Dave's Transformers Rant: Mini-Cons Air Defense Team Land Military Team Street Action Team Picked these up at Kay Bee on Tuesday, so of course they hit Wal-Mart on Wednesday. Ah well. CAPSULES Air Defense Team: Decent vehicle modes, nice transformations for the size, surprisingly poseable robot modes. The combined sword mode is a bit disappointing, though. Recommended. $7.99 at Kay Bee Land Military Team: Good vehicle modes, transformation ranging from Micromaster-simple to incredibly innovative, decent robot modes. Missile launchers a bit weak, though. Strongly recommended. $7.99 at Kay Bee Street Action Team: Three vehicle modes you'd never think could be pulled off, and, well, one out of three ain't bad. High Wire (bike) has a pretty iffy robot mode, as does Sureshock (scooter). Grindor rocks, though, and the combined Perceptor mode isn't half bad. Recommended. $7.99 at KB RANTS Packaging Notes: Most of my comments on the packaging can be found in my "overview" post, but there's one point worth noting here. While the Autobot and Decepticon toys have just their own faction symbols on the namecard, the Mini-Cons have their own plus the Autobot and Decepticon symbols. Hasbro's subtle hint that the loyalties of these guys are up for grabs. And in case you didn't read the other post, there's no techspecs on the toys, they're only available online. And in the case of Mini-Con sets, one techspec for the whole team. PowerLinx note: I will refer to "connectors" when I mean a piece with a thin peg inside a cylindrical hole. The opposite style, with a thin hole inside a cylinder (often with a button inside the thin hole), I will call a "hardpoint". MINI-CONS: Air Defense Team Runway: Supersonic Jet Jetstorm: Supersonic Jet Sonar: One Stage To Orbit Shuttle Gimmick: Merge to form Star Saber Quote: "We are the power of the sword." They combine into a powerful sword that empowers the one who wields it with awesome strength and destructive energy. Therefore, the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS are in constant battle to claim these three Mini-Cons for their own. When they are apart, they are formidable air defense machines used for high-altitude and high-speed missions. STR 6 INT 5 SPD 8 END 7 RNK 5 COUR 6 FRB 4 SKL 7 Avg 6 Sonar: Well, while this is a space shuttle concept, I'm guessing that whoever named it thought it was a flying submarine. The vehicle mode looks good and has a high level of detail, including a tiny (5mm across) Mini-Con symbol molded onto the top of the vehicle mode. There's surprisingly little kibble...except for the big sword hilt of clear plastic sticking out the bottom (it can be rotated up to the top, but the robot head starts to peek out). The PowerLinx connectors are on the clear hilt piece. Vehicle mode is 2" (5cm) long and equally wide in wingspan, being a wide and flat "lifting body" design proposed for single-stage-to-orbit next generation space shuttles. The main color is white, with blue underside and gray details. Plus a bit of gold showing from the robot mode. Transformation is simple, but not simplistic. Pull out the front of the vehicle as the legs, then rotate the cockpit halves out as feet. Rotate the hilt back and the robot head up. And then fold down the arms. Robot mode is 2" (5cm) tall at the head, add a bit more for the wings and hilt sticking up. Arms swivel at the shoulders and hinge at the elbows. Hips move sideways only to let the legs separate. Feet have ball joints at the ankles, woo. The main colors are blue and gray, with a gold chest and red faceplate. Runway: There's a bit of confusion over which one is Runway (Rumble versus Frenzy, round two, FIGHT!), but I'm going to go with it being the one that looks like it might be an SST or might be a Valkyrie X-70. Most of the body is clear plastic, with dimples throughout to help diffuse light. A pity that none of the light that goes up the sword mode's shaft reaches Runway (more on that later). The connectors are on the undercarriage, on the back of each robot leg. Mini-Con symbol is on the underside of the right wing. [Later note: Runway's a Boeing concept design for a high-subsonic liner that has yet to be made in production.] Vehicle mode is 2.5" (6.5cm) long with a 1.75" (4.5cm) wingspan. Clear fuselage and wings, gray undercarriage, red and black accents. There's even a fold-down nosewheel. Transformation is pretty simple, although excessive force is