Dave's Rescue Bots Rant: Scout Wave 1 Heatwave (Fire Boat) Optimus Prime (Monster Truck) Bumblebee (Motorcycle) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/123/RBScout1 This new batch of transforming toys is smaller than the Deluxes, but bigger than the stuff I'd been calling Basic. I'm not sure exactly why, but this level of complexity is far more acceptable to me at the smaller size and slightly smaller price point than the old Deluxes were. I haven't been able to find an official size class name for these, even Hasbro's official page just has them as Playskool Heroes which is the overall brand. So I'll stick with Scout for now. CAPSULES $8 price point. Heatwave: Looks nice in both modes, transformation is simple but has at least a little thought put into it. No articulation, but you were probably expecting that. Optimus Prime: Robotmode suffers both functionally and aesthetically from an iffy transformation scheme, but at least the vehicle mode looks okay. Neutral. Bumblebee: Yeah, it's yet another BB, but this time it's a motorcycle, which at least is new for him. Decent kid toy for the price point, if not as good as Buzzer-Bot's cycle version. Mildly recommended. RANTS Packaging: These are on similar card-and-blistercouch packaging to that seen on the Deluxes that came before, with the robot held on by a few strings. There's no instructions included (or needed). The card front has character art in a circle in the upper right as per previous waves, and a fold-over bit in the lower right shows a photo of the vehicle mode and the claim, "EASY 2 DO!" The cardback has photos of both modes, a short bio note, and this season's group art (which focuses on the upcoming dinosaur altmodes). The lower left has cosells of the other two in the wave. They all have the tagline, "Robots and humans saving the day, working together the Rescue Bots way!" This is assortment A7024, and the individual numbers are A7026 for Bumblebee, A7025 for Optimus Prime, and A6365 for Heatwave. Huh. RESCUEBOT: HEATWAVE Altmode: Fireboat Function: Firefighter When there's a fire off the coast of Griffon Rock, HEATWAVE THE FIRE-BOT converts to a fireboat, speeds to the scene and drenches the flames! Heatwave don't need no stinkin' Oxford comma. Packaging: Three strings hold robot mode in the package, waist and each leg. Robot Mode: One of the reasons I never bought any of the Deluxe versions of Heatwave was that the proportions were so unremittingly ugly. The increased simplicity of this design, however, lets the new one look pretty show-accurate in terms of his head and general proportions, although he's clearly a boat rather than a firetruck. His chest has a fake boat windshield molded into it, not a truck windshield. A Rescue Bots symbol is molded on his left shoulder. 4.5" (11cm) tall at the head, a bit more if you count his shoulders or backpack, mostly red with some yellow, white, blue and silver. His internal struts are mostly yellow plastic, as are some water cannons on the backs of his arms. Otherwise the toy is made of bright red plastic. AllSpark Blue paint is used for his visor, chest windshield, and an Energize-style Rescue Bots logo with circuit lines on his right shoulder. Silver paint is used for his feet (which have propellers molded into the soles), face, and pelvis front/belt. There's a white border around his chest window, and white on his kneecaps. Water cannons molded onto his wrists are painted yellow, as is the badge area of his helmet. Unsurprisingly, there's no articulation. The hands are designed to hold 5mm pegs, such as found in borrowed Energize weapons. Transformation: While you can "manually" transform him by pushing his arms up and together, letting everything else follow along, there's actually a trigger. Pushing up on the lightbar hanging behind his legs runs the transformation, and pulling it back returns him to robot mode. Vehicle Mode: A racing speedboat with an emergency service lightbar and a pair of water cannons. A large Rescue Bots symbol is molded onto the front, and piping and pumps are molded onto the top sides to connect up with the water cannons. 5" (13cm) long, about the same color balance as robot mode, but the white border of the fake windshield is not present on the real one. The topside water cannons are made of yellow plastic, but most of the internal yellow plastic parts are hidden in this mode. The lightbar is dipped in white and the lights then painted medium blue. AllSpark Blue is used on the windows of the sealed cockpit and on the molded Rescue Bots symbol on the front. The pumps and piping are painted yellow, a bit more canary than the plastic color. The water cannons can swivel about, but are not removable for use as pistols. Overall: Looks pretty good in both modes, and the transformation trigger shows at least a little sophistication in design. While I still miss Go Bots in this niche, this is a decent toy in its own right. AUTOBOT: OPTIMUS PRIME Altmode: Monster Truck Function: Autobot Leader When his team is in a tough situation, OPTIMUS PRIME converts to a monster truck and zooms over the rockiest, most rugged terrain to help them out! Packaging: Three strings again, but one on each arm and one on the connected legs. They're rather harder to get at than those on the other two toys (which I freed with nail clippers). Robot Mode: Right out of the package, it probably can't stand up. You need to pull the legs down hard enough to get them past a click point, or the wheels on the legs will rotate down enough to prevent stability. In any case, from the front it's basically Optimus Prime with big wheels on his shoulders and boots. From behind, it's not so good, as the arms are hollow and made of blue plastic that's not painted at all on the back side. Oh, and from any angle, the arms sagging forward doesn't really look good (and they don't seem to have a snap-in-place point). The smokestacks molded into the shoulders have big rectangular gaps in them that seem to be due to plastic-saving mold shape tricks. 