Festive December - The Ravage Infiltration

The Ravage Infiltration

"Ravage relies on speed and stealth to succeed"

Flak

Generation: Live Action Movies

Toyline: Revenge of the Fallen/Hunt for the Decepticons

Size Class: Scout

Faction: Autobot

Flak's robot mode is quite stocky and is mostly black and dark grey in colour, he also features some white and black camouflage paint as well. He also features some details coloured in differently like the blue patches on his chest, silver on his abdominal area, brown groin, shoulders and guns and white knees. Flak features a mostly round head which is connected to the torso by a ball joint allowing it some movement. His face is gold with sculpted nose, mouth and chin. His eyes are a black colour and are recessed into his head.

Flak's upper arms are connected to his upper torso by a ball joint allowing it to rotate as much as needed. His elbows are created by a combination of a hinge and a ball joint allowing them to bend inwards fully and rotate as well on the point. His hands are able to fold inwards by a pivot joint at about a 90 degree level. His vehicle mode guns can be rotated on a pivot joint so they can act as handheld weapons for his robot mode, complete with handles/triggers that fit inside his half-closed sculpted fist.

Flak's waist is created by a pivot joint that allows it to rotate 360 degrees at the point. The upper legs are connected to that by a pair of ball joints that allow them to rotate as needed, the knees are created using a ball joint as well that allows them to bend and rotate as desired. The feet are connected by a hinge joint that allows them to bend backwards is desired depending on the surface he's on. Flak's vehicle mode plough is used here as a shin guard of sorts to protect his lower legs.

Flak's vehicle mode is a mostly dark grey pick up truck with a pair of brown guns on the roof and a black plough on the front. This mode features several aesthetic features such as headlights, front grill, black tinted windows, doors, exhaust pipes and various other details like storage areas and intake points.

Flak's wheels are able to spin around freely and so long as his robot mode knees are folded in properly he won't get caught up on anything on the floor.

Rollbar

Generation: Live Action Movies

Toyline: Revenge of the Fallen/Hunt for the Decepticons

Size Class: Scout

Faction: Autobot

Rollbar is a mostly light grey and black robot with some white and black camouflage deco visible as well. His head is connected to the top of his torso by a ball joint that allows it to move around as much as needed, including being turned to side to side and nodding. His head features a black helmet around a silver face with green visor optics. His face is sculpted with a nose and cheeks as well as a small mouth inside a mouth plate recess (so fictionally he could have a retractable mouth plate).

Rollbar's upper arms are connected to his upper torso by a hinge and ball joint combination, allowing them to be folded inwards a bit and to rotate on the joint as much as needed. Rollbar's elbow is created by a pair of hinges that allow them to bend inwards at two close points at about 90 degrees each. His arms also feature sculpted hands with fingers that are unable to hold anything. The tops of Rollbar's arms also feature his vehicle mode guns that can be repositioned in pretty much any way as long as it's still connected to his arms to be used fictionally as cannons for his robot mode as well.

Rollbar's waist is able to rotate on a pivot that allows it to rotate as far as needed unless obstructed by something. The upper legs are connected to his waist by a pair of ball joints allowing them to rotate as needed again. His knees are created by a singe hinge joint allowing them to bend backwards by about 90 degrees so he can sit down if needed luckily. Rollbar's feet are connected by a pin joint that allows them to be folded backwards and are supported by a similarly jointed heel as well allowing them to be supportive in most appropriate surfaces.

Rollbar turns into a gun mounted military dune buggy. He also features working free spinning wheels, bumpers, aesthetic lights and other such expected details from a buggy mode. Rollbar's driver's area is sculpted with a non-moving steering wheel, and his robot mode arms are repurposed here as seats (though there's a big hole at the bottom so it's nt too sensible to stay inside him when he's driving, especially if it's over a sharp or hot surface)

Rollbar's colour scheme is essentially the opposite of Flak's where he has a light grey instead of black. His guns are black and gold

Ravage

Generation: Live Action Movies

Toyline: Revenge of the Fallen/Hunt for the Decepticons

Size Class: Legends

Faction: Decepticon

Ravage is a silver-black Quadroped robot with a single red optic on his head, an opened fanged mouth (which cannot close). Ravage's tail is connected to the rear of his body by a hinge that allows it to wag up and down and spin on the tip as well. Ravage also features a back mounted cannon that clips into a slot and allows it to rotate on the axis as far as possible depending on obstructions.

