkplug

Sparkplug is the Minicon car that's packed with the Armada Superbase Optimus Prime. He's mainly yellow - a colour not found on the larger Prime toy with grey used for the legs & inner body piece and the shoulders - not visible in vehicle mode. The grey on Sparkplug looks the same as that used on Optimus' missiles but the toy has been used so many times without Prime that you have to think that maybe it was cast intentionally as a separate piece.

I suspect the plan may have been to have Sparkplug named Bumblebee - small yellow car playing a lead role amongst smaller Transformers but for whatever reason (copyright on the name at the time springs to mind) it didn't happen. Instead we get a name that's a homage to the family that befriends the Transformers in the comics and G1 TV series. Sparkplug's car form is very similar to a Lamborghini - think G1 Sideswipe without the spoiler but in yellow or his brother Sunstreaker minus the spoiler & air intakes. The windows on the car are coloured purple.

He has one Minicon socket under the car. Use this to attach him to an older toy as body armour.

TF: Pull the sides of the back of the car out to the sides and forward so they're parallel to the body of the car. Pull the middle of the bonnet up & away from the sides and fold it with the rest of the car back from the rear. Fold the middle of the front in so the head that's on the underside is looking through the small hole in the car. Fold the middle of the car forward onto the body and leg piece - it's designed to lock onto a peg there but it doesn't quite line up on mine. Bend the front of the car up to form the feet and bend the sides of the car down to form the arms.

I mentioned Sunstreaker above and the resulting robot isn't too dissimilar to him with the feet formed from the front of the car, the chest formed from the roof and the arms from the sides. A little lick of purple paint on the section of folded over body in the middle to make it match the rest of the windscreen would have been nice. Instead this is where his Minicon symbol is located. His arms bend up & down at the shoulder and are ball jointed at the elbows. The tilting of the feet in the transformation is the only articulation elsewhere on the toy.

Decent Minicon full of G1 references.

Sparkplug appears with Superbase Optimus Prime and also with the gold recolour packed with Powerlinx Jetfire & Comettor, the Adventure team and Minicon Longarm.

In Japan Sparkplug is called Prime, has grey windows instead of purple and is packaged with Armada Convoy as MC-01.

Green Prime

The August 2003 issue of the Japanese TV Boy magazine came with a version of the Prime Micron with the yellow plastic coloured green.

Rod

Rod is the first of two repaints of Sparkplug/Prime featured in Micron Booster v0. His name is almost certainly a reference to Hot Rodimus the Japanese Hotrod who as a Micromaster was packaged with the Star Convoy toy. This toy swaps yellow for red resulting in a car that's much more Sideswipe like.

Atlas

The second of the Micron Booster v0 repaints swaps yellow for blue and is called Atlas. I'm guessing that the G1 reference here is to the Japanese Transformer toy Dai Atlas who also was blue.

Corona Sparkplug

Corona Sparkplug is the Minicon that came with the Powerlinx/"Final Battle" Optimus Prime. The car body has been extensively remoulded adding fins at the back with a large round engine between them. This makes the car look more like a weapon when mounted on a larger toy with the back pointing out. The cab roof acquires lightbars like a police car and the front of the car is given a more pronounced grill. The inner robot pieces stay the same but are moulded in burgundy the same colour as Prime's missiles. The car body has been gold Chromed - if the intention was that Sparkplug should be Bumblebee then this is Goldbug !

Corona Sparkplug also came with the Costco Optimus Prime & Overload (with Rollout) pack.

In Japan Corona Sparkplug is packed in the Magna Convoy deluxe set exclusive to Toys R Us along with the Japanese version of Powerlinx Prime, the Dimension-X Street Action team and a clear red "crystal" version of Ultra Magnus (Overload) with Rollout.

Chrome

Three versions of Corona Sparkplug were available in Micron Booster V1. The first is Chrome - with a silver chromed car form and dark blue robot limbs. He was toy number 1 in this collection.

Thyristor

The second Corona Sparkplug recolour in Micron Booster V1 is Thyristor numbered 2 in the collection. He's got a pale blue robot body (one of the better recolours to use this colour) and red robot limbs.

Synapse

The final one of the three versions of Corona Sparkplug in Micron Booster V1 is Synapse - a orange car with pale blue robot limbs. He was toy number 3 in this collection.

[Philip Ayres]

Leader-1

From my 2002 Megatron review:"Better talk about Leader One - a sort of buggy thing with laser cannons - not unlike one of Breast/Rescue Force. TFs into a 6 cm high robot that won't be unfamiliar to Micromaster fans and a double barrelled gun for the robot. His Minicon socket is just about at waist level."

Leader-1 is Megatron's Minicon. He's a cab with a pair of weapons pointing over the top of them. As I said in the earlier review he's not unlike Jaruga. The gun barrels can bend down a little, and the entire supporting mechanism for them can be folded back to turn Leader-1 into a flat bed truck. If you turn this mode round the other way then it makes a good double barrelled gun for mounting on a robot using the Minicon port underneath. Additionally one of the front wheel mudflaps can be folded back to give a handle so he can be held as a hand weapon.

TF: Fold the guns & support structure straight back behind the cab. Fold the guns up onto the back of the support structure to form the legs. Stand. Turn the mudflaps to bring the arms attached to them forward.

