Name: Overhaul
Series: Cybertron
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: 4x4
4x4 MODE
Height: 5.5cm Length: 9.5cm Width: 5cm
A green off-road vehicle with big black tyres, deep ochre windows and some gold stripes here and there. Overhaul is a proper off-road four wheel drive, with not a soccer mum to be seen. There's a smaller spare tyre on his roof, silver runners below the doors and some yellow paint on his headlights and rooflights, with ochre sports lights. This is a good colour scheme which is vaguely reminiscent of Brawn, although I'm not entirely certain the concept started out as a Brawn tribute - his bio does copy that of the Minibot, however.
For a toy with no axles, Overhaul rolls remarkably well. If you have the missile inserted, the transparent red missile will hang out the back about an inch, looking vaguely out of place without being awful. You can insert his green and silver Planet Key (code: s9d7) into the back of the truck, but it doesn't activate anything in this mode.
Quite detailed for a basic vehicle mode, Overhaul looks like he's built for the jungle (well, he is from the Jungle Planet). The tyres are _big_ in proportion, you get the feeling nothing's going to get in the way of this little bot in vehicle mode.
I do wish there were proper storage spots for the key and missile, and the rear wheels have a slight tendency to slide in, but otherwise this is a solid little truck. There's nothing fantastic, but he feels more realistic than a lot of the Armada and Energon vehicles, as well as most Cybertron vehicles, so I like this mode.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Swing the door panels out and back, lifting out the rear wheels and arms as you go. Fold down the front of the truck to form his boots, flip out the feet. Pose his arms and legs, flip up the head from within the spare tyres and turn it around. If it wasn't in place, slide the missile into his chest until it clicks into place.
Overhaul has an unusual transformation, with some aspects that work (the novel way of hiding the head) and some that don't (the elbows). I personally like the innovation - sure beats another beast with limbs that become limbs.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 10.5cm Width: 11cm
The green is still his main colour, but there's a whole cast of other colours playing a part now. The chest, upper arms and feet are black, along with little Wolverine-style claws on his knuckles. The forearms and thighs are a gold plastic while his groin is a metallic gold paint. The head is black with a gold crown, silver face and transparent red eyes. The lightpipe works very well. There's a moulded and painted red Autobot logo on his right shoulder. Again the colours remind of Brawn, although the layout and face don't. There's a definite Minibot feel to this robot mode's shape.
There's a lot of 4x4 here. The boots are the hood of the car while the windshield sits on his knees and giant kneecaps - you wouldn't want this guy kneeing you. The rear wheels sit on the back of his forearms and the doorpanels sit on the back of his shoulders, and while we're now seeing the insides, they're clearly car parts. It's a little shellformerish with those panels, but the boots are about a third of the vehicle so I'll stop short of calling him a shellformer.
There's some play value here. If you insert the planet key into the slot on his back, the missile will fire, and easily propel itself over a metre across a floor, which is impressive. The head turns, the shoulders and hips are ball jointed, the elbows and knees hinged and the waist turns. The elbows are moulded into a permanently bent-inwards pose, which limits the arm poseability somewhat. The upside is that with large footprints and heavy boots, his legs are poseable and stable.
As much as I'd like more elbow movement, I'm more frustrated with the fact that Overhaul can't hold the missile as a club - he has no handheld weapon and when it's inserted, it doesn't look like it's ready to fire. If the missile has been fired, there'll be a gap in his chest, so it's either play with him or pose him with no visible weapon. The latter would suit Brawn fine, if nothing else.
Despite the elbows and weaponry shortcomings, this is a cute little robot. The bulk and car chunks really remind me of the G1 Minibots, a line I'm fond of. The leg poseability is good and the lightpipe very effective. Not a toy to play with, but he is fun to pose and displays well.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of, although Brushguard and Movie Warpath are repaints of Overhaul.
OVERALL
A fun little toy in a Minibot kind of way, Overhaul's truck and robot modes both have great display value and while the arms are badly constructed, the transformation is novel and the leg poseability good. In terms of play value, a strong launcher isn't enough to really work, but then I like this guy for other reasons. Recommended if you like the Minibots, not a toy for fans who love play value - 7/10
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