Name: Pipes
Series: Combiner Wars
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Truck Cab
TRUCK MODE
Height: 4cm Length: 7.5cm Width: 3cm
A light blue shortness truck cab with two black tyres at the front and four black tyres underneath the rear (hitch) end. The front windows are painted silver while the smaller size windows are unpainted. His headlights, grille and tanks on the sides are also painted silver. There's some silver and red details on the hitch section - but these are actually robot mode details. There's a couple of other outbursts of silver, and a large Autobot logo on the roof, which looks pretty good. It's an attractive colour scheme... but it's not really Pipes.
Pipes is a recolour of an Optimus Prime toy... and it's evident in the boxy shape of his cab. There's no hitch as such, rather the robot feet stick up on the back of the truck mode. There's a hole on the roof where Pipes' black gun can be attached, giving him some play value beyond the rolling wheels. While this isn't much play value, an attachable weapon is decent at this price point.
As mentioned, this isn't really Pipes. It's a blue truck, sure, but in this lighter blue and boxy shape it's more Cybertron Armorhide than it is the blue Minibot truck. It's a decent little Legends sized truck, nonetheless.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Detach and set aside the gun. Unclip and fold down the grille section. Swing out the front fenders as forearms, then swing the rear of the cab out as shoulders (these steps are very much Optimus Prime). Swing the hitch section down and split to form the legs. Rotate his waist, split the front windows to reveal an Autobot logo. Flip up the head and place the gun in either hand.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 9cm Width: 7cm
A blue robot with the silver front window across his chest (complete with a tiny red Autobot logo bursting out in the middle). His waist, groin and thighs and forearms are silver. There's some silver and red on his shins while his face is red with tiny yellow eyes. It's a really nice looking colour scheme... but it's Not Pipes. To the point where if you didn't know this was meant to be Pipes, you'd not pick this robot as Pipes. Instead of navy blue and white (with silver pipe-arms), it's light blue and silver with no white. Curiously, these colours are spot on for Bomb-Burst, aside from the lack of purple outbursts here.
As I said, it's an attractive robot mode, and there are little shoulder pads on his shoulders, giving him some presence. You can actually lift them up sticking out to the sides if you really want, although that big Autobot logo will be upside down on his left shoulder. His head is a rounded affair and the facial sculpt is loosely that of Huffer in the G1 cartoon - but its hard to pick out details. There's no backpack behind his head either - ensuring this really just doesn't look like Pipes. The arms aren't at all tubular. The Autobot logo on his chest is actually on a small moulded matrix-like piece - Pipesimus Prime?
Poseability is pretty good since his shoulders, elbows, knees and hips are all ball jointed. The head turns as does the waist - although this is for transformation and is somewhat hindered by that grille panel sitting on his back. There's no ankle or wrist joints, but then they're unusual at this price point. Pipes has useful integrated heelspurs so he stands easily enough, ensuring he has a good range of stable poses. The only other real play value is the gun in his hand.
A pretty good little robot mode aside from the washed out facial details. The colours look good and he's quite posable. Even the handgun is something unusual for a Legends toy. But there's almost nothing there that really says, "Pipes" here other than very vague colour match.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of. As said, he is a retool of an Optimus Prime toy - more accurately a repaint of the Huffer retool.
OVERALL
At once a good Legends toy with good poseability, attractive colours and a weapon and a terrible attempt at a tribute to a G1 toy. I really like this toy... but as a fan of Pipes (one of my favourite toys as a kid), I like it in spite of the really weak tribute - not because of it - 7/10
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