The robot mode bends at the knees and the hips & shoulders turn. That's it for articulation. And yes, I still think the Minicon socket is badly placed in robot mode. You can see most of the colours on the toy here. The gun barrels are hidden - but coloured orange the same as Megatron's missiles, the upper legs and arms are a dark blue/green like Megatron's gun barrel and the lower legs and body are grey like Megatron's forearms.

A bit of an odd vehicle, and the hand gun mode fails by having the handle off centre. But attached as a weapon and as a robot it's good.

The western name for the toy is of course reused from an old Gobots toy. In Japan Leader-1 is called Barrel (as in Double Barrelled Gun) and is available with Megatron as MC-01

Clench

Clench is packed with the Megatron recolour Galvatron. Clench swaps gold for orange, purple for blue/green and black for silver.

In Japan Clench is Sparkbarrel and sold with Megatron Super Mode as MD-08

Black Barrel

A recoloured version of Megatron with barrel was offered as Lucky Draw prize in Japan. Orange becomes bright green, blue/green becomes olive green and grey becomes a darker grey. Just forget even trying to find this toy !

Caliburn

Megatron become the Botcon 2004 exclusive Black Zarak and with him came the recoloured Minicon Caliburn. Orange becomes bright cyan blue, blue/green becomes dark blue and the grey becomes a very dark grey.

[Philip Ayres]

Anyone else see an odd space that shouldn't be there in Black Barrel's name ?

Of the Armada pack ins I have Rollbar, Comettor, Rollout & Dead End to go I think !

[Philip Ayres]

Overload & Rollout has an odd relationship with the UK - he's one of the few toys that was definitely released over here that almost no-one has seen. The only place that ever seemed to have them was Woolworths for a few brief weeks in 2003 when they had an offer on. I'm not sure I know anyone who saw more than one. The UK release differs from the US version in that it's packaged in the earlier Armada box rather than the Powerlinx battles packaging seen in the US. I *believe* he shipped in a case with Skywarp, but I'm not 100% sure as Hasbro UK was doing a lot of one character Voyager cases at the time (a sure fire line killer) and Skywarp - who I think sold with him, I know I bought them on the same day from the Abingdon Woolworths - was seen solid cased being clearanced at the Entertainer.

Any references to Optimus Prime and Jetfire refer to the Armada versions.

Rollout

Overload's Minicon, Rollout, forms a Truck Cab dwarfed by the massive trailer which he can tow. Rollout is a six wheeled cab - two at the front, four at the rear. Given the number of illustrated windows at the front his actual size would be quite large so heaven knows what that would make the size of Overload.

Rollout's prime roll is to form part of Overload - no other Minicon is so integral to their larger partner. Take Rollout, fold down the front of the truck, flip out the entire head mechanism, fold up the front and slot the minicon into Overload's chest cavity - triggering the G1 cartoon transforming sound - to form Overload's head and chest.

He also has a robot mode: (TF from vehicle) Fold the underside of the rear down to form legs, pull the trailer hitch up slightly and fold the halves of the top of the rear out to the sides and forward to form arms. Fold the trailer hitch down to become the back. Fold up the smaller head from the back of the larger head.

The resulting robot - a very large minicon, probably bigger than most Spychangers - has shoulders that move fore and aft, and some turn outwards at the hips. He's also got a base to command !

Here all the colours are revealed with the majority of the body being bright red and the head, arms and guns on the front of the legs being grey.

TF to gun mode: If this isn't enough of an odd on for Prime take Rollout, convert to truck mode, turn over, and flip a pair of Gun Barrels out from the rear of the truck to convert Rollout into a double cannon which can be held by the trailer hitch.

So we have a truck minicon who's also a head and a target master which combines with a trailer to form a robot.

In Japan Rollout was released as Magnus along with Overload as Ultra Magnus in Micron Legend set numbered MC-14

Energon Knock Out

Here's your colour change guide for them - it's an interesting guide to what bits of the originally same coloured toy were on what sprue together, and this has to be born in mind when making a repaint and changing the plastic colour: the majority of Rollout's body and Overload's shoulders goes from Red to White. Overload's waist, missile, gun/smokestack things and the blast panels at the end of the Magnus all go from Red to Black (I think we knew these bits were from the same sprue from the Burgundy used on the Japanese Overload [ kenkon.com/collection/act145/ ]). Overload and Rollout's heads, the inner forearms and hands, and upper legs all go from a Dark Grey to a Pale Grey - not the same as the Pale Grey as on the enclosed Space Team Minicons - and the black on the wheels, feet and arms stays the same.

The minicons does a sort of inner Magnus robot impersonation, but a little too much grey.

Minicon Gun mode doesn't really work too well in white.

Minicons are interchangeable between both versions - so you can have a Red chested Magnus or a White chested Overload. Feet are interchangeable too - Overload looks great with Magnus' boots on.

Released in the US this was an insanely hard to find limited run toy. So it came as quite a surprise when it was widely released in the UK. So widely that it got clearanced big time !

Costco Overload

This version takes Overload and repaints it yellow package with a repainted Optimus Prime. The yellow is a nice construction machinery colour and works well on this toy. Given that the Op it's packaged with resembles Clench, and that the 3rd part of this team - Jetfire - is recoloured as Astrotrain - it might of been nice if this set had been made Decepticon.

