Phil's Micromaster Six-Team Reviews

[Philip Ayres]

One of the reasons I started redoing my reviews for older toys was I thought my Six Team reviews weren't up to scratch. Finally I get to them.

There will be some repeated info as we go through these so.... I'm going to do each piece and then the combined form.

And hopefully in here we'll get to repost a classic review on the subject of the Sixteams that I found while researching these, just waiting for the owners permission.

So to start with.....

[Philip Ayres]

Battlestars D-Go

This Micromaster train is the steam engine. There's some confusion as to what he'd called - TFU.info says Dego, tfwiki.net says D-Go but it would make sense to be Diego to justify the recolour's name. I'm going with D-Go for reasons outlined here.

D-Go was available only in Japan in in 1991 as part of the C-370 Sixliner giftset. His rear connector is a peg - meaning he can link to any of the three trains with a loop on the end or to tow Sixliner's left foot on which can be mounted either the Gripper probe *or* the Wingard vehicle - see the Sixliner review for details. There's a small peg hole on the roof on which can be mounted the Giga-Techvolt weapon - the waist & upper legs of Sixliner - and D-Go is the best member of the team to use it. D-|Go is the only member of the Sixliner team with black wheels.

TF: bend the back of the engine down 90 degrees. Stand. Fold the arms out.

Robot mode reveals and orange body and grey legs with the traditional Micromaster articulation of turning shoulders and joined bending hips & knees. like all Micromasters he has a peg hole on his base but this one doesn't seem to fit on most Micromaster pegs so well.

D-Go's place in the combined Sixliner is as the unfortunate Micromaster that pegs onto the robot's bottom - from robot mode fold the lower legs forward and pegs onto the back of the lower legs once they're attached to the upper body. Unlike the later Micromaster combiner's bottom pieces D-Go actually does play a role in the combined robot helping to secure the chest to the waist.

Operation Combination San D-Go

See if the original mould of this toy was called Diego then this would be San Diego - clever eh ? San D-Go was part of the mostly repaint Sixtrain set sold as Operation Combination set TF-05. Black stays the same, grey becomes blue and orange becomes grey.

Micromaster Collection D-Go

D-Go was reissued in 2002 as toy #1 in the Micromaster collection where he was packed with Sixliner's head & gun - to my mind he'd be better packed with Sixliner's waist & upper legs as he can use them as a weapon. Almost identical to the original this version simplifies & coverts D-Go's stickers to paint operations and adds an Autobot symbol to his roof.

Micromaster Collection San D-Go

The Micromaster Collection re-release of Sixtrain makes alterations to the colours used on the toys - on San D-Go the black becomes gold giving him a different look to his previous appearances.

San D-Go was release number 4 in the Sixtrain Micromaster collection and came with Sixtrain's head & gun.

Red Mode San D-Go

The Micromaster Collection chase variant of San D-Go matches all the other toys in the Sixtrain team by rendering the entire toy in red plastic - see the Sixtrain review for why.

Overload

San D-Go becomes Overload in the Universe release of the Trainbots where he finally gets the Upper legs & waist packed with him to use as a weapon.

One of the other Trainbots gets the name Tankor - I think Overload should have been Tankor - a Tank Engine is a steam engine (even though San D-Go is a tender engine minus the tender !). A blue recolour may have been good too to really set the name.

[Philip Ayres]

Battlestars Alan

Alan was sold in Japan in 1991 as part of the C-370 Sixliner giftset. He's an orange & grey TGV - Train à Grande Vitesse, French for 'high-speed train'. He's one of the three Micromaster trains in this set to come with a loop connector that can fold down from his rear - the other three trains have a peg which allows the six trains to be connected into three pairs of trains. This can be also used to tow Sixliner's right foot on which can be mounted either the Gripper probe *or* the Wingard vehicle - see the Sixliner review for details. There's a small peg hole on the roof on which can be mounted the Giga-Techvolt weapon - the waist & upper legs of Sixliner - but this doesn't sit too well with Alan and is much better used with Diego the stem engine.

TF: Fold the connector in, fold the back of the train down 180 degrees to form the legs - you may need to tilt the back down slightly to do this - then raise the arms at the shoulders.

Robot mode gives Alan a hoodie formed from the nose of the train. Articulation is typical for a Micromaster - turning shoulders & hips with joined bending knees, Like all Micromasters he has a peg hole in his base allowing him to use the stands on the playsets and vehicles. The hoodie can be lowered over his head giving him an oversized train helmet.

Alan normally forms Sixliner's right arm - Transform him into robot mode then lower the front of the train down over his face and head. On the other end of the train front is a 5mm peg hole allowing him to be connected to Sixliner's (or any other Micromaster Six Combiner's) shoulder joint. Into the bottom of the robot's feet slide in Sixliner's fist - Alan will hold either fist which means he can be used as either arm. However he has to use the fists for Sixliner (or it's Sixtrain repaint) as the fists vary in the moulding of the connector from one six team to the next.

Operation Combination Atlan

Atlan is a a repaint of Alan issued the following year, 1992, as part of the Operation Combination Line. Atlan came in the Sixtrain set numbered TF-05. Atlan is a simple paint swap with orange becoming grey while grey & black become blue and red remains red.

Micromaster Collection Alan

Reissue Alan is almost identical to the original - the decals are now painted on and he gains an extra red Autobot symbol on his roof. Alan is numbered 2 in the Sixliner Micromaster collection and comes with the "Mega Techvolt" weapon (Sixliner's legs) - surely the right hand and gun would be more appropriate ?

Reissue Alan was sold in Japan in 2002, was imported into the UK and sold through a number of locations including the Virgin Megastores.

None of the Sixliner team have alternate chase colour schemes in the Micromaster collection - these were introduced for the Sixturbo team.

Micromaster Collection Atlan

Micromaster collection Atlan is a reissue of Atlan with the stickers printed onto the toy. He was numbered 2 in the Sixtrain series and came with Sixtrain's legs.

Red Mode Atlan

Like the other three 1992 Six teams, the Sixtrain team gets an alternate chase colour scheme for their Micromaster collection release. One or two toys per box of 12 came in this alternate colour scheme in this case colouring the toys all red. Red Mode Atlan comes with the same Sixtrain pieces as Atlan, but coloured red.

Tankor

Tankor is a western release of Micromaster Collection Atlan, this time packaged with Sixtrain's head & gun. Initially a US KB Toys Universe exlcusive he was later sold in Europe & the UK under the Energon banner.

[Philip Ayres]

Battlestars Spark

Spark was was sold in Japan in 1991 as part of the C-370 Sixliner giftset. He's a Tokaido 100 line bullet train - mainly cast in white - with a loop connector that can fold down from his rear. He's one of the three Micromaster trains in this set to have one - the other three trains have a peg which allows the six trains to be connected into three pairs of trains. This can be also used to tow Sixliner's right foot on which can be mounted either the Gripper probe *or* the Wingard vehicle - see the Sixliner review for details. The top of Spark's train is open and his head can be folded up through it - however he will be facing backwards when you do. I don't like Transformers where you have to see the head in vehicle mode (Energon Ironhide) but ones where you can fold the head up as an option are quite fun.

To TF look at the roof of the train. Fold the nose down, then fold the head up and the arms out.

Like all the other members of the Sixliner team he's got the standard Micromaster articulation of turning shoulders & hips with joined bending knees, and a peg hole in his base allowing him to use the stands on the playsets and vehicles. There's a pretty good colour balance to the robot too with the white of the lower legs & arms working well with the black of the upper legs & body and red of the head.

Spark's combined mode forms the chest of Sixliner - from robot mode bend the arms up, bend the legs forward at the knee and fold the arms down. Then push Spark backwards into the chest/wingard so he locks in place with the nose pointing forwards. The combined robot head mounts on Spark's head.

Operation Combination Desire

When Spark, now called Desire, returned in Operation Combination all of his white parts had been extensively remoulded so that he's now a Hokkaido Bullet Train - similar but not identical to his earlier moulding. While the white is remoulded but remains white, the black becomes red and the white becomes yellow leading to a set of colours that don't go together so comfortably.

Spark was available in Japan in 1992, as part of the Sixtrain giftset numbered TF-05 in the Operation Combination toyline.

Micromaster Collection Spark

For Spark's Micromaster collection re-release he reverts back to his earlier moulding and colours, but with his stickers simplified and rendered as paint operations.

Spark is numbered 3 in the Sixliner Micromaster Collection and inexplicably comes with Sixliner's left foot when all common sense says he should have been packaged with the chest piece.

Micromaster Collection Desire

Desire's Micromaster Collection re-release recolours the modified version of the mould. White stays the same, yellow reverts to red and the red (was black on Spark) becomes blue giving a much more satisfying colour set closer to the original used for Spark.

Desire is numbered 1 in the Sixtrain Micromaster collection and comes with Sixtrain's right foot.

Red Mode Desire

Like the other three 1992 Six teams, the Sixtrain team gets an alternate chase colour scheme for their Micromaster collection release. One or two toys per box of 12 came in this alternate colour scheme in this case colouring the toys all red. Red Mode Desire comes with the same Sixtrain pieces as Desire, but coloured red.

Railspike

Railspike is the Universe release of Desire, identical apart from him being packaged (FINALLY) with the chest for the combined robot, now renamed Rail Racer.

[Philip Ayres]

Battlestars Leaf

Leaf was sold in Japan in 1991 as part of the C-370 Sixliner giftset. He's an white Tohoku bullet train. His rear connector is a peg - meaning he can link to any of the three trains with a loop on the end or to tow Sixliner's left foot on which can be mounted either the Gripper probe *or* the Wingard vehicle - see the Sixliner review for details. Leaf forms the left arm of Sixliner - interestingly the right arm, Alan, is a hoop linked train so one of the ones Leaf can be connected to.

