Phil's Energon Reviews

[Philip Ayres]

So here we go with another range....

[Philip Ayres]

Strongarm

Strongarm is one of three new Basics (plus a revised Minicon team) issued in the first wave of Energon/Superlink toys

He's a lovely little jeep, cast mainly in a orange/brown colour which works well. The wheels are moulded in black plastic, there's some sandy coloured plastic on the rollcage & pivot for the crane arm and dark blue on the sides of the passenger compartment which contains seats and has a fold down windscreen ! He comes with a spare tire, mounted on the back of the vehicle, cast in clear red because it will later form part of his Energon weapon. He's also got a crane arm/gun that attaches to a 5mm peg that folds back causing the arm to bend upwards. I think there's been a small oversight here - the 5mm peg could easily have been made a Minicon port enabling Minicons to be attached to this new vehicle.

Mounted behind the passenger compartment is Strongarm's spark. This is similar to the Beast Wars/Beast Machines spark - a silver disc with an Autobot (in this case) symbol etched into .it covered by clear plastic and surrounded by a raised lip. Onto this lip can be pinned an Energon star - all the Omnicons & Terrorcons have them. The Autobot one is a six pointed star with three larger points and three smaller ones mounted round a disc made from clear red plastic. I believe the intention was for the disc to act as a lens making the faction symbol look bigger when you looked at the Energon star but this doesn't work too well in practice

To Transform turn the spare type round revealing the head, then remove both the tyre and the crane arm. In a lovely move turn the back wheels in at the top of their wheel arches to reveal his arms. Spin him round at the waist - the back of the passenger compartment, flip up some panels that lock him together on either side, and bend the bonnet down to form his lower legs. Fold the windscreen forward a little so the windscreen is flat not leant back. Take the spare tyre and split it in two - push one half back while pulling on the other.

What you get out the end of the is a nice looking solid robot. More black is revealed on the upper robot legs while the upper arms and chest are the same dark blue as mentioned before with the forearms being the same sandy colour as the rollcage & crane pivot. The Articulation is great - bending knees, ball jointed hips, rotating waist & neck, shoulders that fold backwards & forward at the body & have ball joints where the arms meet them and a bending elbow. If I had to be picky perhaps the legs bend a little too far below where the knees should be ! He's got a nice head - which I think is the same dark blue as earlier - but the peg hole for the tyre is in the top which means you can mount things like the Energon Sabre in the top of it !

The removed Energon pieces can be used by the robot - the spare tyre can be a throwing weapon or mounted on the robot's shoulder, while one of the posts on the side of the crane arm lets you use it as a gun. Alternately mount the gun on it's vehicle mode post as a shoulder cannon. However their main purpose is to combine to form one weapon: The halves of tyre plug into opposite sides of the end of crane arm transforming it into a double bladed axe which can be held by the gun barrel.

Overall - very good basic, the size class obviously benefited for it's year off during Armada.

Strongarm was sold in Japan as SC-06 Blast Arm.

Energon Strongarm

What can you say about Energon Strongarm ? Quite a nasty mix of colours for a start ! The main colour - previously orange/brown becomes that horrid pale blue which is the kiss of death for nearly any TF toy. Phil's Repaint Rule #3 states "Paint it like what it should look like" and I can't think of any jeep that's been pale blue. All the dark blue becomes grey, which is reasonable, but the sandy brown becomes bright orange which is bad enough by itself but here clashes badly with the blue. What were they thinking ? Was this some test shot that someone said "I know, we'll use these colours for real on the repaint ?" The energon remains red, you don't even get the pleasure of getting the weapons in a different colour to compensate you for the rest of the toy.

I think what makes it even worse is there are obvious repaints that could be done - in particular it's a chance missed to do it in green and black as Hound !

A big disappointment after the G1 inspired repaints of Armada.

Worst. Repaint. Ever !

Fallback

Fallback is a Botcon 2005 toy. The bio makes it out to be a new version of Outback but to my eye the colours are more influenced by the e-Hobby Hound repaint Detritus. Orange/Brown becomes brown, the blue becomes a sandy colour and the sandy colour becomes grey. The head is painted silver for this version and the Energon becomes clear blue.

Lovely repaint.

Strongarm

Strongarm is a Wave 2 Sector 7 Movie basic repaint exclusive to Target in the USA and released through Woolworths in the UK.

Strongarm finally gets a Hound themed colour scheme - olive green for the orange/brown car body, dark green for the blue and grey for the sandy colour. The Energon becomes a dark smoked colour.

Superb repaint, finally in the sort of colours it should have had all along.

Crosshairs

Crosshairs is a Wave 4 Sector 7 Movie basic repaint exclusive to Target, which it is believed Woolworths didn't carry in the UK.

Crosshairs is almost an inverse version of Fallback - the orange/brown is now a sandy colour with the blue becoming brown and the sandy colour becoming grey. The Energon is the same smoked colour as Movie Strongarm.

Again another great repaint. It's nice to see the mould finally getting the treatment it deserves.

[Philip Ayres]

Skyblast

Sky Blast is one of three new Basics issued in the first wave of Energon/Superlink toys. He's a jet and has several features reminiscent of the Beast Machines Jetstorm toy: the nose pivots down and the wings can be turned to point forward or back. Indeed Beast Machines Jetstorm was once repainted in similar colours as Stormjet - both Stormjet and Skyblast are based on the G1 Jetfire colour scheme. Most of the jet is cast in white, with grey engines at the rear & guns on the sides, dark red sides and a clear cherry red nose - matching his Energon - which is painted white apart from the cockpit canopy. The underside of the jet has a capture claw, moulded in red plastic and similar to Energon Jetfire's, which opens out to each side and can be closed round a victim.

His Energon consists of a long gun which pegs into a 5mm hole under the nose and a pair of what can only be described as missiles which cover his wing tips.

Tf is fab for a small toy - fold the wings forward towards the nose, separate the capture claw and fold the bits they're attached to down to form the lower legs. Rotate the tail section up onto the front of the jet - this causes the nose to turn. Fold the head down to reveal one of the nicest heads I've ever seen moulded on a basic, very reminiscent of the original Jetfire.

Nice articulation, with ball jointed hips, turning shoulders that also swing to the sides and bending elbows, the only downside being no real knees - just joints that bend to the sides as part of the TF.

He can hold the long barrelled gun here, and the pointy missiles each have a 5mm peg that allows them to be held as swords - I think putting half a peg on each one and allowing he combined form to be held as a sword would have worked a little better. Both of the missiles plug into the gun back to back to combine to make a spear headed staff.

