Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 14, 2010 10:14:45 GMT
I'm taking a slightly different approach for the Construction Patrol - and all the year 2 (1990) Micromasters. They only have one colour scheme and they're always packed together so I'm going to review them as a whole.
The Construction Team consists of four Autobot Micromaster toys: Crumble, Groundpounder, Neutro & Takedown. They were sold in Japan in the Transformers Zone toyline in 1990 - the same year as their western release - as the Build Patrol Team and numbered C-351. They didn't - unlike some of the other Zone Micromaster packs - get a Return of Convoy re-release with a Microtrailer.
The toys in this set are basically moulded as pairs - Crumble & Neutro both use the grey & yellow plastic while Groundpounder & Takedown both use orange and red. However Crumble, Neutro & Groundpounder all share a softer orange plastic for the moving parts on their vehicle modes.
Crumble
Crumble is a grey crane, with a driving cab at the front, a crane operator's cab on a turntable at the back which is linked to a elevating crane arm moulded in orange plastic. He's a similar sort of crane to the Constructicon Hook, except that Crumble has just four wheels.
TF: Swing the crane into it's neutral position along the middle of the truck. Fold the driving cab forward to become the legs. Stand. Fold the arms up. Yes, it's basically Hook's TF too.
The robot mode finally reveals the yellow used for the body and the upper legs. Standard Micromaster articulation here: turning shoulder, bending but linked hips & knees - so he beats Hook on that score. Hey I'm writing these together, I don't need to describe the standard Micromaster articulation again this review. RESULT !
Decent Micromaster. If he's reminded you of a toy other than Hook then the entire basic vehicle mode, TF and articulation is recycled two years later on a completely new mould as the Sixbuild member Ironlift (Digger is very similar too, just a different vehicle mode arm attachment) then ten years after that as Minicon Longarm.
Groundpounder
Groundpounder is a wheeled Earth Mover. If he were a Constructicon he'd be Scrapper. He's mostly bright orange plastic in vehicle mode with the shovel at the front - which raises - moulded in the darker soft orange plastic.
TF: Fold the back of the Micromaster back to form the legs. Stand. Fold the arms out. Fold the shovel onto his back. Fold up his head.
The robot mode reveals the red on the head, chest plate and upper legs. The chest plate sticks out rather at the top restricting the arms somewhat a feature that carries over when the deign is modified for the Sixbuild team member Granarm.
Neutro
Neutro's a yellow bulldozer with grey tacks - hiding some small black wheels to provide motion - and an elevating orange blade at the front. If he were a Constructicon he'd be Bonecrusher but this mode is their only similarity.
TF: Intuition say fold the back back first to form the legs. But it's quite solidly locked on mine until you push the front half of the treads down slightly breaking the treads in two in the middle. The back of the vehicle then folds back to become the legs with the front tread halves as the arms. The blade folds onto the front of the vehicle - back of the robot - and the head folds up.
The robot has yellow for the chest & lower legs with grey arms, upper legs and head. Standard Micromaster articulation. In a nice touch the front of the vehicle treads have supports for the blade moulded in which look like shoulder cannons in this mode.
The design is recycled as the Sixbuild member Crush-bull but I think it works much better here - it's that little touch with the shoulders and the locked up transformation.
Takedown
The final member of the team is the red cement mixer Takedown. He might have a vehicle mode like Mixmaster but he lacks the spinning mixer barrel that Mixmaster had. With a little mould work they *might* just about have been able to pull it off. He's got six wheels in this mode but only the front and rear on each side actually turn.
TF: Well you could stand him on the rear of the vehicle mode and that would do ! (Is this toy the spiritual ancestor of the accursed RPMs ?) But if you pull the top of the robot up & back a bit that'll extend his legs.
The unfortunate consequence of this is to make the robot look a little awkward with a lot of leg extending forward in front of the knee. Standard articulation here again.
The design is recycled as the SixBuilder Mixing
All in all a nice set. Three have moving parts in vehicle mode - always a nice bonus for a Micromaster. You can't really go wrong with a construction vehicle and they must have been doing something right for all these design to be re-used - albeit with completely new moulds - for SixBuilder. The only completely new design in SixBuilder not taken from this team is the truck Treader. While we're on the subject the two Constructicon without counterparts in this team are Scavenger and Longhaul .
