Phil's Micromaster Off Road Patrol Review

[Philip Ayres]

More Micromasters that get caught up in Battlestation repainting.

[Philip Ayres]

Powertrain

Powertrain is co-moulded with Mudslinger as part of the Off Road Patrol Micromasters - the remaining two toys in the set, Highjump & Tote are also co-moulded together. The Off Road Patrol was released in Japan as Transformers Zone toyset C-335.

Powertrain is a long nosed truck cab. The cab's moulded in orange, with the tail in black and the rear flatbed in blue. The vehicle mode with those colours automatically puts you in mind of the original Autobot Huffer. In fact several of the toys in this set point you towards original Autobots - Mudslinger = Gears & Tote = Ironhide (A similar thing happens in other sets too....) - making you wonder if there was some intention for the Micromasters to be older Transformers reborn. He's got six wheels but the middle pair are moulded and do not turn.

TF: Fold the flatbed back. Stand. I thought that was it for ages but it turns out there's an extra step where you rotate the cab on his back. Makes no difference to the overall robot though!

Powertrain's robot mode is a deviation from the Micromaster norm - he's got hips but lacks knees but does have ankle joints where the legs meet the upturned flatbed. The shoulders on this toy are mounted very high in line with the robot's face plate giving the robot a very stretched out look when his arms are bent.

Overall: a decent toy, with a early Autobot homage, but a slightly odd robot mode.

Ironworks

Powertrain and his co-mould Mudslinger are repainted as two of the Battle Station commanders - Powertrain becomes Ironworks - packed with the Construction battlestation - and Mudslinger is now called Greasepit - packed with the Petrol Station Battlestation. The other two toys in the Off Road Patrol don't get a repaint.

The same colour swaps are used on both toys:

Blue becomes grey
Orange becomes yellow
Black remains the same

It's an attractive repaint but the yellow is far to similar to the orange of the original.

Ironworks was sold in Japan as Transformers Zone toy C-344.

[Philip Ayres]

Mudslinger

Mudslinger is co-moulded with Powertrain as part of the Off Road Patrol Micromasters - the remaining two toys in the set, Highjump & Tote are also co-moulded together. The Off Road Patrol was released in Japan as Transformers Zone toyset C-335.

Mudslinger is a dark blue pick up truck. The vehicle mode with those colours automatically puts you in mind of a slightly darker version of the original Autobot Gears. In fact several of the toys in this set point you towards original Autobots - Powertrain = Huffer & Tote = Ironhide.

TF: Just like the original Gears: Fold the back of the truck back to form the legs. Stand. Raise the arms from the sides.

The robot mode is also reminiscent of Gears with the chest here picked out in orange. If you altered the colours to more resemble Jazz - making the orange red and the blue a little lighter - then his co-mould Powertrain would become a red truck with a blue flatbed which is very similar to the original Optimus Prime. Mudslinger has the traditional Micromaster articulation of turning shoulders, and bending but linked hips & knees.

He's an OK toy, but very much in the same mould as many other seemingly interchangeable Micromaster cars.

Greasepit

Mudslinger and his co-mould Powertrain are repainted as two of the Battle Station commanders - Powertrain becomes Ironworks - packed with the Construction battlestation - and Mudslinger is now called Greasepit - packed with the Gasoline Battlestation. The other two toys in the Off Road Patrol don't get a repaint.

The same colour swaps are used on both toys:

Blue becomes grey
Orange becomes yellow
Black remains the same

The resulting vehicle, mainly grey, looks a little plain.

Greasepit was released in Japan as Transformers Zone toy C-341 Glasspit - as the designation implies he's now a Cybertron (Autobot) toy. The Gasoline base set was re-released in Japan as part of the Brave Police line now packed with PVC figures instead of the Micromaster.

[Philip Ayres]

Tote

Tote is co-moulded with Highjump as part of the Off Road Patrol Micromasters - the remaining two toys in the set, Mudslinger are also co-moulded together. The Off Road Patrol was released in Japan as Transformers Zone toyset C-335.

Tote is a red van, The vehicle mode with those colours automatically puts you in mind of the original Autobot Ironhide In fact several of the toys in this set point you towards original Autobots - Mudslinger = Gears and Powertrain = Huffer (A similar thing happens in other sets too....) - making you wonder if there was some intention for the Micromasters to be older Transformers reborn.

Transformation for this toy isn't quite traditional Micromaster. The front of the van does fold forward to form the legs but there's a little wiggle at the end to extend the legs. The midsection of the front remains stationary and this little tweak brings the lower legs up under it. A straight bar and having the whole front rotate like most Micromasters would have cut out a lot of fuss. Stand. Fold the back of the vehicle down onto the robot's back - this is on 2 spurs rather than hinged like most Micromasters. Finally the arms fold up from the sides.

Traditional Micromaster articulation - turning shoulders and bending but linked hips & knees - is present here. The revealed robot chest and head is grey - a little less Ironhide maybe - while the rest of the toy is red. He looks a little more like the Nebulon masters of the last few years than some of the first Micromasters - perhaps this, and the slightly odd TF indicate he's a very early Micromaster design ?

Overall: Pretty average Micromaster but with a few interesting design quirks.

Neither Tote nor his co-mould Highjump were ever repainted.

[Philip Ayres]

Highjump

Highjump is co-moulded with Tote as part of the Off Road Patrol Micromasters - the remaining two toys in the set, Mudslinger are also co-moulded together. The Off Road Patrol was released in Japan as Transformers Zone toyset C-335.

Highjump is a grey van/jeep. Unlike the other three toys in the set he doesn't seem to have a direct original Autobot counterpart ( Tote = Ironhide , Mudslinger = Gears and Powertrain = Huffer ....A similar thing happens in other sets too....) Sticking out of the top of the jeep is a big red lump which is *very* distracting. Swap the grey for green and the red for brow and we'd have a credible Brawn and a better camouflaged lump.

TF: Like his co-mould Tote Highjump has some slight tweaks to the standard Micromaster Car TF. Turn him over and fold the rear axle forward - you won't see that on another Micromaster ! Fold the rear of the vehicle out to become the legs with the bottom of the rear - where the wheels were - becoming the feet. Fold the rear axle back against his bottom, fold the front of the vehicle back, fold the arms down and stand.

Very blocky robot mode in the upper body which has a lot of flat panels with not much detail on them.

OK, but apart from the TF oddity nothing special.

Highjump - and Tote - have never been repainted.

[Philip Ayres]

Graham's done some Micromaster Reviews and has reviewed this team:

www.the-hub.co.uk/off-road-patrol/