REVIEW: Autobot Wheelie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

A renowned name in Transformers lore, Wheelie was originally depicted as an attention seeking Dennis Mitchell type character of the later Generation 1 era. In the new live action backdrop Wheelie’s namesake is a small little blue Minicon like robot. Wheelie is a spy because of his obvious size and with that objective his Earth alt mode is a remote control Monster Truck, ideal for hiding in garages and households. This new version of Wheelie seeks acceptance whether it is with the right or wrong crowd, but it makes for an interesting story arc where the little guy proves how useful he can be.

In unique irony this toy has the vehicle mode of a toy. Alongside the Ice-Cream van twins and Ejector the toaster from Revenge of the Fallen, this is probably another first for Transformers disguises.

As a robot, Wheelie resembles something from Robotix crossed with bits of Wall-E and Short Circuit’s Johnny 5. The wheeled legs, big eyes and rectangular head make for an amusing design that isn’t taken too seriously. I guess the concept with Wheelies design was to draw themes from Johnny 5 and Wall E and size him down as an underdog or potential runt of the litter.

Like with the toy rendition of Scorponok, Wheelie is represented in a scale compared to other figures much larger than he should be. In a good way it means that the quality of the toy can have more attention paid to it. Given the fragile issues with some Scout-class toys (ref: my reviews of Scalpel and Dead End) Wheelie is definitely best off as a Deluxe figure.

In packaging, Wheelie is already in robot form. The robot mode is supported by what I could best describe as dual kickstands based around the inner ankles. These kickstands help Wheelie with standing as both his robot feet are basically Bigfoot truck tyres. Wheelies arms are both thin and lengthy like that of Johnny Five with two long articulated fingers and a thumb. This is a nice touch to a Transformers toy considering a majority of figures possess the traditional square hands design with a peghole. Wheelie has freedom of movement with his hands which can be used to grip around other objects, and it kind of makes up for the omission of a weapon.

Probably, the only gripe I have about Wheelie is the weak colour scheme. The blue shades are fine, but I think the grey parts the arms, neck and other pieces are coloured in could have been more chrome like to give this toy more depth. Apart from the eyes and insignias, Wheelie has a basic palette of three colours and that’s it! Limited colour shades don’t do Bayformer-based designs enough justice in my opinion. Perhaps a possible later premium edition of this toy will rectify this.

The most outstanding gimmick on Wheelie is the changeable insignia on his chest, which puts across his character as a bit of a double agent depending which way the wind blows. Both the Autobot and Decepticon insignias are coloured in traditional red and purple rather than grey or black. The gimmick is a workable change from Mech Alive or leg humping action (see movie).


Another distinctive feature is the movable eye plates that make up the shape of Wheelie’s head. These plates can pose either up or down to make the toy look all the more expressive, much like the character in the film.

Wheelie in truck mode is just plain cute. The arms and everything else tuck in tidily and snap into place to make up a compact playable toy truck. The truck doesn’t do anything else except for be a toy truck of a toy truck (no missiles, gimmicks etc) and it serves purpose just being that.

In conclusion: Wheelie is a character toy that will likely go down well with younger Transfans, anyone with toolbox space or in general those who found his movie appearance funny. Like with Skids and Mudflap, Wheelie seems to be an acquired character taste. The limited colour palette is but a small gripe, but design wise this movie character has adapted to toy form quite well. This toy could have been a whole lot worse, but it scrapes by into OK territory just fine.

Black Firearm Repaints

I bought some toy guns from a local car-boot sale. These were intended as props for an upcoming independant (well a Son of Rambow quality) film production.

I had some Chaos Black Warhammer spray left and gave these a going over.

REVIEW: Scalpel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The Decepticons have never had a proper equivalent to Ratchet in Transformers lore. Sure, there have been some brainy and creative Decepticons but never an individual character that suits the theme of a surgeon. Tarantulas maybe?

Along comes this new character Scalpel, a character from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen which has filled this gap.

Unlike Ratchet, this evil medic changes into a surgeon microscope rather than a themed vehicle. This marks for some interesting appeal in toy form, as there are a low ratio of appliance based Transformers. Real Gear is back! (sort of).

