Joyride

Image from www.botchthecrab.com

Look!  Yet another subset of Autobots completed!  I should have completed the Powermasters much, much earlier, but I took my sweet time.  The Powermasters are some of my favorite figures in the G1 line, and it pleases me to no end to finally have them all.  Well, all of the U.S. releases, that is.  Japanese exclusives will have to wait.  For now, let's just celebrate the newest addition to my collection.

I think that one of the reasons I waited so long to get Joyride is that his alt-mode is just a dune buggy, and the only dune buggy that I care about is Beachcomber.  That is, until I found out that Beachcomber isn't a dune buggy.  Geez.  However, once Joyride was in hand, I was duly impressed with this mode.  Garish neon colors aside, the dune buggy mode is much better looking than pictures had me believe.  Maybe it was the joy of getting that last Autobot Powermaster making me love the mode more than I should.

Joyride's robot mode is pretty much what one would expect for a later era G1 figure.  His arms move at the shoulder and elbow...and that's pretty much it.  The legs are fused together because this is what many in the toy industry figured would help them pass safety laws.  In short, Joyride is just a brick.

But what's this?  Joyride is moving at the waist!  How is that even possible?  Could it be because of Joyride's transformation scheme? 

Pictured here we have my childhood Slapdash, Getaway, and Joyride.  Seeing them together like this, I'm a tad surprised at the varying heights of the figures.  I'm not complaining, as this just makes them a little more diverse.  Still, I can't believe that Getaway is taller than Slapdash.  I just realized that I've mentioned completing the Autobot Powermasters quite often in this post, but I haven't included Powermaster Optimus Prime.  He was...camera shy.  Or I didn't feel like pulling him out the overly complicated display case that he's in.  You be the judge.

Here we have Rev, Lube, and Hotwire all together in a get together of all of the basic Powermaster engines. 

What I'm most excited about is that getting Joyride allowed me to take this picture - every U.S. released Nebulon in one nice shot.  Eventually, I'll have one of the Decepticon Nebulons.

-FIN

Getaway

www.botchthecrab.com

I love Powermasters.  I currently do not have that many Powermasters.  Well, that's not true.  I'm currently only missing Joyride and Dreadwind thanks to my recent purchase of Getaway.

Sadly, this isn't the whitest Getaway, but I decided to get him for two reasons: price and box.  The price was too good to pass up, and I really wanted a Powermaster box.  I really only wanted to box for the art on the back.  I've sold off every G1 box I've had up to this point, but the Powermaster and Pretender box art is just something really special.

www.botchthecrab.com

It's certainly the best drawn of the US released stuff, and it's really the last of the epic battles depicted on the boxes.  After this, the box art kind of devolved into comic style art that, frankly, wasn't so great.  But the images of Skullgrin and Landmine phasing out of their shells, the look on Doubledealer's face, it all adds up to some striking art.  Back to Getaway.

One of the main reasons that I love Powermasters is the way they look with their engines attached.  Getaway is perhaps the best looking of the Autobots in vehicle mode.  With Rev attached, he looks like a powerful racing machine.

Speaking of Rev, here he is in non-engine mode.  He's a typical Powermaster Nebulan.

Getaway has one of the more complex transformations of the Autobot Powermasters.  He twists at the waist and roof of the car also rotates during transformation.  The twisting waist gives another option for posing since Getaway's legs are fused together and he has the barest of articulation with his arms.

Finally, a shot of Getaway and Rev together.  They make a nice pair.  Next week, I'll have yet another vintage figure!