TF: Fold the connector in, fold the back of the train down 180 degrees to form the legs - you may need to tilt the back down slightly to do this - then raise the arms at the shoulders.

Robot mode gives Leaf a hoodie formed from the nose of the train. The revealed body & head are red, with black upper legs, and grey arms painted on the outside to match the white plastic. Articulation is typical for a Micromaster - turning shoulders & hips with joined bending knees, Like all Micromasters he has a peg hole in his base allowing him to use the stands on the playsets and vehicles. The hoodie can be lowered over his head giving him an oversized train helmet.

Leaf normally forms Sixliner's left arm - Transform him into robot mode then lower the front of the train down over his face and head. On the other end of the train front is a 5mm peg hole allowing him to be connected to Sixliner's (or any other Micromaster Six Combiner's) shoulder joint. Into the bottom of the robot's feet slide in Sixliner's fist - Alan will hold either fist which means he can be used as either arm. However he has to use the fists for Sixliner (or it's Sixtrain repaint) as the fists vary in the moulding of the connector from one six team to the next.

Operation Combination Raise

Leaf is rechristened Raise for his 1992 release in the TF-05 Sixtrain set in Operation Combination. Like the other two parts of Sixliner with constructed out of mainly white parts he gets a substantial remould to his bodywork rendering him as a different model of train though I've not been able to find out what ! The red on him is repainted yellow while the grey is now coloured blue.

Micromaster Collection Leaf

The original mould version of Leaf was reissued in 2002 as part of the Sixliner Micromaster collection where he was numbered 4 and came with Sixliner left foot - he's Sixliner's left arm, why didn't he have the left fist ?

Micromaster Collection Raise

The following year the Raise version of the mould is reissued, again with the combined robot's left foot, as toy number 3 in the Sixtrain Micromaster collection. This time the orange is repainted back to red while the blue & black both become dark blue.

Red Mode Raise

Like the other three 1992 Six teams, the Sixtrain team gets an alternate chase colour scheme for their Micromaster collection release. One or two toys per box of 12 came in this alternate colour scheme in this case colouring the toys all red. Red Mode Raise comes with the same Sixtrain pieces as Raise, but coloured red.

Rapid Run

Raise was sold as a KB Exclusive Universe toy in 2005 which was later sold as an Cybertron toy in the UK. He was rechristened Rapid Run after the Robots In Disguise train. This time he comes with both left & right fists.

[Philip Ayres]

Battlestars Joe

Joe was sold in Japan in 1991 as part of the C-370 Sixliner giftset. He's a white Super Hitachi train which comes with a loop connector at the rear allowing him to pull any of the three peg connector trains in the Sixliner set (including Night - who forms the left leg to Joe's right) He can also tow the left foot for his combined leg mode using the peg at the back of that and on this can be mounted either the Gripper probe *or* the Wingard vehicle - see the Sixliner review for details.

TF: Turn the toy upside down to reveal the head, body & arms. Fold the back down to form the legs.

Joe's robot mode continues to be mainly white with red upper legs but he's got a great moulded head with huge Wheeljack style ears with missiles mounted through them. Like all the other members of the Sixliner team he's got the standard Micromaster articulation of turning shoulders & hips with joined bending knees, and a peg hole in his base allowing him to use the stands on the playsets and vehicles.

To transform Joe into his part in Sixliner's combined robot mode you need to start with him in train mode. Fold down the black clip in his nose and the loop connector at the rear. The loop connector fits into a slot on the top of Sixliner's right foot - it doesn't fit the left foot so you can't swap Joe & Night around like you can for Alan & Leaf with the arms. The clip at what is now the top of the leg locks into the upper legs & waist piece on the right - it will lock on either side but you don't want the feet backwards do you ?

I feel more charitable to Joe than most of the Sixliner team - the head gives him character.

Micromaster Collection Joe

Joe was reissued in 2002 as part of the Sixliner Micromaster collection. He was numbered 5 and came with both of Sixliner's fists - why ? It would make sense for him to have the left foot and he could tow it !

Sixtrain Joe

Joe does not appear in the Sixtrain set. His place is taken by Windy, a substantially different shaped Transformer. The only part they have in common is the loop connector at the back and it's upside down on Windy !

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Windy

Windy is a new mould toy for the Sixtrain set which was numbered TF-05 in the Operation Combination toyline. She - and I'm assured she is a she - transforms into a Yamagata "Tsubasa" bullet train mainly cast in grey plastic. She replaces Joe from the Sixtrain set, serving the same function as him as the combined robot's right leg. Joe and Windy do share one part - they have the same loop ended connection hitch allowing Windy to link to any of the three trains have a peg connector - allowing the six trains to be connected into three pairs of trains. This can be also used to tow Sixtrain's right foot on which can be mounted Sixtrain's equivalent of either the Gripper probe *or* the Wingard vehicle - see the Sixliner review for details

TF is the same as her anticendant Joe: Turn the toy upside down to reveal the head, body & arms. Fold the back down to form the legs.

Windy (again like Joe) has a distinctive head piece reminiscent of Pirranicon's combined mode head. Her body is green and she comes with yellow wheels. Like all the other members of the Sixtrain team she's got the standard Micromaster articulation of turning shoulders & hips with joined bending knees, and a peg hole in his base allowing her to use the stands on the playsets and vehicles.

To transform Windy into her part in Sixtrain's combined robot mode you need to start with her in train mode. Fold up her nose and fold down the loop connector at the rear. The loop connector fits into a slot on the top of Sixtrain's right foot - it doesn't fit the left foot so you can't swap Windy & Convertor around like you can for Atlan & Raise with the arms. The exposed hole in the nose locks into the upper legs & waist piece on the right - it will lock on either side but you don't want the feet backwards do you ?

Windy's an interesting toy - strange they should go to the effort of constructing a completely new limb for Sixtrain !

Micromaster Collection Windy

Windy is re-released in 2003 as part of the Sixtrain Micromaster collection. Like Joe she comes with both of the combined robot's fists and is numbered 5. Like all the other Sixtrain parts she's repainted with the grey becoming more metallic, the red of the connector and combined parts becoming blue while the robot's parts become grey.

Red Mode Windy

Like the other three 1992 Six teams, the Sixtrain team gets an alternate chase colour scheme for their Micromaster collection release. One or two toys per box of 12 came in this alternate colour scheme in this case colouring the toys all red. Red Mode Windy comes with the same Sixtrain pieces as Windy, but coloured red.

Midnightexpress

Micromaster Collection Windy was sold in the Universe line as a KB Exclusive named Midnight Express, after one of the Robots In Disguise trains. This time the toy is packaged much more sensibly with the combined form's right foot.

[Philip Ayres]

Battlestars Night

Night is a EF66 engine which a different shape to all the other modern engines in the set. He's got windows at both ends - like make British railway engine. The train is moulded in blue plastic - the only used of this colour in the Sixliner team and he has a peg connector at the rear that can be used to tow either one of the 3 loop connector trains in this set or Sixliner's left foot (appropriately considering he's Sixliner's left left leg in combined mode) on which can be mounted either the Gripper probe *or* the Wingard vehicle - see the Sixliner review for details.

TF: Turn the toy upside down to reveal the head, body & arms. Fold the back down to form the legs. So exactly the same as Joe's allowing me to copy & paste what I wrote there !

Night's robot mode uses the orange of Alan and the Wingard booster for it's legs while the body & head are the same grey plastic used for Alan & Leaf's arms and D-Go's legs. The head - while distinctive - isn't as memorable as Joe's. Like all the other members of the Sixliner team he's got the standard Micromaster articulation of turning shoulders & hips with joined bending knees, and a peg hole in his base allowing him to use the stands on the playsets and vehicles.

To transform Night into his part in Sixliner's combined robot mode you need to start with him in train mode. Fold down the black clip in his nose and the peg connector at the rear. The peg connector fits into a slot on the top of Sixliner's left foot - it doesn't fit the right foot so you can't swap Joe & Night around like you can for Alan & Leaf with the arms. The clip at what is now the top of the leg locks into the upper legs & waist piece on the left side - it will lock on either side but you don't want the feet backwards do you ? (yeah more copy & paste)

Night unfortunately looks a little out of place in Sixliner's combined robot mode due to his blocky shape and distinctive colour. The blue used here works better with the repainted version of Sixtrain.

Operation Combination Convertor

Night is repainted into Convertor as part of the TF-05 Sixtrain set released in Operation Combination during 1992. Green becomes a dark red, just clashing with the red of the combined pieces, orange becomes grey, grey becomes blue and the red of the wheels becomes yellow.

I prefer the original to this bright and garish release.

Micromaster Collection Night

Night was reissued in his original colours in 2002 as part of the Sixliner Micromaster Collection. He was numbered 6 and came with Sixliner's chest which is of no use to him - surely the left foot would have been better ?

Micromaster Collection Convertor

Convertor was re-released the following year (2003) in the Sixtrain Micromaster collection. The dominant colours in this set are white, grey and blue so what colour did they make Convertor to blend in nicely with the rest ? Green ! His robot body is now dark blue with red wheels and grey legs. As I mention above the original Night bodychell colour would produce a more cohesively coloured Sixtrain combiner. Convertor is also numbered 6 in his collection and likewise comes with the combined robot's chest.

Red Mode Convertor

Like the other three 1992 Six teams, the Sixtrain team gets an alternate chase colour scheme for their Micromaster collection release. One or two toys per box of 12 came in this alternate colour scheme in this case colouring the toys all red. Red Mode Convertor comes with the same Sixtrain pieces as Convertor, but coloured red.

Swindle

When Convertor was released in the Universe line he was renamed Swindle - why ? am attempt to hold copyright on the name ? - and came with the left foot for the combined robot.