Crystal Magnus

A Japanese exclusive packaged with Final Battle Optimus Prime. The majority of the red and grey parts in this toy are molded in clear coloured plastic. I find it odd that certain bits - the trailer hitch/gun handle - isn't. It looks nice but it's a very expensive set.

Ape-Linq

A convention exclusive with remolded giant robot head - looks like Optimus Primal. The red used here is much darker and the grey becomes closer to black apart from the robot arms and the guns which become white.

[The Doctor]

I must admit that I like Minicon Nightbeat, specifically because it is utterly ludicrous.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Highwire

Highwire is the Energon upgrade to Armada Highwire. Where the previous toy was a bike the new one is a motorbike - mainly white with a pale blue seat & front and black wheels. He doesn't use the dark blue seen on the other two toys in this set on any part of the bike or the robot but there is some tucked away ready to emerge when he becomes part of Perceptor. Bike wheels on the bike turn and he can rest on a stand midway under the bike that also houses his Minicon port which can be moved so it's on the side of the bike. Whatever you do with it, it looks like a bike when you attach it to a larger toy.... but I suppose with quite a bit of imagination you could lean the bike on it's side with the wheels towards you and pretend it's a twin buzzsaw.

TF: Make sure the Minicon port/stand is under the bike and rotate so the visored face on it is looking out the side of the bike that it can't be folded up. Rotate the handlebars round behind the other side of the bike. Turn upside down. Turn the saddle round so the top is the same side as the face. Separate it in two and straighten it out to form the legs. Fold the ends up to form the feet. The exhaust pipes fold down to form one arm while the front wheel forms the other reminiscent of his Armada form.

This Minicon looks less like a collection of Lego spanners that the original did with some decent moulding to it. He's got bending knees, ball jointed hips, a waist that turns, a ball jointed neck that can lean back as well as turn and ball joints at both shoulders and elbows - if you can call the second joint in the wheel arm an elbow !

I think Highwire can feel quite pleased with his upgrade !

In Japan Energon Highwire was called Hopper and available with the rest of the team that form Cliffjumper (The Armada "Perceptor" in Japan was known as Bumble, as in Bumblebee) as Superlink toy SC-09

In the US there was a deluxe version of this toy available with an Action Figure of Kicker.

Original review: "Highwire is still a bike and the head. Nice looking bike, nice TF, nice articulated robot. Favourite of the 3. "

Axel

Axel is a repaint of Highwire. The pale blue & black stays the same, but the dark blue becomes clear dark blue. The white becomes one of two colours: the back forks, exhaust/arm, hips & feet become clear and the body, wheel arm, upper exhaust arm and head become grey.

Axel was limited to 4000 pieces and available only at Japanese Toys 'R' Us stores in April 2004. He forms part of Windcharger - can you see the G1 Minibot thing going on with the names here ?

Brake

Brake appear in Micron Booster V2 with the other two Micron repaints in this team that combine to form Frenzy - see they're evil versions so they go to the tapes - the opposition of the Minibots for a name this time. White becomes grey, pale blue becomes black and dark blue becomes red while black stays as it is.

Cybertron Highwire

Highwire returns in Cybertron in a VS pack with Blastcharge of the Deep Space Team - a Decepticon repaint of Payload of the Space team. The black stays the same, but the paler blue becomes orange. The dark blue becomes a more mid blue. The white becomes one of two colours: the back forks, exhaust/arm, hips & feet become dark blue and the body, wheel arm, upper exhaust arm and head stay the same..

There's very much an Evel Knievel feel to this repaint !

[Philip Ayres]

Sureshock

In Energon Sureshock is upgraded from a moped to a Quad Bike. It's a pretty decent representation of one without being anything special. He has two Minicon ports on his underside one to each side on what I assume are the fuel tanks.

TF: pull the strut the front wheel is on out to the sides and up. Fold the wheels out so the hubs point out the front of the quad bike. Fold the "fuel tanks" out to the sides to form the arms. Bend the rear of the bike back 90 degrees and pull the seat up to form the head.

Oh dear. Horrid, short stubby legs. Big chunky upper body with ball jointed shoulders on the arms being the only articulation. Minicon sockets on each forearm may be of some use for attaching certain Minicons with posts.

Pretty poor, but not the worst in the set sadly.

In Japan Energon Sureshock was called Charge and was available with the rest of the team that form Cliffjumper (The Armada "Perceptor" in Japan was known as Bumble, as in Bumblebee) as Superlink toy SC-09

Throttle

Throttle is a limited edition Japanese repaint of Sureshock.

.The pale blue & black stays the same, but the dark blue becomes clear dark blue and all the white becomes grey for the body of the vehicle and clear for the mudflaps.

Throttle was limited to 4000 pieces and available only at Japanese Toys 'R' Us stores in April 2004. He forms part of Windcharger - can you see the G1 Minibot thing going on with the names here ?

Damper

Damper appear in Micron Booster V2 with the other two Micron repaints in this team that combine to form Frenzy - see they're evil versions so they go to the tapes - the opposition of the Minibots for a name this time. White becomes grey, pale blue becomes black and dark blue becomes red while black stays as it is.

