Phil's G1 Minibot Reviews

[The Doctor]

I always thought the tank looked brown, so never had a problem with the colour.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Have you ever been tested for colour blindness ?

[The Doctor]

Honestly, I had one as a kid and it looked brown to me.

-Ralph

[blueshift]

Purple, Phil? Brown, Ralph? What is this madness, he is clearly dark red!

[The Doctor]

Does my memory lie to me? I can't stand the confusion in my miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind!

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Seaspray

Seaspray is a hovercraft, another vehicle mode making it's first appearance in the 1985 Minibot series. A Hovercraft is a much more peaceful vehicle mode than Warpath's tank so I feel he's more apropriate as an Autobot form. The skirt and the front of the cab of this toy is made from light blue plastic while the tail fins and some of the roof of the cab are yellow plastic, the rear of the cab is white and the spinning rotors are black. I think he's the Minibot that uses the most different colours of plastic! Most of the others only have three.

Transformation: Quite similar to Warpath actually: Pull the rear of the vehicle back, fold back the tail, fold the vehicle up 90 degrees in the middle and swing the arms up.

We end up with massive light blue feet formed from the front of the vehicle, yellow legs from it's roof, a white chest from the rear of the cab, light blue arms from the rear of the skirt and a yellow head, which has previously been hidden in the rear of the vehicle, surrounded by the tail with it's mounted rotors. The arms turn at the shoulders and the ankles in theory bend but it's a pretty useless joint.

Not bad as a Minibot. He's not had many successors as Transformers Hovercraft: 1990's Power Run and Slide and Cybertron's Shortround are the only ones that really spring to mind before 2010's superb Voyager Seaspray.

Seaspray was released in Japan in 1986 as Transformers toy C-63. To date Seaspray has not been reissued in his original colours.

Seaspray

Seaspray returns in Transformations Generation 2. Before the line came out he and Beachcomber, who is also predominantly blue, had a fight to see who would get to be the metallic blue G2 Minibot. Beachcomber lost. But you can argue that Seaspray didn't get much out of this scrap because the G2 Seaspray looks the most like the original, especially in robot mode where there's vast acres of plastic coloured the same as before. Yes the blue is nice, but overall it's not that different to the original because the other three colours are still the same. It could be that Seaspray was the wrong choice as a G2 Minibot. Maybe Beachcomber should have got the blue chrome and Cosmos have come in to be the metallic green Minibot.

You can't win. Seaspray's not different enough, Hubcap and Beachcomber are too different!

[Philip Ayres]

Powerglide

Powerglide is the first Transformer to be modelled on the A-10 Thunderbolt. He won't be the last. The body & wings of the jet are moulded in a dark red plastic similar to Warpath's with the turbines under the wings becoming squared off pale grey boxes. Does red really work for an A-10 which aught to be in more military colours?

My main problem with Powerglide's vehicle mode? He's a plane! He's the first Autobot to be a plane. AUTOBOTS ARE NOT PLANES! AUTOBOTS ARE CARS! DECEPTICONS ARE PLANES! This is the thin end of the wedge that will result the next year in Aerialbots & Stunticons: The first Scramble City combiners for each side end up on the wrong sides. As the years go on there's less and less clear division between the two lines as there was in the early stages. And while we're on the matter: Don't you think construction vehicles are more suited to be Autobot toys than Decepticons?

Transformation: Turn the nose of the jet rounds 180 degrees. Fold the wings up 90 degrees then swing them forward 90 degrees so the tops of the wings are alongside each side of the jet. Stand on the tail with the underside facing forward. Pull up on the body to extend the legs. Unfold the turbine boxes to become arms.

Powerglide's robot mode reveals a grey face with face plate that's on the underside of the jet's nose. Most of the rest of the robot is the dark red of the jet save for the upper legs and arms which are the same grey as the face. The arms are the star of the show here: they run at the shoulder, bend out just bellow the shoulders and bend in at the elbows. Together with the head turning this makes Powerglide the winner of the "Minibot articulation" contest.

Apart from my complaints about the faction assigned to him and a minor quibble about the colour my main problem here is the fragility of the toy: I've seen plenty of Powerglides over the years missing wings and arms. The plastic surrounding the metal pins in the joints doesn't seem able to take the strain.

Powerglide was released in Japan in 1986 as Transformers toy C-62. He returned in 2004's Transformers Collection #12 Minibot set along with:

Transformers Collection Bumblebee a re-mould of Original Bumblebee
Gears
Huffer
Cosmos
Warpath

In 2008 Powerglide was remade as Universe Ultra Powerglide.

