Dave's Go-Bots Rant: Wave 5b - Invisibility Force Preditron Wolf Racer-Bot BETA Roadster Strong-Bot Cement Mixer Fire-Bot Rescue Car (not purchased) Lots of recolors/remolds in this group, with Strong-Bot being the only entirely new mold. Here's the URLs for my original reviews of these molds: Preditron: Cheetor, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/Play1 Racer-Bot BETA: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/GlowBot1 Fire-Bot: Prowl-Bot, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/Play2b This group consists of those who have the Invisibility Force mentioned in the Glow-Bots storyline blurb, although their own cards make no mention of this or of Gobrillium. Presumably the eventual online bios will cover this topic. CAPSULES Preditron Wolf: The original mold came "Recommended," and this is no better or worse on its own, in my opinion. There's enough changes to make it "mildly recommended" if you already own the original Cheetor or the Beast-Bot recolor. $7.99 at Toys R Us. Racer-Bot BETA Roadster: Lacks some of the paint apps of the Glow-Bot version, but is a little sturdier (the plastic seems to be a tad stronger). Another no better or worse case, I'd say. Recommended if you don't already have the Glow-Bot version, mildly recommended if you do. $7.99 at TRU. Strong-Bot Cement Mixer: Very creative design, but the execution is a bit lacking. Awkward in appearance and of low poseability even by Go-Bots standards. A pity, really, since this is the group's only completely new mold. Mildly recommended. $7.99 at TRU. Fire-Bot Rescue Car: The icy appearance of the clear colorless plastic is attractive, but this is Yet Another Recolor of the original Speed-Bot (with tweaks). Avoid it unless you're a raving completist or actually have no copies of this mold yet (in which case, mildly recommended). $7.99 at TRU. RANTS http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/Basic5a for the new packaging, storyline blurb, etc. This will be a shorter review, since I'll mostly be talking about remold differences and leaving the in-depth stuff to the reviews of the original toys. Interesting aside, in the "to unlock the whole story" part of the bio note, the name is in all-caps. This is in contrast to the non-inviso quartet, who have their names in all lower-case. GO-BOT: PREDITRON Altmode: Wolf Subgroup: Invisibility Force Secret Code: HUNTER Note: The once trusty BEAST-BOT was accidentally turned into the new unruly bot, PREDITRON! Yes, while he's clearly a villain, there's no such thing as "evil" in the Go-Bots universe. Merely unruly. Of course, given that his unruliness is of galactic proportions (to go by the storyline bit), this one's a bit more serious than, say, Mototron's attitude problem. [Later note: Some have said this is an homage to Noble/Savage, but I don't really see it. Could also be called an homage to Wolfang.] Beast Mode: There are three remolds visible in this mode. The cheetah head has been replaced by a very angular and robotic wolf head, the rounded cheetah tail has been replaced by an almost blade-like wolf tail, and the pins at the shoulders are larger with wider holes (eliminating some molded cheetah spots). Otherwise, the mold is identical in beast mode to Cheetah. The pin change may have been done for Beast-Bot II, I don't own that one to check. [Later note: SaltManZ, who has Beast-Bot II and Tigertron, tells me that this wider pin change is new to Preditron. Probably to deal with the different hardness of the clear plastic.] The main colors are transparent blue, transparent gold (only in the chest), black and metallic blue. There's also some yellow on the shoulders and hips, and a yellow-outline hex-G to the right of the head. A blue- outline hex-G is on the left shoulder, where Cheetor had his chibi Autobot symbol. Transformation: Identical to Cheetor. As with Cheetor, it's possible to fold the forepaws the "wrong" way to fit snugly against the forearms rather than flaring out. Robot Mode: The only new mold change in this mode is the robot head, which has a big silver lantern jaw, a metallic blue "mask" with triangular yellow eyes over a black head. The Cheetor spot-molding is visible, but not very obvious because of the lack of paint on them. The vents under the pectoral muscle area are painted yellow, bringing out the detail. Overall: I'll admit it, I mostly got this because it's a villain, albeit a merely "unruly" one. Without that storyline bit, I'd have been reluctant to get a remold, although it is a good-looking remold. GO-BOT: RACE-BOT BETA (yes, it's RACE-BOT on the note card) Altmode: Roadster Subgroup: Invisibility Force Secret Code: HOTROD Note: A hot-tempered