required to get the chest (jet engines) to fold all the way down the first time. The abdomen bit doesn't lock in place, which is also a bit of a problem. Robot mode is just under 2.5" (6cm) tall, and gray is more predominant. Hips swivel, and knees hinge (but be careful lest the knee pop!). The elbows bend at hinges, but motion is restricted by the chest piece. The jet nose acts as a third leg for stability. Jetstorm: A blue, white, clear and gray Concorde with red and black panted accents. The connector is in the center of the undercarriage, on the robot's chest. Mini-Con symbol on the left robot leg. The jet mode is just shy of 3" (7.5cm) long, with a wingspan a little over 1.5" (4cm). Like Runway, it has a nosewheel that can be pulled down. It's pegged together pretty solidly. Transformation involves many steps, including a clever bit where the airplane's tail swings around to become the robot's chest, covering up the PowerLinx connector. The jet's nose folds up out of the way, otherwise it would be longer than the legs! Robot mode stands 2.25" (6cm) tall, with the wings rising only a tiny bit above the head and spreading out as nifty shoulderpads. The arms can lift at the shoulders and bend at the elbows. The legs are hinged to swing forward at the hips, and have ball joints at the knees. I've seen Deluxes with poseability no better than this! Star Saber: This is the combined sword mode (I will continue to refer to the Japanese Cybertron leader as Star Sabre). Runway forms the top of the sword, and links very solidly to Jetstorm, which is the middle. Some have complained about the connection between Sonar and Jetstorm, but it's quite solid on mine. The sword looks vaguely swordlike, but almost more like a big combined spaceship thing. And while it's theoretically possible to get a clear path all the way along the sword (gotta fold Runway's head out of the way), I have yet to find a light strong enough to actually light up the whole sword. Even a laser just lights up the center shaft of the bottom two components. The handle peg of the sword is 3/16" in diameter, which is frequently seen on the larger toys. For instance, Hot Shot can hold the Star Saber. Overall: The combined mode isn't terribly impressive, despite the buildup the techspec gives it. But the individual toys are pretty good, and the set is well worth getting. MINI-CONS: Land Military Team Wreckage: Missile Tank Knock Out: Missile APC Bonecrusher: Missile Truck Gimmick: Missile launching Quote: "Load 'em and launch 'em!" Each of these tough land vehicles carries multiple missiles. When launched, they fill the air with streaming trails of explosive firepower. The Autobots recognize the destructive power of these Mini-Cons and fight fiercely to keep them out of the hands of the DECEPTICONS. Meanwhile, MEGATRON is determined to possess them and their power. STR 8 INT 5 SPD 5 END 7 RNK 5 COUR 8 FRB 8 SKL 6 Avg 6.5 Wreckage: Probably the weakest of the trio, and that's praising with faint damnation. A tank-tread body with two missile launchers, it has a very Micromaster-ish transformation. The connector is on the center of the underside, on the robot's abdomen. The Mini-Con symbol is on the center of the top of the vehicle body. Vehicle mode is just under 2" (5cm) long, although the missiles are 3" (7.5cm) long. The body is dark greem with black treads and silver accents. The launchers are a light blueish gray, and the missiles themselves are red. Four little wheels are concealed in the treads, as per treaded Micromasters. the missile launchers are locked in position. Transformation is VERY simplistic. The front folds down into feet, and the legs separate a bit to bring the feet flat. The missile launchers swing out and become arms. The robot mode is a squat 2" (5cm) tall, with extra eilver accents and a red eyeslit. A PowerLinx connector pattern is molded onto the chest, over the actual connector. The shoulders are ball joints, the hips allow slight separation of the legs, and the kness bend (but lock straight). Arms are molded on the insides of the launchers. The launchers themselves are of the "marble shooter" type first seen on Transformers with the Cyberjets. However, the plastic of the launchers is so soft that very little pressure can be built up, and the missiles don't fire very far. If you remove a missile, Wreckage can loosely hold the Star Saber. Knock Out: A tan 6-wheeled APC with a huge horking