Dave's Transformers Universe Rant K-Mart Mini-Con Class 12 Pack Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Armada/MiniConK1 Well, this is Transformers Universe, but listed as Armada Series. So, at least for now, I'll put it in the Armada section. :) This is a K-Mart exclusive pack of recolored Classics Mini-Cons, from four of the six sets, leaving out the two beast-heavy sets (Dinobots and Predators). It sorta scrambles team membership, though. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/Basic1 - Demolition, Night Rescue http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Classic/Basic2 - Dirt Digger, Clear Skies CAPSULE Mini-Con Class 12 Pack: Original sets were mostly Recommended, although Clear Skies was only mildly recommended. All in all, I wouldn't say they're better or worse than the originals...a few are better, a few are worse, most are about the same. If you missed these molds the first time around, Recommended. Otherwise, mildly recommended, worth getting for a few homages and a nifty shadow box. $24.99 at K-Mart. RANT K-Mart's essentially saying, "Wait, I still function!" to Hasbro by setting up this exclusive. And, cleverly, Hasbro uses it to grab sixteen names, as each of the teams uses a previous Transformers trademark. Here's the four teams in this box, with the names of the original versions of the mold in parentheses. The first two teams are Autobot, the others Decepticon. Landslide Team: Backstop (Sledge), Bodyblock (Grindor), Knockdown (Wideload). Safeguard Team: Heavytread (Broadside), Makeshift (Oil Slick), Flatfoot (Strongarm). Overcast Team: Suppressor (Firebot), Blight (Dirt Rocket), Brimstone (Nightscream). Ransack Team: Cloudraker (Divebomb), Boltflash (Thunderwing), Skyhammer (Steel Wind). Packaging: This is a sort of "shadow box" packaging (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_box for what that is) with twelve compartments of equal size in a grid 4 wide and 4 high. The overall box is 12" (30cm) wide, 9" (23cm) tall and 3.5" (9cm) deep, with Universe-style trade dress and colors. It's enclosed in a clear plastic sheath open at the right and left sides and held on by two pieces of tape on each side. Printed on the plastic sheath are the names of the individual figures in white, with white faction symbols. There's also a "kmart exclusive" sticker on the sheath. At the top front of the inner box is the TF Universe logo at the left, then an Autobot symbol, and "MINI-CON CLASS 12 PACK" over "ARMADA SERIES" at the right. The 12 boxes have interior dimensions of 2.75" (7cm) wide, 1.75" (4.5cm) tall and 3.25" (8cm) deep. They're separated by folded over cardstock walls 4mm thick. The vertical walls are all the pitted metal deco of Universe cardbacks. The floors are either red or purple with some pitting and streaking patterns (red for the six to the left, purple for the six to the right). Each figure is held in by one or more twist-ties and a blister tray...to undo the ties you have to pretty much disassemble the entire box, so I recommend just cutting them. Along the bottom of the box are the names of the four teams with faction symbols between them: Autobot, Mini-Con and Decepticon symbols, from left to right. At the very bottom are "AUTOBOT", "ROBOTS IN DISGUISE" and "DECEPTICON" from left to right. The left panel has "MINI-CON CLASS 12 PACK" at the top, then "ARMADA SERIES", an Autobot symbol, and the names of the six Autobots. Same thing on the right panel, but with a Decepticon symbol and the names of the six Decepticons. The top panel just has the TF Universe logo over the swirly gridline background, while the bottom has legalese and the pitted metal pattern. The back panel has the swirly red grid, with photos of all twelve figures in both modes, with their names and faction symbols in white. The logo is in the upper left, and the group bio note is in the upper right. You don't so much open the box as unfold it, but if you're careful you can get just one side panel open...there's a lot of tabs to fiddle with, though. In the back is a sheet in black and white and gray with the instructions for the Autobots on one side and the Decepticons on the other, each getting a single line. There's just the one bio note for all of them, and no techspecs. I'm making up pretty much everything except names for this, just because