Badboy

Badboy is a Destron repaint of Powerglide that was packed in 2004's E-Hobby Minibot set. Red is swapped for grey and grey becomes blue. While it looks ok it's a bit plain looking.

The E-Hobby minibot set also contains:

Bug Bite a Destron repaint of Transformers Collection Bumblebee which is a re-mould of the Original Bumblebee.
Pathfinder a Cybertron repaint of Cosmos
Road Ranger a Cybertron repaint of Huffer
Small Foot a Cybertron repaint of Gears
Treads a Destron repaint of Warpath

All toys in this set have names taken from the original Go-Bot toy range.

[Philip Ayres]

Cosmos

Cosmos represents another first for the 85 Minibots: He's the first transformer with a fictional alternate mode. Technically Topspin & Twintwist predate them as they were Diaclone Attack Robo but .... Cosmos is a green flying saucer: a little green space ship for little green men. The saucer is modelled on the description of a flying saucer given by Ufologist George Adamski.

Transformation: Pull the front of the saucer forward and fold down under the saucer to form the feet and to reveal the legs. Push the sides of the saucer up and swing round to form the arms. Pull the red command post on the top of the saucer up to form the head.

Cosmos' robot mode is odd. Big green feet, thin yellow legs which bend at each end a fat round body, short dumpy green arms with yellow front panels and a head that's a red cylinder with a face painted in yellow over some moulded detail on the lower half. Unfortunately that then makes it look like the upper half look like he's wearing a hat!

I'm afraid my first reaction, as a 12 year old, on looking at Cosmos was "how silly". The UFO is a bit too fat and tall for my liking and I don't like the fat robot mode body and as for the hat .....

Cosmos was not released in toy shops in Japan during the original run of Transformers toys. Instead his Japanese version, called Adams after the aforementioned George Adamski, was available as a mail in toy in return for 2 robot points and 500yen. He was reissued in 2004 in the Transformer Collection #12 E-Hobby Minibot set which also contained Transformers Collection Bumblebee a re-mould of Original Bumblebee, Gears, Huffer, Powerglide and Warpath.

Pathfinder

Pathfinder is a Cybertron repaint of Cosmos that was released as part of 2004's E-Hobby Minibot set. It's a simple repaint swapping the green for blue and keeping the yellow and red. Unfortunately the end result is a bit of an eyesore!

The E-Hobby Minibot set also contains:

Bug Bite a Destron repaint of Transformers Collection Bumblebee which is a re-mould of the Original Bumblebee.
Road Ranger a Cybertron repaint of Huffer
Small Foot a Cybertron repaint of Gears
Bad Boy a Destron repaint of Powerglide
Treads a Destron repaint of Warpath

Each of the toys in this set has a name taken from the original GoBots toy line.

[Philip Ayres]

Jul 26, 2010 11:21:37 GMT The Doctor said:

Does my memory lie to me? I can't stand the confusion in my miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind!

-Ralph

Click the link and find out: Warpath @ TFU.info

[The Doctor]

Strange how the memory cheats.

RE: Seaspray and Powerglide. Had them as a nipper and loved them. Seaspray was my first ever Transformer! I do agree the G2 version is not that different but it was nice the mould got another relase.

I must admit, I just don't follow your 'Autobots are cars, Decepticons are planes' thing at all. I never got that impression from the toys or comics.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

I can remember the initial 1984 advertising talking about Autobot Cars and Decepticon planes. That ingrained it into me. Can I find a copy of said print ad on the Internet ? No.

But beyond that it's the obvious destinction between the sides: Autobots are cars, Decepticons are planes, animals and household objects.

[The Doctor]

But...not all Autobots are cars. And not all Decepticons are planes!

-Ralph

[blueshift]

Jul 26, 2010 16:57:02 GMT The Doctor said:

But...not all Autobots are cars. And not all Decepticons are planes!

-Ralph

Yeah don't be a robo-racist Phil

[Philip Ayres]

Wheelie

Ah Wheelie. The Minibot we all supposedly hate but actually love to bits. He stands out from the crowd that's for sure. He's the only 1986 Minibot that's a new toy mould, he's the only futuristic/non Earth mode Minibot (OK maybe Cosmos too) and he's easily the tallest Minibot in robot mode.

His vehicle mode can best be described as an elongated orange bubble with a grey windscreen. You look at Wheelie and yes, you can see that he might be a plausible car design. His grey wheels are about a third of the way back from the front and at the rear on each side.

Transformation: Fold the front of the car down under the car to reveal the lower legs attached to the hips which are under the rear of the car. Fold the hips forward so they're under the front of the car. Fold the legs forward so they point out the front of the car. Fold the feet up and stand with the top of the car facing forward. Swing the rear of the car down onto the robot's back which should in turn raise the robot's arms. Lift up the windscreen to reveal the robot's face.

