Dave's Go-Bots Rant: Invisibility Force Basics Wave 2 Speed-Bot Reptron Strong-Bot All-Terrain Racer-Bot ALPHA These are all old molds done in varying amounts of clear plastic for hte Invisibility Force sub-line. They never saw wide release in the U.S., but thanks to the closeout chain Tuesday Morning, I got to get them without paying high eBay prices (I tried on eBay a while back for just Racer-Bot ALPHA, and got massively outbid). Here's the original version reviews: Speed-Bot: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/Play1 Reptron: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/Play2a Strong-Bot All-Terrain: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/Basic5a Racer-Bot ALPHA: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/Basic5c (sold as Speed-Bot Muscle Car) http://www.tuesdaymorning.com/storelocator/storelocator.asp will tell you if there's a location reasonably close to you. Their toy section is more of a disorganized heap shoved onto shelves, so be prepared to look behind stuff. Update 11/12/05: A friend asked me to get the Speed-Bot one for him, so before I box it up to mail him, I'll add the info. CAPSULES Speed-Bot: It looks pretty nice and jewel-y, but there is NO WAY I'm buying another copy of this mold. $4.99 at Tuesday Morning. Reptron: Cute little dinosaur robot. The new colors don't do a whole lot for me, for reasons I'll explain below. Mildly recommended if you have any other version of this mold, recommended if you lack it. $4.99 at Tuesday Morning. Strong-Bot All-Terrain: Simple color swap of just one color (yellow to clear yellow) and some paint tweaks. Looks good. Mildly recommended if you already have this mold, recommended if oyu don't. $4.99 at Tuesday Morning. Racer-Bot ALPHA: Finally released as himself, woot. Just the fact that he's NOT a Speed-Bot improves my opinion of the toy. Recommended. $4.99 at Tuesday Morning. RANTS Packaging: Similar to the wave 5 packaging, but the pattern on the front of the card is now blue ovals and swooshes on the yellow and orange background. The namecard up front has the Invisibility Force logo under the main line logo, with more of the blue concentric ovals. In the upper right of the card front is "TRANSPARENT SUPER-SPEED DESIGN" over the ovals. The co-sells on the bottom are the Glow-Bots, the wave 2 Invisibility Force, the two Megas, and the unreleased-in-the-U.S. Deluxe trio of a new Speed-Bot Racer, a Mototron repaint of the other Speed-Bot Racer, and the Fast-Bot repaint of the original Speed-Bot II. The Gobrillium blurb on the back is the same as in the other later waves, see http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/GlowBot1 for my transcription of it. There's also the usual four step photo instructions for both directions of transformation. Speed-Bot and Reptron were bought for others, so they're staying in the package. As a result, my reviews will be less detailed for them. GO-BOT: SPEED-BOT Altmode: Sportscar Original Mold: Speed-Bot Twist-ties: 5 When it comes to speed, this awesome GO-BOTS racer always takes the lead! In sports car form, his turbo-charged engine fires on all cylinders, sending him into all kinds of heavy-duty action. SPEED-BOT rules the road because he's sizzling with style and always ready to rock 'n roll! Compared to the original Speed-Bot, the only plastic change is that the red plastic is replaced with clear red, which does look nice. The paint apps are similar, but have some differences. The hood has a black stripe down the center with the G-symbol in yellow behind the headlights. There's black paint in the channels near the tops of the doors. The hubcaps are completely silver, rather than having only the raised parts painted. I can't check the roof, but I doubt there's any paint differences there. This has got to be the single most reused/modified mold in Transformers history, even beating out the core of the original G1 jets (6 in G1, a few more in G2, then Commemorative Series reissues). And Speed-Bot is probably the most reused name aside from Optimus Prime and Megatron. GO-BOT: REPTRON Altmode: Raptor dinosaur Original Mold: Dino-Bot or Reptron I Twist-ties: 4 In raptor form, his strength, quickness and animal instinct make him a force to contend with for the GO-BOTS. With intensive training and guidance, he could one day reach his full potential and become a member of the GO-BOTS team. Now