The Master of all the World's Constructicon Review

[Philip Ayres]

The Master of all the World got an Encore Devastator set and he's not afraid to review it.

Be warned: they'll be some repetition between each individual review when it comes to the repainting. Sorry.

[Philip Ayres]

Constructicon Long Haul

Long Haul, like the rest of the Constructicons, started his life as a Diaclone Toy, in his case as the red Construction Vehicle Robot No. 5 dump truck. His Transformers version recolours it pale green, the uniform colour used on the other Constructicons. I've always thought pale green make a rather odd colour for construction vehicles but you see dumper trucks in all sorts of colours so..... The dump truck mode looks OK and unlike other later Transformers dump trucks has some space in his tipper to keep some things in. The tipper here does tip back, but unfortunately the rear wheels are attached to it so performing the one action feature you'd expect the toy to have destabilises the vehicle.

Long Haul comes with the waist & waist shield for Devastator. They attach across the tipper bed at the rear of the vehicle to give Long Haul some weaponry. Out of all the Constructicons Long Haul has drawn the short straw when it comes to add on weapons parts.

TRANSFORMATION: Fold the tipper bed back 180 degrees, which separates it in two down the middle to form his robot legs. Pull the front wheels and lower cab sides out to form the arms. Fold the cab forward 90 degrees. Fold the arms down and swing the hands out. Fold the front of the tipper bed back. Fold the head up and place his pale green gun in one hand.

Long Haul's robot mode uses the cab & engine as the robot's chest while the head is an essentially flat panel that folds up at the the rear of the body. as a consequence it's a looooong way back from the front of the body and, if Long Haul was a stand alone toy, would probably have been realised as 3 dimensional mould which popped up when the legs were folded under the toy. His shoulders turn, which is good, and his knees bend as part of the transformation, which is also good but pretty useless without any hip articulation. Nowadays you would get some, but when you consider that this is a 1985 toy, well earlier than 85 actually because it was a Diaclone toy before that, and that it forms Devastator's lower body you can see why the hips are fixed in place.

To turn Long Haul into Devastator's lower body, start from the truck mode. Fold the cab forward & down 90 degrees, then fold the tipper bed front back. Slot the tab on the waist piece in between the rear of the truck with the green missiles on the same side as the tipper bed. Slot the waist shield in under the cab.

Overall: Decent robot mode, but a decent looking truck has it's one mechanical feature flawed.

Long Haul was released in the USA in 1985 and in Japan the same year where he was numbered 31 in the Transformers toy range before C or D prefixes were used. He was also part of the Constructicons/Devastator giftset released the same year in both the USA & Japan which was numbered 37 in Japan. Despite having a major role in the comics and cartoons the Constructicons were not released in the UK. A number of Mexican grey imports materialised in the run up to Christmas 1985 but these were discredited on national television due to them using lead based paint. Long Haul and the Constructicons finally had a UK release in 1990 as an exclusive to Woolworths. This release is believed to utilise authentic Chinese versions of the toys as over the next few years a number of previously unavailable toys made their way into the UK.

Long Haul was reissued in November 2011 in the Encore 20 Devastator boxset. The waist piece and it's slot have apparently been slightly modified since the original version meaning that several third party products developed for the original Devastator no longer work with the new version of the toy.

European Yellow Long Haul

In the early 1990s someone in Hasbro UK/Europe really took a dislike to combining toys. In 1991 the three cars that made up the Brainmaster combiner Road Caeser were released without their combining parts as the Motorvators. Then in 1992 four of the six members of the Destron Breastforce combining team that formed Liokaiser had Autobot recolours as Rescue Force. The Constructicons were re-released too, swapping their pale green for yellow, but this time minus all their combining parts. Long Haul looses both the Devastator waist pieces.

Why? Years later I still can't get my head round the reasoning for this release. The repaint, yes see bellow, but taking the combining parts away? Madness.

Generation 2 Yellow Long Haul

The next year the Constructicons were re-released in the USA, with a bright yellow replacing the original green and with all their combining parts, as part of the Generation 2 toyline.

Thanks to a certain UK construction equipment manufacturer yellow is the colour I associate with construction vehicles. I think it works well on the toys but I'm not keen on the purple parts with the yellow. Maybe repainting these to black would have worked better.

This release was not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Generation 2 Orange Long Haul

Like many other Generation 2 toys a recoloured version of the Constructicons was also released. This swaps the yellow for orange, which looks nice, but once again the purple stays the same, which really doesn't work with the orange.

I'm not sure where I stand with these: the original Constructicon colours are odd but have become iconic. The original G2 versions are a better fit for the vehicle mode. This set.... are just there.

This release has long been rumoured to be an exclusive to Kay-Bee stores in the USA but I can't recall any contemporary information stating this and no proof of exclusivity has ever been found. Like the yellow set, the orange Constructicons were not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Other versions of Long Haul

Whenever there are construction vehicles released people automatically see Constructicons homages. These days Dual Targetmaster Landfill would automatically get a repaint as Long Haul. Operation Combination Treader didn't get repainted at the time but the re-release got repaints as Micromaster Destron Treader and then the following year as Micromaster Long Haul. It took a few years but Robots in Disguise Heavy Load did eventually become Universe Long Haul. There's no truck in the Energon Constructicons but the crane Duststorm was repainted as Classics Long Haul. However there's another Energon toy, Demolishor, that's Long Haul in all but name!

