Dave's Universe Classics Rant: Voyager Wave 3

     Tread Bolt (Classic Jetfire recolor)

     Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/U2/Voyager3

     Just a quickie on this one.  I passed on this at full price and on
half-off-plus-shipping, but finally grabbed it for half off at Target.

     http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/Voyager2 - Jetfire     

CAPSULES

     Tread Bolt: Okay redeco of a mold that was originally Strongly
Recommended.  Mildly recommended at full price, recommended if you van get it
on clearance.  $10.48 on clearance at Target, down from $20.99. 


RANTS

     The original Tread Bolt was a Micromaster, with an altmode based on one
of the early B1 Spirit bomber designs that either leaked out or was spread as
deliberate misinformation, just as Whisper was.  Tread Bolt was mostly blue
with ick-yellow-brown robot parts, and this redeco is close to that scheme in
spirit.  

     Packaging: Standard Universe Voyager box.  Interestingly, the photo of
the vehicle mode on the back shows him without the booster pack.  This
heightens the whole F-14 look, and the resemblance of the paint job to the
Blue Angels gear.  Mind you, Blue Angels use F/A-18s, but it's close enough
for government work.
     Blades and Heavy Load are the co-sells on the bottom, Dropshot is the
co-sell on the side.

     There are no functions or mottos on the packaging, so I've made my own
up. 

AUTOBOT: TREAD BOLT
Altmode: Jet
Function: Aerial Recon
Weapons: Arm Blasters, Laser Cannons
Previous Name Use: G1 ("Treadbolt" with no space was in Energon)
Previous Mold Use: Classic Jetfire
Motto: "Silent and deadly, that's me."

     TREAD BOLT is a ghost.  Though he is an aerial ace, his real talent lies
in stealth.  Special sensor-refractive armor renders him invisible to all but
the most sensitive detection technology.  Silent, super-precise lasers let
him take out enemy spotters before they can shout a warning.  More than a few
DECEPTICONS have been blown to pieces before they ever even heard him
coming.  He has alienated a lot of his fellow AUTOBOTS, because when he's not
sneaking up on DECEPTICONS, he creeps around scaring the heck out of anyone
he can find.

STR 6  INT 6  SPD 8  END 6  RNK 5  COUR 6  FRB 8  SKL 9  Avg 6.75

     Color Swaps: Not a simple mapping, since Jetfire was mostly black and
white plastic, and this toy has twice as many plastic colors.  Most of the
white becomes medium blue.  The thrust nozzles, fists, feet, helmet,
launchers and various gun barrels are light gray.  The clear plastic is dark
red.  The thruster roots, shoudlers and thighs are a sort of muddy light
brown.  Forearms, thruster fronts and sliders and boots are very dark gray.
Definitely more colorful than his namesake Micromaster.

     Paint Apps: Yellow striping on the jet mode that evokes the Blue Angels
pattern without actually violating any trademark or copyright.  A silver
Autobot symbol is badly printed behind the cockpit.  The helmet has a black
stripe on the crest and yellow bits on the sides.  There's some red-orange
accents on the boots and thrusters.  Otherwise, it largely relies on plastic
colors instead of paints.

     Other Notes: A bit more fiddly than my Jetfire, but that's probably just
normal quality control variation.

     Overall: A good mold, and it's not like it was reused during Classics.
But unless you're a fan of obscure Micromaster characters or missed out on
Jetfire, it's not worth dropping full price on.  It's well worth half price,
though. 

     Dave Van Domelen, also got a clearanced Mighty Muggs Soundwave and
thinks that at $5 he was still ripped off.