[Philip Ayres]

Battlestars Sixliner

Sixliner isn't the first train combiner - that honour lies with the Japanese released Raiden but he is the first Micromaster combining robot. Sixliner was first sold in a Japan in 1991 as a giftset that contained the six members of the Liner team:

D-Go (Diego ? - the English is unsure)
Alan
Spark
Leaf
Joe
Night

Also included are a number of additional parts used in the Sixliner combined robot - a Head, a left & right fist, a a left & right foot, a body piece & uppperlegs and waist. Sixliner - like Grandus - does not possess a Micromaster trailer like all the other Japanese Micromaster releases this year.

The Sixliner pieces do no combine in the same way as the parts for the three new 1992 combiners do. Instead they attach to the trains as carriages. The right foot has a peg in it's rear allowing it to be towed by one of the three trains with a hook while the left foot has a hook allowing it to be towed by one of the three trains with a peg. Onto these can be placed either the Gripper probe - made from taking Sixliner's gun with the fists on either side & the head on the back *or* the Wingard vehicle - the body piece for Sixliner. The Giga-Techvolt weapon formed from Sixliner's robot waist & legs can be comfortably mounted on D-Go, but will with some manipulation work with a couple of the other toys.

To form Sixliner each of the individual Micromasters must be transformed: Alan & Leaf need to be transformed to robot mode, then have their hoodies folded down over their chests. A hand slides into the base of the figure's legs (traditionally Alan gets the right fist but it doesn't matter). Fold down the clips at the front of Joe & Night. Insert the back of each train into one of Six Train's feet. Joe gets the right foot with Night taking the left, they have to be this way round due to the feet having different shaped connectors on them. Take Spark in robot mode, bend the arms up, bend the legs forward at the knee and fold the arms down. Then push Spark backwards into the chest/Wingard Booster so he locks in place with the nose pointing forwards. Plug the waist & legs into the bottom of the chest. Stand D-Go on the back of the legs - locking the chest piece in - and fold him up behind Spark. Attach Alan & Leaf as the arms to the 5mm pegs on the shoulders of the body piece, then Joe & Night as the legs onto the clips at the end of the upper legs. The super robot head then goes over Spark's head like a helmet - similar to the Scramble City / Special Team combiners and Ultra Magnus's super mode. The difference here is that Spark faces backwards (like Leozack in LioKaiser) Place the gun in Sixliner's right hand.

Like many Transformers of the time Sixliner is a little lacking in the articulation stakes compared to modern Transformers, but he does better than most. The head turns as do the shoulders. The arms can bend out to the sides and have two bending joints in the middle allowing them to both clear the wings on the chestplate and fold round them. The hands each have a 5mm peg hole which allow them to hold many other Transformers weapons. Sixliner is a bit of a mishmash of colours - lots of white and black but the orange on the chest and just one shoulder looks a little lopsided while the red used for the head - very decent combined robot head - doesn't appear elsewhere on the toy.

Operation Combination Sixtrain

Sixliner returns the following year as Sixtrain which was numbered TF-05 in the Operation Combination toy line. He's basically a recolour but different enough to make you want him. The exception is Windy, a new mould introduced to this set while the other 5 toys in the set are renamed:

D-Go becomes San D-Go (or possibly San Diego)
Alan becomes Atlan
Spark becomes Desire
Leaf becomes Raise
Night becomes Convertor
Joe is replaced by Windy a largely new mould

As a basic guide Orange becomes grey, grey becomes bright blue and dark blue (which is found only on Night) becomes red. Black *mainly* becomes dark red, the exception being the black used for D-Go which stays black. All the red becomes orange , but the combined robot head & the legs for Windy are new and made of dark grey plastic. Finally all the white pieces are extensively remoulded with those used for Windy's body now being cast in the same dark grey used for the combined robot head. If Sixliner was odd then Sixtrain is a complete train crash in the colour dept with two different conflicting reds and the blue all working against each other. The only plus point is the new head colour works better.

This colouration is only available on the 1992 release, the Micromaster collection version is recoloured.

Micromaster Collection Sixliner

Sixliner's second release as Sixliner came in 2002 when he was re-released to complement the forthcoming Micron Legend line - I suppose the thought was we're going to do new small TFs let's re-release some old ones. This time Sixliner was released as it's individual parts - six micromasters plus a weapon/body part. There were two sets of six evenly distributed in each box of twelve with no alternately coloured or chase pieces. These boxes were numbered as follows:

1 D-G - Sixliner head & gun
2 Alan - Giga-Techvolt/Sixliner's upper legs & waist
3 Spark - Sixliner right foot
4 Leaf - Sixliner left foot
5 Joe - Sixliner right & left fists
6 Night - Sixliner chest

Some of these allocations are odd to say the least. D-Go should have got the waist/legs, Spark the chest, Alan & Leaf getting the right & left fists respectively with Alan also getting the gun and Leaf the head (I'd like to give it to Spark but the chest is large) and Joe & Night getting the right & left fists.

As well as having no chase variant there is no western release/recolour of Sixliner. However some stock was imported into the UK and sold to chains like the Virgin Megastore.

Micromaster Collection Sixtrain

Sixtrain was the fifth & final release in the Micromaster collection series. By this time changes to the base colours of the toys were being made as well as the insertion of differently coloured chase pieces in the cases of 12. You'd still be able to make two complete Sixtrains, it's just that one or two pieces would be a different colour. The pieces in this set are as listed as follows with their Sixliner name and the identity of which part came with them:

1 Desire (Spark) - Sixtrain's right foot
2 Atlan (Alan) - Sixtrain's legs
3 Raise (Leaf) - Sixtrain's left foot
4 San D-Go (D-Go) - Sixtrain's head & gun
5 Windy (Joe) - Sixtrain's right & left fists
6 Convertor (Night) - Sxitrain's chest

As you can see each mould retains the part it had for the Sixliner Micromaster Collection reissue, even if they don't have the same number - that would have been a nice touch, especially if it had been maintained over all five releases (1 is always the left arm, 2 if the body etc)

There's some repainting fun on this set: The grey of the original Sixtrain (was orange on Sixliner) becomes more metallic, the bright blue (was grey) becomes darker, the red of the combined parts (which were black) and the waist piece (which still was black on Sixtrain) becomes dark blue, the red of Night (was blue) now is green and the orange becomes red.

Overall this results in a more cohesive white, blue and grey colour scheme which is more subdued than the one for the previous release. However the colours on the opposite arms & legs still clash a bit and Convertor's green really stands out unfortunately emphasising his difference of shape compared to the other components. The blue for the hands and feet works much better than the red ! A little more tinkering would have produced a completely colour coordinated combiner which would have looked really nice.

[Philip Ayres]

< Looks at text and swears very loudly > Arse. Somehow managed to loose the last two sections of that review. Poo. Give me a few mins....

[Philip Ayres]

And thanks to a saved version on a different machine:

Sixtrain Red Mode

Sixtrain's chase version (packed at slightly less than 2 pieces per case of 12) is a red repaint, I presume in slight homage to the red used on the original that's been eliminated but possibly also as a pointer to the Transformers cartoon episodes The Return of Optimus Prime where various transformers are infected with a hate plague that turns them red.

Railracer

The standard coloured Micromaster collection Sixtrain was later issued in the USA as a Universe toy and in the UK & Europe as either Energon or Cybertron. For the Western release of the combining Micromasters they were renamed after existing combined robots & their componenets. Since the only existing western train combiner has just 3 robots go into it's construction, extra names are drafted in. When you order the names according to the Japanese release numberes you find it alternates between a Robots In Disguise name and a new name which appeals to the Mathematician in me. Sad isn't it ?

The Universe versions of the individual robots are packaged with different combined ropbot parts to their Japanese counterparts making it annoyingly hard to complete a Japanese Sixliner using pieces meant for a western Railracer !

1 Railspike (Desire) - Chest
2 Tankor (Atlan) - Head & Gun
3 Rapid Run (Raise) - Left & right fists
4 Overload (San D-Go) - Upper legs & waist
5 Midnight Express (Windy) - Right foot
6 Swindle (Convertor) - Left foot

Essentially when combined Micromaster Collection Sixwing and Universe Railracer are the same toy.

[Philip Ayres]

he said yes !


REVIEW : SINK THE SIXLINER!
Written By Ralph Burns.

Yes, months behind everyone else, I present a thrilling review of...Sixliner!

And so it came to pass that earlier today I went into FP to see if they had any Armada toys in yet whence I spied loads of another new tf stuff. Pvc act 7! Star Saber mega pvc! Those wacky sixliner micromaster guys!

No Armada though. Oh well.

I gazed upon Star Saber. I wanted him. I wanted him bad. I could hear him saying "Buy me!" and "Dezsaurus, you swine!" He gazed at me with pvc gleefulness. However, beside him were the sixliner guys. They turn into trains, which meant that of course I had to buy them instead. I have a thing for robot trains. I have no idea why. It would certainly make travelling via Virgin Trains more enjoyable.

At this point one of the FP People pointed out that the boxes had holes through which you could see numbers. "Thanks," I replied, "That makes it much cheaper to collect them all if you know who you're going to get", at which point his face fell. No doubt next time I'm in all the holes will be taped up.

'They're overpriced! They're overpriced!' warned the part of my brain that looks after the important decisions like leaving money for silly things like food but I hit it and it went away. So I bought them, ignoring Star Saber's taunts from the top shelf.

OK : they're trains. They turn into robots. They're great. I have no idea what these little guys are called so I made up some names.

Number One : 'Thomas'.

Thomas is a black steam train. Yes, a steam train. Like in olden days. No-one will spot that disguise. No matter, because it's a nice mode and has reasonable detail for such a little guy.

Number Two : 'Bob'.

Bob seems to be some kind of bullet train. Alas, the big hole in his roof spoils him somewhat, making him the weakest looking train. However, he's got the best robot mode with a bit more posability and lack of hood (they should be called the hoodbots).