Cybertron Sureshock

Sureshock returns in Cybertron in a VS pack with Backblast of the Deep Space Team - a Decepticon repaint of Skyblast of the Space team.

The black stays the same, but the paler blue on the upper arms and back of the head becomes orange. The dark blue becomes a pale blue. The white becomes one of two colours: the mud flaps become dark blue and the rest of the vehicle stay the same..

[Philip Ayres]

Grindor

In Energon Grindor is upgraded from a skateboard to what could be a futuristic hovercraft. Most of the vehicle is park blue, with white side and rear fans - lots of paint is applied to most parts. It's got one Minicon port - black like some of the robot parts - underneath it for mounting the toy but when put on a larger toy it just looks like a vehicle bolted on. .

TF: Split the front of the board in two and fold to the sides. Pull the side fans out to the sides. Fold the rear fans back, then up again halfway along and finally rotate round the ball joint. Stand on the fans with the underside showing forward.

Really Oh Dear this time. Stunningly bad, a deformed robotic penguin whose only real articulation is the ball joint at the base of his stubby arms formed from the fans.

Very poor.

In Japan Energon Grindor was called Runway and was available with the rest of the team that form Cliffjumper (The Armada "Perceptor" in Japan was known as Bumble, as in Bumblebee) as Superlink toy SC-09

Screw

Screw is a limited edition Japanese repaint of Grindor.

The black stays the same, but the dark blue becomes clear dark blue, the white of the side fans becomes grey and clear for the feet/rear fans.

Screw was limited to 4000 pieces and available only at Japanese Toys 'R' Us stores in April 2004. He forms part of Windcharger - can you see the G1 Minibot thing going on with the names here ?

Filter

Filter appear in Micron Booster V2 with the other two Micron repaints in this team that combine to form Frenzy - see they're evil versions so they go to the tapes - the opposition of the Minibots for a name this time. White becomes grey for the side fans and blue for the rear fans/feet, and dark blue becomes red while black stays as it is.

Bright and nasty repaint of a bad toy.

Cybertron Grindor

Grindor returns in Cybertron in a VS pack with Scrap Iron of the Deep Space Team - a Decepticon repaint of Astroscope of the Space team. The black stays the same, but the dark blue becomes a pale blue. The white becomes one of two colours: the rear fans become dark blue and the side fans stay white.

[Philip Ayres]

Perceptor

Energon Perceptor is, like Armada Perceptor, the combined form of Highwire, Grindor and Sureshock

When combined with the other two Minicons in this set Highwire forms the back & head Perceptor effectively just like his Armada version. In fact since both are linked by a Minicon port it is possible to swap them. From Bike mode turn the Minicon up onto the side of the bike. Rotate the handlebars to face that way and the saddle to point in the opposite direction. Fold the handlebars up revealing Perceptor's face. Fold the saddle down the other side of the bike.

Sureshock's front wheels & connecting struts need to be folded up as far as possible. The robot arms are then folded to the sides from under the vehicle and extended.

Pull Grindor in two down the middle stretching each half off to the sides and folding out the front of the hovercraft. Move up the black head & spine and white upper legs contained within the body then bring the body back closer together to form the lower legs.

Sureshock pegs onto the front of Grindor via the two pegs there fitting into the underside of the quad bike. Highwire pegs onto the Minicon peg at the back of the spine after which the combined robot face is folded into place.

Effectively a statue apart from the ball jointed shoulders inherited from Sureshock, Perceptor is a remodelled and enlarged version of the original Perceptor. However with the exception of Highwire the individual pieces aren't as good as the original by some distance. Quite a large amount of the toy is white, with light blue upper arms, dark blue lower arms & legs - with the lower legs and feet painted orange.

In Japan Perceptor was called Cliffjumper (The Armada "Perceptor" in Japan was known as Bumble, as in Bumblebee) as Superlink toy SC-09

My original Energon Perceptor review form 2004: " Grindor - formally a skateboard, thin and the chest is now a hovercraft thing, fat and the legs. Minicon port in the middle of the underside. Silly TF with a fold back the front to reveal the head, pull the side fans out to be the stubby arms and flip the feet down.

Sureshock - formally a moped and the legs is now a quad bike and the chest. Quad bike mode looks nice, fold the back wheels to form the legs and flip the underside up to form the arms.

Highwire is still a bike and the head. Nice looking bike, nice TF, nice articulated robot. Favourite of the 3.

All 3 have their original faces. The combination is similar - Grindor splits in 2 and folds out to form the legs and spine, Sureshock clips into this with his arms extended and Highwire plugs in the back. In fact both Highwires are more or less interchangeable.

Much larger Perceptor: 11 cm vs 8. No knees or hips elbows the wrong way round. But looks nice and I personally don't expect that much out of my combined vehicles. If you liked the original you'll like this, and if you didn't you might be swayed over. "

Windcharger

Windcharger is formed from Axel, Screw & Throttle- all 4000 piece limited editions available only at Japanese Toys 'R' Us stores in April 2004. Can you see the G1 Minibot thing going on with the names here ? Bumble(Bumblebee) becomes Cliffjumper who then becomes Windcharger.

Unlike Windcharger's red and black this is a mixture of clear plastic, clear blue, grey and black.

It's a nice recolour but slightly tricky to get hold of, though somewhat more numerous than certain Japanese promotional Microns.