Great little basic using G1 colours, and surprisingly unrepainted in Energon !

Sky Blast was released in Japan as SC-07 Air Glide.

Sky Blast's Energon weapon was made available in several different colours as a promotional item and is also packed in with Superlink toy SC-25 Skyfire Sonic where it has a pinky orange tint to it.

Skyblast

Skyblast is a Wave 2 Movie Sector 7 Basic Repaint exclusive to Target & Woolworths.

I've chilled on this mode a little since the earlier review - because he's the start of my obsession with knees that only fold sideways !

Skyblast is the first repaint of the Energon Skyblast toy. This version is mainly grey (for white) with black limbs (for the red and grey) almost like a Zombie version. The Energon looks gorgeous though - clear and dark, though not as dark as Movie Strongarm's.

Well worth having.

Air Raid

Air Raid is a Wave 3 Movie Sector 7 Basic Repaint exclusive to Target & Woolworths.

Deco here is excellent - grey feet and arms (for grey & red), but most of the body is cast in green (for white) with a camouflage pattern over the top - little black and olive coloured squares. VERY effective. Energon weapons are solid black here.

Nice repaint. Wish I had 1 more of Skyblast and Air Raid so I could swap the plastics round to give a green jet with black limbs and an all grey jet !

[Philip Ayres]

Signalflare

Signal Flare's vehicle mode should be familiar to any Transformer fan who's seen a Godzilla movie - he's one of those Laser trucks that's inevitably wheeled out to stop Godzilla's latest rampage through downtown Tokyo. He's mainly painted light blue in the laser truck mode which makes him looks a little like the European Stalker toy. The light blue would later blight many a toy including a Strongarm repaint but here it just about works. There's some darker blue green forming the underside of the front with clear red windows at the front while the bumpers (with guns projecting from them), wheels and mid section of the cannon are black. His cannon and back of the vehicle are made from a sort of sandy greenish plastic which clashes rather with the rest of the toy. When the cannon is turned on it's pivot - it can elevate too - the barrel revolves.

As well as an Energon Star, Signal Flare comes with three other clear red Energon pieces. Two of these are solar panels which can be attached to the base of the weapon's barrel either flat against it for transportation or out to the sides to power the weapon. The other Energon part is a clear red disc which spins on it's mount. This attaches to the end of the gun barrel by the 5mm hole in the end - some fun can be had inserting other weapons into it and causing them to rotate.

TF: Fold the bumpers down, swing the sides of the vehicle forward to become the legs, and then fold the ends up to the outer sides to form the lower legs. Rotate the remainder of the back 90 degrees so you can see the robot head peering out above the spark which has been hidden under the gun. Fold the arm down to the side and push the back of the vehicle down to form the chest. Quite interesting TF as very little ends up in any relation to the bits they started near.

The domineering colour for the robot is the light blue on the legs and chest with all the sandy green ending up on the arms and the blue/green being hidden apart from where it's used for the head. The articulation includes rotating hips that bend out to the sides, knees that are far too low, a ball jointed shoulder & bending elbow on left arm and a rotating shoulder on the gun arm which also moves to the side a little.

The Energon combines to form a Pizza Cutter style buzzsaw weapon (red energon) - the disc from the gun barrel attaches to one of the solar panels for the gun barrel, and the other solar panels connects into the back of it's partner. I'm hearing a tip about the Pizza Cutter looking good on Landmine so must get mine out and try it......

A mild disappointment after the wonder of Skyblast and Strongarm but still OK.

Signal Flare was available in Japan as Superlink toy SC-12 Signal Flare.

Several promotional versions of the "Pizza cutter" were issued in various colours and a pinky orange version was included with Superlink toy SC-23 Hotshot Fire.

Offshoot

Here's our Signal Flare recolour going for something vaguely like Headmaster Hardhead in a colour scheme. Offshoot - Signal Flare's recolour - looks better than I thought, but not wildly impressive. The light blue becomes an olive green, the blue/green becomes a sandy grey and the black becomes green. All good so far. Unfortunately once again the cannon and the arm lets us down being moulded in bright blue ! The Sandy grey used before (and elsewhere here) or some darker green would have been much better. Come to think of it the blue here might work better on the original Signal Flare..... Hmmm, possibly time for a parts swap !

The Energon pizza cutter is a bit of a lighter red on this version - some green Energon may have been better.

Signalflare

Signal Flare is a Wave 1 Movie Sector 7 Basic Repaint exclusive to Target. These *may* have been imported by Woolworths into the UK but I've not seen them personally.

This version swaps olive green - with brown camo patterns - for the light blue, black for the darker blue/green, brown for the sandy green arm & cannon and grey for the black and the Energon. Near perfect, my only quibble would be the Energon but that's because I like clear plastic !

If you need one version of this toy then buy this one.

[Philip Ayres]

Bid on the Movie Signal Flare for sale on eBay at the mo and they'll be trouble !

[Philip Ayres]

Arcee

The character of Arcee first appeared in the Transformers Movie in 1986. 18 years later she finally gets a toy in a main Transformers line having previously been a figurine and a convention exclusive repaint of an existing Beast Wars toy.

Arcee doesn't display her vehicle mode in the Movie but IIRC it's meant to be a car - indeed a repainted version of Chromedome was once mooted as a potential toy for her. In Energon she becomes a lovely well proportioned motorbike. Mainly in white with grey forks, a clear pink windshield with the front of it and the saddle at the rear painted black. It's a decent bike mode which comes with a stand - two prongs lower from under the bike.

Arcee comes with four Energon pieces in addition to her star - all in the same clear pinkish red as the windscreen. One is a missile launcher with grey missile and one is a sight. The remaining two are exhaust pipes which peg into the back of the other two pieces which are then mounted on the side of the bike - there's a peg one side and a hole the other (both 5mm - you could in theory use it to link up multiple Arcees side to side !

She's actually got a sort of third mode - remove the Energon, split the saddle and the back wheel in two and fold out to the sides then forward to lie alongside the fuel tank. Fold the wheels back to form a trike mode.

Excellent transformation - remove the Energon and then the back of the bike splits in two and the saddle folds forward to becomes the arms. Fold the windshield down. Fold the sides and the underneath of the bike down to become the legs and position either side of the windshield. Fold the head out. Fold the front wheel into the back of the body folding the windshield back further. Fold the legs down under the body, straighten them and fold out the feet.