[Philip Ayres]

Constructicon Scrapper

Scrapper, like the rest of the Constructicons, started his life as a Diaclone Toy, in his case as the orange/yellow Construction Vehicle Robot No. 3 Shovel-dozer/Tractor Shovel. His Transformers version recolours it pale green, the uniform colour used on the other Constructicons. I've always thought pale green make a rather odd colour for construction vehicles.....

Scrapper is what most British children would call a digger. He's got wheels, rather than tractor treads - for a Constructicon digger of that nature see Constructicon Bonecrusher. The shovel at the front raises where it meets the body: job done. That's what you expect from a construction vehicle toy. He comes with the "Super Wing", which forms Devastator's chest plate. In vehicle mode it attaches to the back of Scrapper's vehicle mode turning him into a flying digger with wings. Superbly insane.

TRANSFORMATION: Fold the rear of the vehicle back 180 degrees to form the robot's legs. Raise the arms, pull Scrapper's head up, which releases the struts preventing the shovel folding all the way back, and then fold the shovel back.

The robot mode introduces a purple chest, chromed silver upper legs and a black head giving a large amount of colour to the robot mode. His arms turn at the shoulders, which is what you expect from a toy of this size and age. The knees bend too as part of the transformation but it's useless as articulation because he has no hips. He comes with a small black gun which he can hold in this mode.

Scrapper serves as Devastator's right leg. From vehicle mode fold the arms out in front of the vehicle, and fold the shovel back as far as it will go. Stand the vehicle on the shovel & robot's hands.

Decent vehicle & robot modes, mad attack mode and a completely unnecessary but decent mechanism involving the head restricting the shovel. Nice toy.

Scrapper was released in the USA in 1985 and in Japan the same year where he was numbered 32 in the Transformers toy range before C or D prefixes were used. He was also part of the Constructicons/Devastator giftset released the same year in both the USA & Japan which was numbered 37 in Japan. Despite having a major role in the comics and cartoons the Constructicons were not released in the UK. A number of Mexican grey imports materialised in the run up to Christmas 1985 but these were discredited on national television due to them using lead based paint. Scrapper and the Constructicons finally had a UK release in 1990 as an exclusive to Woolworths. This release is believed to utilise authentic Chinese versions of the toys as over the next few years a number of previously unavailable toys made their way into the UK.

Scrapper was reissued in November 2011 in the Encore 20 Devastator boxset. The waist piece and it's slot have apparently been slightly modified since the original version meaning that several third party products developed for the original Devastator no longer work with the new version of the toy.

European Yellow Scrapper

In the early 1990s someone in Hasbro UK/Europe really took a dislike to combining toys. In 1991 the three cars that made up the Brainmaster combiner Road Caeser were released without their combining parts as the Motorvators. Then in 1992 four of the six members of the Destron Breastforce combining team that formed Liokaiser had Autobot recolours as Rescue Force. The Constructicons were re-released too, swapping their pale green for yellow, but this time minus all their combining parts. Scrapper looses the Devastator Chest plate, but also has his vehicle mode canopy change to grey. This makes him one of the easier European Constructicons to distinguish from his G2 counterpart bellow.

Why? Years later I still can't get my head round the reasoning for this release. The repaint, yes see bellow, but taking the combining parts away? Madness.

Generation 2 Yellow Scrapper

The next year the Constructicons were re-released in the USA, with a bright yellow replacing the original green and with all their combining parts, as part of the Generation 2 toyline. Scrapper's vehicle mode, including the canopy, becomes yellow so it's easy to tell the two yellow Scrappers apart.

Thanks to a certain UK construction equipment manufacturer yellow is the colour I associate with construction vehicles. I think it works well on the toys but I'm not keen on the purple parts with the yellow. Maybe repainting these to black would have worked better.

This release was not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Generation 2 Orange Scrapper

Like many other Generation 2 toys a recoloured version of the Constructicons was also released. This swaps the yellow for orange, which looks nice, but once again the purple stays the same, which really doesn't work with the orange.

I'm not sure where I stand with these: the original Constructicon colours are odd but have become iconic. The original G2 versions are a better fit for the vehicle mode. This set.... are just there.

This release has long been rumoured to be an exclusive to Kay-Bee stores in the USA but I can't recall any contemporary information stating this and no proof of exclusivity has ever been found. Like the yellow set, the orange Constructicons were not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Other versions of Scrapper

Whenever there are construction vehicles released people automatically see Constructicons homages. These days the dual Targetmaster Scoop would be repainted as Scrapper. Operation Combination Gran Arm was repainted twice as a Scrapper look alike: as Decepticon Micromaster Granarm & Universe Micromaster Buckethead. There's no digger in the Robots in Disguise Build Team but Energon Sledge is as close to being Scrapper as it's possible to be and is repainted as Classics Scrapper. Cybertron Landmine is a pretty decent looking digger so it's no surprise that he gets a green repaint as Wal*Mart exclusive Grindcore.

[blueshift]

Actually there were two G1.5 releases. Some had parts of the yellow sprue replaced with grey, others had only SOME of that sprue grey. So for example some Scrappers had grey canopies, some had yellow. The more-yellow versions are much rarer though (but not that sought after so not expensive)

I honestly can't remember if the two purple shades correlated with that or not, or if they were different varients.

[Philip Ayres]

The parts that were replaced look to be on a separate sprue to the others. If you look at the G1 versions they're all a slightly paler, more flexible plastic: Hook's crane arm extension, Scapper's canopy, parts of Bonecrusher and Scavenger's arm. The Devastator waist plate is made of the same plastic.

If you look at the Diabuild page you'll see they all change colour together there too depending on the version - yellow on one, grey on the other.

