Thought he'd be here today but it's looking like tomorrow

 

Mine arrived in the mail today. No motoring, happy or otherwise, required.

He's a bit flippin' good, isn't he.



There's chonk, sculpted detail, articulation & personality. What more could you ask for?!

His Eric Idle moustache is even captured in all its glory.



Bike mode is cool, but mine'll be standing around in bot mode most of the time.

Get one.



Framed in enamel!
Resists fire, rain and corrosion for up to five years.
Satisfaction guaranteed.

 

I like him....except for the spikes...they stick waaay out and make him look dumb in both modes. I just watched a commercial for his orig toy with clips from the movie...u barely see the spikes there? Are there images of him with super long spikes? Are they removeable at all?

 

It's one of those things that varies. They are in some original character model art (from the Ark Compendium book) and some episodes:

 

"Live from the Planet of Junk, it's Saturday Night! And here's your host, Wreck-Gar! Please hold your applause, we have a really great show for you tonight!"



"Used motorcycle for sale, only one previous owner. Slight bend to front right-hand spike detail due to improper storage in packing container, but easily rectified with gentle bending the other way! Front tyre sticks a little, but still road worthy! Only serious offers, please. Contact info on Craigslist."



"But wait, that's not all! Act now and you can get a shiny new robot friend at the same time! Fantastic articulation, handsome visage, looks like it stepped right off the screen and into your living room! Order in the next half hour and get your hands on the 'Whirly Pinwheel of Doom'tm accessory! Only £34.99, payable in three thousand, four hundred and ninety-nine easy instalments of only £0.01 pennies. Operators are standing by. If you chose not to act on this amazing bargain, then you Dare to be Stupid!"

 

He's such a gem.

Top 3 figures this year. Wonder what Eric idle thinks of him.

 

JUNKION BIKE MODE:

Growing up I've always been a big fan of the whacky retro-futuristic style Floro Dery gave to the post Season 2 designs, so I totally love this bike mode. Some of the proportions are slightly off due it having to physically transform, but overall the accuracy is amazing. I especially like how the chest piece is angle downwards like the original design, and the nipple guns are ball jointed to compensate for this. Also appreciate how HasTak handled the wheel spikes: it's good balance between safety, playability and 'bot mode accuracy.






The turbo revving young punk looks so good with Wreck-Gar.




TRANSFORMATION:
Another master class from TT. It's amazing how simple the engineering is. The original character design of course helps, but more often than not the simpler things are harder to get right than people think. They even managed to place the robot head in the right place so the speedometer details are in the right place in both mode. I also love how the wheels are designed to fit through the spikes.




'BOT MODE:
The TV talkin, earth culture lovin' dude really comes to life here. Head sculpt is effing amazing, and the colors are not only spot on, they work so well together. Hasbro designer Aaron Brooks mentioned in the stream it was really hard the nail the colors for Wreck-Gar, I think HasTak nailed them here, they nailed the whole look. Just fantastic.






He's on the larger side of Voyager class, which probably also had the motorbike mode size factored in, to work with other figures.




Articulation is as per the high standards we've been spoiled by for a while now. How the ankle title is handled is amazing: it allows for front to back ankle articulation and doesn't break the foot sculpt as bad when used. We need see more of this used on Transformers.

Aside from the seemingly universal loose waist, my copy also has a very loose shoulder hinge. Although there's a screw on the shoulder, it looks like the joint is designed to generate friction from a detented ratchet? and the ratchet joined seems to be molded a bit undersized on mine. It doesn't look like this is a common problem, but with the quite substantial weight of the wheel, looseness could be a wide spread problem on this figure years down the road.






OVERALL:
The loose joint problem certainly stopped me from thoroughly enjoying this figure, it won't stop me from rating this as one of best this year. This is easily Kingdom Cyclonus tier pure labor of love. A solid mode that has virtually infinite potential for variants. I can already imagine the Junkions selling like hot cakes when he comes out.

