Thanks to Goktimus Prime for loaning me Jolt & Six Speed for this review
Name: Jolt
Series: Cybertron
Allegiance: Minicon
Alternate Mode: Helicopter
CHOPPER MODE
Height: 3.5cm Length: 6.5cm (8cm with rotor forward) Width: 6cm (8cm rotorspan)
A red and black chopper with round transparent blue nose, Jolt is the type of helicopter with a panoramic view from the cockpit. The frame of the windows is painted while there engines on top are a dark green. The colour scheme is mixed, but red, black and white are all neutral enough to work together. The green is a little out of place in that context, but while Jolt's colour's are unified, he still looks decent.
Unusually, Jolt's rotor has three blades rather than two or four. Still, it spins very well when you flick one of the blades, which is fun. The tail and runners are black, and with the runners, there are no wheels underneath. There is a powerlinx port underneath the left runner, but not on the right. The left side of the toy also sports a MiniCon symbol, on the red central piece.
A different style of helicopter from what we usually see, which is nice. The rotor is fun and it's been too long since we've seen a Transformer chopper with runners. The panoramic window at the front is cool - and translates into the robot mode's defining feature.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Swing the green engines back to form legs - you'll need to swing the rotor side to side for clearance. Flip the tail, flip out his feet, stand him up. Swing the runners out to the sides to form arms, rotate the window to form a helmet and reveal his face.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 6.5cm (8cm to the top of the rotor) Width: 3cm (8cm rotorspan)
Again a mixture of red, white black and green Jolt's torso is red with a silver waist while his arms and thighs are black and his boots green with gold knees. His black head has a silver face while the bubble cockpit forms a bubble helmet now - which is the defining feature here. It's unusual, which is both good and bad, It wont suit everyone's tastes but I like the innovation.
Jolt's shoulders are ball jointed while the hips and knees are hinged. He has big heelspurs but with the rotor and tail on his back, Jolt is too back heavy for most leg poses - though you still have a few options. The shoulders are effectively rotators, although you can bring the arms across his chest.
A decent little robot mode, even if Jolt is quite unusual. The kinda reminds me of Spaceballs: The Movie's Dark Helmet, which is a good thing. While the transformation isn't really that special, it ends up with a cool robot mode.
VARIATIONS
Jolt was redone with more transparent plastic as part of the "Shadow" Recon Team - as were the entire set.
OVERALL
An unusual chopper mode and innovative robot mode, with a simple transformation linking them. The transformation largely keeps out of the way - only the helmet is noteworthy - but this makes both modes work. The helmet won't suit everyone's tastes, but I love the fact that Jolt is unique - 7/10
Name: Reverb
Series: Cybertron
Allegiance: MiniCon
Alternate Mode: 4x4
4x4 MODE
Height: 2.5cm Length: 5cm Width: 3cm
A royal blue 4x4 with an open tray at the back - which contains poorly hidden robot forearms (they're painted orange!), Reverb has silver windows and a silver front grille while the sports lights on his roof and the headlights are yellow. He's a four-dour vehicle but the second set of side windows are replaced by transformation hinges. His tyres are a menthol green - similar to but lighter than the green on Jolt. For the most part this looks really good, but I think white or grey would have worked better on the forearms, since orange just highlights the fact that they are robot detailing. There's a MiniCon symbol sculpted onto the back of the cabin, which is also painted orange.
The sculpt is generally pretty good here, save for the lack of side rear windows. There's a vent in front of the windshield, tiny side mirrors and (unpainted) taillights. The 4x4 is nice and beefy and while those hinges in place of windows do break it up a little, Reverb still looks decent.
Reverb doesn't roll too well, so while the truck looks okay, overall he's just okay. Not a bad truck, but a little lazy in execution. I do still like him, but this is the weakest alternate mode of the set.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Swing the sides of the back up and out, flip over the front to form boots. Fold the torso together and swing up his head. Lift up the shoulderpads and pose the arms. The description I just gave wont convey it, but Reverb has a very elegant and creative transformation, despite it being relatively simple. It's one of my favourite MiniCon transformations - and the nicest in a while.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 6cm Width: 5cm
A blue robot with black thighs and elbows, Reverb has huge boots with the windows on top of his feet. The feet are the front of the cab, which has a distinct G1 feel about it. His face is also silver while the orange MiniCon logo is now on his chest - and those orange forearms are obviously visible. The orange works now, and the combination of orange, silver and blue works here.