[Philip Ayres]

Constructicon Hook

Hook, like the rest of the Constructicons, started his life as a Diaclone Toy, in his case as the Construction Vehicle Robot No. 3 Truck Crane which was released in two different colours: red or blue. His Transformers version recolours it pale green, the uniform colour used on the other Constructicons. I've always thought pale green make a rather odd colour for construction vehicles.....

Hook is everything you would want from a crane truck: the crane arm turns & elevates at it's base, extends half way along and the hook moves backwards and forwards. You'll see significantly worse Transformer Cranes. He comes with Devastator's Head & cannon which peg onto the base of the truck as a missile launcher. There's also a hole beside the cab for his robot mode hand gun to plug into. Full use of accesories on a Transformers toy this early is rare. Now the cannon on the version I have here is green, as it is on all the versions I've seen on internet. However I recall owning/seeingf one with a chromed silver cannon. Can I find pictures? No.

TRANSFORMATION: Pull the front of the vehicle forward, fold the front of the vehicle forward 180 degrees to form the robot's legs and then push the front of the vehicle back in. Stand. Fold the robot head up and pull the rear of the vehicle out to the sides to form the robot's arms. Place the hand gun in his hand.

Taller than most of the other Constructicons he has the bending knees and rotating shoulders that Hook & Long Haul have. The crane arm, hanging down his back, can be used as a support for the robot too. Sadly he has no way of holding the larger cannon in this mode and there's nowhere to peg it, or the missile mount into.

Hook forms the shoulders & head of Devastator: From vehicle mode pull the front away from the back. Fold the cab to the side so that the front of the cab is on the left and the crane base is on the right. Fold up Devastator's head from the cannon mount and slot over the back of Hook. Fold the bar out the right side of the toy to connect Devastator's left arm to.

Fab vehicle mode, great for the size. Decent attack mode that uses all it's add ons. I'd buiy it even if I didn't need it to form a larger toy.

Hook was released in the USA in 1985 and in Japan the same year where he was numbered 33 and called Gren in the Transformers toy range before C or D prefixes were used. He was also part of the Constructicons/Devastator giftset released the same year in both the USA & Japan which was numbered 37 in Japan. Despite having a major role in the comics and cartoons the Constructicons were not released in the UK. A number of Mexican grey imports materialised in the run up to Christmas 1985 but these were discredited on national television due to them using lead based paint. Scrapper and the Constructicons finally had a UK release in 1990 as an exclusive to Woolworths. This release is believed to utilise authentic Chinese versions of the toys as over the next few years a number of previously unavailable toys made their way into the UK.

Hook was reissued in November 2011 in the Encore 20 Devastator boxset.

European Yellow Scrapper

In the early 1990s someone in Hasbro UK/Europe really took a dislike to combining toys. In 1991 the three cars that made up the Brainmaster combiner Road Caeser were released without their combining parts as the Motorvators. Then in 1992 four of the six members of the Destron Breastforce combining team that formed Liokaiser had Autobot recolours as Rescue Force. The Constructicons were re-released too, swapping their pale green for yellow, but this time minus all their combining parts. Hook has the ending extension part of his carne arm recoloured grey for this release and is one of three 1992 Constructicons physically altered: he looses the metal peg for locking the arm on, making it impossible to combiner this set. Fortunately at the time the previous Woolworths release was still available and I have at least one friend who bought an extra Woolworths Hook and canibalised it making it able to combine with the arm.

Why? Years later I still can't get my head round the reasoning for this release. The repaint, yes see bellow, but taking the combining parts away? Madness.

Generation 2 Yellow Hook

The next year the Constructicons were re-released in the USA, with a bright yellow replacing the original green and with all their combining parts, as part of the Generation 2 toyline.

Thanks to a certain UK construction equipment manufacturer yellow is the colour I associate with construction vehicles. I think it works well on the toys but I'm not keen on the purple parts with the yellow. Maybe repainting these to black would have worked better.

This release was not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Generation 2 Orange Hook

Like many other Generation 2 toys a recoloured version of the Constructicons was also released. This swaps the yellow for orange, which looks nice, but once again the purple stays the same, which really doesn't work with the orange.

I'm not sure where I stand with these: the original Constructicon colours are odd but have become iconic. The original G2 versions are a better fit for the vehicle mode. This set.... are just there.

This release has long been rumoured to be an exclusive to Kay-Bee stores in the USA but I can't recall any contemporary information stating this and no proof of exclusivity has ever been found. Like the yellow set, the orange Constructicons were not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Other versions of Hook

Hook wasn't the only crane released in 1985, the Autobots got one too in Grapple who later got a Hookesque repaint as Hauler. There's no Dual Targetmaster crane but there is one in the Micromaster Construction Patrol: Crumble . The name Hook has fallen out of favour (or Copyright!) but everytime there's a construction team there's a repaint in Constructicon colours and the crane is obviously Hook. Operation Combination Ironlift becomes Destron Ironlift & Universe Micromaster Hightower, then Robots in Disguise Hightower becomes Universe Hightower and Energon Duststorm is recoloured into Classics Hightower.

[Philip Ayres]

Constructicon Mixmaster

Mixmaster, like the rest of the Constructicons, started his life as a Diaclone Toy, in his case as the Construction Vehicle Robot No. 6 Concrete Mixer which was released in two different colours: red with a large blue gun or blue with a large red gun. Both versions had an orange mixing barrel. His Transformers version recolours it pale green, the uniform colour used on the other Constructicons, with the large gun becoming purple. I've always thought pale green make a rather odd colour for construction vehicles.....