Ravage's limbs are connected by ball joints that allows them to rotate as needed, the rear legs feature a knee joint created by a pivot joint that allows it to bend inwards as needed. Ravage's feet are connected to the bottoms of the legs by pivot joints that allows them to fold inwards and out as needed for balance.

Ravage's first alternate mode is a fish-like missile that features a face-like front which could be used as a blade for slicing obstacles in fiction. Ravage also has a set of wings/fins on the sides. The guns from his robot mode are still intact as before.

Ravage's second alternate mode is an entry-pod mode that is essentially just a fully folded in and collapsed version of the previous modes that somewhat resembles those seen in the first movie's toyline.

Soldiers

This toy set comes with three human figures, two have the coolant guns seen in the first movie (the guys who attacked Bumblebee under the bridge) and the third has a machine gun weapon ready to kill Ravage if needed.

My Thoughts

Over all, I'd say that this set is quite fun, the figures are new characters (except Ravage of course) and not just another Bumblebee to add to the pile. They look nice and have a matching motif of being camouflaged military vehicles, and when combined with Ravage are able to emulate the scene in Revenge of the Fallen where Ravage breaks into NEST to steal the Allspark sliver.

This set is especially good since due to whatever reasons, it has become one of the few UK exclusive sets to exist in the modern franchise.

Despite both of the larger figures being repaints of figures that have been repainted a lot now (with Rollbar's mold having at least three other uses to my knowledge!) they both still look great and even feel new when you look at them. The little humans are just repaints from the Screen Battle sets from the first movie, so they aren't important at all, just throw them in a drawer if you want to!

In my opinion this set is definitely worth getting, if only for the sake of using it to tease the American fans who have no easy way to grab a set for themselves ;)

Festive December - Sandstorm

Sandstorm

"Sandstorm was built to survive for extended periods in the harshest climates. Anything Earth can throw at him, he can endure and come out smiling. He requires the same fortitude from his human partner, Private Dedcliff, a Special Forces survival expert with years of experience. Together, they hunt Decepticons in the most remote places on the planet."

Generation: Live Action Movies

Toyline: Dark of the Moon

Faction: Autobot

Size Class: Basic Human Alliance

Strength: 6

Intelligence: 5

Speed: 5

Endurance: 8

Rank: 4

Courage: 8

Fireblast: 4

Skill: 4

Robot Mode

Sandstorm is a mostly green robot with some grey, black and red parts as well. His Autobot insignia is located on the very top of his chest.

Sandstorm's chest is concealed behind a black panel that can be opened outwards so you can either pretend to have him bear the Matrix or something or you can have his human partner sit on it as a chair. He features some pipes at either side that you can lower by about 90 degrees if needed. Sandstorm's head is connected to the torso by a pivot joint that allows it to rotate fully allowing him to look to either side. His waist is able to rotate on a pivot joint, so he can gyrate as needed. You can also store his gun on the bar on his back thanks to his C-Clip, which is quickly becoming a common feature on Transformers.

His head is stylized like most other Movie continuity figures but prominently features a silver face area with mouth, nose and chin, a pair of blue eyes and a red upside down trident style head decoration.

Sandstorm's arms are connected to the upper torso by a connector piece and a ball joint allowing it to move very freely as needed. His shoulders feature his rear vehicle mode wheels, but thye don't interfere with his mobility at all. His elbow joint is created with a ball joint meaning that it can bend inwards and to the sides as far as needer for poses, the hands are connected to the lower arms by a hinge joint that allows it to bend inwards by about 90 degrees. His hands are simply sculpted with digits and details, so they aren't actually articulated, however he does feature a standard peg hole allowing him to hold his supplied gun in either hand.

If you want to, you can fold his hands in and use his vehicle mode triple exhaust pipes as a retractable gun in this mode too.

