s Cliffbee.com: Transformer Toy Reviews: United Wheeljack

Cliffbee.com United Wheeljack Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Wheeljack
Series: United (Generations)
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Sports Car



SPORTS CAR MODE
Height: 4cm Length: 14.5cm Width: 6.5cm

   A white sports car of indeterminate model, Wheeljack has red & green striping on the hood, roof and sides, smoky transparent windows, black tyres, gunmetal hubcaps, silver headlights & red taillights. There's some gunmetal painted on his grille rounding out a good, simple colour scheme. There's a red & silver Autobot logo stamped on his roof. The colour scheme is essentially the same as G1 Wheeljack, and looks good. The front resembles the Lancia Stratos front on that toy too, making the tribute here very strong.

   This mould was developed to work for both Tracks and Wheeljack, so it's not really a Lancia, but it's close enough. Compared to Tracks this front is sculpted differently and there's less paint on the taillights, which are sculpted to be able to achieve two different looks. Wheeljack also sports a spoiler - something Tracks doesn't have. The other mould difference here is fairly minor - the silver missiles visible below the doors are a different sculpt to those of Tracks. The front is notably longer than that of Tracks.

   There's not a lot of play value here - well, you can cheat and use Tracks' flying car mode, but that doesn't really count. The wheels roll and that's really it.

   A very good vehicle mode which captures the character perfectly despite not quite being a Lancia. The colour scheme works well and the paint job fits. This vehicle mode doesn't feel at all like Tracks, too, which is nice.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Detach & set aside his missiles. Extend the front and split to form legs, swing out his feet. Fold the doors down to the sides, fold the back down to reveal his hands and head. Slide the roof back to form his chest, this will also cause his head to push out & the arms to push out to the sides. Swing the arms down to his sides and swing the rear tyres around onto the front of his shoulders. Extend the wings, swing out the wingtips and deploy above his shoulders. Unclip the gun stowed under the back, swing out the grey panel the gun attached to, plug in behind his head. Plug the gun into the grey panel, place the missiles into his hands as clubs.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 14.5cm Width: 11cm

   A white robot with dark grey thighs, black forearms and a black head with a silver face & blue eyes with a useful lightpipe. The wings behind his shoulders are a mix of silver & white while the red & green stripes are visible on his chest & shins. The gun - well, shoulder cannon - is silver at the front and sits right beside his head. The Autobot logo is on his chest, rounding out an attractive colour scheme which closely matches the original toy - aside from the grey thighs & silver shoulder cannon (taken from the cartoon).

   The main difference in transformation between Tracks & Wheeljack is that Wheeljack's waist doesn't rotate, but there are mould differences as well. The heads and missiles are of different sculpts while the wings sit in different positions. Incidentally, the Hasbro promo photo (pictured above) features the winglets folded up and his wings out to the sides rather than behind his shoulders.

   Visually this is very much Wheeljack, and it's an appealing robot mode. The head and wings are very much Wheeljack, although the squarish chest is more Tracks. The shins and feet are Wheeljack, and the distinctive head is Wheeljack's from the cartoon. There's almost nothing here that alludes to G1 Tracks, which is great - only the chest shape.

   We have some weapons options. The gun can deploy as a shoulder cannon - which is recommended, I guess, as that's how he was in the cartoon. But you can also use the twin silver cannons to get him a little closer to the G1 toy. The gun can be held in hand, and he can hold the missiles as clubs. One aspect of this robot mode that really impresses me is that they've included little pegs behind the shins for you to stow the silver missiles if you want to use the gun as a shoulder cannon and don't want to arm Wheeljack with clubs. These are a specific feature of Wheeljack not found on Tracks.

   Wheeljack has good poseability. The neck, shoulders, ankles & hips are all ball jointed while the missiles are targetable and his waist rotates. The elbows are double hinged with rotators while the wrists also rotate. The knees are hinged with rotators while his heelspurs sit on restricted ball joints. The heelspurs are big enough to allow a wide range of poses, and the poseability itself allows a similarly wide range of poses.

   A great robot mode which strongly resembles the G1 toy AND cartoon, Wheeljack has great poseability & colours along with well thought out weapon options. There's no real drawback here - it's an excellent robot mode which fits the character perfectly, which is made all the more impressive given that it's also designed to be Tracks.

VARIATIONS

   The Hasbro & TakaraTomy releases feature different patterns of red & green - the TakaraTomy version, United Wheeljack, is what I've got in front of me, and features metallic green paint. Over-Run (Runabout) and Runamuck are retools of Wheeljack.

OVERALL

   A great toy without any notable flaws. The tribute is strong in both modes and the robot mode's poseability is great. The weapons are well thought out giving us options in robot mode, allowing for a toy-focused or cartoon-focussed tribute, depending on which you prefer. He's all the more impressive given that the mould was designed to work as Tracks as well. Recommended if you like the Classics lines - 10/10

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