4.25" (11cm) tall at the head, more if you count the backpack or shoulder wheels, it's in standard Optimus Prime colors. The torso (including head), backpack, and rear fenders on the boots are red plastic. The arms and legs are blue plastic, and the wheels are black plastic. The smokestacks, abdomen, wheel hubs, faceplate, helmet crest, and thighs are painted silver. The arms except for wrists/fists are painted red, in a decent match to the plastic. The head is painted bright blue, also a decent match. There's yellow roof lights on the chest and yellow eyes. The fake windows in the chest are painted black. No articulation, and pretty unstable, as noted above. The hands have 5mm peg holes, and the smokestacks are 5mm pegs, not that they're really all that accessible. Transformation: Push up on the legs until they hit another snap-in point, and everything else automatically folds in and around. Vehicle Mode: This is basically the usual longnose cab Optimus Prime on giant monster truck tires and with smokestacks so short that there's nothing above the vented part (in fact, they function as 5mm peg holes). It actually looks pretty good, with minimal kibble effects from the arms hanging between the wheels. 4.25" (11cm) long, with 1.75" (4cm) diameter wheels, it's mostly red with silver in front and mostly blue in back. The grille, smoekstacks, and ladders under the doors are painted silver. An AllSpark Blue Rescue Bots symbol is printed on the hub. The four roof lights have yellow lenses, and the windows of the cab are painted black. The wheels turn freely. As noted above, the smokestacks can hold 5mm pegs. The trailer hitch has a hole as well, but it's neither 5mm nor 3mm in size, it's somewhere in between. Overall: Probably the least kid-friendly of the lot, since you have to get that last millimeter of pull during transformation in order for the robot to be able to stand up. The robot mode in general isn't as attractive as it could be, and the transformation makes it worse, due to the slouching shoulders. If the head were a separate piece that could be easily replaced, I might suggest getting one and repurposing it as another monster truck TF, but it isn't. The loser of the wave. AUTOBOT: BUMBLEBEE Altmode: Motorcycle Function: Scout Anytime there's a call for help on Griffon Rock, BUMBLEBEE converts to a sleek motorcycle and races down the road to the rescue! In other words, they really didn't bother thinking of a reason for the new mode or for his presence. He's a Bumblebee, that's enough. Y'know, if I didn't strongly suspect Rit dye wouldn't stick on this, I'd make it green and call it Buzzer-Bot. Packaging: Three strings, on waist and thighs. Robot Mode: I'm serious, this really looks like it should be Buzzer-Bot. Sure, it has the Prime/RB-style Bumblebee head, but not only is it clearly a motorcycle bot (as one Buzzer-Bot was), the windshield halves on the backs of the arms look like wings. There's four wheels: one on each forearm, one on each shin. They look like full wheels, not half wheels. 4.25" (11cm) tall and as chunky/chibi as you'd expect from a this line, it's mostly a slightly metalflake-swirled canary yellow with some black, silver, and light blue. The wheels are black plastic, the rest of the toy is the metalflake yellow plastic. The yellow plastic shares its breed's usual problems with translucence and concealment of mold detail. Silver paint is used on the faceplate, fists, and the exhaust pipes molded along the sides of the legs. Light bright blue is found on the eyes and a fake windshield molded into the chest. Fake headlights are printed in white on the chest, and the Rescue Bots insignia is printed in white on the center of the chest windshield. There's black stripes on the forearms and black bits on the chin and "ears". (Vehicle-specific paint apps will be discussed below.) As with most Rescue Bots toys, there's really no articulation to speak of. The arms can lift up tot he sides a bit before triggering transformation, and that's about it. The hands can hold 5mm pegs, And 5mm pegs in the form of handlebars stick out the sides of the backpack. The wheels can all spin freely. Undocumented feature: Press down on his head and his arms flap up as a side effect of how his transformation works. Badger badger badger badger action. Transformation: Lift his arms up over his head and snap them together, the legs retract and come together automatically. To change back, pull the arms apart and down. Vehicle Mode: It's a street cycle with doubled wheels in front and back, not unheard of in some of the more muscled-up real world motorcycles. The robot toes stick out the back a bit, but the most obvious kibble is in the form of the forearms flanking the front wheels. There is a very slight bee-abdomen motif at the back end. 5.25" (13cm) long, pretty much the same color balance as before. The real windshield is painted bright light blue with white headlights. The handlebars, front air intakes, the top of the gas tank, the seat, and some bee-stripe details on the back are painted black. The pairs of wheels do not connect up like they might in a toy for older kids, and they spin freely and independently. Being doubled does give the toy good stability, though, and other details stop it from being tipped over by anything short of a deliberate swat. On the downside, the robot toes prevent it from popping a wheelie (and if anyone needed to be popped one, it's Wheelie). Interestingly, the handlebars are compatible with the articulated human-size Playskool Heroes figures. Too bad none of the Rescue Bots humans currently on the shelves have articulation or even fist-holes. But if you happened to buy some of the original pre-cartoon series, you could give BB a rider. [Later note: Well, a rather undersized rider. They can hold on, but it looks like a small child holding onto dad's cycle for dear life.] Overall: Compared to other toys available these days at the $8 price point, and keeping in mind it's aimed at ages 3-7, it's a decent little toy. And while the plastic doesn't feel as robust as I might like, you can be sure Hasbro wouldn't have released it unless it could survive all the safety drop tests and so forth. Okay, it's Yet Another Bumblebee, but easy enough to headcanon into a new character. In fact, here I go: When a rescue calls for speed rather than strength, BUZZSAW THE CYCLE-BOT can be counted on to get there in the nick of time, cutting through obstacles with his razor-wheels! There, fixed. Maybe they found a new recruit after Predacons Rising. Dave Van Domelen, found these during an illness-enforced stop during a long drive back from a job interview (dizziness and sleepiness were symptoms, so I had to stop every five to twenty miles to recover).