Name: Beachcomber
Series: Power of the Primes
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Dune Buggy
DUNE BUGGY MODE
Height: 4cm Length: 9cm Width: 5cm
A blue and grey dune buggy, Beachcomber is very much a modern version of his G1 self. The front and sides are blue while the rear is grey with a grey roll cage. He has black plastic wheels and grey headlights & stick assemblies on the front. There's an Autobot logo on the hood, big and prominent. Aside from the roll cage being grey instead of black, the colours are faithful to G1. The shape is beefier and less angular, but it's a slight tweaking compared to G1 rather than a massive change.
Play value here is what you'd expect of a Scout of the era. His wheels roll and there's a cockpit of sorts underneath the canopy for Titan Masters to sit in (complete with a tiny moulded steering wheel). There's a small hole for weaponry on the engine block at the rear, although Beachcomber doesn't come with a gun. The engine, by the way, is well sculpted and features some silver paint.
A good, detailed update of the original buggy. He's bigger, beefier and has a less angular shape but really captures the look. The play value is what you'd expect, the sculpt is good and I love the prominent Autobot logo on the hood.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Unclip the front section of the roll cage, flip out the front to form his boots. Fold back the front of the roll cage to form heelspurs, split the feet. Collapse the torso, fold down the roll cage onto his back. Unclip his arms and stand him up.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 9.5cm Width: 6cm
Again, the colours are G1 Beachcomber to the ground. The arms are blue with grey painted hands, his boots are blue with the now split Autobot logo upside on the shins. His front tyres sit on his knees while the rear tyres are on his shoulders. His head is blue with a silver eyevisor. The torso is grey with some painted details that loosely match the stickers on the G1 Minibot. The face is cartoon Beachcomber (with a mouth rather than the mouthplate of the toy) with a chunkier head than the G1 toy's (which was a fold up piece, so it was by necessity quite thin). It's an inherently good colour scheme to begin with but I like how the designer has, again, just upgraded the toy's look to give him more substance.
As stated, it's very faithful to G1 Beachcomber - the chest sculpt really matches that of the G1 toy. They've given him a less boxy shape than G1, with more definition in the arms and the shape of his torso. I really like how they've managed to nail the look of his head from the original cartoon.
Play value centres on his ability to hold 5mm weapons in his hand and his poseability. His head turns while his waist and fists are fixed. The shoulders, elbows and hips are ball jointed while his knees are hinged with rotators below the hips. While there's no ankle movement, his feet are designed for that "standing with feet apart" pose while the use of the front struts of the roll cage as heelspurs is both really clever and very effective.
A really good robot mode. The sculpt, use of paint, G1 tribute and poseability are all great. The only negative is that he doesn't come with a weapon to hold in his hand - but then very few Scout sized figures do.
VARIATIONS
There was a Japanese exclusive "Golden Lagoon" version sold in a 3 pack with Seaspray and Peceptor. It features gold chrome on most of the toy with unchromed gold plastic on the upper arms, thighs, groin and roll cage - essentially there are no chrome-on-chrome joints. The only paint (chrome aside, obviously) is a gold Autobot logo on his chest. It's at once a weird look and one that's a good variation of a character who's signature appearance in the 1980s cartoon was his discovery of the Golden Lagoon. I have this variation and while I don't love the look purely as a toy, I love it for a Beachcomber with a twist.
OVERALL
A masterpiece of a scout. Faithful to G1 in both modes, Beachcomber has all the play value you could really ask for at this price point. The shape of his buggy and robot mode is more defined and less boxy than G1, but this really works to bring him to life. About the only negative is the lack of weaponry, but it's rare to see that at this pricepoint. Beachcomber has always been my favourite Transformer character & I'm glad that his CHUG release was done so well - 10/10
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