Phil's Sparkabot, Firecons & Sparkdash reviews

[Philip Ayres]

You didn't ask for them.

But I've reviewed them anyway.

It's forum faves the Sparkabots and the Firecons! Get ready for some Japanese & G2 greatness!

So let's start with everyone's favourite friction drive sparking robot .....

[Philip Ayres]

Transformers Sparkabot Guzzle

Guzzle is a a Sparkabot, the entry level Transformers toy for 1988 being the smallest & cheapest carded toys available that year and thus aimed at pocket money. He stands out from the other Sparkabots by virtue of his vehicle mode: he a tank where the other two, Fizzle and Sizzle are cars. Don't ask me which is which I can never remember! Their opposition, the Firecons, are almost identical and to this day I still can't tell them apart remembering who's who. Guzzle is a brown/grey tank, with a turret & gun and white molded treads. The treads don't have any embedded wheels though as we'll see later it looks like they may have meant to have had at some stage.

Transformers Tank Test Time!

The Turret: TURNS!
The Gun Barrel: ELEVATES!

That's quite a result on a toy so cheap.

Like all the Sparkabots he has a sparking wheel gimmick. Not new to Transformers, a sparking wheel was used on 1988's Monsterbots (not released in the UK). Here you move the toy forward on a flat surface and sparks come out of it's rear. I can see the real life application on his two car brethren but I don't see a tank getting up enough speed to produce flames out of it's rear!

Transformation: Centre the gun barrel pointing forward. Pull the rear of the tank back from the front. Stand on the rear with the underside facing you. Raise the arms.

Guzzle's robot mode is, from the front, made of the same white plastic as the tank treads with the chest painted yellow and the whole face painted pale blue. The head, with it's crest, side vents and face plate is a decent bit of sculpting and helps give the toy some character. He and the other Sparkabots are about the same height as a Legend/Cyberverse Legion figure. His only articulation is his shoulders, which turn, but if you're only allowed one set of joints to be articulated then this is the one I'd have. This helps set the Sparkabots over the Firecons who, shall we say, have some issues in the arm department. The front of Guzzle's arms are the moulded tank treads but at the shoulder there's an interesting gap in the treads on each side. Having seen other Transformer tanks I know they frequently had embedded wheels to help them move and I wonder if Guzzle was meant to have them too but they were eliminated on cost grounds?

For what you would have paid at the time Guzzle is a great toy: functional as a tank and a decent small robot. For me he already stood out amongst the Sparkabots and Firecons before messers Roberts and Roche raised him to superstar status in the IDW Last Stand of the Wreckers comic series. What? You've not read it ? ? ? ? Order a copy from Amazon NOW!!!!. His recent elevation to fame has earned him a new toy version as a Cyberverse Commander in the Dark of the Moon toyline.

Masterforce Sparkdash Hardspark

In the early 1990s I was fortunate enough to own a Godbomber toy. In the box were two leaflets that I still have to this day: a Japanese mail away offers sheet and a Masterforce toy catalogue which I looked at incessantly. It featured a vastly different Godbomber, a Powermaster Prime with a metal cab and blue retractable fists, recoloured Powermasters & Headmasters and even some original toys that we didn't get in the west like Raiden & the Trainbots, Metal Hawk and Browning. I didn't give the Sparkabots or Firecons, known in Japan collectively as Sparkdash toys, a second thought. But what I didn't know is that Masterforce catalogue is wrong: it shows the Sparkdash toys in their western Hasbro colours, the Takara versions have mostly been changed and renamed.

In Masterforce Guzzle becomes Hardspark: all the Cybertron (Autobot) Sparkdash toys have the word spark at the end of their name. He swaps the grey brown of the tank body for a grey closer to the colour of his tank gun barrel while the white of the tracks and robot becomes black. All his stickers and paint operations remain the same.

Fab recolour. If it was cheap I'd buy one. But I'll bet it's not.

Confusingly, although this toy isn't called Guzzle like the western version, there is a Masterforce toy called Guzzle! Firecon Cindersaur is repainted as Sparkdash Guzzle

Generation 2 Guzzle

Unfortunately there is no G2 Guzzle. Sizzle becomes G2 Sizzle and Fizzle is renamed as Generation 2 Blaze, but Guzzle gets left out. However since both Sizzle & Blaze have clear green/greeny yellow colour schemes we can imagine that Guzzle might also have had a clear green tank body. Heaven knows what shade they'd have cast the tank treads and robot parts in though!

