Name: Freeway
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Saboteur
Alternate Mode: Chevy Corvette
CORVETTE MODE
Height: 3.5cm Length: 7cm Width: 3.5cm
A small mid blue Corvette with grey windows, white wheels and black rubber tyres, Freeway is shorter and higher than a real Corvette, but somehow this works for him. He's got that "cute" look about him, which works considering how small and simple this toy is. There's enough detail in the mould to clearly distinguish him as a Corvette (80's model), though.
He has front and rear lights, front and rear number plates and air intakes on the front. He also has his robot mode fingers on the side, but they're not awfully obvious. The original version has a rubsign indent (and rubsign) on the roof, the Classic has no indent and came with a simple Autobot logo sticker there. The front windscreen is grey plastic, the side windows are stickers and the rear windshield is painted - it's an odd combination, but they've made sure all three are the same shade.
Freeway's reason for being, if you like, is his pullback gimmick - hence the rubber tyres. He's got front and rear axles and a pretty powerful pullback motor. He'll happily roll for 10 metres (30 feet) on a hard floor, and will roll straight, or close to it. One thing about Throttlebots though, once you've bent an axles, that's it - he'll veer to one side for the rest of his existence.
It's a simple car mode, but the gimmick works well (unlike the Battlechargers), and it _is_ a fun gimmick. I had loads of fun with my Throttlebots as a kid (although I didn't get Freeway until my teens, I had four of the others as a kid). The fact that Freeway's so easy to identify as a Corvette is a positive, even if he is deformed slightly. It's not perfect, but for a $6 Transformer this is a cool car mode.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Fold up the sides to become the arms, fold the rear and cabin up, fold the rear itself down to reveal the head, push in the rear wheels. That's it.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 6.5cm Width: 5.5cm
Still largely blue, he's got a grey head with a silver face and the grey windshield and side windows on his chest. There's actually a fair level of detail in his facial sculpt, but most of it is lost in the weird shape - the mouth recedes. He'll have either an Autobot logo or a rubsign on his chest.
Like all Throttlebots, his legs are about 5mm long. His arms are panels on the sides of his body, with fingers moulded into them, and his feet are a solid hood with the wheels sticking out the back. Oh and he has a hood formed from the rear of the car behind his head. Okay, not the best proportions - in fact they suck. But that's not the point of a Throttlebot, is it?
Like all Throttlebots, Freeway has no poseability in this mode at all. His play value is in the pullback motor sticking out behind his feet. The pullback mechanism works equally well in this mode, allowing you to send your small blue friend running along the floor (in my case, with a somewhat larger cat chasing after it!).
If you like poseability and detail, this isn't a robot mode you'll like. The colours are unified, since he's about 80% blue with some grey. But the real point of this mode, as with the car mode, is the pullback gimmick - which works very well.
VARIATIONS
There's the original with rubsign and indent, and the Classic with no indent and a straight Autobot logo sticker. Neither is really superior to the other, although the Classic wasn't released in North America or Japan. I have both.
OVERALL
Okay, so the robot mode has some serious flaws, and the car mode wont appeal to those who like realism. But as I said, these aren't really the point of Throttlebots. His colours work, I do like the fact he's clearly delineated as a Corvette. The gimmick, which is the whole point of this toy, works very well. If you don't care for the gimmick, I'm not going to recommend him, but if the gimmick appeals to you, Freeway is worth getting - 6/10
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