This produces a very nice figure, but with a few faults. Head is dead on for Movie Arcee and the pink that's used for it lets you know this toy is female. The little pop out wrists are annoying, and the elbows only bend in. The head turns, the shoulders & hips are on ball joints, and the knees have a great double bending joint. Her Energon spark is at the centre of her pronounced chest.

Her exhaust pipes combine with the other Energon pieces to form a combined weapon - Plug the sight & missile launcher together, remove the pipes from the end of the other pieces and reinsert them on the sides to form an excellent bow weapon which pegs into the inside of the robot's wrist. Unfortunately this means she can't hold it pointing forwards - d'oh EDIT: 5 years after writing the initial Arcee review I've finally found a way to do it - put the upper arm straight out to the side, bend the lower arm forward 90 degrees then rotate the entire arm down 45 degrees and pin the bow in so it fits under her armpit. Other Transformers can but since there aren't that many wrist joints in Energon you'll have a job to find any transformer in the range that can hold the weapon upright and pointing forward, which may have contributed to Arcee's weapon not being packed with the Japanese repaint of a larger toy or being given away as a recoloured promotional item.

Overall: Nice toy, but not without faults in robot mode, especially with the arms and hands.

Arcee was available in Japan as Superlink toy SC-16 Aerial.

Arcee is bar far the leader in terms of repaints for Energon. In fact she may be the most repainted transformer toy that's larger than a Minicon or Spychanger !

Paradon Medic

I don't get this Paradon Medic obsession. I really don't. As far as I can gather it's a background character, repainted from the animation model of a character, Arcee, who was never a toy anyway, that appears to have appeared in the back of a scene for about 10 seconds in one episode of the cartoon series. And from this we have statues, PVCs and all sorts of nonsense. People moan about the white Magnus craze but at least he was a toy. Anyhow first Arcee toy proper comes along and then along comes it's inevitable Paradon Medic repaint. And actually it's a rather good one......

What they've done is taken the Arcee bike and swapped the pink bits on Arcee for the bit of the Paradon medic that would have been Pink if she was Arcee's cartoon model. So we get a lime green head and flashes on wrists (the saddle) and ankles. We get spearmint green hips and chest. And - glory be - her clear plastic is also recoloured (E Strongarm, Command Ravage, Offshoot take note !) so we not only get a clear green windscreen on the bike we get a normal mint green energon star and weapon. Nice.

The toy is mounted on a standard SL Ariel card, and has a silver EX02 sticker on it. EX01 was Buildtron for TRU Japan, EX02 is for this Toy's Dream Project repaint.

As of now everywhere is sold out and there are none on EBay. Ha, looks like I was in the right place at the right time

Botcon Chromia

In 2003 Botcon went Arcee mad getting not one but three versions of the toy !

I'm led to believe that no repaint issued in Japan can be released in the west (how do you explain Command Ravage/Jaguar Desert Type then ?) This is the Botcon team's attempt to get round it. Gone is the lime green with all the paint highlights now being done in Spearmint green as is the newly moulded head that this and Flareup both sport - the differences are quite subtle. Energon is a more minty green than was used on the Paradon Medic but otherwise they are very similar toys.

Botcon Flareup

Flareup sports the new head and comes in a nice mix of red (for white), orange paint and black (for grey) with clear orange Energon. In many ways she's very reminiscent of the Hot Rod colour scheme.

Botcon Flamewar

Flamewar - the third Botcon version of Arcee - goes back to the original head. The toy is mainly painted black - red replaces grey - with orange flame detail and is intended to be a Decepticon. However she still shipped with an Autobot Energon Star which was moulded in dark blue plastic like her bow which clashes now with it's red missile.

Good attempt but the red is a mistake - would have been better as black.

Sector 7 Arcee

Arcee is a Wave 1 Movie Sector 7 Basic Repaint exclusive to Target. These *may* have been imported by Woolworths into the UK but I've not seen them personally.

Arcee swaps grey plastic for white and then paints most of it blue - some of the blue may be moulded in that colour, I can't tell. The grey and black stay the same and the Energon becomes that lovely smoked clearish black plastic.

Very nice repaint, may I have one ?

Sector 7 Elita One

Elita One is a Wave 3 Movie Sector 7 Basic Repaint exclusive to Target in the US and Woolworths in the UK.

Elita One is again mainly grey plastic but the existing grey (and some white) becomes goldy bronze. The Energon becomes solid black. Nice repaint but I prefer my Energon to stay clear (see Sector 7 Signal Flare)

[blueshift]

I'm pretty sure the rule is they can't reproduce exclusives, not just any recolours, and I dont' think the Ravage one was an exclusive anywhere.

[Philip Ayres]

My recollection is that this excuse was wheeled out when people wanted Dimension-X Minicons in the west which were a similar mass released but limited repaint to the Terrorcon types.

[blueshift]

Ah, not heard that one, interesting.

[The Doctor]

I don't understand the Paradron Medic obsession either.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

It did go a bit mental for a bit, she was everywhere ! She's on screen for 3 seconds.

Almost as bad as Sunstorm !

[The Doctor]

Don't start me on Sunstorm!

-Ralph

[blueshift]

Sunstorm was cool because he was obscure, making him CHIEF VILLAIN AND REPAINTED IN EVERY LINE kinda killed that.

But it is amazing how he is now firmly G1 entrenched!

[The Doctor]

Not bad for a 'character' appearing in one blurry panning shot in the bottom right-hand fucking corner!

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Battle Ravage

Ravage is one of three new Basics issued in the first wave of Energon/Superlink toys.

Ravage is a rare Transformer toy: he's packaged in robot mode, and it's a decent looking robot too. He's got standard size 5mm peg holes either side of the head which allow you to mount his Energon weaponry there - long term readers will know I like shoulder cannons :-)

His Energon is a pale yellow. One of his weapons is a missile launcher - he's the only one to have one - the other is a near perfect replica of the Megatron fusion cannon. Be reaching for your black paint and action masters to make a custom cannon for AM Megatron ;-) If I had to make a complaint the fusion cannon can only be mounted on the left shoulder due to there only being a tab on one side - Megatron always wore the cannon on his right arm. There's a 5mm hole in the bottom of the cannon that allows it to be mounted as a sight on the missile launcher (which has three 5mm pegs sticking out of various sides) to form a combined weapon. The peg hole can also be used to mount the cannon on Minicon posts.... such as the one on Armada Megatron's arm (it looks a little small) In addition his ball and chain tail detaches, but the ball joint at the base is slightly too large to fit into a 5mm peg hole.