I feel like it. Including techspecs of my own devising. Group Bio (official): The small brethren of the AUTOBOTS and the DECEPTICONS fled CYBERTRON long ago, in search of refuge from the never-ending war. The MINI-CON robots are living power batteries that larger robots use to enhance their already formidable weapons and abilities. Many MINI-CON teams were broken apart or destroyed utterly by the greed of the DECEPTICONS, or the desperation of the AUTOBOTS. Now, only a few intact teams are left to roam the universe, living in peace and isolation from other TRANSFORMERS. In other words, they're stuck on shelves in K-Mart, isolated in shadow boxes. :) It's worth noting that none of these toys have Autobot or Decepticon symbols on them. They all have printed Mini-Con symbols, keeping them more in line with the Armada style. AUTOBOT: BACKSTOP Altmode: Bulldozer/Power Shovel Team: Landslide Previous Name Use: Cybertron Previous Mold Use: Classics Sledge Function: Disaster Relief Motto: "Maybe nature put it there, but I'm taking it away!" The Landslide Team is somewhat ironically named, since they don't so much create landslides as clean up after them...as well as other natural disasters. Backstop leads his friends in helping places impacted by catastrophe recover, and that starts with cleanup. His power shovel can shift several tons at once, or be energized to slice through even the hardest basaltic rock...a function that serves him well if he has to fight off the unsavory parasites who sometimes seek to make a profit on misery. STR 8 INT 6 SPD 3 END 8 RNK 5 COUR 7 FRB 2 SKL 7 Avg 5.75 Packaging: One tie, one rubber band around the vehicle. Color Swaps: Black becomes dark gray, yellow becomes yellow-orange. Paint Apps: The cab, rear fenders and most of the front end are painted a decent color match to the yellow-orange plastic. The windows are silver, the top of the front end, some bits on the torso concealed in vehicle mode and the face are bright blue. A black Mini-Con symbol is printed on top of the cab. Other Notes: The original Backstop was a Jungle Planet Autobot rhino. This toy is as bad as the original Sledge in terms of being floppy and falling apart, but the color scheme is more unified, making this look a lot less like a knockoff. Overall: A slight improvement over Sledge, although some may consider it a bit dull. One of the weaker molds in the set. AUTOBOT: BODYBLOCK Altmode: Monster Truck Team: Landslide Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: Classics Grindor Function: Search and Rescue Motto: "I'll be there when you need me." BODYBLOCK considers flying MINI-CONS to be wimps who can't handle a little rough terrain. In fact, as long as it's solid, he can probably drive on it, giving him the ability to go just about anywhere. He's also quite heavily armored and possesses advanced shock-absorption systems, useful if the disaster he's responding to isn't quite over yet. He will often earn his name by shielding someone with his own body. STR 9 INT 3 SPD 4 END 10 RNK 4 COUR 9 FRB 2 SKL 5 Avg 5.75 Packaging: One tie, no bands. Color Swaps: The green plastic becomes a reddish brown. The tires become black, the rest of the gray plastic becomes bright red. Paint Apps: The arms, face and windshield wipers are a greenish gold. The windows are silver. A black Mini-Con symbol is printed on the roof. Other Notes: Unlike my Grindor, which required modification to hold together, Bodyblock stays together in robot mode very nicely. Overall: While I like the Gravedigger homage on Grindor, Bodyblock has better engineering (if only by luck) and the color combination is more dynamic. A bit better than the original. AUTOBOT: KNOCKDOWN Altmode: Dump Truck Team: Landslide Previous Name Use: Classics Previous Mold Use: Classics Wideload Function: Transport Specialist Motto: "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Feh." KNOCKDOWN never met a plan he couldn't poke ten holes in, or a person he couldn't find five reasons to dislike. BODYBLOCK jokes that he really should be named "Putdown", but when you work around disasters as long as KNOCKDOWN has, you just get used to seeing the failure points. On the other hand, he can use that experience to use the minimum force for the maximum destructive effect, be the force from his lasers or from his words. STR 6 INT 8 SPD 3 