Wheelie's robot mode is thin and long limbed with no differentiation between head and body. The face is made of a pinky orange plastic and is very hard to pick out the details on. The arms turn at the shoulders, the legs at the hips and the ankles bend so that's not too bad for a 1986 toy.

Wheelie is different. I don't think he's too bad a toy. His main problem for me is that he can't ride Grimlock like Wheelie did in the film.

Wheelie is Japanese toy C-80 issued in 1986.

Wheelie

Wheelie was re-issued in 2005 and packed with Targetmaster Kup & Recoil in Transformers Collection #20. This release of Wheelie changes the face from orange to grey, closer to the animation colours, so you can actually see the moulded detail in the face.

Wheelie returns in 2009 as a Universe Legends Wheelie. Which is superb.

Dion

Dion is an E-Hobby release where he's packed with Orion Pax (the earlier form of Optimus Prime in the cartoon) and Barrelroller. All three toys are recoloured from Transformers Collection 20. Dion is a car crash of yellow & blue plastic for the orange of Wheelie with a liberal amount of white paint and a clear blue windscreen. My Lord, what were they thinking of when they created this toy? Yes I know there was a Dion in the cartoon but this looks nothing like him!

[blueshift]

I never liked the G1 wheelie figure. I really liked the cartoon model design, but the toy looks like a hunchback with some horrid leering face straight out of a horror movie.

[Philip Ayres]

I'm getting the feeling those went down very well indeed. Do you want more older G1 ?

Ravage & Eject/Rewind are waiting for me at home as are several more Micromasters.

I've got a few of the older G1 toys I could do.....

[The Doctor]

Wheelie is brillant! I have the original, re-issue and Dion. Alas, I have not been able to get my hands on Universe Wheelie (or any of the other Legengs in that wave garrraaaaaaa).

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

Oh, and Universe Wheelie was a different colour in Henkei! IIRC.

-Ralph

[blueshift]

Jul 26, 2010 20:53:45 GMT The Doctor said:

Oh, and Universe Wheelie was a different colour in Henkei! IIRC.

-Ralph

He was yellow, bafflingly enough

[Philip Ayres]

Jul 26, 2010 20:53:01 GMT The Doctor said:

Wheelie is brillant! I have the original, re-issue and Dion. Alas, I have not been able to get my hands on Universe Wheelie (or any of the other Legengs in that wave garrraaaaaaa).

-Ralph

Which is a shame cos they're great.

Saw some KOs of them on eBay last week

[legios]

Minibot reviews, excellent!

I have a soft spot for Minibots - as one of the few toys from the early years that were in the reach of actually being bought with my own pocket money I had a few of these (still have my original Cliffjumper - sans a tyre or two). It is nice to see them getting the thorough review treatment.

Where I was growing up at the time the original minibots were on sale right next to the Penny Racers that had inspired some of them, so when I found out in later years that they were indeed related it was less of a surprise than it might have been.

I don't think I had really grasped just how many variations of some of the early Mini's there were though. It is a bit eye-opening seeing them all listed like that.

(Oh, and in answer to your rhetorical question about Warpath - his alt-mode is a sort of Air-droppable mini-tank built for the US Airborne regiments, who - due to problems of weight and the impossibility of dropping them out of aeroplanes - weren't able to use conventional Battle Tanks.)

In answer, also, to your non-rhetorical question I can't speak for anyone else but I would love to see you give the review treatment to some early The Transformers stuff. But then, some more Micromasters reviews would be very welcome too. So, whichever suits your mood I would say.

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

More Micromasters is a definite: I've got the last team, the 2 & 2/3 combiner squads plus both bases and drivers to do.

[grahamthomson]

Jul 26, 2010 14:54:20 GMT Philip Ayres said:

AUTOBOTS ARE NOT PLANES! AUTOBOTS ARE CARS! DECEPTICONS ARE PLANES!

Wow. This is like a 1985 version of TRUKK NOT MUNKY!

[Philip Ayres]

Yup. Just wait till I get a Dinobot or Constructicon in my hands to review and I'll really start being controversial!

[grahamthomson]

Jul 28, 2010 14:08:25 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Yup. Just wait till I get a Dinobot or Constructicon in my hands to review and I'll really start being controversial!

Ooh... controversy! I look forward to your reviews of them, then!

So what about Blaster and Perceptor? Should they have been Decepticons???

[Philip Ayres]

SDCC Blaster is en route. Wait and see !