spring-loaded launcher on the top. The Mini-Con symbol is molded onto a hatch on top of the vehicle, largely covered by the missile launcher. The connector is on the bottom, near the front of the vehicle. Vehicle mode is just under 2" (5cm) long, dark tan with red, black and silver bits. The molded detail is very good. The launcher is pretty huge by comparison to the vehicle itself, and cannot be moved. The missile is just under 3" (7cm) long. Transformation is moderately complex, and you do need to flip out the arms before transforming the legs. The head is so small, I was unsure initially if I'd actually gotten it out correctly. Robot mode stands a little over 2" (5cm) tall at the head, add a bit more for the launcher. The head is a red lump with little detail, probably the weakest part of the toy. The arms swivel at the shoulders, the legs swivel at the hips and hinge at the knees. The launcher sits over Knock Out's shoulder, but heel spurs barely keep Knock Out from kipping over backwards. The missile launcher is the one spring-loaded one of the batch. It has a pretty good range, too. Bonecrusher: An 8-wheeled (only six wheels actually roll) missile truck in black, gold, red and gray. The PowerLinx connector is on the underside of the front left side of the vehicle. The Mini-Con symbol is molded onto the top of the missile launcher. Vehicle mode is 2.25" (5.5cm) long, with the red missile being 3" (7.5cm) long. The left robot arm is pretty obvious in this mode, which is really the only serious flaw of the toy. Transformation is of a type I've never seen before. The vehicle splits along its long axis and rotates along a pin through the halves of the pelvis. The front left side and rear right side spin around so that the wheels lock together in the middle of the chest, and the gas-can head swings around to lock into place. Quick once you've figured it out, and very cool. The robot mode is about 2 and a third inches (6cm) tall, with no PowerLinx connectors exposed. The right arm is the missile launcher, the left arm swings at the shoulder and bends at the elbow. The left hand even has a peg hole, very small. It will not hold the blade of a Gundam beam sabre as I thought it might (well, okay, it sorta does, but not well), but I have a really long thin twist-tie left over from another toy. I threaded one end through the fist and the other through an air conditioning vent... Bonecrusher swings into action! Anyway, the hips swivel and the knees are hinged, leading to a very poseable little guy. The size of the launcher does overbalance the figure pretty easily when it's not being used as a third leg, though. The launcher is another "marble shooter" type, and Bonecrusher and Wreckage can even swap missiles. And like Wreckage's, it's pretty weak. Overall: While the transformations of two of 'em are pretty simple and standard, Bonecrusher is worth buying the set for. MINI-CONS: Street Action Team High Wire: Bicycle Grindor: Skateboard Sureshock: Motorscooter Gimmick: Merge to form Perceptor robot Quote: "Seek your true power." Although they look ordinary, these three robots are keys to the MINI mission of all the MINI-CONS. They combine into a robot, showing the strength of teamwork. Their capabilities continue to grow over time, but their real power is in making others discover their true potential. The AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS see the unlimited power hidden beneath their innocent forms and struggle to possess them. STR 5 INT 9 SPD 5 END 6 RNK 5 COUR 7 FRB 3 SKL 6 Avg 5.75 High Wire: A bicycle, something that's never been tried before. And ya gotta respect the attempt. The connector is on one side of the body (kinda awkward position) and the Mini-Con symbol is on the other side. Vehicle mode, the way it's in the instructions, is 2.5" (6cm) long, your basic "mountain bike" style (a bit big to be a dirtbike), with movable pedals, free-spinning sheels, movable handlebars (although they're not connected to the front wheel) and a molded bicycle seat. The robot head and Perceptor's head are pretty obviously hanging out, but where are ya gonna hide 'em on a BIKE? }-> The main colors are light blue, black and some dark blue for the two heads. Stretch out the front wheel and you get a much cooler looking lowrider bike. I like to rotate Perceptor's head forward and pretend that High Wire is Waspinator/Thrust subjected to yet another indignity of