The Construction Patrol was never been repainted. These days they'd be out again within weeks in green paint as the Constructicons and if they ever get re-released by TakaraTomy I'd lay money on this being an e-Hobby repaint !
The Construction Team consists of four Autobot Micromaster toys: Crumble, Groundpounder, Neutro & Takedown. They were sold in Japan in the Transformers Zone toyline in 1990 - the same year as their western release - as the Build Patrol Team and numbered C-351. They didn't - unlike some of the other Zone Micromaster packs - get a Return of Convoy re-release with a Microtrailer.
The toys in this set are basically moulded as pairs - Crumble & Neutro both use the grey & yellow plastic while Groundpounder & Takedown both use orange and red. However Crumble, Neutro & Groundpounder all share a softer orange plastic for the moving parts on their vehicle modes.
Crumble
Crumble is a grey crane, with a driving cab at the front, a crane operator's cab on a turntable at the back which is linked to a elevating crane arm moulded in orange plastic. He's a similar sort of crane to the Constructicon Hook, except that Crumble has just four wheels.
TF: Swing the crane into it's neutral position along the middle of the truck. Fold the driving cab forward to become the legs. Stand. Fold the arms up. Yes, it's basically Hook's TF too.
The robot mode finally reveals the yellow used for the body and the upper legs. Standard Micromaster articulation here: turning shoulder, bending but linked hips & knees - so he beats Hook on that score. Hey I'm writing these together, I don't need to describe the standard Micromaster articulation again this review. RESULT !
Decent Micromaster. If he's reminded you of a toy other than Hook then the entire basic vehicle mode, TF and articulation is recycled two years later on a completely new mould as the Sixbuild member Ironlift (Digger is very similar too, just a different vehicle mode arm attachment) then ten years after that as Minicon Longarm.
Groundpounder
Groundpounder is a wheeled Earth Mover. If he were a Constructicon he'd be Scrapper. He's mostly bright orange plastic in vehicle mode with the shovel at the front - which raises - moulded in the darker soft orange plastic.
TF: Fold the back of the Micromaster back to form the legs. Stand. Fold the arms out. Fold the shovel onto his back. Fold up his head.
The robot mode reveals the red on the head, chest plate and upper legs. The chest plate sticks out rather at the top restricting the arms somewhat a feature that carries over when the deign is modified for the Sixbuild team member Granarm.
Neutro
Neutro's a yellow bulldozer with grey tacks - hiding some small black wheels to provide motion - and an elevating orange blade at the front. If he were a Constructicon he'd be Bonecrusher but this mode is their only similarity.
TF: Intuition say fold the back back first to form the legs. But it's quite solidly locked on mine until you push the front half of the treads down slightly breaking the treads in two in the middle. The back of the vehicle then folds back to become the legs with the front tread halves as the arms. The blade folds onto the front of the vehicle - back of the robot - and the head folds up.
The robot has yellow for the chest & lower legs with grey arms, upper legs and head. Standard Micromaster articulation. In a nice touch the front of the vehicle treads have supports for the blade moulded in which look like shoulder cannons in this mode.
The design is recycled as the Sixbuild member Crush-bull but I think it works much better here - it's that little touch with the shoulders and the locked up transformation.
Takedown
The final member of the team is the red cement mixer Takedown. He might have a vehicle mode like Mixmaster but he lacks the spinning mixer barrel that Mixmaster had. With a little mould work they *might* just about have been able to pull it off. He's got six wheels in this mode but only the front and rear on each side actually turn.
TF: Well you could stand him on the rear of the vehicle mode and that would do ! (Is this toy the spiritual ancestor of the accursed RPMs ?) But if you pull the top of the robot up & back a bit that'll extend his legs.
The unfortunate consequence of this is to make the robot look a little awkward with a lot of leg extending forward in front of the knee. Standard articulation here again.
The design is recycled as the SixBuilder Mixing
All in all a nice set. Three have moving parts in vehicle mode - always a nice bonus for a Micromaster. You can't really go wrong with a construction vehicle and they must have been doing something right for all these design to be re-used - albeit with completely new moulds - for SixBuilder. The only completely new design in SixBuilder not taken from this team is the truck Treader. While we're on the subject the two Constructicon without counterparts in this team are Scavenger and Longhaul .
The Construction Patrol was never been repainted. These days they'd be out again within weeks in green paint as the Constructicons and if they ever get re-released by TakaraTomy I'd lay money on this being an e-Hobby repaint !