Functionally there's one thing you need a concrete mixer to do: the barrel must turn. This is the case with Mixmaster but I'm pretty certain he's the only Transformers concrete mixer, admittedly as we'll see a pretty select group, with a rotating barrel. There's a hole in the vehicle cab and another one on the motor mechanism for the mixing drum: these are for his hand gun and the large gun that comes with him to add as vehicle weapons.

TRANSFORMATION: Fold the cab forward & down 180 degrees and stand on the back of the cab. Pull the rear sides out to form the arms.

Yeah, its a robot with a concrete mixing barrel on his back. His sole articulation is the shoulders, but if a Transformer toys had one set of joints I'd rather it was rotating shoulders. His hands can hold the hand gun he comes with and the larger gun too, used later as Devastator's weapon. He's the only Constructicon to use all his attack mode equipment in robot mode. In addition to the two guns he has a missile launcher, one of three Constructicons to have this type of weapon. Mixmaster's is built into the toy itself taking up space above his head. He comes with two missile, an ordinary one and one shaped with a dual barrel like a fork. It's this second one that I prefer. Like all early Transformers this gimmick was neutered for the western release, but the Japanese release and recent re-issue reinstate it fully.

Mixmaster also serves as Devastator's left leg. Take the vehicle mode with the weapons removed. Slide the cab forward, and then bend back 90 degrees. Stand on the cab base with the top of the vehicle facing you.

Solid small toy for it's age.

Mixmaster was released in the USA in 1985 and in Japan the same year where he was numbered 34 in the Transformers toy range before C or D prefixes were used. He was also part of the Constructicons/Devastator giftset released the same year in both the USA & Japan which was numbered 37 in Japan. Despite having a major role in the comics and cartoons the Constructicons were not released in the UK. A number of Mexican grey imports materialised in the run up to Christmas 1985 but these were discredited on national television due to them using lead based paint. Scrapper and the Constructicons finally had a UK release in 1990 as an exclusive to Woolworths. This release is believed to utilise authentic Chinese versions of the toys as over the next few years a number of previously unavailable toys made their way into the UK.

Mixmaster was reissued in November 2011 in the Encore 20 Devastator boxset.

European Yellow Mixmaster

In the early 1990s someone in Hasbro UK/Europe really took a dislike to combining toys. In 1991 the three cars that made up the Brainmaster combiner Road Caeser were released without their combining parts as the Motorvators. Then in 1992 four of the six members of the Destron Breastforce combining team that formed Liokaiser had Autobot recolours as Rescue Force. The Constructicons were re-released too, swapping their pale green for yellow, but this time minus all their combining parts. Mixmaster is missing his missiles, the missile mechanism and the large Devastator gun.

Why? Years later I still can't get my head round the reasoning for this release. The repaint, yes see bellow, but taking the combining parts away? Madness.

Generation 2 Yellow Mixmaster

The next year the Constructicons were re-released in the USA, with a bright yellow replacing the original green and with all their combining parts, as part of the Generation 2 toyline.

This version of Mixmaster also removes the launching mechanism & turns the missile bodies into straight posts.

Thanks to a certain UK construction equipment manufacturer yellow is the colour I associate with construction vehicles. I think it works well on the toys but I'm not keen on the purple parts with the yellow. Maybe repainting these to black would have worked better.

This release was not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Generation 2 Orange Mixmaster

Like many other Generation 2 toys a recoloured version of the Constructicons was also released. This swaps the yellow for orange, which looks nice, but once again the purple stays the same, which really doesn't work with the orange.

I'm not sure where I stand with these: the original Constructicon colours are odd but have become iconic. The original G2 versions are a better fit for the vehicle mode. This set.... are just there.

This release has long been rumoured to be an exclusive to Kay-Bee stores in the USA but I can't recall any contemporary information stating this and no proof of exclusivity has ever been found. Like the yellow set, the orange Constructicons were not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Other versions of Mixmaster

There aren't many Transformer Concrete Mixers and Mixmaster would be on his own till Dual Target Master Quickmix came along which which would nowadays get a Constructicon repaint as Mixmaster. HASBRO: I want Decepticon Dual Targetmaster Constructicon repaints. My money is here, take it! Then there's the unrepainted Micromaster Takedown whose entire team, the Construction Patrol could be repainted as Constructicons. For many years there wasn't a repaint of Operation Combination Mixing even though he belonged to a combining six member construction team with obvious inspiration. Fortunately when he was reissued in 2003 Destron Mixing and Micromaster Quickmix soon followed. Sadly neither Robots in Disguise Landfill or Energon Constructicon Maximus have a concrete mixer so we're deprived of one in their Constructicon Repaints Universe Constructicon Devastator and Classics Constructicon Devastator. However Cybertron Quickmix gets repainted into the Decepticon Constructicon like Universe Heavy Load. The less said about Movie Mixmaster, the better but he is the only full size movie Constructicon to get the obvious G1 Constructicon Repaint. And the Movie Hoist he's packed with is very good indeed.

[Philip Ayres]

Constructicon Scavenger

Scavenger, like the rest of the Constructicons, started his life as a Diaclone Toy, in his case as the Construction Vehicle Robot No. 2 Power Shovel which was released in two different colours: both were an orangey yellow but the first had a similarly coloured digging arm while the second had a grey one. His Transformers version recolours the toy pale green, the uniform colour used on the other Constructicons, with the digging arm becoming a slightly paler green plastic: all the Diabuild parts that are recoloured grey for their repainted version become this pale green plastic on the Transformers version, and as we'll see they all change colour together on later versions. I've always thought pale green make a rather odd colour for construction vehicles.....