[Philip Ayres]

Sparkabot Fizzle

Phil's Guide to which Sparkabot Car is which: Fizzle is the blue Baja off-road buggy, the same car mode as Powermaster Joyride sold the same year. It's a blue wedge shape, with a lighter blue spoiler and black wheels. Later evidence suggests that the wheels for Fizzle & his Sparkabot team mate Sizzle are gang molded together. Fizzle has the same action feature in car mode as the other Sparkabots: run him along a flat surface and sparks come out of the rear of the car.

Transformation: Pull the front of the car forward, but I'd advise you to do this holding onto the sides of the car rather than the nose for reasons that I'll come to later. Fold the nose back. Stand on the rear of the car with the underside facing forward. Raise the arms.

Fizzle's robot mode, with the head sticking up above a level surface formed from the top of his body, makes him look like a Special Team/Scramble City combiner limb with the head formed from the connector. His head features the only paint operation in robot mode: the face is painted red. The head, body & legs of the robot mode are cast in pale blue plastic while the arms are the same dark blue as the vehicle mode. As per the other Sparkabots his only articulation is his shoulders which turn. The spoiler on the back of the car provides a significant heel spur for the robot but I suspect he'd stand fine without it.

I can't get that excited about Fizzle: he's just another small Autobot car.

Fizzle was sold in the US & the UK in 1988

Masterforce Sparkdash Wildspark

Unlike the rest of the Sparkabots the changes made to Fizzle to turn him into his Masterforce counterpart Wildspark are minimal. The paint on Wildspark's face is changed from red to yellow but all the plastic colours remain the same.

Wildspark was numbered C-315 in the Japanese Transformers toyline.

Generation 2 Blaze

In 1994 two of the Sparkabots (not Guzzle) and two of the Firecons (not Cindersaur) were recoloured and released as European exclusive Generation two toys. Of the four that were released Fizzle is the only one to change his name, becoming Blaze.

Colour Swap time!:

Dark Blue becomes Clear Green. Light Blue becomes Neon Green. Black (the tires) becomes Purple.

This is G2 at it's best/worst depending on your point of view. I quite like clear repaint and this isn't a complete train wreck so I'd be happy to buy it. I acquired one from a charity shop recently and love it - with one small caveat. It seems the clear plastic has not aged well and the pieces round the hinge snapped on mine soon after I got it. Oddly my Generation 2 Sizzle, which I got some years earlier, is broken in exactly the same place.

Interestingly Generation 2 Sizzle has the same colour swap on his tires from his original version. I wonder if this indicates some gang moulding between the two toys and thus why they were released together as G2 toys and Guzzle wasn't?

[Philip Ayres]

Sparkabot Sizzle

How to tell the car Sparkabots apart part 2: Sizzle's the black one with a long bonnet that's got an engine on top of it & 4 engine pipes up each side. This sort of heavily modified car seems to pop up a lot in American toylines but doesn't have a real life equivalent in the UK. His windows are painted grey, the exhausts silver and the engine is chromed silver - a small piece of chipping on mind reveals it's the same plastic as his robot body underneath.

Transformation: Pull back on the rear of the car and stand with the underside facing towards you. Fold the bonnet back - but be careful as my elderly Sizzle had some gunk in the hinge and the bonnet snapped the first time I moved it. Raise the arms.

Revealed in this mode is his orange robot body with a pale blue face. The head is set into the body so all you've gained by folding the bonnet back is a couple of millimetres off the height. I'd have made the bonnet a fixed moulded piece and raise the level of the head and the turning shoulders a bit.

I'm biased because the bonnet on mine broke but just folded back like that it looks silly in robot mode. Fixing it in place could have improved the robot.

Sizzle was sold in the US and the UK in 1988.

Masterforce Sparkdash Hotspark

In Japan Sizzle was renamed Hotspark. He's had both his moulded plastic and paint operations colours changed:

Black plastic (the car body) becomes Bright Red.
Orange plastic (the robot body) becomes White.
Grey painted windows become Dark Blue.
Silver painted exhausts become Gold painted.
Light Blue painted face becomes Dark Blue.