Number Three : 'John Crichton'

He has TGV written in large friendly letters on the side so he's one of those. He's my favourite train with oddles of character. He seems a bit haunted though. As if he's on the run from an insane military commander or something.

Number Four : 'Philias Fog'

Philias has a nice line in green. There aren't enough green transformers. If only he had more green he'd be even better. Yes.

Number Five : 'Buck Rogers'

A fururistic looking train. In robot mode he has big feet. He reminds me of a walking bucket for some unfathomable reason.

Number Six : 'Patrick Mc.Goohan'

It's a blue thingy. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a tram. Which end is the front? I don't know. Lots of blue though. Enigmatic. In robot mode looks like he wants to thump lots of table-tops. Yeah!

What is really nifty about this set though is that they combine, which is just a neat gimmick for such small toys. I tried to follow the instructions for how to combine them but this just resulted in lots of swearing. I found it much easier to just ignore the instructions and guess. I got him together pretty quickly. The combined felow has a big gun and Dynasty style shoulderpads. Alas, poor Thomas is a bit of a spare wheel and clamps lamely on the back as if he's humping it. Maybe it's lonely being a robot train. Or perhaps he's a rocket pack. If you bend him back you can pretend the big guy has a tail. The face is good. He has a sort of "Don't f*** with me!" stare.

Now is the big guy called 'Sixliner'? Hmmm, doesn't go. Reminds me of sailing ships, not fabby robot trains. Therefore, I shall call him : 'Lucy'. Yeah, that fits.

Overall, a really nifty set. I paid more than I think it's worth in fp (£6 for each train) but if you can get it cheaper than that it's definitely worth getting.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm sending Lucy off to Kick RID Magnus' ass!

[Benn]

Hey, I've got Patrick somewhere! Now he has a name... aw, a happy ending at last!

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Road-Police

Road Police is the team leader for the Sixturbo team and also forms the chest of the combined robot - quite right too: Sixliner's leader was the combined part that formed the robot's bottom !

As the name Road Police strongly implies his vehicle mode is a police car - mainly white with a black stripe round the bottom and a pair of moulded red lightbars on the top. A red Autobot symbol sits on the bonnet.

Transformation is typical Micromaster car: fold the back of the car back to become the legs then fold the bonnet back, stand up and bend the arms at the shoulders. The caveat here - as with his team mate Neo-Wheel - is that the bonnet doesn't fold from the neck onto the back, here it fold down from the waist almost as a skirt/cloak behind him.

While Road Police's arms & lower legs retain the white of the car the body becomes the same dark blue as Sixturbo's combined pieces with the waist & face painted in orange. In a lovely bit of sculpting which gives the toy real character the head is moulded with a Police Man's cap on it - see also Discharge for a similar master-stroke ! This extra personality raises Road Police above most of the other Micromaster cars.

As I've said Road Police forms the chest of Sixturbo: take Road Police's vehicle mode and fold the back of the vehicle back to form Road Police's robot legs. Fold the legs up 90 degrees at the hips. Peg Road Police into the chest cavity inside the body piece.

Road Police was only available in Japan in 1992's Operation Combination TF-03 Sixturbo giftset.

Micromaster Collection Road-Police

Road Police was re-released in 2002 as toy 1 in the Sixturbo Micromaster collection where he was packed with Sixturbo's head & chest.

The major changes to this toy can be found in robot mode - gone is the orange paint replaced by a much more fetching silver on the face, chest & midrift with a black painted waist. The blue of the robot is a shade lighter too matching the changes made to the head (perhaps they're gang moulded together ?)

It's a subtle change but it makes Micromaster Collection Road Police a better toy than the original.

Micromaster Collection Reverse Evolution Road Police

Reverse Evolution Road Police is a classic "paint black & make it evil" repaint with all the colours of this toy rendered in black including the head & chest of Reverse Evolution Sixturbo. A silver Decepticon symbol replaces the Autobot symbol on the bonnet. For every box of 12 Sixturbo team members - two complete sets of Sixturbo - two toys in one set would be painted black. So on average there would be one Reverse Evolution Road Police in every three boxes.

Prowl

The western Universe release of Sixturbo renames the combined robot Defensor and generally uses the Protectot names for the components. So how did the Police Car end up being called Prowl instead of Streetwise ? (The Streetwise name then gets used for the Racing Car which if you're looking for a G1 name should have been Mirage !). Deary me. For more confusion of this nature see the Neo-Wheel & Discharge reviews and scroll down to the Universe sections there.

"Prowl" comes with the same parts as Micromaster Collection Road Police - the combined robot's chest & head.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Glide

Glide has a unique vehicle mode for a Micromaster - he's a Motorbike. In fact you can count the number of Transformer Motorbikes that turn into Robots released up till this point on one hand - Groove, Afterburner, Override, Pretender Iguanus & Vroom. (Two more are ridden by Action Masters: Prowl & Axer) Glide's a vaguely Harley Davidson type motorcycle, probably inspired by Groove whose Protectorbot team seem to have heavily influence the Sixturbo team. Unlike the mainly white Groove, Glide is blue with a gold stickered windshield & rear bumper.

To start Glide's transformation fold his windscreen forward 180 degrees and stand the toy up on it with the underside facing forward. The back of the bike folds down over the rear wheel to form his chest with the saddle boxes becoming the robot's arms.

Glide's robot mode is still mainly blue but exposes some dark grey on the chest. Articulation is Micromaster standard - turning shoulders plus bending but joined hips & knees. He can stand up straight without help but will balance better with the knees bent slightly forward and the hips bent slightly back. His arms are far too short, not being able to reach in front of his chest.

Glide's role in Sixturbo is to become the piece that forms the combined robot's bottom & lower back: Fold Glide's windshield forward, then bend the front of the vehicle up slightly. Glide pegs onto the back of the waist piece

Glide's unique (for a Micromaster) vehicle mode is offset by a limited robot mode and a non-existent contribution to the combined form.

Glide was available in 1992 in Japan in the Operation Combination TF-03: Sixturbo giftset.

Micromaster Collection Glide

Glide was re-released in 2002 as toy number 2 in the Sixturbo Micromaster collection where he was packed with Sixturbo's upper legs & waist.

Glide becomes much lighter blue for this release as do the head & hands for Sixturbo plus the body parts for Road Police suggesting these parts are gang moulded together. The grey on his body becomes lighter too, his gold stickers become paint and he gains a red Autobot symbol on his right saddle box.

Micromaster Collection Reverse Evolution Glide

Reverse Evolution Glide is a classic "paint black & make it evil" repaint with all the colours of this toy rendered in black including the upper legs & waist of Reverse Evolution Sixturbo. A silver Decepticon symbol replaces the Autobot symbol on the saddle box. For every box of 12 Sixturbo team members - two complete sets of Sixturbo - two toys in one set would be painted black. So on average there would be one Reverse Evolution Glide in every three boxes.

My friend John Cullen *still* needs a Reverse Evolution Glide to complete his Reverse Evolution Sixturbo set. So if you've got one please get in touch with me !

Universe Autobot Groove

Universe Groove is a direct re-release of the Micromaster Collection Glide with the same pieces of the combined robot. The right name is attached to the right vehicle here - see most of the other Universe Protectorbots for examples of getting it wrong - even if the toy's all blue colour doesn't bring G1 Groove to mind.

Groove was sold as a KB Toys exclusive in the USA and was available in Toys R Us in the UK.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Circuit

Circuit is one of two odd bots out in the Sixturbo team. The rest of the team appears inspired by the Protectorbots & Defensor, while Circuit & Neo-Wheel are more like the Stunticons. His vehicle mode is a white Formula 1 car with a grey rear spoiler - so if you looked at the Stunticons you'd link him to Drag Strip

TF: Typical Micromaster car: fold the back of the car back to become the legs then fold the bonnet back, stand up and bend the arms at the shoulders. That saves my typing - just Copy & Paste it !

Robot mode reveals a yellow head, body & upper legs with the bonnet hanging behind him giving him some stability issues. The revealed yellow is quite a nice choice - Circuit isn't the first Transformer to be known by that name. One year previously Actionmaster Circuit (a repaint of Axer's Action Master robot) had been a European exclusive. Action Master Circuit looks like he would have transformed into a car, his body work is yellow and he's sold with a racing car vehicle. Coincidence ? Articulation is Micromaster standard: turning shoulders plus bending but joined hips & knees.

Circuit also forms one of Sixturbo's arms: From his vehicle mode Circuit's back half folds up 90 degrees, pivoting round their rear axles. Circuit then has a fist pegged underneath the front of the vehicle - traditionally the left fist. Circuit is the only one of the four limbs in this set that can't be used to form the other limb type - the peg hole under his nose is mounted too far back to allow it to plug into the peg on the knee of the waist & leg section.

Pretty typical Micromaster car, but with the added side referance to the Action Master.

Circuit was available in 1992 in Japan in the Operation Combination TF-03: Sixturbo giftset.

Micromaster Collection Circuit

Circuit was re-released in 2002 as toy number 3 in the Sixturbo Micromaster collection where he was packed with Sixturbo's left fist & the radar dish that mounts on his left shoulder. His stickers are converted into paint applications for this version and the grey on the spoiler becomes lighter.

Micromaster Collection Reverse Evolution Circuit

Reverse Evolution Circuit is a classic "paint black & make it evil" repaint with all the colours of this toy rendered in black including the left fist & radar dish of Reverse Evolution Sixturbo. A silver Decepticon symbol replaces the Autobot symbol on the nose of the car. For every box of 12 Sixturbo team members - two complete sets of Sixturbo - two toys in one set would be painted black. So on average there would be one Reverse Evolution Circuit in every three boxes.