Functionally Scavenger's vehicle body rotates on his purple track base, the excavator arm is bends forward & back at it's base and is hinged halfway along. Good stuff, I've owned non transforming excavators that do worse than that. For top marks I'd like the excavator bucket to be hinged too but perhaps that's a little much to be expecting of a toy of this size.

Scavenger is one of three Constructicons to have a missile launcher, but only two of these - him and Constructicon Bonecrusher can use them in vehicle mode. Functionally and at first glance Bonecrusher and Scavenger have identical launchers: they'll later form each of Devastator's forearms. In robot mode they have a drill shaped missile to fire. Scavenger's pegs onto the vehicle mode body and points forward. I like the idea of an excavator having an add on drill so that works well here, and for a laugh you can use a Devastator fist instead of a drill missile in this mode. The only down side is that attaching the drill missile does restrict the movement of the excavator arm somewhat. In addition there's a hole in the top of Scavenger's cab for his robot mode handgun to sit.

TRANSFORMATION: Set the vehicle body square against the tracked base. Turn the toy over and fold the tracks down towards the excavator shovel & arm to form the legs. Turn the ends of the tracks out to form the feet. Pull the sides of the body out to form the arms and raise the head.

Given that there's a turntable involved in the middle of the vehicle mode you have to be concerned as to the stability of the robot mode. Later toys will get round this in various ways, frequently by making the rotating part a backpack or using the turntable as a waist joint. Here it's ended up in the middle of the body with the base of the vehicle forming the front of the chest & the legs. Consequently there is a mild amount of side to side wobble in the body but this is mostly mostly restricted by his hips. He's the first small Transformer toy to be able sit by bending at the hips as well as having rotating shoulders so he is roughly the equivalent of a contemporary Star Wars action figure. He holds his hand gun in this mode but sadly can't hold the missile launcher, though he can use it as a backpack.

Scavenger forms Defensor's right arm: from vehicle mode raise the shovel arm and peg the missile launcher onto the end as Devastator's forearm. Place the right fist into the launcher. Fold out the metal bar between the legs.

A distinctly different vehicle mode requires a different approach to the transformation and robot. I think a good job has been done here, top marks.

Scavenger was released in the USA in 1985 and in Japan the same year where he was numbered 35 Gren in the Transformers toy range before C or D prefixes were used. He was also part of the Constructicons/Devastator giftset released the same year in both the USA & Japan which was numbered 37 in Japan. Despite having a major role in the comics and cartoons the Constructicons were not released in the UK. A number of Mexican grey imports materialised in the run up to Christmas 1985 but these were discredited on national television due to them using lead based paint. Scrapper and the Constructicons finally had a UK release in 1990 as an exclusive to Woolworths. This release is believed to utilise authentic Chinese versions of the toys as over the next few years a number of previously unavailable toys made their way into the UK.

Scavenger was reissued in November 2011 in the Encore 20 Devastator boxset. The feet on my Encore Scavenger have a habit of popping off awfully easily.

European Yellow Scavenger

In the early 1990s someone in Hasbro UK/Europe really took a dislike to combining toys. In 1991 the three cars that made up the Brainmaster combiner Road Caeser were released without their combining parts as the Motorvators. Then in 1992 four of the six members of the Destron Breastforce combining team that formed Liokaiser had Autobot recolours as Rescue Force. The Constructicons were re-released too, swapping their pale green for yellow, but this time minus all their combining parts. Scavenger is missing his missiles, the missile mechanism and has been modified to remove the metal tab that folds out of his chest to attach him to Hook/Devastator's body, making it impossible to combine the set. Fortunately at the time the previous Woolworths release was still available and I have at least one friend who bought an extra Woolworths Scavenger and cannibalised it making it able to combine with the arm. There's also a variation on this version of Scavenger featuring a grey excavating arm.

Why? Years later I still can't get my head round the reasoning for this release. The repaint, yes see bellow, but taking the combining parts away? Madness.

Generation 2 Yellow Scavenger

The next year the Constructicons were re-released in the USA, with a bright yellow replacing the original green and with all their combining parts, as part of the Generation 2 toyline.

This version of Scavenger also removes the launching mechanism from the launcher & turns the missile bodies on both the drill missiles & Devastator's hands into straight posts.

Thanks to a certain UK construction equipment manufacturer yellow is the colour I associate with construction vehicles. I think it works well on the toys but I'm not keen on the purple parts with the yellow. Maybe repainting these to black would have worked better.

This release was not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Generation Orange Scavenger

Like many other Generation 2 toys a recoloured version of the Constructicons was also released. This swaps the yellow for orange, which looks nice, but once again the purple stays the same, which really doesn't work with the orange.

I'm not sure where I stand with these: the original Constructicon colours are odd but have become iconic. The original G2 versions are a better fit for the vehicle mode. This set.... are just there.

This release has long been rumoured to be an exclusive to Kay-Bee stores in the USA but I can't recall any contemporary information stating this and no proof of exclusivity has ever been found. Like the yellow set, the orange Constructicons were not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Other versions of Scavenger

There have been many other Transformers versions of Scavenger that bare no relation to construction vehicles and the Constructicons. Beast Wars Scavenger, for example, was a fire ant, but I suppose Beast Machines Scavenger and his repaint Robots in Disguise Scavenger are vaguely construction vehicles. Armada Scavenger definitely is but is on completely the wrong side for those colours and should be called Constructicon Bonecrusher with that vehicle mode. And Minicon Scavenger is another beast, though like the Beast Wars version you could see a wolf Scavenging for food.