Red toys usually look good and this is no exception. Great repaint, wish I owned one, far better colours than the original.

Hotspark was sold as Japanese Transformers toy number C-314.

Confusingly there is also a Masterforce Sparkdash Sizzle: he's a repaint of the Firecon Flamefeather!

Generation 2 Sizzle

Where Blaze, the Generation 2 repaint of Sparkabot Fizzle works, Sizzle is a train wreck:

Black plastic (the car body) becomes Clear Yellowy Green.
Orange plastic (the robot body) becomes Pale Blue.
Grey painted windows become Pale Blue.
Silver painted exhausts become Gold painted.
Light Blue painted face becomes Red.
Black Wheels become Purple.

Too many clashing colours. Too much going on. My eyes, my eyes!

The bonnet's missing on my G2 Sizzle, which was a jumble sale find years ago. I had trouble with the bonnet on G1 Sizzle and the clear plastic hinge on G2 Blaze so I suppose it was inevitable there'd be a problem on the toy here.

Interestingly Generation 2 Fizzle has the same colour swap on his tires from his original version. I wonder if this indicates some gang moulding between the two toys and thus why they were released together as G2 toys and Guzzle wasn't?

[Philip Ayres]

Firecon Cindersaur

The opposition to the Autobot Sparkabots is provided by the Decepticon Firecons. While the Sparkabots continue to be vehicles the Firecons are all animals as established by the pattern set with the Headmaster toys the previous year and continued into some of the 1988 toys.

Cindersaur is a dinosaur of indeterminate Type. He's got a horn on his nose and what looks like a frill at the back of his neck. His head, legs, back & tail are purple, his arms & the top of his body are bright yellow and his lower body is grey. The colour combination isn't the greatest in the world, and I'd be pointing the finger at the yellow as the one to change. Both arms and legs are hinged. Lying the toy down on his tummy on a flat surface with the head raised and moving the toy forward causes sparks to come from his mouth. Cindersaur is the only Firecon with no wings which may be significant later.

Transformation: fold the tail under the toy to cover the sparking wheel. Fold the arms down and the head forward. Turn the toy so it's back is facing you. Straighten the legs. Split the back in two and fold to the side.

Ladies and gentlemen I would like to nominate the Firecons for Worst Robot Mode ever. Here's why:

1) The arms don't move at the shoulders for a start. If you've got one point of articulation you make it at the shoulders. Instead all he has in this mode is hips that turn.

2) The arms aren't even attached at the shoulders! They're connected about half way down the body & arm with the joint that folds them out to the sides.

3)The face is just a little square of plastic stuck in hole. the face sculpting is fine but this huge lump surrounding it looks ridiculous.

4) The proportions are hugely wrong: very short and very wide: the width is over 50% of the toys height.

5) and worst of all they do the same thing three times over! I came very, very close to lumping all three Firecons into the same review because general shape, gimmick, transformation and robot mode is identical. They don't seem to share any piece, but al; bear a distinct resemblance, especially in robot mode, and look like they're essentially remoulds of each other.....

Horrible. Even in 1988 Hasbro could do so much better.

Cindersaur was sold in the US & UK in 1988.

Masterforce Sparkdash Guzzle

In Japan Cindersaur was recoloured & renamed. You wouldn't believe this if you'd seen the Masterforce leaflet packed in the toys or watched the cartoon as both show him and his fellow Destron Sparkdash toys in their western Firecon colours. The swaps made are:

Purple becomes Green
Yellow becomes Dark Grey

And both modes look an awful lot better for it.

Confusingly he's renamed Guzzle, which was the name for the Sparkabot Tank in the west, that in turn was renamed as Masterforce Sparkdash Hardspark for it's Japanese release.

Masterforce Sparkdash Guzzle was numbered D-319 in the Japanese Transformers toyline.