 

I could not resist and got two of him as well. Looking forward to building a big tribe of Junkions... or at least a cool looking gang.

 

Nice review. Enjoyable read.

 

Wreck-Gar just looked fun from the first images, so I had to preorder him, and when he got here, he certainly delivers on that promise. I'm going to spoil my review by saying he's great and I hope when they remold him as another Junkion, they change the chest so it can sport one of the wheels in the center, I would buy that in a heartbeat.

Robot Mode pluses:
+ character-accurate overall sculpting, with a steady eye for those details
+ large even for a modern voyager-class toy
+ deco hits the right notes
+ rubbery mustache and goatee work well and really sell the character's personality
+ spinning axe and removable shield accessories add to the fun while looking great
+ chest guns are ball-jointed for your pleasure
+ articulation is WFC-level plus an extra ab-crunch and swivel wrists to ride another Junkion bike
+ excellent range of motion below the neck
+ 3mm weapon storage port on back
+ mostly quite solid
+ novel foot-tilt articulation gives him spats
+ shoulder and foot articulation have sculpted inner parts with appropriate detailing
+ very little kibble
+ motorcycle grips on backpack can act as alternate storage for the shields

Robot Mode minuses:
- torso sculpting feels a touch too simple compared to other SS86 figures
- goatee isn't fully seated into the face, buyers shouldn't have to fix these things
- waist articulation is a little loose in both the swivel and the crunch, they hold but it's easy to knock them loose
- the neck is limited to swivel and looking up, no tilt or looking down
- the area behind the neck is see-through as it's the collapsed windshield making up the top of the backpack
- a bit more hollowness than I'd prefer, not terrible but there's a lot of little ones and a few medium ones that crop up around the figure

In quantity, it's obvious to see the pluses take it, but they also take it in quality. There's very little to dislike about this figure, and lots to appreciate. He's very poseable, and has tons of personality.




Transformation thoughts:
+ what could have been a simple affair is really thought out to get stuff moving
- the upper torso has a lot of joints and some false stops that can be confusing
+ the head going up into motorcycle cowling is so surprising and an interesting solution to the mass-shifting the animation did
- until the last step, there's some floppiness that can be annoying
* going to robot mode, the motorcycle cowling has a stop before it fully folds away, it's not obvious which can cause alignment issues with the shoulders locking into the chest, once this is pushed that last click in everything locks into place well
* the wheels aren't swappable, one is thinner and goes at the back which is the reverse of Earth motorcycles, it's easy to miss this in the instructions and come up with odd alignments



Alt Mode pluses:
+ big motorcycle, very fun, scales well as a vehicle for deluxe-class bots to ride
+ mostly accurate to the animated model
+ transparent blue windshield looks great
+ rolls on those knobby tires when riding on textured surfaces
+ independently-sculpted fold-down kickstand panels make for a very stable display
+ stays in upright leaning position without kickstands and doesn't rest on the huge spikes
+ ball-jointed chest guns can elevate to level
+ back of head gauge detail shows in cowling
+ fairly solid once everything's tabbed together
+ alternate 3mm storage port for weapon on back of the rear fender
+ straightforward deco gets the look right by sticking to the broad strokes, adding shiny paint to the gas tank and motor

Alt Mode minuses:
- with effort, the rear fender/seat can be pushed out of alignment and throws off the whole rear of the bike
- some hollowness continues
- sizeable gap between the front fairing and rest of the bike
- not much actual bike between the seat and the rear wheel
- confusing 4mm deep screw hole just above rear storage hole

Another ratio that speaks for itself. The stability could be a little better, but mainly does the trick unless you're really pushing. The rest of the minuses are basically nitpicks, the pluses aren't quite as strong in alt mode as bot mode, but they get the job done nicely and have a nostalgic feel.


Overall, Wreck-gar lives up to the hype, it's quite good in both modes, it's large, it's faithful to the animation, it's very poseable, and it has a lot of personality. If you need screen-accuracy, it's going to be very difficult to beat this. There are some hollowness issues, but that's the only real knock. His screen-focused sculpting might be too simple for some collectors, but it has enough going on to get beyond that for most.