END 8 RNK 4 COUR 7 FRB 6 SKL 9 Avg 6.375 Packaging: One tie, no rubber bands. Color Swaps: All black. Period. None more black. Paint Apps: The head chunk seems to have been dipped in violet paint, to the point I wondered if it was actually made of violet plastic. There's violet stripes along the edges of the dumper. The grille, front window and face are silver, and a silver Mini-Con symbol is printed on the bit of the dumper that becomes the right "hand". Other Notes: The original Knockdown was a triceratops Autobot Mini-Con. This one seems to be emo. Overall: Could stand to have a few more paint apps (more windows, headlights, eyes), but avoiding the oddly colored inner wheels of Wideload helps a lot. AUTOBOT: HEAVYTREAD Altmode: Tank Team: Safeguard Previous Name Use: None (G1 Heavy Tread, though) Previous Mold Use: Classics Broadside Function: Military Security Motto: "If you wanted ta be mollycoddled, ya shoulda stayed home!" No one ever accused HEAVYTREAD of being subtle, but he knows his job and makes sure you know he does. When the Safeguard Team is put on an assignment, he's the one to look at any military issues that might come up. Let the others worry about criminals, he's concerned about an all-out DECEPTICON attack. Of course, this is rarely a problem, so he spends a lot of time preparing and very little time seeing those preparations pay off, but when his work is needed...it's REALLY needed. Ungainly in robot mode, he prefers to stay in tank mode, both for its greater stability and its superior firepower. STR 7 INT 7 SPD 4 END 8 RNK 4 COUR 8 FRB 8 SKL 5 Avg 6.375 Packaging: Two ties, although you can get away with just cutting the front one. No bands. Color Swaps: If you look carefully at Broadside, you can see that there's two kinds of green plastic. The slightly lighter variety (gun barrel, wheels, forearms, hip and shoulder joints) becomes black, while the rest becomes Warpath red. Paint Apps: The treads and tread wheel sides are painted black, so that the black joint bits near the front blend in. A black Mini-Con symbol is printed on the rear top of the turret, where Broadside has his Decepticon symbol. The face is also black, as are parts of the red pieces that cover the arms. A silver strip runs along the top side of the "fenders". Other Notes: This is clearly a Warpath homage, and the Target exclusive recolor of Overhaul proves they still have that trademark, so I'm not sure why the lawyercons overrode things and named it Heavytread. The original Heavy Tread was an Autobot Micromaster Monster Truck, and it was orange. Like Broadside, this is a turret on stilts. It can be balanced okay, but it takes very little to knock it over. To its credit, Heavytread seems a little more stable than my Broadside, possibly because the hips are less likely to sag. Fan mode: You can make a sort of walker tank with a flea-like look. http://www.dvandom.com/images/heavytreadwalker.JPG looks better than the intended robot mode. Overall: Still don't like the robot mode. It's ugly and unstable. But I do appreciate a Warpath homage, putting this one a tiny bit ahead of Broadside. AUTOBOT: MAKESHIFT Altmode: Muscle Car Team: Safeguard Previous Name Use: Armada, Universe Previous Mold Use: Classics Oil Slick Function: Undercover Security Motto: "If they think you're dirty, you can clean 'em up." If you believe in guilt by association, then MAKESHIFT is as guilty as they come. He spends more time hanging out with scum and villains, fooling them into thinking he's one of them in order to find out their plans. His chameleon systems let him change his colors and minor elements of his features, so you can never be sure who he's shifted into on any given day, although some find his "relaxed" purple coloration suspiciously DECEPTICON- like. When subterfuge isn't enough, MAKESHIFT pulls out an energo-blade and magno-clamps to put down the badguys. STR 5 INT 7 SPD 7 END 6 RNK 4 COUR 7 FRB 5 SKL 9 Avg 6.25 Packaging: One tie that's hard to get at with a wirecutter. No bands. Color Swaps: Orange becomes purple, gray becomes black. Paint Apps: White stripe along the top sides, large-ish white Mini-Con symbol printed on the roof. The chest and face are also white. The windows and visor slit are painted black. Other Notes: All the original Makeshifts were decos of the same VTOL Osprey Mini-Con. Overall: Well, black over gray is a plus, but part of the appeal of Oil Slick is how close he is to the General Lee. I call this one about even. AUTOBOT: FLATFOOT Altmode: Police Car Team: Safeguard Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: Classics Strongarm Function: Street Patrol Motto: "Boring is good. Boring pays the bills. Don't knock boring." The official leader of the Safeguard Team, and really the only one who matches client expectations of a security specialist, FLATFOOT prefers to adopt the appearance of the rank and file patrol vehicles of the world on which he works. Methodical and persistent, his tendency to unimaginative work is sometimes derided by more flamboyant security specialists, but the majority of problems can be solved by the book. It's why the book was written, after all. He favors weaponry that stuns or disequilibriates his targets, both in order to take them in alive, and to avoid unnecessary property damage. He wishes HEAVYTREAD would sometimes consider these things. STR 5 INT 8 SPD 6 END 6 RNK 5 COUR 7 FRB 5 SKL 8 Avg 6.25 Packaging: One band, VERY hard to remove with wirecutters. I ended up scraping the paint in the process, oops. No bands. Color Swaps: The wheels, head, arms and "belt" stay black, the rest of the plastic becomes white. Paint Apps: Metallic periwinkle blue on the face and lightbar. The people-pusher and headlights are gunmetal. The windows are mostly black, but the front side windows have a white strip running up the middle because of an unpainted bit. There's a black strip along the rear bottom sides to match with the black arm pieces. A black Mini-Con symbol is printed in the hood ornament position. Other Notes: I can't help but think of Bugs Bunny taunting this guy. Overall: the mix of plastic colors doesn't quite work along the sides, and this one seems even more prone than Strongarm to popping apart during transformation. Not as good as the original. DECEPTICON: SUPPRESSOR Altmode: Hazmat truck Team: Overcast Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: Classics Firebot Function: Power Network Disruption Motto: "Look, you wanna see my paperwork, or you wanna let me stop that radiation leak? The Overcast Team is all about bringing gloom to technologically advanced civilizations, and their leader SUPPRESSOR specializes in destroying the networks that are the life's blood of such civilizations. He has found that disguising himself as a vehicle intended to deal with hazardous materials gives him access to all sorts of sensitive locations with no questions asked...when his victims see him coming, they assume they don't want to follow him wherever he happens to be going. Ironically, he can spew forth a wide variety of genuine hazardous materials from his cannons, many of which are particularly good at frying sensitive electronics. STR 4 INT 7 SPD 4 END 6 RNK 5 COUR 7 FRB 8 SKL 8 Avg 6.125 Packaging: One tie, no bands. Color Swaps: Dark gray becomes black, red becomes neon yellow. Paint Apps: The cab is painted over in yellow, which is actually brighter than the yellow plastic. The windows are all painted black (unlike on Firebot, where the side windows are unpainted), the thigh fronts are black, and "HAZ MAT" and a teeeeny Mini-Con symbol are printed in black on the sides. There's a bit of silver on some of the side panels, and the face is red. The yellow paint on the cab was slopped on a bit carelessly, it drips haphazardly into the ball part of the shoulder joints. Other Notes: There's some paint lock on the front end, you may need to use Excessive Force (or a thin knife blade) to get the arms apart the first time. Overall: It's hard to improve on Firebot, to be honest, but the extra windows (at the cost of no paint on the railings) are nice, as is the effort taken to make it more than just a yellow firetruck. I'd call this even up, but that's hardly a slam given that Firebot's one of my faves of the set. DECEPTICON: BLIGHT Altmode: Motorcycle Team: Overcast Previous Name Use: Energon Previous Mold Use: Classics Dirt Rocket Function: Biological Warfare Motto: "I'm gonna kick your entire planet in the breadbasket!" Advanced civilizations tend to leave the land behind, with only a handful of people to tend millions of acres of crops...which means few are there to notice when BLIGHT infects them with parasites, poisons