Frenzy

Frenzy is formed from Filter, Damper & Brake all of which appear in Micron Booster V2.

My original Micron booster V2 review says: "Frenzy (Perceptor repaints)

(had to dig out my Perceptor review here to ID all the components)

Grindor, formerly a Skateboard, now a Hovercraft is Filter. White becomes grey for the side fans and blue for the rear fans/feet, and dark blue becomes red while black stays as it is.
Sureshock, formerly a Moped, now a Quadbike is Damper. His white becomes grey, pale blue becomes black and dark blue becomes red while black stays as it is.
Highwire, formerly a Bike, now a Motorcycle is Brake. White becomes grey, pale blue becomes black and dark blue becomes red while black stays as it is.

Perceptor is Frenzy.

Now these result in some very gaudy individual Minicons, but the combined effect of Frenzy is great, colour scheme works better as a whole invoking memories of a G1 tapecon. Except the one it reminds me of is Rumble......"

Cybertron Perceptor

Cybertron Perceptor is formed by buying the three Vs packs setting the Autobot Street Action team against Deep Space Team - a Decepticon repaint of the Space team: Sureshock vs Backblast (Skyblast), Highwire vs Blastcharge (Payload) and Grindor vs Scrap Iron (Astroscope)

Grindor's dark blue and the dark blue on Sureshock's forearms becomes a teal colour.

The rest of Sureshock's Dark Blue, plus Grindor's feet, plus the mudflaps on Sureshock and Highwire's back wheel forks, exhaust pipe arm, upper legs & feet AND Perceptor's face all become a mid blue.

All the remaining Pale Blue becomes red.

The white stays the same.

There's 2 good repaints here. Unfortunately they've car crashed together. Doing Perceptor all in the Teal or all in the Blue and Red would have worked either way. Unfortunately here the 3 colours together clash horribly, and none worse so than Sureshock - who's got a train wreck of a robot mode already ! Grindor look quite impressive in Bike mode but is again lacking in the robot's head decoration.

Not my favourite repaint, could have been much better.

[Philip Ayres]

Roots

Roots is a jet but one with a difference - the entire front of the jet has been replaced with two very large gun barrels ! The vast majority of the jet is moulded in grey plastic - there's some black and I'll cover it's location when I talk about the robot mode. The fronts of the wings are lined with metallic blue paint.

As an add on via the Minicon port underneath he immediately adds more firepower to a larger toy. In fact he does have a gun mode formed by folding the wings up along the sides of the jet. Unfortunately he doesn't have a handle so the only way to use him is to mount him on a Minicon post.

TF: Fold the back of the jet down to become the legs. Fold the feet down. Fold the gun barrel back along the jet - the robot's back - and stand.

Roots' robot mode continues to be mainly grey with black plastic used for the upper arms & legs and the feet. The metallic blue paint puts an appearance in here on his face. His knees & hips bend, his shoulders turn and his elbows are ball joints.

Roots originally came with the Japanese Galaxy Force toy Vector Prime and here's what my original Vector Prime review had to say: "He comes with Roots - a big minicon jet/gun. Basically the back half is a jet and the front is a huge gun barrel. I bet he gets called Over-run in the US as the resemblance between him and Armada Supercon Op's minicon is rather large. No peg for him to be held by, just the minicon socket. The feet fold down at the back and the gun barrel folds back to form the robot mode. "

The Over-run resemblance continues to come to me today, especially in light of Over-run's final comic appearance communicating with the heart of Cybertron - Vector Prime is meant to be some sort of ancient TF so I could see that story progressing to Vector Prime's discovery and teaming with Roots.

Roots was also available in a Kabaya Micro Change set with the Galaxy Force Micron Team.

Safeguard

The Cybertron version of Roots is called Safeguard - what a great name ! The Cybertron versions of both Vector Prime and Safeguard are cast in a bright white plastic. As well as being in a Voyager box together Vector Prime & Safeguard were also in a 2-pack (well 3-pack really) for Toys R Us with a recoloured Galaxy Force Voyager Starscream.

Galaxy Force Safeguard

Late in the Cybertron range Vector Prime and Safeguard had a repaint - they grey being replaced with a dull bronzey gold colour. The black becomes dark blue, the blue paint is gone replaced with a differently applied red paint on the face & head.

Beta Max

Beta Maxx was a Botcon exclusive with Alpha Trion (a Vector Prime repaint) in 2007. Grey becomes purple and black becomes white. Decent and original coloured repaint.

Universe Safeguard

Vector Prime returns in Universe with Safeguard. Safeguard swaps grey for brown and black for a slightly metallic grey. This release is a little disappointing - I'd quite like to see them both redone in either red or Babylon 5 Vorlon green.

[Philip Ayres]

Jolt

Cybertron Jolt is the second Minicon to bear that name the first being the Partner to Armada Hotshot. Like Armada Jolt he's a helicopter, but this time he has landing skis and a bubble cockpit. The majority of the toy is cast in grey (robot legs), black (tail, rotors, landing skis, robot upper legs), clear (cockpit) or green plastic but all the green is painted red (body and feet) !

He has one Minicon port on of his skids enabling him to be attached as a spinning blade weapon.

