Dave's Go-Bots Rant: Wave 5c

     Gorilla-Bot
     Cop-Bot Motorcycle
     Strong-Bot Pickup Truck
     Speed-Bot Muscle Car

     There's some packaging differences between these guys and wave 5a, but
they're ringing up as (oddly) Invisibility Force, so I'm going to say they're
part of wave 5, barely.  Also, the pressing stamps on these toys indicate
they were actually made in summer 2004 (i.e. 41781 on the underside of
Cop-Bot means he was made during 1st shift, day 178, year 2004).

     Gorilla-Bot and Cop-Bot are recolors, Strong-Bot is a slight remold.
Here's the original reviews of these molds:

     http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/Play1 (Gorilla-Bot)
     http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/Basic3a (Buzzer-Bot Motorcycle and
          Flash-Bot Pickup Truck)

     TRU seems to be the only chain still carrying Go-Bots.  

CAPSULES

     Gorilla-Bot: Much nicer color job than this mold has gotten before, but
no mold changes.  Mildly recommended if you have any previous version,
recommended if not.  $7.99 at TRU.
     Cop-Bot: Much better color scheme than the original, no mold changes.
Mildly recommended if you have the previous version, recommended if not (it's
better than the original).  $7.99 at TRU.
     Strong-Bot: Head piece has been remolded and the running bars assembled
in reverse.  Looks a tiny bit better than the original.  Mildly recommended
if you have Flash-Bot (either version), recommended if you have neither.
$7.99 at TRU.
     Speed-Bot: This was going to be Racer-Bot ALPHA, but now it joins the
Speed-Bot Collective.  You will be assimilated.  At the small end of the
Basics, shares many flaws with the original Speed-Bot, plus a few of its
own.  Disappointing as the only really new mold in the batch.  At least the
car looks nice.  Mildly recommended.  $7.99 at TRU.


RANTS

     Packaging: As mentioned above, the packaging is a little different than
what's described in http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/Basic5a.  The secret
code words are gone, but the bio note cards still refer you to the webpage
for more info.  The instructions sheets are still present, and there's now a
little catalog insert which shows waves 5a and 5b on one side and the Flying
Fists duo on the other side.  [Later note: I'm told that this catalog was
also in waves 5a and 5b, I must have gotten an early packing of them that
lacked it.]
     The co-sell on the back of the card shows waves 5a and 5c.  The
storyline blurb is the same as on the previous parts of wave 5.  Except for
Speed-Bot Muscle Car, they all say "1-2-3 POWER TO CHANGE IN 3 EASY STEPS!"
The muscle car gets 4 easy steps instead.  Not sure why they did this,
because Strong-Bot Pickup Truck needs 4 steps as much as Speed-Bot does.  Ah
well.  

GO-BOT: GORILLA-BOT
Altmode: Gorilla
Previous Mold Uses: Gorillabot (wave 1), Beast-Bot (wave 3)
Previous Name Uses: None, not exactly.  Unless you count Gorillabot.

     This powerful and mischievous robot is sure to cause the GO-BOTS team a
lot of trouble with his monkey business!

     By the standards of Go-Bots, that practically makes this version of
Gorilla-Bot a villain.
     There are no mold changes from the original Gorillabot (no hyphen) that
I can tell.  The colors are much better, though, being mostly black and that
weird taupe sort of color (brownish gray) endemic to Go-Bots, plus silver,
red and yellow paint accents.  The overall effect is to look a lot like Beast
Wars Optimus Primal in gorilla mode.  The robot head departs from the Primal
look, though, being mostly yellow and silver with red eyes and a black strip
up the middle of the scalp.  The yellow inside the shoulderpads is a bit
much, too.  This is one to leave in gorilla mode, I think.


GO-BOT: COP-BOT
Altmode: Motorcycle
Previous Mold Uses: Buzzer-Bot Motorcycle (wave 3)
Previous Name Uses: Prowl-Bot recolor (wave 3)

     This highly-trained police officer can zip between the planets as a
speedy motorcycle to help enforce the law for the GO-BOTS team.

     I'll assume they have a warp tube arrangement or something, not that he
just flies up into space on his own.

     Cop-Bot is packaged in robot mode, in a dynamic (for Go-Bots) walking
pose, kinda nifty.
     Pretty simple plastic color swap from Buzzer-Bot.  The light gray and
taupe parts stay, the green and purple are replaced by a bold medium blue
except for the thigh pieces, which are white.  There's a lot of white paint
on the gas tank area.  The seat and faction symbols (which are in the same
places as Buzzer-Bot's) are a metallic garnet red.  Just about everything
that's painted silver on Buzzer-Bot is silver on Cop-Bot, except he has red
paint above the yellow part of his headlights, not silver.  His face is
unpainted taupe, with silver smile and darker red eyes than Buzzer-Bot's.
"POLICE" is printed on his chest in robot mode on both sides.  The windshield
is painted with metallic orange.
     Despite this mold being a clear Buzzer-Bot wasp reformat, it works very
nicely for Cop-Bot.  If I were to make any changes, it would be to give him
the police "gumball machine" flasher colors somewhere.  Prowl-Bot did it with
his hood lights and "eyeshadow", Cop-Bot 1 with just the hood lights, and
this one not at all.