Back to the robot: The head turns, the elbows & knees bend, the shoulders & hips have a limited ball joint each, the waist turns and the ankles bend. The beast mode tail sticks out of his bottom in this mode and is mounted on a ball joint. Head and forelimbs are cast in an off white plastic. Body, waist and upper limbs are black. Shoulders, neck & tail are all purple.

Ravage has an unofficial third mode reminiscent of the beast wars Ravage: turn the robot head round and fold back, then fold the chest back until nearly vertical then pose the beast head sticking out the front to give him a beast headed robot mode.

To Transform turn the robot head round and fold back, turn the waist round and fold him so his back ends up where the head was - gearing will reveal the beast head which need folding up. Fold the claws down over the fists forming the front legs and pose.

Cat mode is nice and angular in a G1 beast style. Weapons will mount in this mode. Limbs are a bit stiff on mine and not up to posing at the moment. Good toy, excellent first new basic.

The normal Superlink SD-06 Command Jaguar is almost identical to the UK version. The main difference is the Energon - it's green. Looks much better than the wee yellow of the original. But seeing as the Japanese version is hard to get and the UK one is everywhere now It's not really worth the hunt. I got lucky and HLJ briefly had some in.

Desert Ravage

This toy was sold in the Superlink series in Japan numbered SD-09.

I know I said I'd forsaken repaints..... oh well, serves me right. The Desert Type Command Jaguar is hideous. Midnight Blue for white, a sky blue for black, and RapidRun burgundy purple for purple on the UK version, with some pinky beige highlight. Uggh. Awful. And with urine yellow Energon too. There's lots better things they could have done with this - cast it entirely in the midnight blue, with silver highlights and purple energon. Much better. Or gone for a sand and brown colour scheme inspired by the name.

Don't bother tracking this down, it's getting a western release as the Command Ravage repaint.

Command Ravage

The Command Ravage that was released in the west replaces the pinky beige highlights with gold ones, which actually improves the overall appearance of the toy.

Possible Future Repaints

Some ideas spring to mind for possible future repaints:

1) G1/Beast Wars - all black with some purple Energon
2) Pounce - black for white and white for black with the robot chest painted blue paired with a recoloured Energon Divebomb as Wingspan
3) Rampage - red & black, again paired with a recoloured Energon Divebomb as Predacon Divebomb

[legios]

My apologies Phil. I have been otherwise occupied recently and am only now catching up with a few threads I have missed. On the bright-side this means that I have had a nice chunk of reviewage to be reading.

It is interesting to read these reviews, because it reminds me that in general the toys I liked most from Energon tended to be the basics. Very like animated where it tends to be the deluxe toys I think look best. Perhaps some aesthetics are scaled better to smaller toys?

I think I may be the only person who actually likes the blue colour on the Strongarm repaint though. I don't know why, but the colour just works for me. (Maybe it is due to my being somewhat colourblind.....)

I still do think that Skyblast's vehicle mode is a bit of a double homage. The colour scheme is clearly a reference back to the '85 Jetfire toy, but the fighter mode (not the humanoid mode, or the transformation schema) has a lot of visual similarities to the "Metal Siren" in Macross II, if it isn't intended as a tribute to that design then it is a fascinating example of convergent evolution.

I was going to ask who on earth Paradron Medic actual is, but I think it is from one of those Sunbow episodes I either haven't seen or don't remember - a bit like that Devcon bloke that I hear about sometimes.

Karl

[blueshift]

Paradron Medic was from the episode Fight Or Flee in season 3 of the G1 cartoon, which meant that it was better than usual.

tfwiki.net/wiki/Fight_or_Flee

It is notable for the rather hardline approach Rodimus takes. The Decepticons take an unshakable control of the planet Paradron, so he /blows it up/

[Philip Ayres]

Cruellock

Cruellock is one of those Dinosaurs where I'm not exactly sure what the is. My initial thoughts said raptor (with bits on), but now I'm edging towards a more Godzillad Tyrannosaur. His head, back and tail are moulded in dark green plastic, with the body & upper limbs in dark grey, the shoulders hips & chest - containing the spark - in light grey, the lower limbs in a lighter green and the claws on the arms & the legs as well as the Energon Star & weapons parts in a clear pale green. He's got decent limb articulation with ball joints for shoulders, elbows & hips while his knees & ankles bend and his jaw opens. However there's nothing in tail, that remains fixed.

You push the hips together to sort of auto tf it and then straighten the limbs while dino head hangs on robot back kibblicous stylie. Turn the head round, then separate the tail to remove the weapon, which is a sword. There's a gun as well which I couldn't work out where to put it in the dino mode to start with - turns out there's a section of the sword base that bends to the side to accommodate it in the tail. The gun combines with the sword to form a hilt for it. The robot has all the articulation of the dino mode, plus the rotating head.

Not bad robot - apart from the dino head hanging there - and a very nice sword.

Cruellock was available as SD-12 Dinobot in the Superlink series in Japan. The Energon Star, sword & gun were also released in a pinkish colour with SD-21 Galvatron General.

Dinobot Magma Type

This toy was numbered SD-17 in the Superlink series.

This is a straight colour swap for those used on Cruellock: Both dark & light green becomes red, dark grey becomes brown and the grey becomes black while he now has a more yellow Energon instead of green/yellow.

Lovely repaint, so good that Hasbro us it as a base for the Doom-Lock colour scheme.

Doom-lock

Doomlock is an excellent repaint - dark burgundy for the dark green, mid grey for the lighter green, very pale for the dark grey and a sort of odd pale primrose/cream yellow for the pale grey. Orange Energon - of all the basic repaints he is the only one with radically different coloured Energon and the orange suits him. Looks fab.

[Philip Ayres]

It's taken nearly a month to squeeze another review out of me and that's far from my best work just modifying what I originally wrote. I've never had this much trouble writing anything before.

[The Doctor]

The blank screen of death gets us all from time to time.

-Ralph

[legios]

Indeed. A little bit of writers block assails us all from time to time.

I agree with you on Cruellock by the way. I've always thought that he has the Tristar creatures, "I've loft my feeth"-style jawline personally.

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

I think it first manifested itself while I was doing the tail end of the Armada reviews and couldn't think of what to say about the larger toys. I've tried looking at some Cybertron, even some Euro stuff. Not a word.

Don't even get me started on the RID article for the AA Mag !