that he is equipped with the INVISIBILITY FORCE, he is even quicker and more difficult to track. Hm, sounds like he's one of the unruly bots working with Preditron. Anyway, the darker colors make it a little harder ot peg everything while leaving it in the package, but here goes, comparing to Dino-Bot (the green original). The gray plastic of Dino-Bot's dino head and torso is now clear light blue. The green of his jaw, pelvis and tail are now smoky clear plastic. The green of the arms, legs and head is opaque black, with lots of metallic blue paint apps. The chest and forearm paint apps are red, the robot eyes, faction symbol (G) and pelvis vent are yellow. Between the opaque limbs and the darker shades used in the clear stuff, you have to look carefully to even notice that there's clear plastic. Anyway, if you can find another version at TRU, it'll likely be cheaper and be as good. Don't bust a hump looking for this unless you're a rabid completist. GO-BOT: STRONG-BOT Altmode: All-terrain jeep Original Mold: Strong-Bot All-Terrain Twist-Ties: 5, and a rubber band to keep the head up. The strongest and toughest of all the GO-BOTS team, he can instantly take on the forms of the largest and most powerful machines known to man! His power and determination make him a go-to GO-BOTS member in any situation. Stand back when he's in off-road vehicle form, because when he starts moving, he won't stop till the job's complete! Color Swaps: Yellow plastic becomes clear yellow, the tires are a slightly lighter gray. That's pretty much it. The robot head is all painted on gray plastic, so it's not changed. Paint Apps: The head, front window, running steps and headlights paint apps are the same, as are the orange G-hubcaps. There's no paint at all inside the driver's area. The G-symbols have been moved to the front fenders, and are just red outlines, no gray center. Other Comments: The package does not call him "All-Terrain" like the non-inviso version does. Also, the package has his roll bar bade of clear red plastic, and his grille is painted silver with a red G. Overall: The inviso nature is obvious in vehicle mode, and decent in robot mode, but the removal of several paint apps makes this a slightly blander toy. Still a good toy, though. GO-BOT: RACER-BOT ALPHA Altmode: Muscle car Original Mold: Speed-Bot Muscle Car* Twist-ties: 5 He's a stylish, souped-up speedster who's revved up to take on the GO-BOTS team. Back on Botropolis, he and his brother were testing the new INVISIBILITY FORCE to see how powerful it could be. Then they decided to put their newfound powers to the ultimate test: They challenged each other to a winner-take-all race through the galaxy! With his new power, he may be the fastest racer ever! * Actually, the original mold is this one. It just got delayed so long that the recolor as Speed-Bot came out first. Color Swaps: Red replaced by a clear light blue about the same tone as Reptron's. Yellow replaced with black, light gray with red. The tires are the same color. Paint Apps: In order to emphasize the clearness, there's very few paint apps on the body shell. Just the silver headlights, grill and side pipes, plus yellow G-symbol ahead of the engine on the hood. The hubcaps are silver, and the engine top is black with yellow and red vents (that become the robot eyes). The windows are a metallic orange. The only paint app that becomes visible only in robot mode is the silver faceplate. Other Comments: Yes, it's properly capitalized as "Racer-Bot ALPHA". According to the instructions, the yellow wasn't swapped out of the prototype, and the clear plastic was more purple. The yellow showing through purple emphasized the clear plastic gimmick better than the black, but I think the version we did get looks better overall. Although it would have been nice to have some paint apps on the inside to show through. The prototype had the top of the head painted silver, so that the engine block was all silver in car mode. I like that look, and may paint it myself. Overall: Looks good, and it may well be the last new character to hit stores here (leaving aside the Deluxe trio that seems to have only sold overseas). Plus, he's one of those rare almost-a-villain characters, which makes him worth picking up for the novelty. :) Dave Van Domelen, will be keeping an eye on Tuesday Morning to see if they get any of the final batch of Deluxes in....