TF: rotate the bubble round so the window looks down. Fold the skis to the sides to become the arms. Fold the legs back from on top of the helicopter so they're along the tail. Fold the feet out and fold the tail up.

Robot at the end has a great bubble helmet - like a diver or Spike's Exo suit from Transformers the Movie. The bubble turns, the arms are on ball joints at the shoulder and the legs bend at the hip and knee.

Lovely little Minicon this

From the original Micron Team review: "Helicopter micron is also a work of genius ! Don't think there's been a minicon helicopter before. This one looks great - clear cockpit with seat detail inside, and a socket on one skid. The TF is clever - turbines beside the rotors fold back as legs, and the skids fold forward to form the arms. The cockpit bubble should then turn round to reveal a face under the helmet but I had trouble turning the head on mine :-( Looks nice in robot mode - have used the socket on the arm to mount a RM gun on. Sadly he wasn't too stable then. Is very reminiscent of Spike's Exo Suit from the movie."

Jolt was available with Six-Speed & Reverb in the Cybertron Recon team. Their Japanese counterparts were the GC-07 Micron Team where they were named Hop, Blit & Bumper.

Change Micron Hop

All three of the Galaxy Force Micron Team - together with Roots from Vector Prime - were packaged in a Galaxy Force Change Micron set. Change Micron Hop is significant as it's obviously had it's mould changed - the green plastic is moulded red and the face - previously looking like Wheeljack - now has a mouth and nose.

Bit

Bit appears in Micron Booster V3.

Bit's colour scheme is now vaguely emergency service themes - orange lower cockpit, white body and grey landing gear and tail look a very viable colour scheme for a helicopter. Robot mode still looks nice with the "Spike's exo suit"/Robot in a diving suit theme. Good stuff.

Factor

Factor is a Platinum Micron exclusive to TRU Japan. Black becomes orangey gold, green/red becomes a pearly clear colour, grey becomes clear yellow and the clear remains the same.

The Platinum Microns were released to tie in with Leo Breaker coming out and have colours reminiscent of him.

Shadow Recon Jolt

Jolt looks more solid than the other 3 - a clear electric blue plastic chest/helicopter body, and the same smoked grey for the legs and the feet. The rotors, arms and upper legs are black, and the cockpit/dome is still clear. He looks rather nice.

[Philip Ayres]

Six Speed

Six Speed is the race car minicon in this team.He's got a nice car mode - cast in bright green plastic with green/grey wheels and a pale clear blue windscreen.

His minicon socket is found in the middle of the underside, and like most of the Minicon carts enables him to be used as add-on armour for larger toys.

He almost has a traditional Micromaster transformation: fold the rear of the car back to form the lower legs and the chest down to form the body. Simple, but looks nice in robot mode, where his knees &hips bend - the upper leg revealed in between these is black - and his shoulders rotate.

Six-Speed was available with Jolt & Reverb in the Cybertron Recon team. Their Japanese counterparts were the GC-07 Micron Team where they were named Blit, Hop & Bumper.

A near identical Blit also appears with the other two team members plus Roots (Galaxy Force Vector Prime's Micron) in a Kabaya Change Micron set.

Socket

Socket appears in Micron Booster V3.

Socket is the race car, this time repainted in a bright plasticy red with grey upper legs. Still good fun and a plausible colour scheme

Element

Element is a Platinum Micron exclusive to TRU Japan. Green becomes clear, the grey/green becomes clear yellow and the black becomes an orangey gold.

The Platinum Microns were released to tie in with Leo Breaker coming out and have colours reminiscent of him.

Shadow Recon Six-Speed

Six Speed is the real winner in the Shadow Recon Minicon team - cast almost entirely in the clear electric blue he looks stunning in both modes. The smoked grey turns up on the wheels (again) and the chest, the clear pale blue on the car nose, and the black on the upper legs. Superb redeco !

[Philip Ayres]

Reverb

Reverb is the pick up truck minicon in the Recon team. I think he's fabulous. Big cab extending quite far back - almost far enough to be Trailbreaker in fact. The truck is moulded in dark blue - with some pink/orange highlights in the back. The wheels are the same grey/green as Reverb

Minicon socket is under the back of the vehicle to one side. His one let down is that when you add him onto a larger toy he doesn't look anything other than an attached pick up truck.

He does not TF how you'd expect ! The front folds forward and down to become the legs, the back of the truck folds out to the sides to become arms, and then the entire back section of the truck folds back at waist before finally the head folds up from what was the middle of the vehicle

The robot has bending knees & hips (separated by black upper legs), a waist that bends back, shoulders that swing to the side and bending elbows. Nice and chunky in this mode and given the right repaint - blue cab and front, red back -he'd make a passable Optimus Prime Minicon

Reverb was available with Jolt & Six-Speed in the Cybertron Recon team. Their Japanese counterparts were the GC-07 Micron Team where they were named Bumper, Hop & Blit. A near identical version of Bumper is available in a Kabaya Micro Change set with the other two Microns in his team and Roots - Vector Prime's Micron.

Overall: Very nice indeed, one of the better Minicons.

Plier

Plier has been redone in black and with red windscreen. Looks a tad sinister, as does the robot mode..... but at the same time there's a bit of a Trailbreaker vibe going on. Very nice.

Material

Material a Platinum Micron exclusive to TRU Japan. Black becomes orangey gold, blue becomes clear and the grey green becomes clear yellow.