[Philip Ayres]

Divebomb

I was worried. I liked the look of this toy and was worried it would be poor. It isn't it's the best of the wave 2 Energon Basics! The vast majority of the toy in this mode is white with some gold highlights on the wings & rear body and black legs. He's got fabulously posable wings that move forwards and back, fold up vertically from a level position, can be folded up or extended. He's got ball jointed hips & bending knees on the bird mode and either flat or clenched claws courtesy of a bending joint in the claw. Tiny complaint is it needs a tail instead of just having the head stuck up the bum.

There are two green Energon blades housed within each wing that are revealed when the wings are fully opened out. He comes with two more blades that attach onto the side of the head. He also comes with an Energon star which attaches to the rear of the beast or the robot's chest.

A very inventive TF sees you fold the wings up and back to form the legs, with the front of the wings becoming the feet. Separate the head down the middle and fold towards the birds back to form the shoulders. Lock the waist into place and position the arms and head.

The robot has spikes sticking out of his knees ! How cool is that ? He bends at the ankles & knees, has ball jointed hips, a head that turns, shoulders (like the arms and waist moulded in black plastic) that turn & have the arms fold up to the sides, and ball joints at the elbow. The Energon blades can stay plugged into wrists or combined end to end to form a scythe which he can hold.

Looks evil and is a great toy. Right up there with Strongarm for best basic ever.

Divebomb was sold in the Super Link series in Japan as SD-08 Shadowhawk

It emerges later that there's TWO significant variations on the Energon blades. The first involves the blades themselves: the original version had a handle on one of the ends but the other terminated in a spike. Later versions - for I assume Health & Safety reasons - have two of the handled blade which does mean that the can be held individually as swords/hand axes in robot mode. You can also plug both blades into the bird's head by their handles to give longer outstretched blades in beast mode.

The second variation involves how they're attached to the toy. Earlier versions had a 5mm peg but with a ridge of plastic sticking out the side of the peg and a corresponding notch beside the peg hole on the main toy - it extends forward from the peg hole towards the beak & on the blades where they join together. The variation looses the notch & ridge meaning the blades can be attached pointing forward. This may have been originally to prevent the pointed blade end from pointing forward.

Both these variations *may* have occurred at the same time, I'm not 100% sure. What I do know is I have the original version sitting here, and the version on TFU.info's pictures is the one with two handles blades and no notch. The original version was only ever found on US cards and hasn't been seen on any of the repaints.

Shadowhawk Cosmic Type

Shadowhawk Cosmo Type was sold in the Superlink series as toy number SD-13.

This is your Energon Divebomb figure with paint alterations: White become a sea blue type colour (think Predators Talon or even G1 Thundercracker) Gold becomes a sort of slate grey and the blue/black for the claws becomes more black. The Energon is more yellow than the greenish tint on my Divebomb's - possibly a clear pale blue may have worked better ? The energon blade is of the double handled no notch type found on the later versions of the western toy. The colour scheme is beautiful, slightly odd on first look but ideal camouflage for a sea operating variant - I seem to recall this version was referred to as Shadowhawk Ocean Type by some people at the time. Me like.

At the time of writing (2004) no western release was scheduled yet but seeing as Command Jaguar Desert type (Command Ravage) and Dinobot Magma Type (modified to become Doomlock) were we thought it was a possibility. Alas no western shop release of a Divebomb recolour was ever made available - but see bellow for some ides !

Buzzsaw

In 2006 Botcon's toy theme was pre Beast Wars forms. Before the convention pictures began appearing on the Internet of a brown Divebomb repaint, which was generally assumed to be Airazor's pre Beast Wars form. Well we got that wrong, it was in fact Buzzsaw - the white becomes a bronzey brown and the other plastic becomes black. It's OK as a repaint but merely OK. The G1 Buzzsaw was more gold and the Beast Wars Buzzsaw (the superb Waspinator repaint) was more yellow. This tends towards the G1 colours but misses the mark.

The Energon for this toy and his compatriot is a lovely Decepticon purple, which doesn't really work with either of them. Both toys have their Spark Crystals modified to become Predacons.

Laserbeak

Very similar to the Buzzsaw listed about, the only difference is the white plastic is this time shifted to a orangey red. This again misses the bright red of the G1 Laserbeak, and is nowhere near the purple used for the Beast Wars version (a repaint of basic Terrorsaur)

Possible Future Repaints

I've cooled on this toy since I initially reviewed it in 2004 - this review for all versions of the mold is being rewritten in 2009 incorporating that original review - but I do feel Divebomb's been short-changed in the repaint department. Here's a few ideas of what could be done with it.

* The name Shadowhawk automatically lends itself to having a stealth variant made - this toy would look great in black with purple blades.
* Having tried to do versions of the G1 tape birds, a purple version to match Lazorbeak's Beast Wars form would be nice
* A little inventive colouring in white, pale blue, dark blue & purple could produce a Wingspan toy to be paired up with a similar Energon Ravage as Pounce repaint. Dark blue Energon here to mimic Wingspan's original weapons
* The name suggests a repaint by itself: Black red, yellow & orange could be used to make a G1 Predacon Divebomb - perhaps to be paired with an Energon Ravage repaint again.
* Finally the name also brings to mind G1 Dinobot Swoop - so something in silver and red/blue here !

[Philip Ayres]

Yes ! Finally got that done !

Anyone got a Divebomb to hand ? Check your weapons and see which version you have.

[Philip Ayres]

Insecticon

Let me tell you a story. Some while back AHQ posted a pre order for Arcee, Insecticon, Strongarm's Redeco and Cruellock. I ordered all 4. The last 2 haven't yet arrived at AHQ so I haven't had any of them yet. Jon Slater fixed me up with an Arcee a while back and I've gone HLJ to get Chromehorn the Japanese Insecticon.

The paint jobs are broadly similar except that Chromehorn's Energon is more green compared to the yellow used on the western version. Japanese packaging is as ever excellent using the same type of reusable plastic case as the Minicons had last year. I got the 3rd minicomic so lots of new Wingsabrey goodness there. It goes up to Wheeljack on the toy lists.

The basic insect is big and solid and reminiscent of a G1 Deluxe Insecticon (Barrage I think, not got my MTMTE in London with me - as an aside WOOO, MTMTE TPBs !) In fact there's a similarly coloured limited edition of this toy coming (sky type I think, see bellow)

Insect stands on it's brown legs fine - same plastic is used for the horn - the back 4 swing side to side, while the front pair have a limited ball joint. The Spark Crystal is atop the green body, and the link point for the weapon is in the top of the head. The weapons comes in 2 parts - a sword/gun barrel type bit and a Rhinoxesque gattling gun that spins. These join - gun barrel locks into the centre of the gattling - and form an alternate head and horn configuration for the toy. As a side not the gattling element might be what you want to complete your Rhinox allusion with Demolisher !