Universe Streetwise

Streetwise is a direct western release of the Micromaster Collection Circuit and includes the same combined robot parts as the Japanese toy did.

Streetwise ? No Streetwise is the Protectorbot Police Car (oddly renamed Prowl in this set) I have no idea why they've used this name for this toy ! If they wanted a G1 name how about Mirage ? Or Breakdown after the Stunticon racing car ? Or even exploited the link above and called him Circuit !

Streetwise was sold as a KB Toys exclusive in the USA and was available in Toys R Us in the UK.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Neo-Wheel

Neo-wheel probably looks familiar to you. That's because he's very similar to Freewheeler one of the Autobot Race Car patrol one of the original Micromaster teams. Both are yellow Lamborghinis. Both have the standard Micromaster car transformation: flip the back of the car back to become the legs, stand, fold the bonnet down and swing the arms up from the sides. Both have the standard Micromaster articulation: turning shoulders and bending but joined hips & knees. They even have the same red head, body and upper legs exposed by the transformation. So I'm wondering why they didn't make this an upgraded Roadhandler ?

The differences are minor - the bonnet folds down more like a skirt than a backpack. Between the rear axles is a 5mm peg hole that can be used to attach Neo-Wheel to a Minicon port. This is also used to mount Neo-Wheel on Sixturbo's shoulder as part of the combination sequence. Starting from vehicle mode, Neo Wheel's back half folds up 90 degrees, pivoting round his rear axle. Neo-Wheel then needs his 5mm socket folded out, then has a fist pegged underneath the front of the vehicle - Neo Wheel traditionally has the right fist. He's then pegged onto the shoulders using the 5mm port.

Typical Micromaster car really. If you bought the Race Car Patrol you know what to expect.

Neo-Wheel was available in 1992 in Japan in the Operation Combination TF-03: Sixturbo giftset.

Micromaster Collection Neo-wheel

Neo-Wheel was re-released in 2002 as toy number 4 in the Sixturbo Micromaster collection where he was packed with Sixturbo's right fist & gun.

The toy is very similar to the original with just some minor paint changes.

Micromaster Collection Reverse Evolution Neo-wheel

Reverse Evolution Neo-Wheel is a classic "paint black & make it evil" repaint with all the colours of this toy rendered in black including the right fist & gun of Reverse Evolution Sixturbo. A silver Decepticon symbol replaces the Autobot symbol on the bonnet. For every box of 12 Sixturbo team members - two complete sets of Sixturbo - two toys in one set would be painted black. So on average there would be one Reverse Evolution Neo-Wheel in every three boxes.

Universe Hotspot

So the yellow car in the set becomes Hotspot, the name used by the Protectorbot Fire Engine ? Right ..... Actually I can sort of see why they did this. At the time this Universe toy was issued the Armada/Energon/Cybertron trilogy heavily featured a character called Hotshot who was in several of his forms a yellow car. Since he's a yellow Lamborghini surely Sunstreaker would be a more appropriate name ? Possibly reuse Drag Strip (the yellow car) or Breakdown (the Lamborghini) from the Stunticons. But most appropriate of all is surely Freewheeler (see above !)

"Hotspot" was sold as a KB Toys exclusive in the USA and was available in Toys R Us in the UK.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Discharge

Let's take it as red that I've said the name is very silly ?

Discharge is the Fire Engine in this set, painted a traditional red. How Hasbro & Takara's designers thought they could away with blue and black fire engines I don't know ! Mounted on top of the fire engine is a ladder/water cannon that turns.

Discharge has a traditional Micromaster car TF with the additional caveat that first the ladder should be pointing forward. Fold the front of the fire engine over this, then fold the back of the fire truck down to become his legs. Stand him up and raise the sides of the truck at his shoulders to become his arms.

The best bit about Discharge is the head sculpt - slightly obscured on the original release by plastering blue paint on the face. He has a fireman's helmet and breathing apparatus. How cool is that ? His exposed head, body and upper legs are in white like the ladder. Unfortunately he has some proportion problems. His lower legs are a short & deep block - the could do with being a good 1cm higher. His arms are both formed from large panels so when you raise them up you can see they're twice the height of traditional Micromaster arms with all the extra mounted on top. He does, of course, have traditional Micromaster articulation of bending knees & hips that are joined together and independently turning shoulders.

Discharge also forms one of Sixturbo's legs - plug a foot into the 5mm peg hole on the back of the vehicle mode - Discharge is usually the left leg so use the left foot. The small peghole under the front of Discharge then pegs onto the bottom of the waist/upper legs piece. Discharge can also be used as the right leg without any additional transformantion, but he's capable of being an arm too: from vehicle mode fold the back down 90 degrees. Peg the back of the vehicle onto the 5mm shoulder peg then put the hand onto the small peg hole at the front of the vehicle. This means however that Neo-Wheel will have to be used as a leg which doesn't work too well.... or you'll need a second Discharge.

Discharge was available in 1992 in Japan in the Operation Combination TF-03: Sixturbo giftset.

Micromaster Collection Discharge

Discharge was re-released in 2002 as toy number 5 in the Sixturbo Micromaster collection where he was packed with Sixturbo's left foot.

The toy is very similar to the original with just some minor paint changes - the paint design on the vehicle is altered to include an Autobot symbol on the side and the face on the new version is silver instead of blue which is a big improvement.

Micromaster Collection Reverse Evolution Discharge

Reverse Evolution Discharge is a classic "paint black & make it evil" repaint with all the colours of this toy rendered in black including the left foot of Reverse Evolution Sixturbo. A silver Decepticon symbol replaces the Autobot symbol on the side of the fire engine. For every box of 12 Sixturbo team members - two complete sets of Sixturbo - two toys in one set would be painted black. So on average there would be one Reverse Evolution Discharge in every three boxes.

Universe Red Alert

Red Alert Now look if you're doing a Protectorbot inspired team surely the Fire Engine has to be Hotspot ? To my mind Red Alert is more appropriate as a car.

"Red Alert" was sold as a KB Toys exclusive in the USA and was available in Toys R Us in the UK. This release of the toy has the same left foot accessory as the Micromaster collection version.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Sireen

Sireen is an obvious transliteration of Siren which makes perfect sense as a name for Sireen's vehicle mode which is an ambulance, moulded in the traditional white colours with black windows and a red lightbar. The most striking feature of Sireen's vehicle mode can be found if you turn it over - the bottom of the vehicle is a solid plate where usually some robot parts can be seen, especially with Micromasters.

TF: NOT a traditional Micromaster ! Fold the base of the ambulance down under the rear axle. Fold the front of the vehicle down under the ambulance, then fold the bonnet and front windscreen down to form the feet locking the back of them into the back of the vehicle's base plate. Fold the arms up from the sides and pull the weapons/repair array forward above his head.

Sireen's robot mode is incredibly detailed with weapons every where - the array above his head has two larger barrels on the outside and two smaller ones in the middle. There's a double missile launcher moulded into the right side of his chest - which is black like the revealed upper legs and head. Either side of his head is a weapons array with two barrels mounted on top of each other. So I make that 8 barrels and two missiles ! It's a little hard to see his head as it's recessed back inside the hood formed from the back of the ambulance but it is there. He has got the traditional Micromaster articulation of turning shoulders and bending but linked hips & knees. However the hips & knees are effectively immobilised by the piece that forms the underside of the vehicle that's now locked onto the back of the legs helping to support the massive weight of the bulk of the ambulance on his back and head.

Sireen traditionally forms Sixturbo's right leg - plug the right foot into the back of the vehicle then peg the front of the vehicle into the knee on the upper leg & waist piece. Sireen can also form the left leg but he's capable - just - of becoming an arm as well. From robot mode unclip the panel on the back of the legs, attach the hand to the peg on the foot and peg onto the 5mm shoulder joint. Yes it looks a bit of a mess. Leave him as a leg.

Sireen is different both in transformation and detailing. I think he might just be my favourite Micromaster.

Sireen was available in 1992 in Japan in the Operation Combination TF-03: Sixturbo giftset.

Micromaster Collection Sireen

Sireen was re-released in 2002 as toy number 6 in the Sixturbo Micromaster collection where he was packed with Sixturbo's right foot.

The toy is very similar to the original with his stickers removed, all the windows painted, an additional red stripe round the ambulance - all of which make the vehicle mode look smarter - and the chest mounted missile box is now silvered.

A big improvement on the original.

Micromaster Collection Reverse Evolution Sireen

Reverse Evolution Sireen is a classic "paint black & make it evil" repaint with all the colours of this toy rendered in black including the right foot of Reverse Evolution Sixturbo. A silver Decepticon symbol replaces the Autobot symbol on the side of the fire engine. For every box of 12 Sixturbo team members - two complete sets of Sixturbo - two toys in one set would be painted black. So on average there would be one Reverse Evolution Sireen in every three boxes.

Universe First Aid

Hurrah ! A member of Universe Defensor that looks like a Protectorbot and has got the right name. See virtually every other toy in this set !.

First Aid was sold as a KB Toys exclusive in the USA and was available in Toys R Us in the UK. This release of the toy has the same right foot accessory as the Micromaster collection version.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Sixturbo

Sixturbo was originally available only in Japan as part of the Operation Combination toyline where it was numbered TF-03. The team consists of the following toys:

Road-police
Glide
Circuit
Neo-wheel
Discharge
Sireen

The other four Micromaster Sixteams have distinct origins in earlier Transformers combiners - Sixwing is Superion, Six Builder comes from Devastator and both Sixliner & Sixtrain are inspired by Raiden. Sixturbo on the other hand is a weird cross between Defensor and Menasor, one of those combiners you made as a kid when you didn't have complete sets of one of the Scramble City/Special Teams combiners but did have bits from different sets ! Road Police, Sireen & Discharge as well as more arguably Glide seem inspired by Protectorbots while Circuit & Neo-Wheel are more like Stunticons ? Did Takara plan for *four* new Micromaster combiners in Operation Combination but end up merging the best bits of two of them and then remould Sixliner to make up the numbers ? In fact why do a Defensor inspired Micromaster combiner at all - Defensor itself was recoloured this year as Guard City.

