Cliffbee.com Powerflash Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Powerflash
Series: "European" G1
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Infantryman
Alt Mode: None (was a plane of some sort)



ROBOT MODE
Height: 10cm Width: 4.5cm

   Powerflash is a largely yellow Autobot who's clearly meant to have once turned into a plane. His chest, head and upper arms are yellow, shins and forearms are a light grey, thighs and face red, elbows, fists and eyes are black while his feet and kneecaps are bronze. It's a bit of a mixture, but the colour scheme works well. The base colour of everything except the thighs is the light grey, which is also on his waist, and around that part of the body mine has some slight paint bleeds that give away where the paint has been applied.

   Powerflash is one of those characters that only ever existed as an Actionmaster, so it's difficult to say for certain what his alt mode was, but he's a lot easier to pick that some Actionmasters. The nose, cockpit and air intakes of the plane - which are all painted black, sit on the front of his chest - pointing forward like on Jazz rather than down like on Starscream. The nose has been squashed a little to make this work, but judging by the lines on the canopy, it seems likely that he was once a Harrier. Powerflash has moulded missiles on his forearms and the outsides of his shins, so he's clearly meant to represent a fighter. Twin thrusters on top of his shoulders, small wings on the sides of his shoulders and a single crest (tailfin?) on his head round out the very obvious aeroplane theme.

   His face is well moulded, and there's some nice detail on his back - which is fairly generic. I like the fact that he's got so many plane parts on him - it makes me want to see a transforming Powerflash toy, although I don't hold out any hope of that. He looks like he could be cartoon-accurate, although of course he never appeared in the cartoon or comics.

   Poseability is the same as every other Actionmaster - head turns, arms rotate and legs have G.I. Joe poseability (fully poseable hips, knees bend 90 degrees). His handgun is red and boxy, and doesn't quite fit with all the yellow.

THE PARTNER - ROAD ROCKET

   Name sound familiar? A few years after Powerflash came out, G2 gave us a toy of the same name. It's obvious they didn't pay much attention, since the tech spec calls Road Rocket a "tire-squealing, high speed menace", and this thing has treads - not tyres! Anyway it's a black and blue tank with blue treads and a blue radar antenna on top that can rotate around. As with all second-year Actionmaster partners, rather than forming a weapon it becomes a backpack, and the top becomes a helmet. While it was spared the lime green, the colours don't match Powerflash and the helmet isn't terribly impressive. If you have Powerflash and no Road Rocket, don't panic.

VARIATIONS

   None that I know of. But since he was never sold in North America, they'd be worth an absolute fortune (c8

OVERALL

   A very obscure toy, but Powerflash is my favourite of the new characters introduced in the second year of Actionmasters. The fighter jet theme is very strong, and I love the fact he clearly _looks_ like a plane, even if he can't turn into one - he looks more like his alt mode than an awful lot of Transformers do, even though he doesn't have one! While his relative scarcity might make Powerflash tricky to find, if you like Actionmasters and get the chance to pick him up, I'd recommend you do so - 7.5/10

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