The Platinum Microns were released to tie in with Leo Breaker coming out and have colours reminiscent of him.

Shadow Recon Reverb

The Shadow Recon team is a rare and possibly first application of Repaint Rule 8 outside of Japan - see My Repaint Article" - they're clear repaints ! The only other clear toys I can remember are the Minicon Sabre toys and some GoBot/Spychanger redecos. Obviously with clear toys there's very little actual paint involved, these are all cast in a different colour of plastic.

There's a mistake on the packaging - Jolt is labelled Reverb and vice versa. The Bio note is nice, insinuating that these 3 have adopted a post Cybertron series stealth guise to explore the universe. They come with the Giant Planet Map - Hallelujah, got it at last ! - and have Giant Planet Markings on the card.

Reverb - the pick up truck - is cast in a very pale blue plastic which is almost completely clear apart from his solid black upper arms and legs and clear smoked grey plastic wheels. Looks very ghost like !

[Philip Ayres]

Rollbar

Rollbar is the Minicon that comes with Scavenger. He's a dune buggy who's main colour is white, which you won't find on the larger toy he comes with. Some smaller parts of him are however gang moulded with Scavenger - the only thing visible in vehicle mode is that his wheels & seats are black like Scavenger's head & chest plate.

He has one Minicon socket underneath him about two thirds of the way back along the vehicle. Like any of the more bulkier vehicles there's not a lot you can think he looks like when attached to a larger toy.

TF: Pull the roll cage up and forward. Pull the seats up and fold them and the back of the car back to form the legs and feet - the seats will need to be folded back a bit so the points of the seats form the edges of the seat that contact with the floor. Fold the front of the dune buggy out to the sides to form the arms and then fold the roll cage back down.

New colors are revealed in robot mode with his upper legs being purple like Scavenger's hands, feet, knees & roller and his chest & head is grey like the sides of Scavenger's arms - his lower arms are black like before with the upper arms and lower legs being the white used for the dune buggy . He's another Minicon that ends up with his socket on his midriff in robot mode. His shoulders swing out to the sides and his elbows bend as do his hips & knees.

Rollbar is designed to interact with the larger toy: he can drive Scavenger ! Open up the roll cage around Scavenger's passenger compartment, push Rollbar's head into the cage and fold the cage back down pushing Rollbar into the body of the vehicle and sounding a noise (sadly my Scavenger has no batteries at the moment)

In Japan Scavenger & Rollbar were sold as Devastar (surely a transliteration of Devastator ?) and Dart as Armada toy numbered MC-07.

In the UK Scavenger & Rollbar were the entirety of the Voyager case they shipped in. No carryovers from the previous wave. No other new toy. The wave shelf warmed like nothing has ever done before it ! When the first Energon Voyager wave shipped there were still Armada Scavengers and Rollbars to be bought. Which was a problem because ....


Energon Rollbar

... in the UK Wave 1 Energon Voyager's were Treadbolt and Rollbar, repaints of Scavenger and Rollbar. In the US these were sold as a limited edition and quickly replaced by Jetfire. Not so in the UK, they were in every Wave 1 case with Jetfire having to wait till Wave 2 with Mirage. At least we think so. Because Wave 1 sold sooooo poorly in the UK Wave 2 was skipped so the UK went straight to Wave 3 with Cliffjumper & Shockblast. The reasons for this may 100% be laid at Treadbolt & Rollbar's door: A repaint of a toy that sells so badly it's still available in quantity nearly a year later taking up the space of a toy that is paired with the other toy in the case (Energon Ironhide) and would have encouraged sales of Ironhide - what was the point of buying him if there was no toy to combine him with ? So Treadbolt & Rollbar sat unsold apart from those that were bought and traded with the US fans who wanted him and couldn't get him (presumably in return for Energon Jetfires !)

Rollbar's repaint is actually quite good - the white is swapped for a dark green making it look like the original Throttlebot Rollbar or G1 Hound - there's even a US army white star on the front bonnet. Like Tradbolt black is swapped for brown, grey for dark blue and purple for a grey/green.

I'm of the opinion that despite the easy of obtaining Scavenger/Treadbolt and Rollbar that someday both toys will sell at a premium due to the perishable rubber used for Scavenger/Treadbolt.....

[The Doctor]

A herculean effort, Phil. How many more to go?

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

From memory: Dead End, Ramjet & Comettor from Armada (Dead End was retrieved from the loft today along with Rollbar), 3 from the Giant Planet Team, the 3 Giant Planet pack in figures and 18 Classics Minicons.

Ramjet and Comettor I don't own any more so I'm going to have to make it up from pictures and old reviews.

I'd never reviewed the toys that Dead End and Rollbar came with so at some point I'm gonna have to do Unicron & Scavenger too.

Incienrator & Thrustol are sitting here waiting to be done, and the two legends five packs will mean at some point the Legends will have to have a complete revision into the current list the repaints format.

Dead End tonight.