Meanwhile there have been a number of other excavator vehicles. Operation Combination cheats somewhat by placing the excavator arm & cab on a crane body for Digger (compare it to the Sixbuilder crane Iron Lift!) which is later repainted in Constructicon colours as Destron Digger & Micromaster Scavenger. Robots in Disguise Grimlock becomes Universe Scavenger in the Classics Scavenger as part of the Universe Constructicon Devastator 2 packs. Energon Steamhammer, the Energon Constructicon leader which is a role I've always seen Scavenger as filling for the original Constructicons, is effectively Scavenger straight out the box but he's still repainted into Classics Scavenger.

And then finally, the one that got away. Armada Hoist is to my mind one of the finest Transformers toys ever made. Only the presence of the misnamed Armada Scavenger can have kept it from being repainted as the earliest Transformers excavator. Swap the white & orange for green and the blue & brown for purple. Job done. Once again Hasbro I have money waiting for you. Hoist's been repainted a few times, with Universe Battle in the Box Ransack looking like a botched attempt at doing Scavenger: write the colours against the parts in a list, including his Minicon companion Refute and then move all the colours round and you get a decent looking Scavenger out the end. Fortunately one of Hoist's other repaints (remoulds) Cybertron Longrack looks like a decent Generation 2 Yellow Scavenger!

[Philip Ayres]

Constructicon Bonecrusher

Bonecrusher, like the rest of the Constructicons, started his life as a Diaclone Toy, in his case as the Construction Vehicle Robot No.1 Bulldozer which was released in two different colours: both were an orangey yellow but the first had a similarly cab cover & shovel support while the second had grey ones. His Transformers version recolours the toy pale green, the uniform colour used on the other Constructicons, with the digging arm becoming a slightly paler green plastic: all the Diabuild parts that are recoloured grey for their repainted version become this pale green plastic on the Transformers version, and as we'll see they all change colour together on later versions. I've always thought pale green make a rather odd colour for construction vehicles.....

Bonecrusher looks a decent vehicle but he basically sits there in vehicle mode. Yes the shovel can tip back a little but there's nothing else to it apart from that. These days the tracks would have wheels but he doesn't.

Bonecrusher is one of three Constructicons to have a missile launcher, but only two of these - him and Constructicon Scavenger can use them in vehicle mode. Functionally and at first glance Bonecrusher and Scavenger have identical launchers: they'll later form each of Devastator's forearms. In robot mode they have a drill shaped missile to fire. Bonecrusher's pegs onto the vehicle mode body and points forward. I like the idea of an bulldozer having an add on drill so that works well here, and for a laugh you can use a Devastator fist instead of a drill missile in this mode.

TRANSFORMATION: Fold the cab roof back. Split the top of the vehicle in two down the centre and fold out to the sides to form the arms. Rotate each arm back 90 degrees and bend at the elbows. Fold the head up. Fold the shovel back to form the chest. Fold the tracks down & forward to form the legs. Pull the fronts of the tracks out to form the feet, making sure they've come all the way forward, & bend at the ankles.

From the waist down he's effectively a brick unless you want to lean him backward or bend the ankles, both of which will completely destabilise the toy. But the arms are a lot better: They bend down & turn at the shoulders and bend at the elbows. All of this is necessary to get them to the sides of the massive shovel that forms his chest. He can hold his hand gun in this mode and you might just about be able to get the missile launcher to balance on his arm.

Bonecrusher also forms Devastator's left arm: Take the missile launcher, peg it under the rear of the vehicle and put Devastator's left hand into the missile hole. That's it.

I'm a bit down on Bonecrusher. He doesn't do as much as the other Constructicons in vehicle mode and the robot is a bit odd looking, rendering all the arm articulation a little useless.

Bonecrusher was released in the USA in 1985 and in Japan the same year where he was numbered 36 in the Transformers toy range before C or D prefixes were used. He was also part of the Constructicons/Devastator giftset released the same year in both the USA & Japan which was numbered 37 in Japan. Despite having a major role in the comics and cartoons the Constructicons were not released in the UK. A number of Mexican grey imports materialised in the run up to Christmas 1985 but these were discredited on national television due to them using lead based paint. Scrapper and the Constructicons finally had a UK release in 1990 as an exclusive to Woolworths. This release is believed to utilise authentic Chinese versions of the toys as over the next few years a number of previously unavailable toys made their way into the UK.

Bonecrusher was reissued in November 2011 in the Encore 20 Devastator boxset.

European Yellow Bonecrusher

In the early 1990s someone in Hasbro UK/Europe really took a dislike to combining toys. In 1991 the three cars that made up the Brainmaster combiner Road Caeser were released without their combining parts as the Motorvators. Then in 1992 four of the six members of the Destron Breastforce combining team that formed Liokaiser had Autobot recolours as Rescue Force. The Constructicons were re-released too, swapping their pale green for yellow, but this time minus all their combining parts. Bonecrusher is missing his missiles and the missile mechanism. In addition some versions of Bonecrusher feature a recoloured cab cover & shovel support in grey plastic.

Why? Years later I still can't get my head round the reasoning for this release. The repaint, yes see bellow, but taking the combining parts away? Madness.

Generation 2 Yellow Bonecrusher

The next year the Constructicons were re-released in the USA, with a bright yellow replacing the original green and with all their combining parts, as part of the Generation 2 toyline.

This version of Bonecrusher also removes the launching mechanism from the launcher & turns the missile bodies on both the drill missiles & Devastator's hands into straight posts.