GO-BOT: STRONG-BOT
Altmode: Pickup Truck (monster truck style)
Previous Mold Use: Flash-Bot (wave 3), Truck-Bot (wave 4)
Previous Name Uses: power shovel (wave 2), dump truck (wave 3), ATV (wave 5),
     cement mixer (wave 5)

     The strongest member of the GO-BOTS team, he has the will and might to
power through any situation as a heavy-duty pickup truck.

     This is the first time Strong-Bot has been stuck in a remold, and he
still hasn't had to endure a simple repaint.  Looks like he's joining
Speed-Bot as one of the stars.

     This is a slight remold and reassemble from Flash-Bot.  The engineblock
chunk containing the robot head has been remolded to give a Strong-Bot style
of head, plus more interesting "collar" detail.  The steps on either side of
the doors have been assembled on the "wrong" sides, angling forward instead
of back.  Not sure if this is a goof or an intentional change to make it look
different.  
     Except on the head chunk, the paint applications are identical to
Flash-Bot's.  The blue plastic on Flash-Bot is replaced by bright yellow
plastic.  The yellow-orange shoulder, pelvis and knee pin pieces on Flash-Bot
are replaced with red on Strong-Bot.  The new head and neck piece is yellow
with green eyes, silver jaw, and the same dark metallic blue-gray of the
windows used for the "hair" and "bare neck" parts.  There's a tiny little
Go-Bots faction symbol on the neck.
     I would like to point out for the benefit of those who like to do flash
animation or animated GIFs that Strong-Bot can sort of do the "Badger Badger
Badger" bounce.  Take pictures of both poses, then go to town with flash.
Using other versions of the character as appropriate, of course.  (Strong-Bot
Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot
MIXER MIXER Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot
Strong-Bot Strong-Bot MIXER MIXER Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot
Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot Strong-Bot DUMPTRUCK!  IT'S A DUMPTRUCK!)
     Not that I'm advocating yet another flash animation in that style.
     At all.
     But send me an URL if you do it.


GO-BOT: SPEED-BOT
Altmode: Muscle Car
Previous Mold Use: None, but this was going to be Racer-Bot ALPHA.
Previous Name Use: sports car (Basic wave 1, without hyphen), race car (Basic
     wave 5), formula 1 race car (Deluxe wave 1), street racer (Deluxe wave
     2), dragster (Ultra), original sports car also released with tape around
     the time of wave 4, and in chrome as a TRU exclusive with wave 5.

     The fastest member of the GO-BOTS team is even faster now.  As a
super-charged muscle car, he can take action more quickly to get the job
done! 

     Is it just me, or is every new version of Speed-Bot described as faster
than ever before?  Anyway, as the only truly new mold, this one gets the full
treatment.

     Vehicle Mode: 4.75" (12cm) long, 3.5" (9cm) wide, a little over 2"
(5.5cm) tall.  It's a street racer muscle car (described as resembling a
Mustang by a car-knowledgeable friend of mine) with spoiler, airdam,
supercharger, side and rear exhaust pipes.  Like all Speed-Bots, it's mostly
red with metallic blue windows.  There's black on the louvred rear window, on
the hood, above the rear bumper and on the front grille (PLAYSKOOL is molded
onto the grille).  Silver is on the bumpers, hubcaps, pipes, rear view mirror
pieces, headlights, supercharger intakes and part of the taillights.  The
taillights are also metallic red and yellow.  There's a yellow faction symbol
between the taillights and one in front of the supercharger.  The one in the
rear is also molded to stand out.
     Weird little detail...the hubcaps have nine spokes.  

     Transformation: Almost as simple as the original Speed-Bot.  Pull the
rear half back and twist around to be the legs.  Then push the hood down
manually, which makes the arms pop out to the sides and the head
(supercharger) flip forward 90 degrees. 

     Robot Mode: A somewhat stumpy looking 5" (12.5cm) tall.  Just about
every part revealed in transformation is yellow, except for the light gray
pelvis and some light gray connector pieces.  A faction symbol is molded into
the hollow chest.  While the transformation isn't the exact same as the
original Speed-Bot, he has a similar "big hollow space in his chest"
problem.  
     The head does not look at all Speed-Bot-ish, with the top half being the
supercharger and the bottom half being an almost featureless faceplate (with
a chin dimple).  Of course, since this was originally solicited as Racer-Bot
ALPHA, a totally different character, that makes sense.  And it's not really
something that can be easily remolded into a Speed-Bot head without making
the vehicle mode look stupid.
     Poseability is limited, even for a Go-Bot.  The arms swing a bit at the
shoulders, but the chest gets in the way a bit.  The legs only spread apart
(and shorten unexpectedly because the "click" that holds them at full length
is weak).  The waist turns thanks to transformation, and the head can look up
but springs back down.  Amusing pose: he can raise his arm to push his head
back a little, as if smacking himself in the forehead for taking such a lame
robot mode.

     Overall: It's a sweet vehicle mode, but that's about all this guy has to
recommend it.  Really only bother with this one if you're a completist on the
molds.  If we're lucky, it may come out in a non-Speed-Bot color scheme
later. 

     Dave Van Domelen, gets to be at work at 7 AM the rest of this week,
whee.