Dave's Throwbot Rant:

     Spark
     Flare

     Spark and Flare are two normal-sized Throwbots that combine with Blaster
for form the Super Throwbot "Fusion."  Because stores finally caught up on
stocking the original eight Throwbots, my guess is that not many are ordering
these two, although they're getting Blaster just fine.  

CAPSULES

     Spark: Okay mix of the old and the new.  No real transformation to speak
of, has glow-in-the-dark discs.  Recommended.  $6.75 postage paid from Lego's
Shop@Home service, between $5.88 and $6.99 in stores.
     Flare: Electro done better.  "Transformation" can be seen as a sort of
ram tank or plow.  Also has glow-in-the-dark discs.  Recommended, same price
as Spark. 

RANT

     Packaging: While the boxes switch over to the new silver-colored Technic
general pattern, the Throwbot-specific art overwhelms this, making them a
little hard to spot on shelves.  Flare is easy since it's orange, but Spark
could be a little harder to tease out from Electro.  They do not have
"environment-specific" art on the boxes like the original eight do.
     Otherwise, it's the same size and cut-out pattern of box, and each toy
comes with a beltcase in its colors, same mold as the original eight.

     Discs: Each has two glow-in-the-dark discs.  There is no indication that
these discs will be collectible, rather they combine with Blaster's discs to
form a single set.  Three discs show the coming of the invaders (asteroid
coming through space with Flare, landing with Spark, and the invaders coming
out of the crater with Blaster) and the other three show their specific
characters.  Spark is a level 3 disc, while Flare is level 5 (as in 3 and 5
dots on the border are colored).


SPARK:

     I'll start with the storage modes, since they're already in those
positions as I take them out of the cases here.  Spark basically just raises
his head and folds double.  His wingplate doesn't really add to his
appearance here, and any "altmode" he has officially is just wishful
thinking.  
     In robot mode, Spark is mostly a standard Throwbot.  5" (12cm) tall, he
has a small (2x2) gear at the back of his head just like Millennia's small
robot mode does.  His hips have the "knee" angle at the top and pointing
outward as with Jet, and he has standard two-toed feet.  His left arm is his
throwing arm, and his faceplate seems to imply he has six eyes.  His main
color is black, with purple pieces.  His torsal worm gear is yellow, probably
so they'd only have to make one color of new worm gear this year.  Besides,
it's not particularly visible.
     It's his right arm that incorporates "new technology."  At the end of
his arm is a somewhat overly complicated connection that ends in a
"wingplate" piece as seen in the shoulderpads of the small Millennia robot.
Illustrations imply that this is a sort of missile launcher or energy weapon,
and it can be positioned like a missile rack.  However, there's no missiles
or anything else like that included.  The "bore" of these holes is 7.5 mm,
which is about .5 mm too small for a 1x1 "barrel" piece to fit inside.  Thus,
you could make a finger-flick missile out of one barrel piece at the end of a
1x1 short rod.  Alternately, you can treat this as a big cleaver.

FLARE:

     In folded up mode, Flare actually kinda looks like something.  His skis
become skids or treads, and his wings fold in front to become a ram plate or
plow.  His throwing-arm tail spins around like a turreted weapon.
Additionally, you can swing his wings back out while leaving the rest in
place, making Flare a passable fighter craft.
     Standing, Flare is a black and orange birdlike Throwbot 4" (10cm) tall.
Interestingly, his tail is attached to his worm gear, so it acts like a long
crank to bring his head down.  Since his throwing arm is a tail, it's not
that good for attacking with in this mode (not to mention the fact that it's
on a freely rotating mount, so you have ot hold its base specifically to use
the disc-throwing action).  Both of his arms end in wingplates, and they
don't really move into hand-like positions.  Nor can they move into a missile
rack-like position as with Spark's wingplate.  They do, however, fold against
his sides in a very bird-like manner.  Spark's legs are reverse-kneed like a
bird's (little surprise by this point, yes?) and end in pontoons like Ski's.
His default pose is flying, so you don't actually need to crank his gear
between folded and Throwbot modes (he's 6" (15cm) from snout to tail with a
7" (18cm) wingspan in this position).
     Oh, and his worm gear is also yellow.

     Tonight I'll take them back home and construct Fusion.  Once it stops
raining, I'll bring Fusion in to review.  This may take a while, though, a
front is sitting on our heads and lightly bouncing up and down right now.

     Dave Van Domelen, gotta politely explain to the hall director that he
can't move stuff off the floor of his room in order for the carpet to be
changed, he has too much stuff....