Scorponok today

 

Soundwave superior.

 

Today

 

My boy Springer.

 

Another Action Master? Don’t play with my heart like that, Hasbro.

I’ve written about my affection for the Action Masters before, and while I only ever saw a couple of them back in my youth, I thought having a more ‘action figure’ style of Transformer was not necessarily a bad thing (which, I hasten to add, is not the same as thinking non-transforming Transformers is a good thing). And I think there are some really fantastic character designs in the cast. Characters that were so well done that I find myself wondering how cool they’d be if we got versions of them that did transform. And that is definitely one of the reasons I get excited whenever I see another Action Master character get a new release.

And Jackpot is definitely one of the coolest designs in the AM range. In fact, when I think of Action Masters he’s definitely one of the toys that come to the front of my mind. Looking back at the AM commercials, it was obviously Rad that Hasbro thought was the standout of the basic assortment. After the ’84 and ’85 re-does, Rad’s the Autobot that gets the most screen time. I’m genuinely surprised that Jackpot isn’t featured in those commercials. I think he’s that iconic looking.

Perhaps it’s because he looks like such a classic ’84/’85 Autobot. He’s got the de rigueur bonnet chest, wheels on his shoulder, and wheels on his calves. You can almost already imagine how he transforms into some sort of ’70’s sports car (dear reader, please be aware that any letters alerting one that the Ferrari Testarossa was not in production in the 1970’s will be returned to sender). All he’s missing as far as vehicle kibble goes is a roof on his back.

I really love the headsculpt on this guy. There’s a real sense that this guy is wearing a helmet, and underneath is a smaller, more normal head. And the deco really ‘pops’. Black is always cool, and the yellow highlights on his arms and thighs are striking. Slap some neon orange on his eyes, knees, and feet and you’re onto a winner.

He also comes with ‘Sights’, who is a bird that turns into a gun, which will not go down well with animal rights activists. Sights is actually a very cool-looking robo-bird, with a scowling headsculpt and nicely detailed wings. The gun is rather dopey, but despite that, Sights manages to be one of my favourite Action Master ‘partners’.

So, it’ll come as no surprise that I’m delighted that they’ve chosen to give us a new Jackpot. With his few prominent scenes in More Than Meets the Eye, he’s certainly one of the AM’s I was thirstiest for. And SS86 Jazz is the perfect base mold for him. So why I am disappointed?

There are two things that really bother me. Firstly, the tiny, tiny head. His head is even tinnier than Geoff Holhurst’s. As noted above, the fact he looked like he was wearing a Judge Dredd helmet was one of the cooler features of his design. If this Kingdom Jackpot is wearing a helmet, then he must have been sat in the waiting room in Beetlejuice. And, to add insult to injury, the two-piece head seems to have been assembled by drunken monkeys (given an infinite amount of time, an infinite amount of monkeys could come up with Wheelie).

Secondly, what the fuck is going on with those big yellow streaks by his wheels? They’re so hideous and unnecessary. I hate them. Imagine if this guy’s Porsche mode had been all black. It would have looked stunning! I got SS86 Jazz out to check that this isn’t some issue where it would be impossible for the part that connects to the wheels be a different colour than the arms. Jazz has black arms. The part is white. This is just dumb. And with another dose of the insult/injury, the paint is hideously mismatched.

But despite all this…I think I like him? Considering the width of the flap that the head sits on it’d be some feat to actually make the head bigger (though making just the chin broader would have helped tremendously), so I do feel a little churlish moaning about it. The base mold is an excellent one and, head/flap problems aside, is an excellent fit for the character. And man, does that deco pop! They’ve made some smart choices, such as painting the headlights orange and making his visor so prominent, and aside from the dumb yellow paint by the wheels, they’ve matched the colours so well.

When I saw the first in-hand photos of this guy coming in I really thought I’d be regretting this purchase and cursing my peculiar form of completism, but now he’s sat on my desk I’m so happy I’ve got him. Seeing this mold in such a striking deco has made me appreciate it much more than I did when I was looking at SS:86 Jazz. And you know, as long as it doesn’t come as an incorrectly painted accessory for a £150 toy I’m not going to turn my nose up at an Action Master revival. So Hasbro, maybe do Kick-Off from Legacy Skids and we’ll be cool?

 

Ugly Boy today.

 

Airazor today

 

A package from a friend in the States arrived today.



I'm having too much fun with it.



ME IN 2018: Aw they gave SG Rodimus a Decepticon symbol
ME IN 2021: Wait I can work with this

 

“Tales of the Black Freightliner.”

Road Ranger deserves his own trailer, get on it 3P. Throw in a replacement head for Jackpot while you’re at it please.

 

MPM 12 gets the nod today! He went from an easy pass to a curiosity, to a figure I really enjoy despite his limitations!

 

Prime’s festive battle.

 

*Inserts jokes about Tony the Tiger here*




Mutant Tigatron for today.

 

These pictures are Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

 

I got this from a hobby shop a year ago

although it has a lot of wear   and someone tried to paint the heads, not sure if it’s normal for this mold to flake like this but, it’s still one of my favorites!

 

The Dinobots Minicon Team:


Redbill (formerly Swoop)

Slicktooth (formerly Terrorsaur)

Knockdown