The three new six team combiners moulds introduced in 1992 all feature body parts that combine to form an aircraft when not being used to make the combined robot. Most of the body parts are the same for all three newer Sixteam toys: The chest & feet are moulded together in one colour (black for Sixturbo) while the legs & gun are another. The head & hands are moulded new for each toy but each features a 5mm peg hole. To combine the pieces take the waist & legs and lock them onto the chest unit. The gun goes between the where the knees would be on the combined robot, the fists lock onto where the robot's shoulders would be then the feet peg onto the fists. The robot's head is then put onto the back of the plane upside down. For Sixturbo there's an extra step where the radar dish plugs into the back of the head. The resulting vehicle is about the same size as one of the Micromaster Transports, and one Micromaster figure can stand in the middle of the chest cavity using it as a cockpit. It's not the best Transformers plane but well done for doing something with all those left over bits when Sixtubro's in it's robot/vehicles mode.

To form the combined robot start by plugging the head onto the top of the body and then the body pegs into the back of the waist. Take the left & right feet and plug them into the 5mm peg holes on the back of Discharge & Sireen's vehicle modes - Discharge usually gets the left foot. The underside of the front of their vehicle modes peg onto the knees of the waist & leg piece. Neo Wheel & Circuit's back halves fold up 90 degrees, pivoting round their rear axles. Neo-Wheel then needs his 5mm socket folded out. Both Neo Wheel & Circuit then have a fist pegged underneath the front of the vehicle - Neo Wheel traditionally has the right fist. Neo Wheel & Circuit are then pegged onto the shoulders, then the radar dish is pegged into the expose half of the shoulder formed by Circuit. Fold Glide's wind shield forward, then bend the front of the vehicle up slightly. Glide pegs onto the back of the waist piece. Finally take Road Police's vehicle mode and fold the back of the vehicle back to form Road Police's robot legs. Fold the legs up 90 degrees at the hips. Peg Road Police into the chest cavity. Put the gun in either hand.

As with the other Micromaster combiners the articulation on Sixturbo is limited to the shoulders and head turning. Unfortunately the design of the chest plate means it is very difficult to raise his arms straight in front of him - they catch on the sides of the chest ! Of the three Sixteams that use this piece only Sixbuilder has arms that will turn without obstruction. Sixturbo is also the least stable of these three: the hands are not as securely attached as they are on the other two Sixteams which combined with the knee connections - nowhere near as secure as those found on Sixliner & Sixtrain - marks Sixturbo down. In it's favour is a wonderful head design - seemingly inspired by Menasor.

I can't get too excited about Sixtubro - it's not got the rarity to a UK fan of a train combiner, it's not got the moving parts like Sixbuilder, it's not got the great modern repaints of Sixbuilder & Sixwing and it's not got a cohesive theme. At the same time - apart from some mild stability issues - it's not got a lot actually wrong with it either.

Micromaster Collection Sixturbo

Sixturbo was the second Micromaster combiner reissued in the Micromaster collection. Each individual Micromaster was sold separately in numbered boxes that also contained a part of the combined robot. The following says which Micromaster is associated with which number and which body part.

1 Road Police - chest & head
2 Glide - upper legs
3 Circuit - left fist & radar dish
4 Neo-wheel - right fist & gun
5 Discharge - left foot
6 Sireen - right foot

Essentially the Micromaster Collection Sixturbo is a re-release of the original with some minor tweaks. The most obvious are that the stickers are now paint applications with many of them simplified and the grey - just the radar dish visible in combined mode - and the blue - for the hands, head, gun & legs - is a lot lighter.

Micromaster Collection Reverse Evolution Sixturbo

The Micromaster collection veresion of Sixturbo has an important innovation for the line - chase pieces are introduced. In every box of 12 Micromasters - 2 complete sets - 2 pieces are recolourd black (with some drak grey). Autobot symbols are replaced with silver Decepticon symbols. There's always one complete colour set in a box, so you don't get two of the same Micromaster in black. The black Micromasters have the same number and the same combined robot part as their normally coloured counterpart. The name of this recoloured toy is Reverse Evolution Sixturbo and consists of:

1 Reverse Evolution Road Police
2 Reverse Evolution Glide
3 Reverse Evolution Circuit
4 Reverse Evolution Neo-wheel
5 Reverse Evolution Discharge
6 Reverse Evolution Sireen

What this boils down to is that Sixturbo is a classic "paint it black and make it an evil version" toy. It's OK but I can't really get excited about it (unlike Sixbuilder's chase repaint).

Universe Defensor

Defensor is the western Universe release of Micromaster Collection Sixturbo. All pieces are the same colour as their Micromaster collection counterpart and have the the same piece of the combined robot packed with them. All individual toys are renamed using the names of G1 Defensor's components as a starting point. I have some issues with some of the names but I'll talk about them in the individual toy reviews.

1 Prowl (Road Police)
2 Autobot Groove (Glide)
3 Streetwise (Circuit)
4 Hotspot (Neo-Wheel)
5 Red Alert (Discharge)
6 First Aid (Sireen)

Defensor was sold in it's separate pieces as a KB Toys exclusive in the USA and was available in Toys R Us in the UK.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Chain Gun

Chain Gun's helicopter mode is one of two components of SixWing (the other being the space shuttle Raker) that don't quite fit the Aerialbot homage in this set. Both are flying vehicles which helps them fit a little better than the clash between race & emergency vehicles in the Sixturbo set. You almost feel that perhaps Chain Gun & Raker were part of an abandoned Bruticus/Combaticon Micromaster Six combiner, like Circuit & Neo Wheel are more Menasor/Stunticons than the general Defensor/Protectorbot theme present in SixTurbo.

The gunship mode itself is an Apache helicopter, moulded in dark grey plastic, which is the same model as the western exclusive double Targetmaster Spinister. The 2 bladed rotor is a separate piece that spins.

Transform: Fold the cockpit forward 180 degrees to form the lower and reveal the upper legs. Stand. Straighten the rotor out so it's horizontal. Fold the tail down. Bend the arms up.

Robot mode as the usual block limbed Micromaster with the standard Micromaster articulation of shoulders that rotate and bending but linked hips & knees.

Chain Gun is the part that forms Sixwing's bottom/back: take Chain Gun's robot mode, fold the legs so he's in a sitting position then peg him onto the back of the legs.

If you said Micromaster Helicopter this is what you'd think of so it does the job. As a bonus it has more articulation than the similar vehicle mode Targetmaster Spinister !

Chain Gun was sold in Japan in 1992 as part of Operation Combination's TF-02 Sixwing giftset.

Micromaster Collection Destron Chain Gun

For the Micromaster collection release of Chain Gun he switches sides to become a Destron while becoming a mainly black colour. This version of the toy is packed with the waist & upper legs of the combined SixWing robot. Chain Gun was numbered 1 in the Six Wing Micromaster collection.

Micromaster Collection Berserk Chain Gun

Chain Gun's Micromaster Collection Chase version is moulded entirely in white plastic with purple painted Autobot symbols. He comes with the white version of the waist & upper legs for the combined Berserk SixWing robot. Berserk Chain Gun was packed at one every 3 cases (12 toys, 2 sets of six per case) of Sixwing parts replacing a normal Micromaster Collection Chain Gun in the boxes he appeared in.

Universe Ro-Tor

When Chain Gun was released in 2007 as part of the Universe subline he gained a new red paint scheme. He also gets a new name - Ro-tor - which was used before the Robots in Disguise Combaticon repaints. I thinks it's a pretty poor name and even worse because there's a better one for a Red Autobot Attack Helicopter - Quickstrike. Chain Gun swaps components with Missile Run so that Ro-Tor gets the chest & head of the combined Sixwing robot.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Missile Run

Missile Run is the blue and black B1-B Lancer Bomber jet. The colours used for this version do it no favours with the nose, wings & tail being a different colour to the centre of the body when the moulding implies it should all be the same.

TF: Fold the tail back 180 degrees to form the feet & stand. Fold the nose-cone and then both wings back. Raise the arms.

Missile Run's articulation again follows the standard Micromaster convention - turning shoulders and bending hips & knees that are joined together. His colour change in this mode - the blue remains on his feet but the upper legs are a lighter blue (The same as Chain Gun's Rotor, Flanker's body & Falcon's chest) while the body & head are grey (as per Falcon's body & Chain Gun's chest) and the arms are white (Raker & Supersonic's vehicle modes).

Missile Run forms Sixwing's Chest: From vehicle mode fold back the rear of the jet as if you were forming it's legs then bend the legs at the hips 90 degrees. Fold the arms of the robot out so they line up along the jet's nose and plug into the cavity on the chest piece. Missile Run makes one of the better Sixcombiner chest pieces with his wings forming a nice bit of detail and the lowered arms - not shown in any of TFU's pictures - filling the bottom of the chest cavity.

Nothing wrong with Missile Run that a decent repaint won't fix - make the jet all one colour and you're there.

Missile Run was sold in Japan in 1992 as part of Operation Combination's TF-02 Sixwing gift set.

Micromaster Collection Missile Run

Missile Run was reissued in 2003 as part of the Micromaster Collection Sixwing series where he was packed with the chest & head of the Sixwing robot and numbered two in that series of six. The Micromaster Collection turns all members of the Sixwing team into Destron (Decepticons). Sixwing becomes an all black jet - the swap of the blue plastic to black also helps the other toy to use it, Raker - which is a nice set of Destron colours complete with a Destron logo dead centre on the body. His robot mode has mint green legs, a grey body and bright white arms.