Reverb's face is quite well sculpted considering how small his head is, and the bodyshape is kinda cool thanks to the shoulderpads and the boots. As I said, there's a G1 feel about it - and this is a robot mode for the G1 fans. Poseability is somewhat limited, but better than you'd get out of a G1 toy of this size (or anywhere near it!). His arms lift out to the sides and the elbows are hinges while his hips swing and knees bend. The leg poses are limited by the fact he lacks heelspurs, but there are still some poses available.
A nice robot mode which rides on the back of transformation to an extent. The layout of 4x4 parts is creative and the colours work. This is my favourite robot mode of this set, mainly for the G1 overtones.
VARIATIONS
As above, comes in a clear version. This entire set was actually sold by a company called Kabaya, who sell kits with confectionary in Japan - and while those figures are the regular Takara figures (as far as I know), my Reverb is actually from Kabaya packaging - which is why I only have one of the set.
OVERALL
A nice little G1 styled MiniCon, Reverb's transformation is cool and the robot mode just screams G1. The vehicle mode does have some problems, which prevents him from being a great toy, but Reverb is still one of the better MiniCons we've seen in my opinion - 7/10
Name: Six Speed
Series: Cybertron
Allegiance: MiniCon
Alternate Mode: Le Mans Racer
CAR MODE
Height: 1.5cm Length: 6cm Width: 3cm
A green Le Mans racer with darker green tyres (same colour as on Jolt), Six Speed has a closed cabin with transparent window at the front. The head is visible through the window, but not the face. The nose area and the top of the spoiler are painted gunmetal and in the nose - where the number would be - is a moulded MiniCon symbol. The two greens work well enough together, although he's a little monochromatic for a track racer, not that this hurts aesthetically.
There's really not that much to Six Speed's vehicle mode. It's not bad by any means, but it's just straightforward. The sculpt is fairly detailed for a Le Mans racer, but the designer has had to be creative, since these things are generally smooth and aerodynamic. Six Speed rolls reasonably well - a lot better than Reverb can manage.
The most straightforward vehicle mode in this set with the least controversial colour scheme. Perhaps he's a tad uninteresting, but Six Speed is solid without being terribly noteworthy.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Flip the back out to form the boots - which split in the process. Fold down the front to form a chestplate and reveal the head and rotate the front fenders to form arms. There's a distinct Micromaster feel to this transformation - specifically the Sports Car Patrol & Hot Rod Patrols.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 7cm Width: 3cm
A green robot with gunmetal forearms and knees, Six Speed also has a lot of gunmetal on his torso, including the MiniCon symbol. The transparent window forms his chest while his thighs are darker green and hus face silver.
The facial sculpt is fairly simple in design but if you look closely, there is fine detail. The forearms on the insides of the fenders really do remind of Micromasters, although few of those had the forearms painted - and few Micromasters had boots that split as they folded over. Six Speed has... Micromaster poseability. The shoulders swing, the hips swing and the knees bend, although he can't sit down as many Micromasters can.
A Micromaster in so many ways, yet Six Speed doesn't really look like one. Again he's solid without really being memorable. The poseability and layout are decent but not really innovative at all while the colours work without being fantastic.
VARIATIONS
Same as the others.
OVERALL
A good MiniCon which, like Reverb, has some G1 aspects. There's a Micromaster trapped inside a MiniCon, which is I guess the most interesting aspect of this figure. Both modes are good without being memorable and the transformation is by the number. Nice, but perhaps just lacking that cool factor that most MiniCons seem to have aimed for - 6/10
TEAM OVERALL
Three decent MiniCons, and nothing really bad - Six Speed is the weakest, and only because he's only "solid". The other two certainly have some innovative aspects and there are G1 overtones in this trio. Recommended to fans of MiniCons and worth looking into for fans of Micromasters - 7/10
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