 

Anyone else find it weird how the beard and the slot for it on his face are sculpted facing opposite directions?

 

Finally opened and played with him. Most of the positive (and negative) thing i want to say is already said by everyone else on this thread, So i'm just going to echo that he is overall an awesome figure.

Regarding his rather wide A stance, at first i thought it's because of the ratchet on the hip, but on further inspection, i think it is not just that. I think the distance between each click itself is fine, actually. It is the fact that his crotch area that's rather wide since it has to turn into a seat, that create that extra distance between his legs, thus making his A stance looks wider, despite the leg angle itseld being rather fine.

Also, something i tried out today,


You can actually put his wheels on the back if you want a different look, by plugging it on the handlebar. That being said, i do not recommend putting him on this configuration for long period, as the handlebar are made from rubbery plastic, and those wheels puts up quite a weight on it, potentially causing it to bend and sag.

 

Yes it looks like either the mold of the face or the mold of the beard was mirrored but it needed to be done for both!!!

 

Is it common to have the waist clip be not that strong? Mine doesn’t really stay plugged in.

 

I feel like that "small tab" for his waist was not meant to lock in for robot mode, as that area was intended to be used as ab-crunch.

 

I wound up having 2 copies to compare since the first copy arrived in a crushed box with a broken tape seal the other day and the exchange arrived today.

QC issues:

The first copy was better overall but . . .

The first copy had a loose left (your right if face to face) shoulder (both rotation and lateral raise) so I swapped it out for the one from the second copy.

The first copy had a noticeable gouge on the right (your left if face to face) half of the right (your left if face to face) forearm so, I swapped out the right (your left if face to face) bicep/elbow/forearm/hand from the second copy.

Neither copy had a "tight" waist rotation but, neither of the waists freely spin like an 80s gimmick (for clarity it will if you hold the lower body in place and spin the upper torso like a top as it will make roughly a single 360° rotation). The second copy was tighter and the hinge system was a tighter fit into the pelvis but, the hinged area that's supposed to stay flush with the pelvis in robot mode wouldn't (it would lift up from tension somewhere).

The second copy had absurdly loose hips (lateral front leg raise and front to rear swing).

The first copy's right (your left if face to face) thigh's mushroom peg refused to stay on. The second copy didn't have that issue and, both of the feet and both of the ankle tilts were better so I swapped both legs (from the mushroom peg down) onto the first copy.

The first copy had mismatched tire paint (the area that's supposed to be rubber). One of them was an extremely dark grey and, the other was closer to KBW Rhinow and Siege Astrotrain. The second copy had matching paint that was the same as the one from the first copy that was closer to the colour of KBW Rhinox and Siege Astrotrain. I don't know which grey they are supposed to be but, the darker grey looks like the colour darkens and gets glossier as the paint gets thicker. I prefer the lighter shade.

There was a very slight difference in the paint colour of the first copy's lower legs and the second copy's lower legs. The second copy was a slightly better match to the knee joints. I want to stress again that the difference was minimal but, it was enough to catch my attention when I was looking at them side by side.


Engineering flaws:

The hinge system piece that sits flush with the pelvis in robot mode Should have a better connection. It's not terrible and, I know some owners will prefer the "crunch" articulation. It would be nice if some sort of tab came out of the rear of the pelvis though that went into the gap which would tab it in in place and serve as a gap filler.

The front of the motorcycle (headlight/windscreen) that tucks in behind the chest doesn't have a proper amount of clearance that it should have. It's fairly difficult to get out and doing so requires placing pressure at the hinge at the gas tank and/or pressure near the windscreen hinge (which are both areas you don't want to exert force onto for obvious reasons).


Aesthetics flaws:

The gaps in the back of the forearms drive me up the wall but, something else would have taken a major budget hit if there was a panel. This (and other gaps) can be resolved with the Go Better Studio kit (which I will likely end up getting because this is honestly and end game level Wreck-Gar).

