Magnificent

 

Likely the only Jazz I'll ever need

 

I can never quite tell if I love or hate Wreck-Gar. My spoiled friend, the guy that got all the cool toys, loved Wreck-Gar. I think Simon Furman liked him a lot, or at the very least was really into the fun he could have with Wreck-Gar’s speech patterns. And he seemed to get a fairly prominent part in any of the TF:Uk stories he turned up in. But I think he might have actually been an incredibly annoying character.

But I felt the peer pressure when I was little and somehow Wreck-Gar was a big deal. Sure he helped put Magnus back together, sure he fixed Bumblebee into Goldbug, sure he got his ‘tasche burnt by Quintesson guards but uh…was that it? Who cares? You could use him to get quotes from old TV programmes in. Done deal.

Alongside Rodimus Prime, Wreck Gar felt like the ’86 equivalent of a ‘Deluxe Autobot’; a little bit bigger than the other guys coming out, but not up at the top of the scale chart or price point. Ok, he was a motorbike. And Transforming Motorbikes were cool. There’s a reason that Groove was my favourite ‘Scramble City’ limb. But hey, here’s another hot take; Super Gobot Cy-Kill was a better bike-former than Wreck-Gar. Wreck-Gar even stole Cy-Kill’s design for the front wheel.

In bot mode Wreck-Gar has some nice features, like that nice chrome-y chest, and some nice arm articulation, but still manage to look a bit awkward. That helmet is so so so big. I know there’s probably not much more they could do within the limitations of the time, but it really looks so bulky. The fact his knees bend back also drives me a bit crazy. It’s not unknown in TF designs, but it always makes me wince. The big let down of the bike mode is those legs just sitting there looking like legs. Urk.

Well, it was inevitable, wasn’t it? If you’re doing a Studio Series subline based on the 1986 movie you’re hardly going to miss off one of the most memorable and idiosyncratic characters introduced. Christ, maybe they’ll even make a decent version this time?

Well, almost. I mean, it’s good. Definitely the best so far. But man, it misses the mark in some significant ways.

But first, let’s be nice. The headsculpt on this guy, as I’ve come to expect from any SS86 figure above Deluxe class, is near perfection. The little flexible moustache and beard combo is a delight, and they’ve captured the quirks of his eyes, brow, and nose as well as I could imagine it being done. The pose-ability on this guy is fantastic too. Much like the recent Hot Rod and Rodimus, he just holds and distributes his weight in such a way that really imbues the figure with life. I’m particularly struck by the ankle tilt. well, lower foot tilt, because it’s way below the ankle. It’s one of the things that makes me feel less like I’m playing with a blocky toy, and more like I’m in the room with Wreck-Gar, albeit a very short Wreck-Gar.

And then there’s the bike mode where we can successfully get another figure to ‘ride’ him (come on). That in itself is worth the price of admission for me. That the bike looks so good is just added value. And it does look great. I love that they’ve managed to give him spikey tires and still make them functional. I love the ‘trick’ of having his head hide within the windshield and headlight housing. It’s much better than any solution we’ve seen to the problem before. The detail is great. The handlebars, meters, and engine detail are the sort of thing I wish I’d seen in the ‘bot mode. It’s not perfect. Where his arms hold the wheel looks incomplete and red is a weird choice for the headlight.

But despite all this, there’s something kind of…bland about Wreck-Gar. And I’m afraid it’s that weary old tale of ‘cartoon accurate deco’. Rather than getting what could have been much more exciting, where we get some mixture of chrome (I’d have settled for metallic grey paint) and gold highlight on a red frame, we get red on taupe. A flat detail-less red that somehow seems unfinished. And taupe. I don’t need to diminish taupe. It’s taupe.

I really can’t get behind this strict adherence to cartoon deco. It’s such an aggressive simplification of any given deco that we do wind up with something less than the sum of its parts, with all the interest and detail removed for some easy to animate wash. Even the orange and browns on the SS86 look far less vibrant than the G1 toy. Why handcuff yourself to lesser choices?

And it’s not just the deco. The chest sculpt is so much less interesting than the G1 toy. it just lacks any detail at all. As much as I appreciate the absurdity of it, I’m not in love with his nipple cannons (oh, fancy that. I just typed nipple cannons. I wasn’t expecting that). And that is simply because I can never get them lined up perfectly. One nip gun seems to be forever drooping or erect and flying off to the left. Moving away from such unfortunate observations, I’d like to note that the sculpt on his lower legs is really good. Any landing you can walk away from.

As with so many of the recent figures, I can’t imagine them getting anywhere closer to a ‘definitive’ G1 take on the character. There’ll be another Wreck-Gar, for sure, but by then I imagine the pendulum will have swung towards a more stylised and less faithful aesthetic. And while this doesn’t suck, I’m definitely left a little unsatisfied. Maybe I’ll paint his tummy silver.

 

Leozack: Nanii?! Who's there!?

D: ....Say my name.

 

Combining brothers, creepy guys.

 

Starscream: I am in Control.

 

The Ark (in my headcanon, Autonomous Maximus)

 

United Jazz rules

 

Side car on his head, he's got a Side car on his head. Like Brum with a bloke marionette operator

@barry, I'm gonna Chug you up, Chug on the table, Chug flying through the air, Chug on your chest wig. Fucking Chug you buddy

 

I forgot how good Universe Sideswipe is.

 

That Jazz and Hound are still unbeatable as far as I'm concerned.

 

Legacy of Primes.


edit : I found out later that this was possible  It would have been nice if I knew before taking the pictures!

 

I set Taobao's search settings to mainland China and searched for ZW and ITF together.

edit : Now I searched with the same keyword, but I can't see it. Maybe it's out of stock.

 

ZW变形玩具 ITF 放大WFC 擎天OP柱 紫白黑红 V级 巨斧-淘宝网

I got it through this link. It's sold out as I thought.

 

"Take him!"
From TF:UK#119 'Fire on High'

 

Senators

 

"Hail him! Hail him! Hail him!"
TF:UK#368 'Return to the Planet of Junk'