Thanks to a certain UK construction equipment manufacturer yellow is the colour I associate with construction vehicles. I think it works well on the toys but I'm not keen on the purple parts with the yellow. Maybe repainting these to black would have worked better.

This release was not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Generation 2 Orange Bonecrusher

Like many other Generation 2 toys a recoloured version of the Constructicons was also released. This swaps the yellow for orange, which looks nice, but once again the purple stays the same, which really doesn't work with the orange.

I'm not sure where I stand with these: the original Constructicon colours are odd but have become iconic. The original G2 versions are a better fit for the vehicle mode. This set.... are just there.

This release has long been rumoured to be an exclusive to Kay-Bee stores in the USA but I can't recall any contemporary information stating this and no proof of exclusivity has ever been found. Like the yellow set, the orange Constructicons were not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Other versions of Bonecrusher

The Micromaster Construction Patrol member Neutro is a similar vehicle to Bonecrusher as is Operation Combination Crush-Bull who would later be repainted in Constructicon colours as Destron Crush-bull & Micromaster Bonecrusher. Robots in Disguise Wedge later gets the Constructicon treatment as Universe Bonecrusher but Classics Bonecrusher is a repaint of Energon Sledge, which is more like Constructicon Scrapper, a wheeled digger.

[The Doctor]

How does this thread still have Phil's alternate title?!

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Who knows? Probaby because it was listed while I was Master of all the World.

It still awaits it's finishing article

[Philip Ayres]

Diabuild

The Constructicons start life as Diaclone Toys. The Diabuild toys are amongst the few Diaclone toys not to come with the driver figures. They are the second transforming & combining toy in the Diaclone toyline after Train Robo which was later released in the Japanese Transformers Headmasters range as Raiden.

Unlike the Transformers Constructicons the Diabuild toys are not a uniform colour scheme and have two versions, which further changes the colours on some enabling us to learn something about how the parts are moulded together:

#	Toy	Version 1	Version 2	Orange to Grey	Blue to Red
1	Bulldozer	Yellow/Orange	Yellow/Orange	Cab cover & shovel support	-
2	Power Shovel	Yellow/Orange	Yellow/Orange	Excavator arm	-
3	Tractor Shovel	Yellow/Orange	Yellow/Orange	Cab cover	Chest
4	Truck Crane	Red	Blue	Crane arm extension	Missile Support/Back frame
5	Dump Truck	Red	Red	Waist Shield	Waist
6	Concrete Mixer	Red	Blue	No	Gun & inner legs

Structurally Diabuild is the same as Devastator.

The Diabuild toys appear to have been released in Japan in late 1983/early 1984

Constructicon Devastator

Time to get some things off my chest:

Why aren't the Constructicons Autobot toys? They're land based vehicles which would fit more with the Autobot Cars and Decepticon Jets/Devices theme introduced in 1984. Plus toys that build things would seem to fit more with the general Autobot ethos. I suspect the answer is that there just wasn't a new pocket money sized Decepticon toy available for 1985: It's the only one of the first five years of the line not to have new tapes. So the Decepticons get the Constructicons and the Autobots get the first new moulds of the toyline, the year 2 Mini Autobots, plus the Dinobots, which I suggest may have made better Decepticons.

Then there's the colour. I associate the colour yellow with construction vehicles. Here in the UK the leading manufacturer JCB uses yellow on all it's equipment and many other firms have followed suit. Most Lego Construction vehicles are yellow. So the Transformers versions are coloured pale green?

What I can get is the idea that the first combining Transformer is a Decepticon. Larger and more destructive are ideas I can see the Decepticons very much getting behind.

Devastator is assembled from the six Constructicons, listed bellow with their Japanese release numbers:

31 Longhaul

Start from the truck mode. Fold the cab forward & down 90 degrees, then fold the tipper bed front back. Slot the tab on the waist piece in between the rear of the truck with the green missiles on the same side as the tipper bed. Slot the waist shield in under the cab.

32 Scrapper

From vehicle mode fold the arms out in front of the vehicle, and fold the shovel back as far as it will go. Stand the vehicle on the shovel & robot's hands.

33 Hook (Gren)

From vehicle mode pull the front away from the back. Fold the cab to the side so that the front of the cab is on the left and the crane base is on the right. Fold up Devastator's head from the cannon mount and slot over the back of Hook. Peg the cannon into the side of Devastator's head. Fold the bar out the right side of the toy to connect Devastator's left arm to. Place the wing shield onto the pegs projecting out the front of Hook.

34 Mixmaster

Take the vehicle mode and slide the cab forward, and then bend back 90 degrees. Stand on the cab base with the top of the vehicle facing you.

35 Scavenger

From vehicle mode raise the shovel arm and peg the missile launcher onto the end as Devastator's forearm. Place the right fist into the launcher. Fold out the metal bar between the tracks.

36 Bonecrusher

Take the missile launcher, peg it under the rear of the vehicle and put Devastator's left hand into the missile hole.

Clip Scrapper & Mixmaster into the waist piece. Peg Hook onto Long Haul. Slot the tab on Scavenger into the right hand side of Hook and place Bonecrusher on the tab projecting from the left.