I'm torn on the length of the spikes. Animation consistency was all over the place so, it's not an issue of screen accuracy. The wheels do a really good job of making the spikes look shorter and, they wouldn't be able to be much shorter and still look good with the wheels pegged into the forearm/knee. I'm not convinced that shortening them by 1/8" to 1/4" would have made a large enough difference. I think it's ultimately the short blunted tire stumps that throw everything off (yes, I understand why everything is the way that it is).

The chest cannons. I'm glad these have articulation but, they are essentially googly eyes. I would have preferred a hinge joint so they could be easily adjusted for robot and alt modes. I swear they move entirely on their own, then pause in a random direction, and then start moving on their own again . . .

I wish the leg transformation was a little cleaner looking but, the Junkions morphed in the animation and SS86 does a good job of paying homage to the G1 toy and improving on that transformation considerably.


What it excelled at:

Wreck-Gar looks like it walked off an animation cell. I honestly never expected to see anything like this (much less at $32.99 MSRP mass release general retail price point). The proportions, silhouette, etc. are all phenomenal. Sure the pelvis is a bit wide and it's rocking the ye-haw bowlegged stance a couple of other recent toys have but, that what happens when something has to actually transform while having a functional and proportional alt mode.

The wheels, OMG the wheels. I still can't get over the fact that these actually have hubs. Then there is the fact that rims (as well as the tires and stubby spikes since they are painted) are molded in a colour that isn't anywhere else on the toy.

The bottom of the feet are almost entirely filled in. Granted, they sort of had to be sine the upper area had to be hollow to allow for the faux ankle "filler" but, they could have just said no we don't need a "faux ankle filler and had a hollow section on the bottom of the foot.

The "faux" armpit filler. I still wish shoulders would hinge in the middle but, this is the proper way to do them when they can't. It still looks disjointed the higher you do a lateral side raise but, it would be far worse if there was no filler.

The head having the gauges/dash and tucking under the windscreen to have them visible and in the correct place in alt mode is beyond wild. This is the kind of faux stuff that I love to see as obviously the front of the motorcycle (headlight/windscreen) can't form the head without being comically oversized in the process. Everything looks mostly correct in both modes (I don't care about the windscreen and handlebar kibble in robot mode) and the faux areas are where they should be in both modes. This is a realistic take on how something would actually work (just like Kingdom Cyclonus's nosecone/head transformation is) once you get rid of cheats like morphing and mass shifting.


Closing thoughts (purchase):

Of course I don't regret this purchase lol. SS86 Wreck-Gar is simply outstanding. It didn't have to be anywhere near as remarkable as it is and, the fact that it is just blows my mind. It looks incredible next to everything and, even something as large as Siege Jetfire can "ride" it. A lot of thought/care went into this toy and I am here for it (as well as retools; shower us in retools Hasbro/TakaraTomy) . . .

 

One aspect of this figure that I don't feel has gotten enough of a call out is the high quality of plastic used. I immediately noticed it upon taking it out of the box. This uses a higher quality of plastic then I have seen on any Transformer in the last couple of years. He reminds me of this sort of plastic used on the old Animated figures from 2008 to 2010 or so. Dense but pliable, with a matte finish. Nothing like the harder, thunder plastic I've gotten on most other Studio Series 86 and War for Cybertron figures.

 

Alright, I'm sold. I'll pick him up if I find him at retail.

... admittedly, that's effectively saying that I won't get him. But he does seem nice.

 

I just made a potentially important discovery. This might have been pointed out by someone earlier in the thread, but I just noticed that his two wheels are different sizes. One is thicker than the other. And, counterintuitively, I believe the thicker one is supposed to go in the front. With the thicker one in the front and the thinner one in the back, the arms and the legs sit parallel to one another; keeping them from bowing out or in. Plus, with the thinner one in the back, the kickstands raise the wheel off the ground like they would on a real motorcycle.