The upper legs are connected to the lower torso by a ball joint at the sides of the groin allowing them as free a movement as possible without obstructions. The knees are created from a pivot joint that allows them to bend backwards b about 90 degrees (like a normal knee). His feet are connected to the lower legs by a pivot-ball joint combination that allows them to be positioned in pretty much any way needed depending upon the standing surface it's on. Despite having the front vehicle wheels on the sides of his feet he can't skate on them (aww).

Vehicle Mode

Sandstorm's vehicle mode is a mostly green military dune buggy which features an exposed driver's cockpit which features a seat for the driver and an immobile steering wheel.

The vehicle mode also features a pair of triple piped exhaust pipes at the rear (which can be raised upwards if needed) and a set of four large brown treaded wheels, which are fully mobile, so ong at the surface is flat and smooth. He also features some sculpted headlights etc that you'd expect to see on a ground based vehicle Transformer.

Sandstorm features a strange connector at the back which doesn't seem to do anything, however it has to be rotated around depending on what mode he's in, so maybe it does have a purpose, or it used to have one, I'm not sure.

Sandstorm's gun (and any C-Clip compatible weapons as well) can be clipped onto the buggy's bars to gun him an extra weapon if desired.

Base Mode

The "base mode" is essentially a folded out version of Sandstorm's vehicle mode. The main changes are that he's been rendered immobile thanks to his wheels being off the ground, although he is still stable thanks to some support struts etc. His vehicle mode exhaust pipes have been turned into guns in this mode and also come with some levers/handles for the operator to manipulate.

The vehicle mode cockpit has been retained, but flipped over by 90 degrees, meaning that the operator sits down on what was the back of the chair and leans against what was the seat before. An added feature that wasn't accessible in the other modes are some deployable missiles that are extended by just pushing the seat backwards.

Sandstorm's gun is able to be connected to any of the bars available by using the C-Clip, like in the previous mode too.

Private Dedcliff

Dedcliff is just an annoying little figure designed to interact with Sandstorm when in his alternate modes (as shown here) he doesn't do anything too spectacular, he has bendable areas on his upper legs, knees and shoulders. He has disturbing little dead black eyes, so I like to pretend that he's just a holo-avatar for him to use (considering he's an open-top vehicle). I tend to just keep him locked up in a box with the other human figures in my collection.

My Thoughts

I actually really like this figure, he's small, so he's affordable all three of his modes are interesting and fun to play with and he even comes with a small human to act as a holo-avatar (or a real human if you prefer to use toys as they're meant to)

Over all this is probably my favourite non-screen character toy from the DOTM line so far (as of the end of 2011 anyway) so I'd strongly advise anyone to buy him, he'd make a good Christmas present to either a friend, family member or even to you!

Also a weird thing I've noticed is that Sandstorm is very similar in basic design to the Cybertron series toy Hardtop, who also turns into a military buggy, has a removable gun and some very striking similarities to Sandstorm...maybe this guy was intended as an update on his toy?

Festive December - Soundwave

Soundwave

"It is said Soundwave can hear a fly sneeze. Uses anything he hears for blackmail to advance his status. Opportunist. Despised by all other Decepticons. Sensors can detect even lowest energy radio transmissions. Able to read minds by monitoring electrical brain impulses. Acts as radio link for others. Locates and identifies Autobots, then informs Decepticons. Carries a concussion blaster gun. Often target of retaliation by his comrades."

Generation: Generation One

Toyline: Classics 2007 Reissue Figure

Faction: Decepticon

Function: Communications

Quote: "Cries and screams are music to my ears."

Strength: 8

Intelligence: 9

Speed: 2

Endurance: 6

Rank: 8

Courage: 5

Fireblast: 6

Skill: 10

Robot Mode

Soundwave's robot mode is mainly blue and silver but also features several decals on various parts of his body, such as his shoulders and knees so as to add colour to the figure. Soundwave's chest is a clear window that can hold up to two of his cassette minions by opening it with the silver button on his left soldier. One of Soundwave's batteries from his alternate can be reused in this mode as a shoulder cannon for his right shoulder, it doesn't do anything, but you can open it up to hold his spare missiles if wanted. Soundwave's head is connected on a hinge and pivot joint combination that allows it to rotate at 360 degrees and further, plus also bending backwards as well so he can look upwards and see the sky falling if he wants to. His head is blue with a silver painted mouth plate and lowest segment of his sculpted forehead chevron, his visor-style optics are also painted yellow. Soundwave's head is also the basis for the Decepticon insignia in the toyline.