TF: Remove the gattling weapon and set aside. Bend the back two pairs of legs round to the back of the beetle to become the robot legs and feet. Pull these forward slightly then fold the halves of the beetle's back out to the sides to each to form the arms. Fold the arms down from the shoulders and twist the ends so the hand holes are the same side as the spark. Spin the Chest, spark & shoulder section round so the spark is now the same side as the yellow underbelly of the beast. Stand. Place weapons into the fist holes either separately or combined.

I'd be loosing an opportunity to use the word squat to describe the robot - he's nearly as wide as he is tall. Ball jointed hips, shoulders that go fore and aft and to the sides, rotating wrists and ball jointed hips complete the articulation - because of the TF the head is permanently facing the same way as the front of the legs, though the chest can turn to the sides. The spark crystal is now on chest. The forelegs from the beetle mode can be folded onto the shoulders to form cannons - it's obviously meant to be this way as they're molded like guns.

Me like.

This toy is sold in Japan as SD-16 Chrome Horn. In addition the Energon star, gattling weapon and sword are sold with SD-19 Nightscream Reverse in a yellowy green colour.

Chromehorn Forrest Type

This toy was numbered SD-18 in the Superlink series.

Chromehorn's recolour is very reminiscent of one of the old Deluxe Insecticons (Barrage ?) It's a little monochrome perhaps with the whole toy being the same pale green except for the previously yellow pieces which are a slight darker green. The Energon becomes Orange in contract to the yellow on the original.

Decent repaint - G1 homages always welcome !

Future Repaints

I'm sort of surprised not to see this in the black & purple of the original Insecticons !

[Philip Ayres]

Running out of Cybertron toys to talk about so be back to these soon !

[Philip Ayres]

Hotshot

Hotshot's car mode has a lot of rather nice features: clear plastic headlights,opening bonnet and opening doors. Move over Altonators ;-) Unfortunately the shape of the car doesn't look too special, and he's back to being yellow - when we left Hotshot in Armada he'd got a red G1 Hot Rod style paint job. He comes with an orange Energon missile launcher that attaches to the car.

To transform pull the back of the card down and fold out the feet, open the doors and straighten the arms out. Fold the front of the car down, open the bonnet, and fold out the engine to reveal the head.

The robot reveals a lot more colour - forearms, shoulders, waist, feet and head are a grey/blue - the head has the face painted grey with red highlights - while the rest of the arms, the chest and the upper legs are black - the chest includes his Autobot Spark crystal, on which an Energon Star (supplied with the basic toys) can be mounted. There's nice articulation on the robot with knees, thighs, hips, elbows - double bending which is always nice, and ball jointed shoulders - though the ball joint is angled down & forward from a fixed shoulder piece. His 5mm peg hole hands can hold the missile launcher or any of the other Energon weapons.

As a transforming robot toy Hotshot is nothing special but then again isn't anything horrible either. However there's more to this toy than just the robot - he's able to Powerlinx with other deluxe Autobot Energon toys. The way this works is that within the body of the toy there's a rectangular clip that is exposed with a little transformation. One clip can be locked into another to form a reasonably solid combination with one robot forming the body, head and arms which the other forms the legs.

To transform Hotshot into legs fold the arms up, hide the head in the bonnet and separate the robot's waist. The legs maintain all the articulation of the original robot's legs in this mode, but this mode does include all of the body - it's almost as if the second Transformer has formed an oversized Headmaster for him !

To Transform into body mode fold the arms up and close the doors over them, and pull the head through the bonnet so it's poking through the bottom. Fold the arms and doors out round the side of the folded down bonnet. Fold the legs down 180 degrees to the sides and adjust so the peg hole hands are facing forwards. Pull the head down and there you go. The robot's legs are quite articulated as arms - hands are provided via a 5mm peg hole on the side of the car - but they could do with a bicep joint and when you look at Hotshot's body you find that his spark crystal is now upside down !

The first two deluxe toys work well together in either combination - with either Hotshot or Inferno on top. I've tried combining them with the mega toys and they do connect - however you end up with something with too small legs, or a little body on huge legs. But they do connect.

From the first Energon was we get two Mega and two Deluxe toys giving eight possible combined robots so far and each new one adds more. Very pleased with this idea :-)

Hotshot was available in Superlink in Japan numbered SC-02 by himself and in giftset SS-01 with Inferno.

Energon Hotshot

If you'd been asked to put money on what the Hotshot repaint would be I'm sure that words similar to "Red like G1 Hot Rod" wouldn't have been too far away from your lips. But Energon takes a slightly different approach. The yellow becomes silver plastic - does Silver suffer from something similar to Gold Plastic Syndrome ? - the grey/blue becomes yellow and the black of the arms, hip joints, spoiler & feet becomes red. The silver works well on the car mode but I don't like the red stripes on it and feel the red & yellow plastic doesn't work so well in robot mode.

Hotshot Fire

Hotshot Fire is Superlink toy SC-23

The Superlink approach to the Hotshot repaint is so different we'll have to treat it as a separate toy to the Energon repaint. It's *much* better than I thought when I first saw it - The yellow becomes a duller, more grey silvery plastic, the grey/blue becomes a bright orange and the black of the arms, hip joints, spoiler & feet becomes a darker orange. The theme is similar but the colours are totally different !

As per all the deluxe and larger Japanese repaints, Hotshot Fire comes with some extras that weren't with the original version - in this case a bonus orange Energon Star and buzzsaw weapon from Signal Flare.

Nightbeat

Over the years several people has commented on the similarity between Hotshot's car mode and that used by Headmaster Nightbeat. So in 2008 the Transformers Collectors Club produced this exclusive repaint of Hotshot. The head is replaced by a new one modelled to resemble the original Nightbeat head. Yellow becomes blue, the blue/grey and the black of the arms, , hip joints, spoiler & feet become yellow with the black chest getting covered in paint and the clear orange of the gun becoming an uncoloured clear.

It's not the worst Nightbeat in the world and as an added bonus the head can be folded back into the bonnet on his back to give him the Headmaster body minus head look !

Possible Future Repaints

Three obvious repaints spring to mind here. The first and second are Hotshot ones - either in G1 Red or in a blue/grey/silver closer to that used on the Cybertron version to provide a continuity bridge. The second would be to take the Nightbeat version of the mould and repaint it in white & red as the Japanese Headmaster Medic Minerva.