[Philip Ayres]

Dead End

Dead End is the Minicon that comes with Unicron. He fulfils the role of Unicron's moon. He's roughly a sphere in size and is in may ways similar to Eggbot ( see also Eggbird and Eggleo) His major deviation from a sphere is the large cannon built into one side of him that folds out - the cannon is painted silver. I'm wondering if the cannon was meant to be part of some abandoned action feature as both the pivot on the cannon and the base underneath have gear teeth etched into them. The two hemispheres of the toy can rotate in relation to each other round their core meaning that however you turn it the toy is always a sphere. There's a slatted circular pattern on each side of the toy broken in the middle by the toy's circumference. A 180 degree turn will make the pattern line up again on either side. The majority of the toy is moulded in dark grey plastic but there is some bright yellow visible similar to that used on Unicron's missiles.

He has one Minicon socket on the opposite Hemisphere to the cannon. There's no way round it, he looks like a ball mounted on a larger robot.

TF: Face the Minicon port towards you with the robot face pointing up. Rotate the tip of the cannon on his back so that points up. Fold the sides of the Minicon port hemisphere down to form the legs. Fold the yellow plastic at the bottom of the legs up and then turn in 90 degrees to form the feet. Fold the sides of the cannon hemisphere back and up 180 degrees so they and the cannon point up. Fold the cannon and the opposing piece on the other side out to the sides 90 degrees. Fold each side forward 90 degrees further to form the arms then fold each arm down 90 degrees at the shoulder leaving the flat surfaces on the shoulders facing up.

Dead end's robot mode is really rather good considering he's form from a ball. He's got ball jointed feet, bending knees & hips, turning shoulders with the arms that bend underneath and limited ball jointed elbows that rotate. The cannon's ended up on his left arm and can be moved from side to side or rotated to the side and moved up and down.

Decent Minicon. My only complaint is maybe they should have included a few more in different colours.

In Japan Unicron & Dead End were sold in Micron Legend as MX-00 Unicron with Bug

"Unicron of Light" Bug

The Unicron of Light toy was a limited giveaway shown in the Transformers Generations book. The larger toy linked above is mainly in green & grey, but the smaller Big supplied with it is very similar to the original with a lighter shade of grey used.

Energon Dead End

Unicron returned recoloured at the start of Energon. Dead End becomes a pale grey blue, with the yellow becoming paler and a bit more sickly looking too. Don't like this, the two major colours clash too much. Why use the yellow ?

In Japan this was available in Superlink as Bug with the Unicron Power Up Version

Bug Drone

My original review of Micron Booster V3 - which has two versions of Bug in it said "As far as I can see the Bug Drone is Unicron's minicon Dead End. No repainting at all."

It's moulding colours are identical but there is some additional silver paint on the previously mentioned side patterns.

Bug General

Again from my original Micron Booster V3 review: "There's a chase version of this in this set in chromed blue for the grey and red for the yellow. If you have one spare contact me as I'm willing to relieve you of it ! "

Never did get one ! A silver chromed version of Corona Sparkplug, Chrome, appears as a generally available toy in Micron Booster V0. Chase figures were introduced in V2 with the blue chromed Sabre, a Thunderclash repaint, which wasn't available in every box. The theme was extended here with the good looking Bug General.

[Philip Ayres]

Longarm

The name Longarm has been used for a Minicon before - Red Alert's partner. That was a crane too, but this Longarm is more a Micromaster combineresque crane with a hook at the rear and a grabber at the front. Both elevate and descend as well as rotate at their connection with the truck. The arms can be prised out of their pivots and swapped round but I wouldn't recommend doing this too often for fear of stretching the plastic on the pivots. Longarm uses three colours of plastic in vehicle mode - bright green, unique to him in the team, Decepticon purple for the grabber arms and grey for the wheels - common to both other toys in the team. The green and the purple together give him a Constructicon like appearance.

The minicon socket is halfway down the truck on the underside. Although as an add-on it looks like it's vehicle mode the two arms add something to the feel of the larger toy.

To TF: fold the back half of the crane down under the front half revealing the head. Fold the front of the cab up, then fold down the entire cab to become the feet. Rotate 90 degrees at the waist.

Nice robot mode has entombed the back wheels in the middle of the chest - nice touch. The grabber becomes his right arm and the crane hook his left. He's got bending knees & hips - separated by legs cast in dark blue like Overcast's body, a waist that turns and shoulders that turn & pivot to the sides.

Decent Minicon, oddly reminiscent of Bonecrusher from the Land Military team.

Longarm was sold in the Giant Planet Minicon team pack with Overcast & Deepdive.

Astro Hook

In 2007 all three Giant Planet Minicons return with Astrotrain (an Armada Jetfire repaint) and Starcatcher (Comettor repaint) as an exclusive for the Transformers Collectors Club.

The team reuses the names of three servants of Unicron in the original Transformers comic: Hook (Longarm), Line (Overcast) and Sinker (Deepdive) The name Hook is almost inevitable really for this mould, though it would have worked better for his original colours ! Green becomes yellow, purple becomes grey, blue becomes purple and grey becomes black. Now the yellow and grey here are very reminiscent of another member of the Land Military Team - this time the Dimension-X version of Wreckage, Shot.

Craydon

Craydon was available exclusively from Boss Coffee in Japan in 2008. He like Astro Hook he swaps green for yellow, but the purple becomes bright blue as does the dark blue. The grey on the wheels becomes green.

Nice repaint.again. Interestingly although Deepdive is also repainted for this promotion, Overcast isn't !