Soundwave's arms are connected to his upper torso by a metal connector on a hinge and pivot joint basis that allows them to be folded backwards as far as possible (about 90 degrees) and be rotated in a windmill fashion fully. His lower arms are able to bend forwards by about 90 degrees enabling him to create an elbow at the connection point. His hands are sculpted with non-moving fingers and both feature a peg hole designed to hold his blaster gun.

His legs are connected to his lower torso by two separate metal connectors that allow them to rotate sideways-outwards by about 90 degrees and to fold forwards by 90 degrees as well. Soundwave's knees are created by a standard pin joint that allows them to bend forwards (unlike human knees). His feet are metal and are folded outwards from his lower legs, which means they can be repositioned slightly as needed. Due to his feet being metal it makes his feet heavier than the upper body, thus meaning that he wont topple over from being top heavy when you reposition him.

Soundwave's two batteries are able to convert into two weapons for him, one of them turns into a shoulder cannon (as I mentioned before) and the other turns into his handheld weapon by just sliding out the middle section to give it a new shape and some more details and then inserting one of his three missiles into the hole at the barrel end. This blaster can be held in either hand by Soundwave.

Alternate Mode

Soundwave's alternate mode is a life-sized blue and silver micro-cassette player with a clear tape holder and several non working buttons. On his sides he also features a switch and a dial which, whilst able to move don't actually do anything. He also features several written words as labels for the tape player mode.

Soundwave's two weapons in robot mode are able to turn into a pair of batteries, which can be slotted into the rear section of the alternate mode and then hidden away with a battery cover. Soundwave's tape holder is able to open up by pushing the silver button on top and hold up to two cassettes (Laserbeak and Ravage in this set's case).

Ravage

Ravage is a mostly black jaguar in robot mode with silver details on his right hand side and chromed silver side rockets slotted into a hole near the back.

Ravage's legs aren't very good for balance, you need to have them perfectly even for him to stand upwards, otherwise he needs some form of support.

Ravage turns into a micro-cassette with detailings on one side that show a track system in the holes and other small details on the same side, and a small diagram of Fortress Maximus on that side, which if you place a red decoder strip on top of it it will reveal his weaknesses for Soundwave. (It's his right leg). On the other side he features a rub sign insignia.

Laserbeak

Laserbeak's robot mode is in the form of a red and black condor with silver rocket boosters on his back. His wings are able to move back and forth as far as possible whilst on a pivot joint system, as does his head when attached to his neck and torso by a pair of pivots again.

Unlike Ravage Laserbeak is fully capable of standing freely due to him having struts rather than normal legs.

Unlike Ravage, Laserbeak's alternate mode features details on both sides, although the only really noteworthy part is the ribbon image in between the two holes and a rub sign insignia located under that image.

My Thoughts

These figures, despite being from the very basic Generation One lines are actually quite fun, their alternate modes are very realistic (and mostly life size too) and even have some added features such as the opening tape holder or battery slots.

I like this particular version of Soundwave because he is actually a repaint of the Soundblaster version of the mold, meaning that he has a double sized chest cavity and he can hold two cassettes in it at a time.

My only real issues with this set are very common complaints for G1 figures, he has limited pose-ability, he requires a lot of parts removal for transformation (all three do) and other minor details, but overall this is a good set and would make a good present for anyone at Christmas time in my opinion.

Mini November - Cyberverse Legion Flak

Flak

"The Battle tactics Flak invented might be unusual, but he know they'd work - if only he could get them tested out on the battlefield."

Generation: Live Action Movies

Toy Line: Dark of the Moon

Size Class: Cyberverse Legion

Faction: Autobot

Strength: 6

Intelligence: 6

Speed: 7

Endurance: 9

Rank: 4

Courage: 9

Fireblast: 6

Skill: 3

Robot Mode

Flak's robot mode uses a green and brown camouflage deco and has black chest windows and a silver Autobot insignia on his stomach.