Generation 2 Cindersaur

In 1994 Europe got clear recolours of two Sparkabots (Generation 2 Blaze, a repaint of a href=http://www.tfu.info/1988/Autobot/Fizzle/fizzle.htm]Fizzle[/url] & Sizzle) and two Firecons (Flamefeather & Sparkstalker). Alas Cindersaur missed out but given the other two are clear red & clear orange, both with purple chest I suspect we can make a reasonable guess that he's probably have been clear yellow with a purple body. What the other two toys have, that Cindersaur doesn't, is some form of wings. On the original toys they're moulded grey while on the G2 versions they're an eye watering neon lime green. This suggests the other two are gang moulded together and thus why whey had G2 versions made when Cindersaur didn't

Cindersaur has had the last laugh on this matter though when the Botcon 2010 G2 exclusive Cindersaur was released, a "typically Generation 2 coloured" repaint of Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Megatron/Cybertron Jungle Planet Megatron. I really must get a version of that toy to review it!

[Philip Ayres]

Firecon Flamefeather

For details on articulation, action feature & transformation and general moaning about the robot mode see the Firecon Cindersaur review.

Flamefeather is a blue & white bird monster with grey wings. The colour balance is probably the best of the three Firecons, but all my comments about Cindersaur's robot mode apply here too.

Flamefeather was available in the US & UK in 1988.

Masterforce Sparkdash Sizzle

Of the three Firecons, Flamefeather is the only one not to be recoloured for his Japanese. Confusingly he was renamed as Sizzle, a name previously used for one of the Sparkabot cars, who in turn was repainted & renamed in Masterforce as Sparkdash Hotspark.

Masterforce Sparkdash Sizzle was numbered D-320 in the Japanese Transformers Line.

Generation 2 Flamefeather

Flamefeather & Sparkstalker, probably by virtue of sharing a parts tree for their wings, were chosen to be European Generation 2 exclusives in 1994. Flamefeather swaps:

Blue for Clear Orange
White for Purple
Grey for Neon Lime Green

I like clear repaints but this is hideous. The purple and clear orange sort of work together but *NOTHING* works with those wings. Yuk.

[Philip Ayres]

Firecon Sparkstalker

For details on articulation, action feature & transformation and general moaning about the robot mode see the Firecon Cindersaur review.

I'm looking at Sparkstalker and thinking "What on Earth are you?". I think he looks a bit like a sort of fish monster due to the flat smooth skin but TFWiki reckons he's an insect resembling Gigan from the Godzilla films. He's mainly pinky purple with a white body, forked tail and arms.

Robot mode moves the purple to the limbs & face keeping the white on the chest. It's quite a decent colour balance which works. Both better and worse is to come....

Sparkstalker was sold in the US & UK in 1988.

Masterforce Sparkdash Javil

Sparkstalker was recoloured and renamed for his Japanese release. The white stays the same but the pinky purple becomes red. Red works well on many Transformers toys and it does it's job nicely here.

This repaint was named Javil & released in Japan in 1988 as Japanese toy number D-321.

Generation 2 Sparkstalker

Sparkstalker & Flamefeather, probably due to having their wings gang moulded together, were chosen as the two Firecons that got re-released in 1994 as European exclusives. The following changes were made to the colours of plastic used:

Pinky Purple becomes Clear Red
White becomes Purple
Grey becomes Neon Lime Green

Hideous. Quite, quite hideous.

[The Huff]

The Firecons have always been some of my favorite toys because of the unusual robot modes.

[Philip Ayres]

Really? I can't stand them. They were drawn exactly like that in the comics too, except they fixed the shoulders: tfwiki.net/wiki/Image:CashandCarnage-Firecons.jpg

[Bogatan]

G2 Cindersaur is fab. It even has the stumpy arms and big hips of the originals. Yellow would have been more fun than blue though and generally more translucent plastic would have been nice.

I think naming the FIrecons worst robots might be harsh. The Throttlebots can only lean backwards. I also tend to give robot modes of Tfs with bipedal alt modes a break if the alt form contains articulation missing from the robot.

[Philip Ayres]

The Throttlebots all have heads that are distinct from their bodies. The firecons are just an inserted panel.

[blueshift]

Man, Firecons.

On one hand, I loved the one I had (Sparkstalker) because you could zoom him across the floor and it shot sparks! SPARKS!

On the other hand, his robot mode looks atrocious. As a kid I THOUGHT I WAS TRANSFORMING HIM WRONG AND HE SHOULD HAVE A PROPER HEAD AND ARMS AND LEGS AND THAT IT WAS ALL MY FAULT HE DIDNT AND THAT I WAS STUPID.

Damn you Hasbro

[Philip Ayres]

Let it out Matt, let it out......