form. You can also split the rear wheel apart and pull the halves to the side to get a flying hoverbike. Transformation is pretty simple, but it's not like there's much lese they could do. The legs can be separated, but there's not much point. Robot mode stands (or kneels) 2" (5cm) tall and holds a big wheel in the left hand. The bike pedals become the feet. The shoulders are ball joints and pop off pretty easily. The hips are also ball joints, but they can't go much of anywhere. When transforming to Perceptor component mode, I suggest splitting the front fork apart and rotating the handlebars around to be between the forks of the front wheel. This gets the handlebars out of the way nicely. Grindor: When I first heard they were doing a skateboard Transformer, I was incredulous, moreso than even the bicycle. And this blue, light blue and yellow skateboard is a bit chunky as such things go. But it has a great robot mode. The connector is on the center of the underside, and there's a hardpoint on the top! This is the only one of the "team" Mini-Cons with a hardpoint. The Mini-Con symbol is molded right in front of the hardpoint. Vehicle mode is 3" (7.5cm) long, with yellow grip pads at the front and silver rocket boosters at the back. Yep, this is a Darwin Award waiting to happen (as Daniel Witwicky demonstrated in TFtM). It rolls on four too-small wheels. They should've made the wheels bigger to distract from the thickness of the board. Grindor is not to the same scale as the other two, unless he's a surfboard instead of a skateboard. Transformation is pretty satisfying, with lots of rotation and folding and stuff. Although the joints are mostly for transforming, and don't contribute much to poseability. Robot mode is 2.5" (6cm) tall with a nearly 3" (7cm) wingspan from his shoulderpads. Between the wings and the way the rocket motors point out his feet, it's clear that Grindor can fly. He can't move much, though. His arms flap out to the sides, as do his legs. You can rotate his hips a bit to take better advantage of his restricted ball joint hips, but it doesn't work too well. But the robot LOOKS great, even if it can't move much. And the hardpoint on its back lets it wear Wreckage as a weapons pack very effectively. No special notes on transforming Grindor into the torso and arms of Perceptor, except to say that this combination is why he has the hardpoint. High Wire's connector plugs into it. Sureshock: Scoooooooter. Go-Bots had the scooter Scooter, which was passable. Now Transformers has Sureshock, which is...passable. Connector is on the left underside, Mini-Con symbol is on the left side under the seat, almost invisible. Vehicle mode is 2.5" (6cm) long, with an orange body, dark teal seat, bluish gray (same as the gray in the other two, this is important) handlebars and internal kibble, silver struts and exhaust, yellow headlights and black wheels. Because the wheels separate, they're wide enough that Sureshock can stay upright as long as you don't jiggle the table. Transformation: it's kinda tricky to get just the front half apart for the arms without pulling the whole thing apart. Otherwise, not much to the transformation. Robot mode is 2.5" (6cm) tall, and the legs are fused together. The shoulders have ball joints, and that's about it aside from rearranging the kibble. Sadly, he almost looks like a cheap knockoff. When transforming Sureshock into Perceptor's legs, be sure to lock the handlebar pieces into place at the back of the seat. The left leg on mine doesn't want to completely straighten. Perceptor: Just about the smallest robot combiner ever (I don't count the Duocons, which are just vehicle combiners), a mere 3.5" (8.5cm) tall at the head, add a bit for the wheels over the shoulders. Poseability is so-so. The shoulders have rotation and a ball joint, but the "elbows" bend an entirely wrong direction and the legs barely move. The head can bob around a bit. Also, Perceptor can skate along on Sureshock's front wheel halves. The light bluish gray found in all three components helps unify the overall design, although the orange legs are a bit clashy. Overall: Well, you gotta give 'em points for trying, but this was a case where the design team's reach exceeded its grasp. Not that it sucks, but it's full of things that don't QUITE work. Worth getting, though. Dave Van Domelen, gonna do the Deluxes tomorrow or so, this one's taken long enough already....