Flak's face is silver and features sculpted blue eyes and a sculpted face mask. His helmet is brown and features a swept back design on it and a small chevron on top as well. Flak has a backpack on his back that holds his gun turret and allows it to hang over his right shoulder. Though the gun is unable to actually fire, though it can move up and down, like in vehicle mode.

Flak's legs are connected to his lower legs at the groin by a set of ball joint connectors, which allows them to be raised forwards and back as far as possible without hitting other body parts. His legs have otherwise got no articulation and are just solid. His feet are just forward protrusions, which enable him to stand freely in robot mode.

Flak's arms are connected to his upper body by a hinge and ball joint combination that allows them to move at quite a surprising amount of articulation for such a small figure. the hinge allows them to be lowered and raised at a range of about 90 degrees, and his ball joint allows the actual arm to rotate on the axis fully. Flak's elbow is created by a pin joint that allows him to bend the lower arm inwards by about 90 degrees. His right hand features a sculpted grip that allows him to interact with the Cyberverse playsets and other accessories, whilst his left hand is just sculpted with an open hand.

Vehicle Mode

Flak turns into a gun mounted personnel carrier in a green and brown camouflage deco. It's sculpted with detailing such as side windows, ladders and ports across his form. His Autobot insignia is located on his very front, but is coloured in a silver that is hard to see unless the light is shining on it.

Flak's wheels are fully capable of moving, allowing him to roll along a smooth surface if desired. Flak's gun turret is also able to move up and down at a 180 degree point from the pin joint, although you can also rotate the turret, it looks off as it's only really meant to be for the transformation sequence.

My Thoughts

Flak is one of my favourite new figures, despite his small size he is actually a very good toy, he has reasonable articulation for a toy of his size, his vehicle mode looks good and actually has some special features! Not only that, but Flak actually seems to be in scale with some of his fellow Cyberverse toys like Guzzle (not to mention having similar colour schemes as well)

Something that strikes me about this figure is that it could make a very nice Movie continuity Ironfist/Fisitron toy as well (repainted obviously, possibly with a new head) or even a Hardhead toy (based on his IDW continuity Earth Mode)

In my very honest opinion, if you see this toy you should grab him, whether it means you have to cut down on about £4 of your shopping or not., he is well worth it, especially if you have any of the playsets or additional Cyberverse figures (Guzzle in particular)

Mini November - Mini-Con Recon Team

Mini-Con Recon Team

"Jolt -- the leader of the team, and the only one able to speak a human language - is a great lover of human culture, addicted to television and the internet. On more than one occasion he has caused difficulty for the Autobots by forgetting he's not a human being. Six-Speed and Reverb, though sometimes frustrated by their leader's tendency to become distracted by cartoons and web-comics, love the excitement of missions with their human partners, working as a fast response strike and rescue team on away missions on the Lost Planets."

Generation: Unicron Trilogy

Toyline: Cybertron

Faction: Mini-con (Autobot Allied)

Strength: 5

Intelligence: 7

Speed: 9

Endurance: 6

Rank: 4.5

Courage: 6

Fireblast: 6

Skill: 7

Jolt

Jolt's robot mode features a red and silver torso, black arms and upper legs, green and gold lower legs and a white and clear dome above his head, and also features his black rotors on his back. His Mini-Con port is located on his left arm in this mode.

Jolt's arms are connected to the torso by a simple ball joint that allows them to rotate fully, and can also fold inwards by about 90 degrees (thanks to his transformation). The arms feature sculpted details, including his hands (which couldn't hold anything due to their size anyway).

Jolt's upper legs are connected to the lower torso by a pin joint that allows them to bend forwards and back by about 90 degrees either way. His lower legs are connected to the upper part by pin joints can allows them to bend backwards by just over 90 degrees (you can make them go further by folding back his feet, as if you were transforming him).