Devastator's combined form is one of the largest for the time of his release: I think only Jetfire, Blaster & Shockwave of the 1984 & 1985 toys are larger. He towers over the robots formed from the Autobot cars & Decepticon jets. The green & purple colour scheme helps provide a cohesive figure though the softer plastic parts, notably the waist shield, spoil the effect somewhat by being a slightly lighter shade of pale green. The toy is "a brick" as Transformers fans put it: no leg or waist articulation to speak of but that helps give the toy stability, something rather lacking in later combining Transformers toy. The articulation provided on the toy is all in the arms: both turn at the shoulder. Bonecrusher's connection to Hook turns whereas Scavenger is fixed in relation to Hook but rotates on the turntable used in the vehicle mode. Both arms bend at the elbow with the forearms moving round the pegs they are attacked to. Be careful though: this can stress the holes on the forearms causing them to crack. The hands turn in the wrists, due to them being attached by missile posts and can be fired as missile. Each hand has a 5mm peg hole which allows it to hold Devastator's gun or any other 5mm post weapon, but the missile post wrist has trouble coping with holding heavier weapons. The hands on the robot can be swapped for the chrome drill missiles used in robot mode, somehow the idea of a giant robot with drills for hands appeals to me. Besides the hand gun Devastator also has the cannon attached to the side of it's head, missing from all the fictional depictions of the toy.

Devastator is a little dependent on his additional parts to hold him together with the waist connecting Scrapper & Mixmaster to Long Haul and an additional piece connecting Long Haul to Hook. Such dependence is eliminated in most subsequent larger combiners. Yes, you can't help but compare Devastator to those later toys but it's a massive step forward for Transformers.

The six individual smaller toys which make up Devastator were released in the USA in 1985 and in Japan the same year. A boxset containing all six toys was also issued in both countries and numbered 37 in the Transformers toy range before C or D prefixes were used. Despite having a major role in the comics and cartoons the Constructicons were not released in the UK in either individual or combined form. A number of Mexican grey imports materialised in the run up to Christmas 1985 but these were discredited on national television due to them using lead based paint. The Constructicons finally had a UK release as individual toys in 1990 as an exclusive to Woolworths. This release is believed to utilise authentic Chinese versions of the toys as over the next few years a number of previously unavailable toys made their way into the UK. Devastator was reissued as a giftset and numbered 20 in the Encore range of toys, relaunching the line in November 2011.

Action Master Devastator

Action Master Devastator is a new toy with the Devastator character reproduced in the non transforming action figure form used for all Action Masters. The Action Masters are identical in height so you put him next to Bumblebee and they're the same size which is just wrong!

Devastator comes with a companion toy, Scorpulator, which transforms from robot scorpion into a gun. It's one of the nicer Action Master weapons.

Released in the US & UK in 1990, this was at the time this was the only way for UK fans to get Devastator (and other missed year 2 characters like Blaster and Shockwave. I snapped these three up on sight from the old Beatties toy store in Kingston!

European Devastator

There is no 1992 European Devastator.

Well, not without some help.....

In the early 1990s someone in Hasbro UK/Europe really took a dislike to combining toys. In 1991 the three cars that made up the Brainmaster combiner Road Caeser were released without their combining parts as the Motorvators. Then in 1992 four of the six members of the Destron Breastforce combining team that formed Liokaiser had Autobot recolours as Rescue Force. The Constructicons were re-released too, swapping their pale green for yellow, but this time minus all their combining parts. So no head/back, waist, waist shield, forearm launchers, missiles be they hand or drill and no gun. It's not just extra parts that were removed, two of the toys had pieces integral to them removed: Hook looses the peg that Bonecrusher attaches to and Scavenger looses the strut which attaches to Hook.

Why? Years later I still can't get my head round the reasoning for this release of the Constructicons. The repaint, is of course a good thing finally giving us yellow Constructicons, albeit in a shade of yellow that isn't quite there, but taking the combining parts away? Madness.

Generation 2 Yellow Devastator

Fortunately the next year the Constructicons were re-released in the USA, with a bright yellow replacing the original green and with all their combining parts intact, as part of the Generation 2 toyline.

Generation 2 Devastator (Yellow) is made up of the following toys:

Bonecrusher
Hook
Longhaul
Mixmaster
Scavenger
Scrapper

All six toys combine in the same way as the original form the Devastator vehicle. The only changes that really affect the larger toy is that the hands are not attached with posts rather than missile tails. I've never owned a G2 Devastator but I'm guessing there could be some issues with the hands coming out if they were hanging straight down, especially if they're holding the gun.

Thanks to a certain UK construction equipment manufacturer yellow is the colour I associate with construction vehicles. I think it works well on the toys but I'm not keen on the purple parts with the yellow. Maybe repainting these to black would have worked better.

This release was not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

Generation 2 Orange Devastator

Like many other Generation 2 toys a recoloured version of the Constructicons was also released. This release swaps the yellow for orange, which looks nice, but once again the purple stays the same, which really doesn't work with the orange.

Generation 2 Devastator (Orange) is made up of the following toys:

Bonecrusher
Hook
Longhaul
Mixmaster
Scavenger
Scrapper

These toys have the same mould changes to the fists as the Yellow G2 Devastator but otherwise combine in the same way as the original form the Devastator vehicle.

I'm not sure where I stand with these: the original Constructicon colours are odd but have become iconic. The original G2 versions are a better fit for the vehicle mode. This set.... are just there.

This release has long been rumoured to be an exclusive to Kay-Bee stores in the USA but I can't recall any contemporary information stating this and no proof of exclusivity has ever been found. Like the yellow set, the orange Constructicons were not sold in the UK or Japan and no Devastator boxset was available.

[Shockprowl]

Magnificent review Sir. Lot of fun to read through!



I wonder how you'd feel about one or both of the third party Devastators?

(I'll let you know what I thinka my Green Giant when he finally arrives!)