them with chemicals or simply sets fire to the fields. Sometimes he will leave a field apparently intact, but when the crops are harvested they turn out to contain a subtle poison that is discovered too late. Unfortunately for him, BLIGHT isn't brave enough to fight anything more threatening than a plant, and he'll tend to run from fights he could probably win. STR 4 INT 8 SPD 8 END 7 RNK 4 COUR 2 FRB 6 SKL 7 Avg 5.75 Packaging: One tie, no bands. Color Swaps: Yellow becomes Constructicon Greem, black stays black. Paint Apps: Silver on the headlights, face, chest tailpipes and rear fork. Black stripes on the side that blend reasonably well into the black plastic of the seats. Gunmetal windshield, black Mini-Con symbol on the gas tank. Other Notes: The original Blight was a "neo-Combaticon" Decepticon. Overall: Garish motorcycle redeco'ed into garish motorcycle. No better or worse than Dirt Rocket. DECEPTICON: BRIMSTONE Altmode: Dragon Team: Overcast Previous Name Use: Cybertron Previous Mold Use: Classics Nightscream Function: Psychological warfare Motto: "Fear is the great equalizer...it makes you equal to zero." If SUPPRESSOR assaults technology and BLIGHT combats nature, BRIMSTONE chooses to attack the mind and spirit. His partners spread plenty of fear on their own, of course, but as a secondary effect. Fear is the primary effect of BRIMSTONE'S tactics, something embodied in the draconic form he has chosen, a form that stirs atavistic fears in almost all sapient races. Whether engaging in crude terror tactics and breathing fire while soaring over a city, or using subtle manipulation of planetary communications systems, BRIMSTONE is happiest when he's stripping people of their sense of security. STR 6 INT 7 SPD 7 END 6 RNK 4 COUR 7 FRB 8 SKL 6 Avg 6.375 Packaging: One tie and a very extensive blister. To get at the tie, you have to pull up the blister and cut underneath it, then pull the whole blister out. No rubber bands. Color Swaps: Red becomes bright yellow, orange becomes that sort of yuck green that used to be slapped on dinosaurs and that you would get if you mixed too many paint colors together in kindergarten. :) Paint Apps: Yuck-green on the robot chest, toes and calf muscles, plus on the ears of the dragon head. A darker green on the robot shins and face. Red eyes on both robot and dragon heads. Dark green Mini-Con symbol printed on the sole of the left robot foot (dragon forelimb shoulder), unlike Nightscream who has no faction symbol. Other Notes: The original Brimstone was a Jungle Planet Pterodactyl. I've ALMOST gotten the hang of transforming this mold without popping parts off. Overall: Well, the colors blend better than on Nightscream, and the choice of colors makes the robot abdomen look less hideously stretched. But it's still a mold that tried a little too much for the size, and pops apart too easily. DECEPTICON: CLOUDRAKER Altmode: Helicopter Team: Ransack Previous Name Use: G1 Previous Mold Use: Classics Divebomb Function: Sky Pirate Motto: "Hand over the goods and maybe I don't shoot out your engines." The brains of the Ransack Team, CLOUDRAKER is an unrepentant scoundrel driven by greed. If someone else values it, even if he has no use for it, he wants it. After all, if it's valuable to someone, he can always trade it later. His choice of a helicopter makes him too slow to catch many targets, but that's what his goons are for...the maneuverability lets him board the target once it's been brought to heel, take the best of the loot, and then get out. He can even hover in robot mode, although the "beanie" effect can look a bit silly. While heavily armed, he'd rather not damage the target until after he's stolen the best stuff. Plus, much of his firepower is in the form of rocket pods, giving him a devastating single punch if he needs it, but then leaving him almost defenseless. STR 4 INT 8 SPD 8 END 7 RNK 5 COUR 5 FRB 7 SKL 7 Avg 6.375 Packaging: One tie, no bands. Color Swaps: Gray becomes black, blue becomes military green. The green tail rotor kinda stands out. Note, this green is a touch yellower than Brimstone's puke green. Paint Apps: Silver on the windows, face, and a printed Mini-Con symbol at the back of the rotor engine piece. Bright yellow paint on the torso flanking pieces, the stub wings (mainly visible in robot mode), and on the