Jolt's head is encased in a white and clear dome, however his actual head is fully visible, and we can see that it features a green helmet with a forehead chevron and "ears". His face is silver and features a sculpted set of eyes, a nose, mouth and cheek details. The head itself cannot move, but the dome surrounding it can be rotated around fully, giving the illusion that it's moving if needed.

His rotors are stuck mostly in place by his tail piece on his back, but by simply lowering his tail piece you can allow him to rotate his rotors, as if he was about to use a wind based attack.

Jolt's vehicle mode is a small red, green and white helicopter with black landing struts, a three bladed rotor, and a tail piece with a sculpted rear rotor on the end.

The rotor blades are fully capable of rotating freely, just blow on them or flick them with your finger and watch them go!.

Inside the dome of his cockpit Jolt has a sculpted seating area for the driver and passenger, it doesn't do anything, it just looks pretty :)

His Mini-Con port is located on one of his landing struts in this mode.

Reverb

Reverb's robot mode is mostly blue, but with an orange chest plate and inner lower arms and also features some silver and yellow detailing on his lower legs. His upper arms and upper legs are black. His Mini-Con port is found on his right arm. His head is a blue helmet with antennae ears and a forehead chevron. His face is silver with sculpted eyes, nose, mouth and cheek detailings.

Reverb's arms are connected to his torso by a hinge and pin joint combination that allows them to move outwards by about 90 degrees, and (unlike his team mates) he also features an elbow joint that allows his lower arms to bend forwards by about 90 degrees. The lower arms feature sculpted hands that, despite having tiny holes in the middle, cannot hold a normal weapon (unless you count plugging in another Mini-Con with a gun mode in his Mini-Con port).

Reverb's legs are connected to the lower torso at his groin area. the legs can be bent forwards and back by about 90 degrees either way at this connection and he also features a knee joint connecting it to the lower legs (which is just the front of his vehicle mode).

Jolt's vehicle mode is a blue pick up truck with some orange lining in his holding area. He also features silver windows and front grill, plus yellow lights for his headlights and roof mounted lights.

His wheels are green (shared with Jolt's legs etc) and are fully capable of rolling freely, just put him on a slanted table and watch him go!

His Mini-Con port is located under his vehicle mode, beneath the holding area.

Six-Speed

Six-Speed is a mostly green robot with blue inner lower arms, and clear and black deatilings on his chest. He has black upper legs and knees, as well as his stripes on his back. His Mini-Con port is located under his chest plate, but isn't accessible in this mode easily. His head features a green helmet with small horns and a forehead chevron. His face is silver with sculpted eyes, nose and mouth plate (one similar to G1 Wheeljack's, which is coincidental considering that Wheeljack also turned into a race car).

His arms are connected to the upper torso by a pin joint that allows it to rotate fully, however it does catch on his chest plate every so often, but you can still get past it. Six-Speed features a sculpted hand on each arm, but of course, it cannot hold a weapon of any sort.

Six-Speed's legs are connected to his lower torso by a pin-joint through his groin area that allows it to bend forwards either way by about 90 degrees each. There is a pin in each leg that creates a knee joint with the lower legs, which are created from the rear of his vehicle mode.

Six-Speed's vehicle mode is a mostly green LeMans Race Car, with dark green at the front, leading for a clear cockpit, where Six-Speed's head can be seen as his driver. His rear spoiler is painted with black details, along with a couple of black arrows just behind the cockpit.

Six-Speed's green wheels (same as Reverb's) can allow him to roll along the ground freely as needed (handy for a race car) and has a large enough ground clearance zone so he doesn't catch on anything.

Six-Speed's Mini-Con port is located in the middle of his undercarriage.

My Thoughts

If you know me from the fandom or in real life, then you will (or should) know one important thing about me...I LOVE MINI-CONS!!! The Recon Team is one of my favourites for a few reasons, the most important being that they are fun to play with and to have interact with one another.

Something about this team that I find very interesting is that all three members are totally different types of vehicles, when normally a three member Mini-Con team will have a common theme between them, such as the Sea Team are all aquatic military vehicles, the Predator Team are all wild animals and so on. This team however are all unconnected vehicles, a helicopter, a pick up truck and a race car, they don't even share a common colour scheme, which some teams do.