Lovely repaint, big improvement on the original.

Micromaster Collection Berserker Missile Run

Missile Run's Micromaster Collection Chase version is moulded entirely in white plastic with purple painted Autobot symbols. He comes with the white version of the chest & head for the combined Berserk SixWing robot. Berserk Missile Run was packed at one every 3 cases (12 toys, 2 sets of six per case) of Sixwing parts replacing a normal Micromaster Collection Missile Run in the boxes he appeared in.

Universe Air Raid

The Universe version of the Sixwing team is mainly a homage to the Aerialbots/Superion. Since he's a black plane again he takes the Air Raid name. Air Raid was previously a F-16 jet in the original Aerialbots so the name might have been better suited to Flanker who becomes red here and is named Fireflight..... Vehicle mode is very similar to the Micromaster collection version but with an Autobot symbol replacing the Decepticon one. Robot mode isn't a huge change either with just the legs substantially changing colour.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Raker

I suspect the inspiration behind Raker's name is the James Bond film Moonraker which features space shuttles. His vehicle mode ticks the boxes with a white body and black wings/fins and wheels underneath. My only query about Raker's vehicle mode surrounds his inclusion in this team. Yes he flies, but it's not directly a plane like 4/6ths of this team and as such not an Aerialbot homage. It's more like he and Chain Gun are part of some abandoned Combaticon/Bruticus Six combiner that never got made and were merged into this set (See also: Circuit & Neo Wheel in the Sixturbo team)

TF: Fold the back half of the vehicle back 180 degrees to form the robot's legs. Fold the wings in, stand, then fold the nose cone forward to expose the head.

I'm starting to get tired of writing about standard Micromaster articulation - this is the 15th time I've done it, only 9 left to go. Shoulders with hips & knees joined together etc.... The exposed body parts - head and upper legs - are blue which clashes a little with the monochrome colour scheme you expect from a shuttle toy.

Raker forms Sixwing's right arm: fold his back half up at the rear & their nose cones folded down and under their shuttle form before the right hand is attached - the hands are unique so no arm swapping here - before it's plugged into the right shoulder.

A perfectly adequate Micromaster Space Shuttle.

Raker was sold in Japan in 1992 as part of Operation Combination's TF-02 Sixwing gift set.

Micromaster Collection Raker

Raker was reissued in 2003 as part of the Micromaster Collection Sixwing series where he was packed with the right fist & gun of the Sixwing robot and numbered three in that series of six. Raker deviates little from the original in shuttle mode but the robot swaps the blue - also used on Missile run - for black giving a much better colour set. I *think* this is the only time there's been a pure white & black TF Space Shuttle !

Micromaster Collection Berserker Raker

Raker's Micromaster Collection Chase version is moulded entirely in white plastic with purple painted Autobot symbols. He comes with the white version of the right hand & gun for the combined Berserk SixWing robot. Berserk Raker was packed at one every 3 cases (12 toys, 2 sets of six per case) of Sixwing parts replacing a normal Micromaster Collection Raker in the boxes he appeared in.

Universe Storm Jet

As Raker is one of the non Aerialbot homage parts for Sixwing his inclusion in the Superion combiner needed a new name. They went for Storm Jet - previously used for A Robots in Disguise "Jetstorm as Jetfire" repaint and the leader of the Energon Aerialbots. I would suggest a better name for the toy would be Space Shot, a corruption of Slingshot the original Aerialbot name that's unused in this team

In an attempt to differentiate Storm Jet from Destron Raker - the moulded colours are basically the same - the wings have been painted red which doesn't work so well for his vehicle mode but makes the combined Superion form a little more cohesive.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Supersonic

Supersonic is a white supersonic transport plane similar in form to Silverbolt in the original Aerialbots.

TF: Fold the back half of the vehicle back 180 degrees to form the robot's legs. Fold the wings in, stand, then fold the nose forward to expose the head. And yes I did copy & paste from Raker's review !

For the 16th time I'm obliged to tell you that Supersonic's robot mode has the standard Micromaster articulation at the shoulders, hips & knees - the latter two each being joined to their counterpart. Supersonic's arms and body (under the plane's nose) are coloured red which sticks out a little here considering the black & white used for the rest of the toy..

Supersonic forms Sixwing's left arm: fold his back half up at the rear & fold his nose cones down and under his plane form before the left hand is attached - the hands are unique so no arm swapping here - before it's plugged into the left shoulder.

Supersonic was sold in Japan in 1992 as part of Operation Combination's TF-02 Sixwing gift set.

Micromaster Collection Supersonic

The Micromaster Collection version of Supersonic - number four of six - is like his team mates a Destron (Decepticon) toy. While he maintains the white jet body of his predecessor he gains a light purple edging to his wings and exchanges his red plastic for light purple to emphasise his allegiance. He comes with the left fist and head of Destron Sixwing.

Micromaster Collection Berserker Supersonic

Supersonic's Micromaster Collection Chase version is moulded entirely in white plastic with purple painted Autobot symbols. He comes with the white version of the left hand & head for the combined Berserk SixWing robot. Berserk Supersonic was packed at one every 3 cases (12 toys, 2 sets of six per case) of Sixwing parts replacing a normal Micromaster Collection Raker in the boxes he appeared in.

Universe Skydive

Thanks to red paint on the arms Supersonic's Universe form is nearly identical to the original bar the blue painted face. What I'd like to know is why this toy is called Skydive instead of Silverbolt, who has a very similar form to this in the original Aerialbots !

Skydive, like Micromaster Collection Supersonic, comes with the combined robot's left fist & head.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Flanker

Flanker is a pale blue Sukhoi Su-27, very similar to the F15 jet which is the vehicle mode of the original Decepticon jets. He shares this colour with Chain Gun's rotor, Falcon's head & chest and Missile Run's upper legs.

TF: Fold the nose of the jet back and the wings up. Pull forward and Unfold the front of the jet to form the legs. Stand on the front of the jet and raise the arms at the shoulders.

The robot mode comes with a black chest & grey arms and features some nice missile & gun barrel moulding either side of the head. Articulation consists of ball joints at the shoulders, elbows, hips & knees with a turning neck & waist. No, I'm kidding, it's the standard Micromaster fare of rotating shoulders with bending hips & knees that are joined together.

To form his combined mode - one of Sixwing's legs - Flanker has his nose cone folded back and his wings folded up before being pegged onto the feet piece - usually the right but he can use the left too - then being attached to the knees of the upper legs. When you've decided which leg he is, fold out the wing on the outside of the leg.

Flanker was sold in Japan in 1992 as part of Operation Combination's TF-02 Sixwing gift set.

Micromaster Collection Destron Flanker

Flanker was reissued in 2003 as part of the Micromaster Collection Sixwing series where he was packed with the right foot of the Sixwing robot and numbered five in that series of six. This time round his jet is recoloured mint green (as are the parts of the other toys mentioned above) and he becomes a Destron. OK the colour may not be a standard Destron one but it works.

Micromaster Collection Berserker Flanker

Flanker's Micromaster Collection Chase version is moulded entirely in white plastic with purple painted Autobot symbols. He comes with the white version of the right foot for the combined Berserk SixWing robot. Berserk Flanker was packed at one every 3 cases (12 toys, 2 sets of six per case) of Sixwing parts replacing a normal Micromaster Collection Flanker in the boxes he appeared in.

Universe Fireflight

Flanker gets recoloured red for his Universe release and as such gets the name Fireflight - the red Aerialbot. There's an F16 Aerialbot - Air Raid - but his name was used for the Missile Run repaint as black - his original colour - suits that mould. Fireflight comes with Superion's right foot.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Falcon

Falcon is a grey jet, allegedly an F-16 but the pictures I can see of a real life F-16 jet on the internet bear only superficial resemblance to Falcon.

TF: Fold the nose of the jet back and the wings up. Pull forward and Unfold the front of the jet to form the legs. Stand on the front of the jet and raise the arms at the shoulders.

Robot mode articulation (all together now): Shoulders turn, knees & hips bend but are linked together. Revealed in this mode are red arms & upper legs - the same as used for Supersonic's arms and body - and a light blue -as used on Flanker's jet mode, Missile Run's upper legs and Chain Gun's rotor blades - chest & head.

To form his combined mode - one of Sixwing's legs - Flanker has his nose cone folded back and his wings folded up before being pegged onto the feet piece - usually the left but he can use the right too - then being attached to the knees of the upper legs. When you've decided which leg he is, fold out the wing on the outside of the leg.

Falcon was sold in Japan in 1992 as part of Operation Combination's TF-02 Sixwing gift set. Another Transformer named Falcon was sold the same year - the Predator jet - but in Japan he was known as Shadowjet.

Micromaster Collection Destron Falcon

Falcon was reissued in 2003 as part of the Micromaster Collection Sixwing series where he was packed with the right foot of the Sixwing robot and numbered six in that series of six. He came with Destron Sixwing's left foot. The grey became lighter, light blue became mint green and red became light purple giving him a subtle Destron theme.

Micromaster Collection Berserker Falcon

Falcon's Micromaster Collection Chase version is moulded entirely in white plastic with purple painted Autobot symbols. He comes with the white version of the left foot for the combined Berserk SixWing robot. Berserk Falcon was packed at one every 3 cases (12 toys, 2 sets of six per case) of Sixwing parts replacing a normal Micromaster Collection Falcon in the boxes he appeared in.

Universe Silverbolt

The Universe version of Falcon becomes Silverbolt, the name used by the leader of the original Aerialbot team. Personally I think this name is better suited to the Supersonic mould (Skydive in the Universe version) which has a similar vehicle mode to G1 Silverbolt. Here the body is white and the chest red but the arms & upper legs are now silver which is possibly painted as they don't match any of the other parts that were red on the original Sixwing.