[Philip Ayres]

Inferno

Inferno is, as tradition demands, a red fire engine, more of the spraying foam type than the ladder bearing type we're used to with this name. The foam cannon thing is in fact a rather lovely strong missile launcher - 1m-1.5m range, with the drum thing sticking out the back acting as a remote control for turning it. He's the only Energon toy I've seen so far that doesn't have a transparent Energon weapon.

Transform is simple, fold the legs down beneath the cab, the feet and heal spurs down, and the arms round the side. Raise the head, and open the visor halves. And that's it.

Robot is decent - lots of articulation: knees, rotation at thigh, hips, shoulders both round and out, elbows and rotation below the elbows. Cannon can be wrist mounted or held. Minicon pegs on the front of each shoulder, spark chip on his left shoulder.

For his Powerlinx form hiss Leg mode is formed by folding the back of the firetruck down and folding the feet out. A bit statue like in this mode with no articulation.

The Powerlinx body mode is formed from the robot by folding the legs up behind him as cannons and using the robot arms for the combined robot arms - he's the only Energon toy out of the first set whose body mode arms aren't his robot mode legs ! This mode is quite good, and although the cannons look odd to start you get used to them, though water cannons are appropriate on a fire engine toy.

It's quite neat and a fun toy.

Inferno was available in Superlink in Japan numbered SC-03 by himself and in SS-01 with Hotshot.

Roadblock "Grapple"

Ok It's Grapple. And top marks for Takara (The identical Japanese version came first) on what they've done on this toy.For this isn't just any random repaint, they've taken a so so toy, remoulded and repainted wisely and in the process produced a superb G1 homage.

In all cases for both robot, vehicle and combined mode consider this to be Inferno. Here's a list of the changes:

All red plastic is now moulded in an orangey yellow and the cab/chest has a silver wash on it bringing out a lot more detail.
All black plastic pieces are now moulded in brown - including the wheels.
All grey plastic pieces are moulded in dark blue.
All clear blue pieces are now clear red which obscures the Powerlinx connector more than the original does.

Remoulded pieces include:
* The bumper is a totally different shape and covered in brown and yellow safety stripes.
* The head is a completely different shape - the 2 wings are gone, replaced by a piece that lifts up to uncover the eyes in robot mode and with a totally different face.
* The flaps on the side of the vehicle are different - a hint of stabilisers in the new one.
* The water tank (which was a remote control for the water cannon) is now a control cabin and still is a remote.
* The water cannon is now a crane arm, with a hook on the end. Still a missile launcher, still has trigger on top, still detaches but
* The detached crane arm now has a peg that means it can be held as a rifle.

The toy is a lot more muted and far less plasticy looking than before. Works better aesthetically in both body and leg modes, though it clashes rather with both Hotshot and Inferno who I've tried it with so far.

Overall: Inferno's never going to be toy of the year, but this improves a moderate toy with better colours, a better weapon and a significant G1 homage. Takara should be applauded for the effort.

Roadblock was available in Japan as Superlink toy SC-21 named Inferno Volt.

Possible Repaints

There's not much you can do with these toys to repaint them - I suppose Inferno could become Artfire (white) or Hotspot (blue) - Hmmm this last option has potential especially if it was paired with a white & black police car repaint of Hotshot as Streetwise. The Grapple remould could be repainted in green as Hook but as yet there are no other Decepticons with the Powerlinx gimmick.

[Philip Ayres]

Rodimus

Hot Rod has been used as a homage/repaint/new character several times but the Energon range sees the first return of Rodimus Prime.

The Energon version of Rodimus is a 6 wheeled long nosed truck, more of the monster truck racing variety with a spoiler and jet engines out the back. He's coloured in the traditional Rodimus dark red, with gold flame detail and grey/black roof, wheel and spoiler supports. The spoiler would have matched the original more in yellow I suppose but...... Two jet boosters are located between the spoiler and truck bed, some nice detail on these. There's a Minicon port to one side of the spoiler on which can be mounted his gun. If it's pointing backwards it's central to the spoiler, and without the missile resembles the rocket booster. Now to me this form looks a better evolved Hot Rod than the camper van. I never liked the long nosed trucks on Optimus, much prefer the flat ones, and it never occurred to me that a long nosed truck would work for Rodimus

TF will not start unfamiliar to Combat Hero Op/Destructicon Scourge owners - open flaps at the front of the truck and bend the cab forward 180 degrees. Then it changes..... fold the grey portion on the roof fwd to form his feet, the heel spurs back and fold the side panels underneath the feet. Stand, and fold the back of the truck back an extra 90 degrees. Split the back of the truck in 2 and fold fwd to form the shoulders. Drop the booster jets to form the arms. Do the Depth Charge flip thing with boosters to form the hands. Fold the lower chest, and the head up onto his shoulder blades.

Robot Mode: Again, you look at Rodimus as a robot and it's clear who he is. Head is dead on. TF has exposed some Rodimus orange limb colour in all the right places including the hands. The wheels from the back of the truck are now on the shoulders, and he's got nice broad lower limbs which will contribute to the combined leg mode later. The arms have some spoiler kibble hanging off the back, but on the plus side you can reverse the hand flip to give him a flame thrower in his wrist. He's even got the collar present on previous Hot Rod/Rodimus toys built into his chest. Buckets of articulation: Knees, hips that bend too the sides as well as backwards & forwards, up and down and a little side to side at the shoulders which also swing back and ball jointed elbows. He's got no turning waist due to the combining gimmick. The clear orange Gun can be held in either hand or mounted on the Minicon port (under the arm). It's worth noting that when tried with my Armada Micron Legend Hotshot the gun lit up best off all the lightup weapons so far.

As with the previous Energon Autobot deluxe toys Hotshot can form half of a combined robot.

Leg Mode: fold the arms up and bend the upper body back. Good solid pair of legs with a bit of jet kibble hanging on the back. Looks excellent with Inferno and Hotshot, OK with Prowl who I don't like as a torso and arms.

Body Mode: as above, fold legs out to the side, open feet base, fold down so knees become hands. Fold head into position and flip small robot arms the other way up. Position small robot forearms/boosters as cannons for taste. There's very limited arm articulation with what you have got being confined to the shoulders. Hands are formed from a 5mm peg hole and moulded detail that's contained inside the front of the vehicle. He looks OK with Hotshot and Prowl, but very poor with Inferno, who makes him look pregnant.

Overall: lovely G1 homage and a big improvement on the original Hot Rod upgrade form wise. Good vehicle, good robot, good legs. Get it, best Energon Autobot deluxe in my opinion.