I got my Recon Team off of Ebay for about £2 (loose) and I've felt that it was a great deal, of course that may be me just being biased due to my love for all things Mini-Con, but I still think it's a justified position as well. The Recon Team have been repainted various times, either as a set or as individuals sometimes as the same characters, but also as new characters, with the most recent repaints being from the 2010 Transformers line as new characters (Drivetrain, Swashplate and Brake-Neck). So if you don't like the colours or characters of these guys, then you can always just buy one of the many repaints, but either way I think it's well worth buying at least one version of each of these molds.

Mini November - Micromaster Hot Rods

The Autobot Hot Rod Patrol

"Each possesses 16 cylinders of carbonic Autobot muscle! High-performance avengers have more rubber-burning speed that the fastest squad of Decepticons. Usually seem cruising up and down Earth beaches and boardwalks. Highly mischievous and adventurous, sometimes mistaken for Decepticon punks. Though preoccupied with fun, still able to quickly respond to emergency roadway situations. Able to spot dangerous Decepticon highway marauders using telescopic, kelvar-energized, localizer radar. Each car is protected by a geometric shield which deflects Decepticon photon disintegration beams. Courage and tenacity are the patrol's finest attributes."

Generation: Generation One

Toyline: Transformers Micromaster Patrols

Faction: Autobot

Function: Highway Reconnaissance

Team Motto: "The essence of speed relies on our power to perform!"

Strength: 6

Intelligence: 8

Speed: 8

Endurance: 10

Teamwork: 9

Courage: 9

Firepower: 8

Skill: 9

Big Daddy

Quote: "We can take Decepticons any time, anywhere!"

Big Daddy is a black and orange robot with red flame deco on his arms. His head is encased in a protective area (like Huffer and some others are). His actual head features a follow shevron on his orange helmet. He has a dark blue face that features a sculpted set of eyes, nose and mouth.

Big Daddy's arms are able to rotate on a pin joint fully and features a sculpted pair of hands on the insides as well.

His legs are connected to the torso by a pin through the groin that allows them to bend forwards and back somewhat. His lower legs are connected to the upper legs by a pin that creates a knee joint (though both legs are stuck together) the two lower legs can be moved separately, but only up to the point where the knee pin is found (meaning he can lift his leg up daintily if needed). He is kept upright by his feet, created from some outward plastic, stopping him from toppling over.

Big Daddy turns into a black Modified Chevrolet Bel Air Hot Rod Convertible with red flame deco on the sides and white-grey windows. His rear wheels are much larger than his front ones, so he is forced to dip down, but this doesn't hinder his driving on a smooth surface.

Big Daddy features all the expected sculptings for a car mode of his model, such as doors, rear lights, headlights, grills and other such things. Big Daddy also features some fins on the back that really over-accents his dipping appearance, making him look like he's dipping further than what he actually is.

Trip-Up

Quote: "If you're not driving to win, don't drive at all!"

Trip-Up is a white and green robot with blue flames on his arms and gold and black detailings on his body. Trip-Up's head is surrounded by a protective barrier of sorts (sort of like Huffer and Pipes'). His head has a green helmet with a large Mohawk type chevron on top (sort of like Ironhide's from the Cartoon). His face is painted white and has sculpted eyes, a nose and mouth.

Trip-Up's arms are connected by a pin on each side that allows them to rotate fully on that point. He features a sculpted hand on each arm on the inside.

His legs are able to be moved forwards by 90 degrees and back by 45 degrees by a pivot joint that connects it to the lower torso. His lower legs are connected to the upper ones by a pin on the knee area, which stitches the two legs together as well, meaning they have to move together, unless you fancy some mod work. The two lower legs can be moved separately, but only up to the point where the knee pin is found (meaning he can lift his leg up daintily if needed)

Trip-Up's vehicle mode is a white Ford Mustang Hot Rod car with gold windows and blue flame door deco. His rear wheels are larger than the front ones, meaning that he dips forwards somewhat, but despite that he doesn't obstruct himself whilst driving on a smooth surface.

Trip-Up also features several sculpted details like air vents, headlights, front grill, bumpers and much more. Trip-up also has the newest make of car out of the four members of this set, so he seems a bit out of place in this sense.