tips of the rockets in three of the four pods. For some reason, the pod that becomes the top of the right shoulder is missing paint. Other Notes: The original Cloudraker was an Autobot Clone. The little pegs and slots that are supposed to keep the tail halves secured as legs in robot mode don't work any better on Cloudraker than on Divebomb. Overall: Well, the mold is clearly an Apache-style attack helicopter, so this color scheme suits it better than the one on Divebomb. Not to mention, it's kinda hard to justify a gunship as a rescue helicopter or even a police helicopter, Blue Thunder notwithstanding. So I'm calling this one a small step up. DECEPTICON: BOLTFLASH Altmode: F-14 Fighter Team: Ransack Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: Classics Thunderwing Function: Interceptor Motto: "You can't hide, you can't run, just give it up." BOLTFLASH is as quick as his name implies...physically, anyway. Mentally, he's a bit on the slow side, which is why he's willing to let CLOUDRAKER do the thinking for him. His job is to disable fast couriers and bring their speed down to where the boss can loot 'em. If the target's already slow, he patrols the area to keep the heat off. Twin laser cannons housed in his nose let him strike precisely to slow a target down without knocking it completely out of the sky, although if the chase is long and hard he may get frustrated and do more damage than CLOUDRAKER wanted. STR 3 INT 4 SPD 10 END 7 RNK 4 COUR 6 FRB 7 SKL 7 Avg 6 Packaging: One tie, plus a rubber band to keep the nose held to the blister. Color Swaps: Blue becomes light ghost gray, yellow becomes black. So switching from a Blue Angels sort of motif to a standard low-visibility naval sort of paint job. Paint Apps: White paint over the jet intakes, on the wing trailing edges, most of the tops of the horizontal tail fins, on the robot forehead, face and chest. Black cockpit windows and black printed Mini-Con symbol on the chest (one of the few redecos to put the faction symbol in a significantly different place than the original). The visor slit is neon green. Other Notes: "Boltflash" comes from the classic G1 school of random compound word generator names. :) Overall: Duller, but works better. The blue and yellow scheme of Thunderwing may be more interesting, but worked badly on the budget they were allowed. Boltflash's black/gray/white scheme at least holds together at this size, even if the name would have gone better with something flashier. DECEPTICON: SKYHAMMER Altmode: A-10 Ground Attack Jet Team: Ransack Previous Name Use: G1 Previous Mold Use: Classics Steel Wind Function: Ground Assault Motto: "No one gets airborne unless I say they do!" One of the main dangers in aerial piracy is the possibility that the authorities will scramble fighters to come deal with the pirates. SKYHAMMER lives up to his name, acting like a hammer falling from the sky to destroy aircraft while they're still on the ground, or destroy ground-bound detection and control systems, so as to delay response to the Ransack Team's raids. Once that's accomplished, his secondary role is to circle the partially disabled target and stop anyone who gets past BOLTFLASH, giving CLOUDRAKER as much time as possible to get the goods. STR 5 INT 6 SPD 8 END 7 RNK 4 COUR 6 FRB 7 SKL 5 Avg 6 Packaging: One tie, no band. Color Swaps: All made of a slightly purplish blue. Paint Apps: Red along the leading edge of the wings and on the rear underside of the fuselage (which become the shoulderpad fronts). Cockpit window, fists and robot forehead are either white or a very light gray. Black on the nosecone, and a small black Mini-Con symbol printed on either side of the fuselage just below the cockpit center. Other Notes: This is a clear homage to the Cobra Rattler from GIJoe, and really could've used a red face to complete the effect. The original Skyhammer was an Autobot Pretender. About as floppy as Steel Wind in vehicle mode. Overall: This one was the deciding factor in my buying the set. It's a clever mold, but making it a Rattler homage was that little bit needed to push me over the edge. Especially since I didn't want to pay $25 to just get Stormcloud, the other Rattler homage in stores. Dave Van Domelen, would display the robot modes in the original box, but they won't all fit, even tilting the box sideways.