Holy crap, I hit the mother lode today at Ross. I went in looking for some goddamn pet food bowls and came out with a couple of bags full of Transformers that I had all but given up on ever getting. I’ve lamented enough here on FigureFan about how criminal the distribution on these Reveal The Shield figures was, but karma’s come round to help a brutha out as I was able to pick up almost all the remaining figures today at a nice deep discount off their regular MSRP, much less the scalper prices they sell for online. So we might as well go ahead and call it Reveal The Shield Weekend, because it’ll take me the next four days or so to check these guys out. Today, we’ll kick things off with everyone’s favorite Junkion: Wreck-Gar.
There’s the packaging for the RTS Deluxe Assortment, we last saw back when I looked at Perceptor. They had him too at Ross, and sure I could have made a couple of bucks turning him on Ebay, but I always do the right thing and I left him for another collector, even though chances are a scalper will get him. Anyway, the packaging isn’t all that different from the Hunt for the Decepticons, but it does point out the Rub Sign gimmick and gave us a little teaser into what the Generations packaging deco was going to be all about. The back has the pictures of the toy in both modes and a little bio blurb. Wreck-Gar comes packaged in his motorcycle mode, so we’ll start there.
In the world of Transformers, motorcycles aren’t exactly the easiest concept to work with. Sure, there have been some decent ones, but a whole lot of really shitty motorcycle Transformers have popped up on the pegs over the years. Traditionally speaking you either have to make strong sacrifices to the bike mode or the robot mode. Wreck-Gar here makes mostly sacrifices the bike mode and I’m very glad for that. That’s not to say it’s terrible, but the proportioning on it seems a little out of whack. It’s pretty obvious that you’re looking at Wreck-Gar’s hands and pelvis right there in the middle of the bike. On the flipside, it’s a pretty solid motorcycle that stands well on it’s own thanks to a flip down kick stand. The coloring is definitely faithful to the G1 homage and the Rub Sign is right up front near the handle bars, but it feels like some of the grey could have used a little extra help with paint more paint apps. Even the license plate is left completely blank. Oh… and yes, if you have two Wreck-Gars, one can ride the other.
Transforming Wreck-Gar goes easier from bike to robot. Going the other way is mainly a matter of remembering to do some funky fiddling with his pelvic and hip joints in order to get everything to pack back in where it should be.
So, I wasn’t sure how I felt about Wreck Gar’s robot mode when I saw Hasbro’s initial photos. In hand, I’m a lot happier about the final product. Thrilled, even. I think my biggest issue was the way the design puts both wheels on his left side. I thought they would have balanced the figure out better if they were staggered left and right. I also thought the design should have allowed one of the wheels to detach and become a shield. Nonetheless, what we got is actually really cool, and the figure’s anti-symmetry really contributes to the idea that he’s made out of junk.
Everything else here is great stuff. The head sculpt is spot on stupendous. He looks absolutely demented. The head definitely strikes me as one of the better, if not the best, movie based homages Hasbro has done. I really enjoy the way the flame decos appear on his chest as do the small guns pay homage to the nipple guns on the original G1 design. The mismatched legs again drive home his intentionally junky appearance, and while I was afraid his lower legs would be too bulky and ungainly, Wreck Gar’s overall proportions are actually pretty solid and he is wonderfully poseable. The battle axe is a real nice touch as well.
Ultimately, I think I was trying to convince myself to not like this figure a lot because I had missed out on it and wasn’t going to pay a premium for him online. In hand, I think he really is fantastic, even with the slightly dodgy motorcycle mode. The design is a perfect blending of old and new, and another great update to a G1 toy that always ranked rather high in my book. He’s absolutely worth picking up if you find him at one of the Toy Graveyards out there, and he’s probably even worth picking up at a bit of a premium. So, get him if you find him, and always remember, you can dare to be stupid.
FigureFan Zero 