Greaser

Quote: "I dig watching Decepticons crack up after I cross the finish line first!"

Greaser's robot mode is an orange and black stubby robot with yellow flames on his arms and sides. Greaser's head is all black, except for his silver optical visor. He features a pair of horn-like ears, a noticeable helmet and sculpted nose and mouth..honestly his face reminds me of G1 Jazz's, maybe he's a fan?

Greaser's arms are connected to his torso by a pair of small pins that allows them to be rotated a little under 90 degrees downwards and they feature some lightly sculpted fingers. Greaser's legs are connected by a pivot joint that allows them to move forwards and back as needed. His lower legs are connected by a pin that allows his knees to bend forwards by about 90 degrees (thye are connected together though). He's able to stand stably due to the extension from the rear of his legs. The two lower legs can be moved separately, but only up to the point where the knee pin is found (meaning he can kick you in the shin at an awkward angle if wanted)

Greaser's weird....it looks like he was originally supposed to transform in the opposite direction but was changed pretty much last minute. His arms are very gimpy, his legs are clearly backwards, and the majority of his decoration is hanging off his back. It just seems to me that they must have originally planned for him to transform more similarly to Hubs, but was changed for some reason and this was what they were left with.

Greaser transforms into an orange Ford Deuce Coupe Hot Rod complete with larger than life engine block (which in fact ends up being higher than his actual roof).

He features a set of blue windows, yellow flame deco on his sides, sculpted doors, sun roof panel, headlights, wheel hubs, front grill, bumpers and all other expected car detailings for this model of vehicle. His wheels are able to fully rotate and he features a larger pair at the back, but unlike the rest of his team, this doesn't make his dip forwards that much.

Hubs

Quote: "I enjoy burnin' rubber over Decepticon metal."

Hubs is a green and white robot with orange flames on his arms. His face is red and is sculpted with a just visible mouth and eyes, and also has a sculpted forehead chevron and horns. His stubby arms are able to move on a pivot joint fully and feature a sculpted hand on the inside of each one.

Hubs' legs are connected to his lower torso by a pivot that allows them to move forwards by about 90 degrees (in 45 degree increments) and backwards by 45 degrees. His lower legs can fold back 180 degrees (for his transformation) but are stuck together by a pin which means they can't be split apart (unless you're willing to do some modifications). His feet are just some poking out plastic from the front that stops him from toppling over. The two lower legs can be moved separately, but only up to the point where the knee pin is found (meaning he can lift his leg up daintily if needed)

Hubs turns into a green Willys Coupe Hot Rod. He has larger wheels at the back of his vehicle mode that makes him slope forwards slightly.

His wheels are working and allow him to roll along a smooth surface with ease. He features a sculpted car boot on the back, a large hot rod engine at the front, blue windows, orange flames on his sculpted door panels, sculpted headlights, front grill, bumpers and other such expected things.

My Thoughts

Ah the Hot Rod patrol, a colourful, yet random collection of vehicles, whose only connection is that all four have exposed hot rod engines. Like most transformers sold in pairs/groups these guys have been gang molded in pairs (to save on production costs and plastic usage) Big Daddy and Greaser are one pair, with Trip-Up and Hubs beings the second one.

This team was mostly ignored for a long time, until Dreamwave decided to use them as the main characters in the (painful) Micromasters mini-series, possibly the last fully completed series' from Dreamwave before they went down the pooper.

So far, only Big Daddy has received a new updated toy, in the form of his Movie toy counterpart (a repaint of Cybertron Downshift) which looks very close to the G1 version, so he could easily fit in with the aesthetic of the Classics line if needed. And something of note, the ROTF figure Hubcap looks quite a lot like Greaser (minus the flame deco) but seems to emulate Hubs' name...interesting....

I'd personally say that this team is well worth getting personally, and this is from someone who's not all that fond of the G1 toyline in general! They have fun looking alternate modes, they all look pretty good, and due to them being quite underused, they won't be on any scalping radars, so they shouldn't be too expensive (my complete boxed set was about £5 on ebay)