What also adds to Scalpel’s originality is his robot form – A 6 legged bug like creature with the posture of the Modulok toy from Masters of the Universe. Revenge of the Fallen has not only introduced newer alt-mode concepts but a different approach to robot modes too. Scalpel is a good example of this.

With his bug-like appearance, Scalpel is probably the smallest in toy form and on-screen of the Decepticons.

Scalpel’s character: He’s a clever little robot who collects data and lots of it! Easily a 10 for Intelligence on the Tech Specs scale, although lacking in re-assembling skills. Scalpel is known to take things apart and put them back together with a few things missing. “Decepticons prefer to suffer in silence rather than allow Scalpel to work on them”.

At first, Scalpel will greet the consumer in robot mode as that is how all the scout class figures are packaged. This unfortunately meets with the primary problem with this figure early on as all 6 insect-like legs are very brittle and can snap easily. Not only are the legs very fragile, they also prevent Scalpel from standing properly in the way the illustration shows on the back of the packaging. That also introduces a bit of a trading standards issue if I cared enough. The flaw with the legs lets this figure down a great deal as transforming into alt-mode requires very careful handling.

Scalpels other features in robot mode are not so bad. The robot head and face are quite amusing with its goggle-eyes and a cute antenna. The robot arms are very tiny and equally thin as the upper legs, but a lot tougher! The upper torso on Scalpel has some cool purple coloured circuit-board markings that add a bit of depth into the design.

On the plus-side, Scalpel’s alt mode is amusing and more compact. Fold up the legs inside as well as the tiny arms etc and you have an amusing microscope. Of course you have to guess how this toy transforms as the scout-class figures are not equipped with instructions. (That’s part of the fun though). The microscope is articulated well and is kind of like the iconic Pixar desk lamp. Escaping from the unstable robot mode is rewarding.

Doctor Scalpel is a fun, gimmicky and original concept to a Transformers design. Sadly the toy has majorly tripped up and stumbled by its fragile parts. Definitely a purchase for collectors rather than kids, and one for displaying only!

REVIEW: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Dead End

This Decepticon looks Fast as a car and Furious as a robot. Altogether - an all-round nasty Stunticon namesake for the Autobots to contend with.

Dead End here is part of a new scout class of movie style Transformers featuring what looks to be characters that may not appear in the motion picture. Going by past Movie toys, Dead End could be suggestively connected with the film like other non-cast member toys before him.

Transformation from car to robot and vice versa requires careful handling and patience as there are small parts that can break off easily (such as the front bonnet). Like a lot of smaller Transformer toys before, this figure has a lever like hinge on its back which pulls the roof or equivalent over the head in alt mode. This feature is like the G2 Cyberjets and small wave 1 Beast Wars, but Dead End is no way a ‘Shellformer’ like these are since other parts on him are less static and need further transforming.

The street racing car alt mode is a solid red & black, curvaceous sports car - much like the old early-90s Aquaspeeder toy Deluge. The car pushes along nicely as it should, and the doors each have a decorative orange tribal flame to make Dead End look more like a bad-boy racer. The hub caps also have tribal like markings too. Road rage could indeed take to the living room carpet in style.

What is most striking about the robot mode is the amount of movement in the joints. Even the robot head which looks ‘Thanagarian’ has a moveable beak like mouth and a bottom set of sharp teeth. The legs on Dead End have 6 articulation points, whilst the arms are ball jointed on the shoulders, elbows and wrists. The robot hands are each sculpted as an open set of clawing fingers (although a little fragile) rather than a set of block fists. There is a peg-hole in each palm maybe for an optional weapon, even though Dead End is unarmed.

This is a fantastic figure with attention to detail and lots of articulation for a Transformer its size. However, Dead End is let down by being a little fragile in places and needs delicacy when transforming. This toy is more for displaying rather than playing, especially where the robot mode is concerned. A Scout-sized spectacle!

- Hero Ken Flatt

LITTLE RED SPORTS CAR

This neat little item arrived Thursday morning.



A further report coming soon.