Rodimus was available in Japan as Superlink toy SC-10 Rodimus Convoy.

SWAT Team Ceckpoint

Rodimus becomes Checkpoint in the K-Mart exclusive SWAT Team 2 pack (not distributed in the UK) but in a white (for red), black (for grey) and grey (for orange) colour scheme with extra Autobot symbols and warning chevrons - the weapon is still cast in the original orange. Strangely Checkpoint's head - now complete with red crest - is now a perfect G1 Prowl ! Looks fabby, and reminiscent of the Brave Police J-Decker truck. I love the name too - maybe the perfect choice if the Diaclone Sunstreaker Police Car version ever gets an e-Hobby repaint ?

Combining the two SWAT Team members gives us a pair of robots.

I've never been a huge fan of Powerlinx Prowl - the version with Prowl on top - as the arms feel too long, but Rodimus as feet is as ever very good.

Powerlinx Checkpoint emphasises the G1 Prowl Look by adding the guns to either side of Prowl's head, though the rest of Checkpoint's half of the form is somewhat lacking in details. Prowl's legs look too spindly again....

Overall quite a nice set with a cohesive theme to the repaints and some G1/Brave homage thrown in.

Thunderclash

After a long absence the Rodimus mould returns at Botcon 2009 as Thunderclash a European & Japanese exclusive from 1992. Did you know that the word Thunderclash translated into Japanese is Ginrai (as in Powermaster Optimus Prime ?) For this version red becomes white, grey/black becomes black and orange becomes pale green with the clear orange of the launcher and missile becoming clear blue. The head is cast/painted in dark blue plastic with a gold face. A lot of red is used as highlighting on the vehicle mode especially on the bumper. It's an attempt to conjour the horror of the original Thunderclash colour scheme but fails, mainly because there's no clear pink visible here !

[Philip Ayres]

Prowl

It's Saturday 24th of Jan 1004 and my Energon Prowl is here. I got one off an EBay auction, it's loose but complete with all weapons and detailing. How the person I bought it off had 10 loose I'll never know.

Prowl is a race car, police sirens built into the rear spoiler. The car is quite square for a race car - 9 x 13 cm - and quite chunky, almost like a toddler's toy. The dominant colour is a dark blue, but a bit lighter than RID Super Prowl. The word police is stencilled on the car a few times, as is some Japanese text and a Powerlinx Cog all in silver. why a Race Car for Prowl - especially a blue one that's more suited as Mirage. It looks like it's meant to be Mirage and they've changed their minds at the last minute adding the lightbar panels to the spoiler. Prowl & Mirage do have an existing link though - Machine Wars Mirage (a race car) is repainted in white as Prowl so maybe that's where the idea comes from ? He's got a clear blue missile launcher which pegs into holes either side of his cockpit. It's meant to be standard size but it's a tight fit and to my eye the post looks a little wide and stumpy.

To TF to robot pull the sides away to form the arms - everything from backwards of the front wheels hinges back at the behind the rear wheels which become the shoulders - then fold the sides down at the axle of the rear wheel to form the arms. 90 degree outward turn halfway at each side to form the forearms and flip the hands out. Fold both halves of the cockpit cover fwd, pull the front of the car forward exposing the legs, bend the spoiler at the front forward to form the feet and fold back the heel spurs. Slide the rear spoiler forward a bit and flip the head up.

Our resulting robot is 15cm high by 10 across at the shoulders. Nice levels of articulation: arms raise at shoulders, lots of jointing at the elbow, wrists up and down, just below the hips and at the knees. There's also some sideways action at the hips and further up his body due to the PL action. Again quite chunky. Face looks a lot like the original Prowl, but with black horns instead of the metallic red. The head has 2 exhaust pipes sticking out the side, which can be removed. Fists have the standard size peg holes so he can hold all the Energon and Minicon weapons (including his Minicon namesake) - but see previous comments about the missile launcher on mine - and the 2 holes mentioned earlier are now mounted on the outside of his elbows. No Minicon ports on the toy.

Body Mode: (from robot) fold the feet down and heel spurs in to form the hands. Bend the head onto the back and reverse the direction it's facing. Fold the shoulders up behind the head. Fold the arms back up so they're as the sides again - the cardback has them as backpack/shoulder pad type things. Bend the legs back beneath the head, and fold up the revealed panel. Pull the chest piece 90 degrees forward, and then rotate 180 degrees around it's base, so it now covering the inside of the old robot's thighs. Position arms. This should give you a very nicely articulated body with all the arm movement you want. And slightly too long arms. So you could retract the forearms but that'll leave you with the elbow being only just below the shoulder, and this seems to be what the cardback indicates you should do. I don't have Rodimus at the time of writing - his intended partner - yet, but I can try him with Inferno and Hotshot. Inferno works OK as a pairing - there's an emergency vehicle theme here. Hotshot gives you more articulation on the legs - see the Energon Inferno review for why - but makes the combined body look a tad too tall.

Leg Mode: (from robot)fold the head back on it's hinge so it's sticking back and up from the head. Fold the shoulders up over where the head is, fold the arms up so they're the sides of the car and position to taste. Fold the legs back from where they are attached to the body and stand. Fold the panel on the waist down and position the chest plate - it can either be a chest plate or a loin cloth to taste. This gives you a good pair of legs with again plenty of articulation. With Hotshot he looks tall and a bit spindly. Inferno makes him look even taller, and is slightly out of proportion with the arms. I tried Prowl with the Mega toys but couldn't get a combination I liked, with the addition of the extensions on Prowl's legs collapsing under the weight of Ironhide.

Overall: Nice chunky dlx figure by himself, and a good addition to the dlx size combiners. But not really Prowl - the name would work better on a Hot Shot recolour.

Prowl was available in Japan as Superlink toy SC-11 Red Alert.

SWAT Team Prowl

For the SWAT team version Prowl has exchanged his standard Blue for Black and gained some extra detailing on the spoiler at the front. Other than that very much the same as before including keeping his weapons in their original Energon colours.

I've never been a huge fan of PL Prowl as the arms feel too long, but Rodimus as feet is as ever very good. Powerlinx Checkpoint emphasises the G1 Prowl Look by adding the guns to either side of Prowl's head, though the rest of Checkpoint's half of the form is somewhat lacking in details. Prowl's legs look too spindly again....

Overall quite a nice set with a theme to the repaints ad some G1/Brave hommage thrown in.

Prowl was one half of the K-Mart exclusive SWAT Team set with Checkpoint. This set wasn't sold in the UK