hot-rod racer with a high-powered engine to match, RACER-BOT Beta is king of the road! Capitalization is weird here. And I think the official name is RACER-BOT, not RACE-BOT, despite the header on the bio card. I'm inclined to put this guy in the "unruly" camp. Vehicle Mode: The only mold change is that the light-up supercharger is replaced by a simple hood with a small supercharger hump. The hood is painted metallic blue, so it almost runs into the front windshield. The violet plastic from the Glow-Bot version is replaced by a transparent purple. The paint applications are the same except for a lack of paint on the front bumper (the green hex-G is still there, though) and lack of red paint on the taillights. The neon green and maroon pieces of the toy are still opaque, and are visible through the transparent purple body shell. The front grille is more stable on this version than the Glow-Bots version, but that may just be due to normal within-mold variability. However, it could also be that the non-glowing hood forces a tighter fit between pieces and holds stuff closed. Transformation: Identical to the Glow-Bot version, although I had to force the hood transformation a bit harder here. I think the clear purple plastic is a touch more rigid than the opaque violet plastic used on the Glow-Bot version. Robot Mode: A little shorter due to the lack of the glowing engine parts, standing 5" (13cm) tall. The lack of paint on the front bumper makes a big difference in appearance, but otherwise identical. The pelvic paint app is still present. Overall: I like the hood of the Invisibility Force version better, but the general colors of the Glow-Bot better (the clear purple over neon green doesn't work as well as one could hope). I'd recommend picking up one of this mold, but not both unless you're a completist or really like roadsters. GO-BOT: STRONG-BOT Altmode: Cement Mixer Subgroup: Invisibility Force Secret Code: POWER Note: The toughest, bravest member of the GO-BOTS is back with a new look, and mission! And Strong-Bot moves up to tie with Buzzer-Bot in the "most molds with the name" contest (both way behind Speed-Bot, of course), although I suppose it could be a three-way tie if you count Preditron as a fourth Beast-Bot mold. Now I have a row of Buzzer-Bots and a row of Strong-Bots. Vehicle Mode: A squat little cement mixer in lots of clear yellow with some silver bits (mostly the mixer drum and trim), gunmetal windows, warm gray wheels, floodlights and dispenser. The hubcaps are a five-bolt industrial sort, and there's a few orange jointing pieces. A red outline hex-G is in the middle of the windshield, and the Playskool symbol is molded into the front grille. This is clearly a design not originally intended for clear plastic, as the robot face is awkwardly visible. Vehicle mode is a little over 5" (13cm) long, 3.5" (9cm) tall and a bit more than that wide. The rear wheels are a bit larger and wider than the front wheels. The mixer drum spins freely, but slows down almost immediately once you let go. Transformation: Rotate the legs down and spin around the waist as you go. Once the legs are all the way forward, it trips a trigger that lets the head pop up and the right arm pop out to the side. The arm cannot be stowed while the head is up (its latch is in the neck), so no driving around in vehicle mode with the head out. Finally, pull the mixer drum around to become the left arm (pulling out a bit). The dispenser hose can be lifted up as a claw. Robot Mode: At 6.25" (16cm) tall, this is the biggest of the new molds in robot mode. Even ignoring the (non-functional) lights atop the recognizable Strong-Bot head, he's still 6" (15cm) tall. A bit of orange is brought into the color scheme with the pelvis, left shoulder and right inside arm, and the head is yellow and silver with green eyes. However, there's so much transparent yellow that the color scheme is kinda dull overall. Legs separate, as per the standard Go-Bots vehicle-to-robot concept. The waist turns, and the left shoulder has a fair amount of jointing but not a lot of useful range of motion. The head can be popped down, making the toy look like a bug-eyed drone. The right arm can be raised up to 90 degrees, but otherwise doesn't move. Oh, and the left claw can open and close. The prototype picture has yellow stripes on the silver mixer drum (which I think looks better) and a red claw (which I think looks worse). Overall: They did try some new stuff here, which is to be commended. But the overall results didn't quite work, in my opinion. And the headlights on the head look kinda doofy. Dave Van Domelen, still has Flying Fists Silver-Bot unopened in his pile of recent buys....