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)
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