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Cybertron Sixwing

Sixwing was available as Operation Combination giftset TF-02 - none of the original members of this combiner were sold separately. Like the other Micromaster Sixcombiners Sixwing is loosely based on a previous G1 combiner - in this case the Autobot Aircraft combiner Superion. Sixturbo suffers from having a bit of a split personality formwise by being composed of both Stunticon & Protectorbot team members. Sixwing is similar - two of his parts are a helicopter and space shuttle which were previously associated with the Combaticons. However they more closely fit the flying vehicles theme of the rest of the parts whereas Sixturbo has a distinct split between his rescue & race components.

The Sixwing team consists of the following six toys:

Chain Gun - AH-64 Apache helicopter and team leader - Sixwing's Back
Missile Run - B-1B Lancer bomber plane - Sixwing's Chest
Raker - Space Shuttle - Sixwing's Right Arm
Supersonic - Super-Sonic Transport plane - Sixwing's Left Arm
Flanker - Light Blue Sukhoi Su-27 "Flanker" jet - Sixwing's Right Leg
Falcon - grey & red F-16 Falcon jet - Sixwing's Left Leg

The three new six team combiners moulds introduced in 1992 all feature body parts that combine to form an aircraft when not being used to make the combined robot. Most of the body parts are the same for all three newer Sixteam toys: The chest & feet are moulded together in one colour (red for Sixwing) while the legs & gun are another (black). The head & hands are moulded new for each toy but each features a 5mm peg hole (again black). To combine the pieces take the waist & legs and lock them onto the chest unit. The gun goes between the where the knees would be on the combined robot, the fists lock onto where the robot's shoulders would be then the feet peg onto the fists. The robot's head is then put onto the back of the plane upside down. The resulting vehicle is about the same size as one of the Micromaster Transports, and one Micromaster figure can stand in the middle of the chest cavity using it as a cockpit. It's not the best Transformers plane but well done for doing something with all those left over bits when Sixwing's in it's robot/vehicles mode.

To form Sixwing take Missile Run (all toys are in jet mode unless stated), fold back the rear of the jet as if you were forming it's legs then bend the legs at the hips 90 degrees. Fold the arms of the robot out so they line up along the jet's nose and plug into the cavity on the chest piece. Plug the upper legs into the chest piece then take Chain Gun's robot mode, fold the legs so he's in a sitting position then peg him onto the back of the legs. Both Raker & Supersonic have their back halves folded up at the back & their nose cones folded down and under their aircraft forms before the respective hands are attached - the hands are unique so no arm swapping here - before they're plugged into the right and left shoulders respectively. Flanker & Falcon have their nose cones folded back and their wings folded up before being pegged onto the right & left feet respectively and then being attached to the knees of the upper legs. These can be swapped easily enough, but when you've decided which leg is which fold out the wing on the outside.

The red of the combined parts does Sixwing no favours especially when clashed with the light blue of one leg (Flanker) which in turn gives the legs a lop sided appearance. Recolouring this one piece would give the whole robot a more unified look. As with the other Micromaster combiners the articulation on Sixturbo is limited to the shoulders and head turning. Unfortunately the design of the chest plate means it is very difficult to raise his arms straight in front of him - like Sixturbo they catch on the sides of the chest, but in this case you can bend them out to the sides before raising the arms and then bend them back in so they're almost round the sides of the chest plate. The hands again beat Sixturbo's and are much more securely attached. The visored head design looks almost too evil to be an Autobot !

Operation Combination Sixwing does more for me than Sixturbo does but the original colour set used here is my least favourite of the four that exist for this toy.

Micromaster Collection Destron Sixwing

The two previous releases in the Micromaster collection - Sixliner & Sixturbo - are basically the original versions with the stickers turned into paint applications. Not so Sixwing. But first some background:

I need to return to a point I keep making - why are there so few small Decepticon plane toys ? The Autobots have the Mini Autobot cars but the Decepticons don't have a corresponding size of plane toy. The first small Decepticon planes are the Triggercon Windsweeper and the Targetmaster Needlenose - both released in 1988 the *FIFTH* year of the line. The first group of small Decepticon jets is the Predators, released in 1991. Even the Micromaster Decepticons have just one team of planes. Probably the worst offence in this regard is in the third year of Transformers - 1986 - where the Autobots get the plane combiner moulds.

In Japan there's also a recurring aversion to making enemy toys - at the point the Sixcombiners came out there were no Micromaster Decepticons being made - almost all the Decepticon Micromasters in the west become Cybertron Micromasters in he Japan. So there's no original Destron Sixteam Micromaster Combiners.

So when Sixwing was released in the Micromaster collection he gets a Decepticon repaint - a lot of black and purple, very Decepticon colours. Confusingly each part retains it's original name, but they are now packaged individually along with a part of the combined Sixwing robot:

1 Chain Gun with Waist & Upper Legs
2 Missile Run with Chest
3 Raker with Right Fist & Gun
4 Supersonic with Left Fist & Head
5 Flanker with Right Foot
6 Falcon with Left Foot

Micromaster Collection Destron Sixwing ticks the boxes for me, great choice for a recolour which hits the spot. It also raised the question of would Takara do a recolour of SixBuilder..... and would it be green & purple

Micromaster Collection Berserker Sixwing

While the regular Micromaster collection re-release of Sixwing is a Decepticon repaint the chase version is an all white variant with purple Autobot insignia:

1 Chain Gun
2 Missile Run
3 Raker
4 Supersonic
5 Flanker
6 Falcon

Each part retains the same accessory as it's standard coloured version. This chase version of Sixwing was available at a rate of 2 white parts per box of 12 parts with the two white parts being different in each box - no box had two of the same - and replacing the second version of their coloured counterparts. I built a Berserker Sixwing from 3 boxes of Sixwing pieces which might suggest that they were paired together.....

Universe Superion

The final release in the Universe Micromaster combiner series, this new version of Sixwing uses a white, red, black & gold colour scheme that closely resembles that used on the original Superion. The renamed Chain Gun & Missile Run swap packed in body parts but the four limbs all have the same body parts.

1 Ro-tor (Chain Gun) with Chest
2 Air Raid (Missile Run) with Waist & Upper Legs
3 Storm Jet (Raker) with Right Fist & Gun
4 Skydive (Supersonic) with Left Fist & Head
5 Fireflight (Flanker) with Right Foot
6 Silverbolt (Falcon) with Left Foot

It's a decent repaint and although Flanker/Fireflight is now coloured more in line with the rest of the toy he very much stands out in combined mode as he's all red while the other limbs are mainly white. Four of the five original Aerialbot names are reused for this mould - though perhaps Silverbolt would have worked better on the Supersonic mould. The missing name - Slingshot - could be altered to Spaceshot to make a good name for the Raker component on this version.

[Philip Ayres]

I've spent weeks trying to write these.... then I get all 7 done in 24 hours !

[Philip Ayres]

Operation Combination Crush-Bull

Crush-Bull is a tracked bulldozer - the only tracked vehicle in the Sixbuilder team. He's the team's equivalent of Bonecrusher in the original Constructicons, but unlike Bonecrusher he forms the back of the combined mode not the left arm. Crush-Bull's green colour - shared with Mixing - isn't too far from the original Constructicon green. His moulded tracks conceal small wheel that enable him to roll along. The shovel at the front raises & lowers.

TF:Pull the front half of the vehicle forward & up to form the body. Stand on the rear of the vehicle then fold back the shovel, fold up the head and fold out the arms

Crush-Bull's robot mode has the standard Micromaster articulation.

Fold Crash Bull's head down, then bend his knees back 90 degree and his waist back about 30 degrees. Peg him onto the waist - he fits perfectly in the cut-out section - with the shovel going into the small of Sixbuilder's back.

Crush-Bull was sold in Japan in 1992 in the Operation Combination TF-01 Sixbuilder set.

Micromaster Collection Crush-bull

Crush-Bull returns in 2003 as toy number 1 in the Micromaster Collection release of SixBuilder where he's packed with the waist & upper legs of Sixbuilder.

Like many of the toys in this set Crush-Bull gets a repaint, but his is a relatively minor one swapping green for a more aqua blue green. The general theme of this Sixbuilder repaint is a homage to Build King/Landfill so you'd think Crush-Bull should be orange like Build Boy/Wedge. However since he's not the component that forms the centre of the chest (that's Gran Arm, who is coloured orange) a different colour is used. Since Crush-Bull shares his main colour with Mixing, and there's no concrete mixer in Build King, there's no reason why they couldn't both have been orange.

Micromaster Collection Destron Crush-bull

Crush-Bull's Destron chase repaint *finally* puts him in colours resembling the G1 Constructicons. The green used here for most parts - the legs are black - is a brighter shade than that used on the original Constructicons, while purple is used for the tracks, windows & Decepticon symbol. Chase Destron Sixbuilder pieces were packed between 1 and 2 piece per box of 12 Sixbuilder pieces - 2 complete sets in each. However due to the Constructicon homage this chase set was in demand more than the others for a long time. Destron Crush-Bull comes with the chase version of the waist & legs that his Cybertron counterpart has.

Universe Bonecrusher

The Universe release of Sixbuilder was something of a surprise. For a long while it was thought that Takara exclusives couldn't be released in the west.... Then the Energon command Ravage repaint came out, almost exactly the same as the Takara version. Devastator isn't quite the same a Micromaster Collection Sixbuilder: the green is flatter, closer the green of the original Constructicons, there's more paint applications and here the shovel for Bonecrusher - the correct G1 name is used - is moulded in black plastic. Like Destron Crush-Bull, Bonecrusher comes with the waist & upper legs piece of the combined robot which is this time moulded in green like the gun. Why both aren't cast purple like the original waist & gun I'm not sure !

[Philip Ayres]

Comments are as ever encouraged !