Name: Powerdasher
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Multi-Function Specialist
Alternate Mode: Drill Tank
DRILL TANK MODE
Height: 3cm Length: 8.5cm Width: 4.5cm
A black, yellow and chrome silver drill tank, this is probably the oddest looking of the three Powerdashers - but it's also the rarest which I suppose counteracts the strange vehicle mode.
The basic block of this tank is black, there are yellow blocks on top of this block and an open cockpit between these yellow blocks. He has a silver drill on the front, which is flanked by yellow blocks (the robot arms) reducing the effectiveness of the drill. There are chrome blocks on either side at the rear and small chrome treads about halfway along the sides at the bottom, just behind these are yellow wheels with rubber tyres. He does have plastic front wheels, but they're concealed.
Being a Powerdasher, he's got the features common to all three toys in this set. The front wheels are the small plastic ones already mentioned, the rear ones are yellow with rubber tyres and he has a pullback motor. The pullback motor is essentially the point of these small, inexpensive Diaclone moulds, and it has to be said that it's quite powerful.
Probably the worst part of this mode is that it really does look like a blocky thing with a drill on the front, but it has less chrome than the other Powerdashers, and doesn't look as cheap as the car. It still looks quite cheap for a G1 Transformer, but is clearly better than most of the fake Transformers down through the years. The major feature of this mould is the pullback motor, and this works very well.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Fold the rear yellow blocks back to form the legs, swing the flanking yellow locks out to the sides to form the arms and unfold the forearms. Extend the drill, which is the robot head, to reveal the face.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 12.5cm Width: 5.5cm
Mainly black in this mode, he has chrome thighs, a chrome head, yellow forearms and yellow lower legs. The head is a giant drill on top of a small blue face (like the other Powerdashers, he has a sticker for a face). He has a small Autobot symbol on his chest, but it's intended for the tank mode and is upside down. It doesn't really stand out in the tank mode, mind you, since the flanking pieces hide it.
Now that there's no yellow blocks sitting on the main block, the cockpit sticks out noticeably. This central block is the torso, so he has a gut (or he's pregnant). While this isn't a great feature, the fact it's black hides it, and the defining shape of this robot mode is the giant cone on his head anyway.
The poseability is better than you'd expect of such a simple toy, thanks to the transformation joint. His shoulders swing, so he can flap his arms, his elbows swing up, his hips and knees bend and these joints are quite stiff. The effective poseability is reduced by a lack of feet to prevent him from falling forward - he has a gut, after all. He does have heelspurs, oddly.
His proportions are better than a lot of small Transformers of the era (such as a lot of Minicars and combiner limbs) - he has distinct hands - but he has that damn drill on his head, which along with the gut hurt the look of this robot mode in my opinion.
VARIATIONS
The more common version of this toy has a rounded drill, the rarer version has a pointed drill tip. There were three randomly shipped Powerdashers.
OVERALL
The Powerdashers were restricted to mail order because Hasbro felt they weren't of a high enough standard for general release (I'd love to hear the explanation for the Firecons being mass-released!), and looking at this toy, it's easy to see why. There _are_ worse Transformers, but with a weird tank mode and a somewhat goofy looking robot mode, I can't really get behind this toy. His best feature is the pullback motor, which I guess was the whole point of the toy (aside from being a way to use your Robot Points), but nowadays he's more desirable for his relative rarity. In his favour is the fact he relies less on chrome than the other Powerdashers - so he's not as susceptible to chrome wear, but the other two are still better toys in my opinion - 4/10
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