Cliffbee.com Groove Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Groove
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Scout
Alternate Mode: Honda Goldwing Police Motorcycle



MOTORCYCLE MODE
Height: 5cm Length: 8cm Width: 5.5cm (with guns)3.5cm (without guns)

   It's white with black - it's a police bike so there's no great shock in this colour scheme. The bike is basically white with black handlebars, tyres & seat. Oh, and if you add them, the guns are also black. The engine is chrome silver, which is unique among the square peg combiner limbs. The windshield is painted grey, broken by the rubsign indent.

   It's a very good cycle mode for it's size. it stands up incredibly easily, since both plastic tyres are flat and wide. The guns can point up or down, the front wheel assembly can move from side to side (although it's not really meant to). It rolls quite well, although it's a bit heavy to go very far. The only bad point being the break in the windshield for the rubsign, which looks pretty silly.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   First push the rear of the seat and swing out over and split it, swing it down onto the rear of the bike until it clicks. Lift out the front assembly and swivel it down onto the spot where the seat was until it clicks. Stand the robot up and pull the head forward. Position the arms, give him his handguns and swing forward (or remove, if you prefer) the side guns.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 8cm Width: 5.5cm (with guns)3.5cm (without guns)

   The weaker of Groove's modes, the robot mode loses a lot of white and gains a metallic chest. There's both silver and gold versions of this chestplate, although there's a sticker covering most of it which is silver with a red waist. The head is black with a gold face, the arms are chrome silver (being the engines), the feet are black and the kneecaps are black. The handgun & sideguns, on the outsides of his shins, are also black.

   The most noticeable feature - and the worst - is the fact that the rear wheel is smack in the middle of the legs - sort of forming huge kneecaps. The legs are one piece although the wheel has a groove down the middle to delineate the gap between the legs. There aren't any thighs as such. The feet are actually pretty good, being split and the right size however. The other problem the robot mode has is the fact that shoulders are too far back so when the arms move it's a tad unnatural - although it's a minor problem compared to the legs.

VARIATIONS

   As mentioned, there's both gold & silver chestplated versions, with the gold being the rarer of the two. The classic version (which had a silver chest) has a different year imprint.

OVERALL

   In my opinion Groove's a rather underrated Transformer. Sure, the robot mode has a huge drawback, but the bike mode is pretty good. He's also the only Protectobot that didn't lose his metallic part in the second wave back in 1986. And aside from the wheel problems, the robot mode looks nice, thanks to the metal chest & chrome arms. If you can put aside the wheel problem it's not bad, since everything else is decent. If you can't get past the robot legs, this toy's only worthwhile if you're putting together Defensor (although the bike mode's still good). 6/10

"Transformers" and other indica trademarks of Hasbro and/or Takara.