Triple Takeover Part III - Octane!

Image from www.botchthecrab.com

Triple Takeover finishes up with Octane!  Of the Decepticon Triple Changers, Octane is far and away my favorite.  Yeah, he isn't some super aggro tank or fighter jet.  Sure, one of his modes isn't as awesome as a space shuttle.  You know what?  I could care less.  An evil passenger jet is just as good, maybe even better.

Image from TFWiki.net

Really, one of the main reasons Octane is so near and dear to me has to do with the above picture.  While Blitzwing had the nerve to stand up to Galvatron and work with the Autobots to stop the Quintessons, Blitzwing was merely banished.  Octane had brass ones the size of Cybertron's moons and he displayed them by defecting from the Decepticons and started hanging around the Autobots.  What's more?  He was hanging out with a freaking pacifist.  I wonder how Galvatron liked them apples?  At least on the show.  In the comics, he was pretty much background fodder.  So sad.

So here's an embarrassment from the past.  This picture was actually taken about three years ago when I thought I had decent equipment.  I did not then, and I do not now.  Fortunately, my photo taking knowledge and skill has progressed to the point where I'm not completely making a fool of my myself when displaying my pictures.  Low self esteem aside, this photo does point out just how ugly my childhood Octane had gotten.  As a kid, I had a habit of taking things apart to see how they worked - telephones, bikes, the occasional VCR, and toys.  Especially toys.  Especially Transformers.  My god did I love taking apart poor Transformers to see how they were engineered.  For the most part, when I put them together, the only evidence that anything had happened to them would be a decal with a hole in it, if it covered a screw hole, or a torn one if it was on a part that separated.  But Octane seemed to have fared worse than all of the others combined.  I think it had to do with the fact that there was something freaky going on with his midsection, but I could never figure out what I was looking for or even how to fix it.  I would later find out that I was correct on the waist, after reading TFWiki, but when I was 12, I didn't know.  As a result of all of the tinkering, I wound up with one crappy looking Octane.  Look closely at the above picture, and you'll notice that the wheels are missing on Octane's chest.  Thankfully, I lost the cover for the tanker mode, so I was able to quickly get over the agitation of replacing a childhood toy.  

Hey, look!  It's an Octane with wheels on his chest!  And paint left on the hood!  And decals on the shield!  Is he a K.O. reissue?  I hope not, because he cost me like $30 M.I.S.B., and I'd hate to think I spent that money on a cheap piece of plastic.  I kid, of course, but the fear of winding up with a K.O. kept me from purchasing a replacement Octane for a few years.  Thankfully, this one has enough wear to him to make me feel more than comfortable with the purchase.  Like any self respecting G1 figure, articulation is limited to the arms, but Octane is able to move both his shoulders and elbows in an up and down motion!  Jealous?

I don't know why I love the tanker mode so much, but I just do.  Could it be that I dreamed of becoming a truck driver one day?  No, I can't even imagine I'd last a day as a truck driver.  I used Octane's tanker mode like everyone probably did - refueling.  That's right, Octane drove the battlefield refueling Decepticons - and later, Autobots - with laser fire gonig off all around him.  That's a sign of bravery.  Keeping his fellow bots fueled is a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

Airplanes are sexy, and everyone knows it.  The thing is, it doesn't even need to be a fighter jet to be sexy.  Just tell someone at that you're trying to impress that you're a pilot, and they'll swoon almost immediately.  Flying a commercial jet is much more impressive to the ladies, I think, because it's hard flying a jet that large with that many people on board safely.  All of this is conjecture, of course, since I've only ever flown paper airplanes and an Airhog X-Wing Fighter that I hated.  The point that I'm trying to make is that Octane's jet mode is just as impressive as Blitzwing's.  Heck, Octane is even bigger than Blitzwing in jet mode.

Here's a picture that I could have easily taken years ago, but I was embarrassed.  Not because of my perceived lack of skills, but because of Octane's sorry state.  Man, it sure feels nice to have the gang all together again.  Six Triple Changers?  Check.  Still no clue on what to do with the old Octane, however.  He's too sorry looking to sell, even as a junker.  Maybe I'll just keep him in jet mode.  Man, now that I'm looking at this picture, maybe I should look at replacing my childhood Astrotrain...dammit.

Triple Takeover Part II - Plastic Toe Sandstorm

Image from www.botchthecrab.com

Let's get this out of the way: Sandstorm is my favorite Triple Changer.  Ever.  There, I feel much better now that I have that off my chest.  My love of Sandstorm can be traced all the way back to Christmas of 1986 when I received him under the Christmas tree. 

He's behind Matt Trakker's Thunderhawk

I still own that Sandstorm, and he's still complete to boot!  The only issue is that time has not been kind to his legs as they will not stay locked in robot mode, giving him a bit of a lopsided walk, even with the 20 year old masking tape on the legs.  Also, there's old, decayed rubber band on the gun and it will not come off.  Seeing as how I still have so many figures left to get, it may be a bit off to buy another instance of a figure that I already own, but I just felt the need to get a better version.

Image from www.TFWiki.net

One of the reasons that I love Sandstorm so much is that I was always puzzled by his personality.  His tech spec bio mentioned that he loved the heat of battle so much that he could count the rivets on the Decepticons that he was fighting.  Surely Sandstorm is a warrior of great standing.  Then again, on the third season of the show, he was a freaking pacifist.  A pacifist that would pal around with a Decepticon deserter.  They...they tried a few different things that season, and not all of them made sense.  However, this dichotomy of personalities with Sandstorm stuck in my head for a long time as a kid, and the more I thought about, the more I grew to really appreciate the character.  Eventually, I reached the age where I could care less about discrepancies between the show and the figure's bio, especially once I discovered the comic. 

If I had never watched the show, Sandstorm would still be my favorite Triple Changer of all time, especially when compared to the rest of the Triple Changers.  Most especially when compared to the Autobot Triple Changers.  Those guys are hideous.  Look at Sandstorm's dune buggy and then look at Springer's car mode:

God that thing is ugly.  Springer doesn't even look like a wheeled vehicle.  Disgusting.  Most of the helicopter mode kibble is hidden in Sandstorm's dune buggy mode, with the exception of the rear propeller. 

Helicopter is my favorite of the three modes.  I've always been fascinated by helicopters since childhood, and Sandstorm's is a thing of beauty.  I didn't know what kind of helicopter this was when I was a kid, but it looked like it could carry a lot of personnel or cargo.  It turns out that this is a Sikorsky S-62 amphibious transport chopper.  Looks like I was correct in that assumption.  When looking at this mode, I immediately want to start spinning the rotor and make chopper noises, you know the sounds I'm talking about.  Seriously, this is my favorite helicopter mode in all of the Transformers.

There are two versions of Sandstorm out there - metal toe and plastic toe.  Like every other figure in 1986, the metal version was released first and then a running change introduced a plastic version.  My childhood version is a plastic version.  I really wanted to find a metal toe version, but I never could find one that met the criteria that I was looking for.  When one pops up, I'll snatch it up.

In my mind, I had always associated Sandstorm with surf culture.  The part of the chopper that folds up on Sandstorm's back always reminded me of a surfboard.  Couple that with the dune buggy, something that I assumed was used on the beach, and it just stuck.  Now that I've put that out there, I'd like for someone to use that in fiction.  I feel as though Sandstorm should be using surfer slang.

It took me 28 years, but I was able to get the band back together with the addition of Springer.  Thanks to a Sandstorm that can stand without looking like a pimp, I can take a group shot with pride.  Compare Sandstorm to the rest of his Autobot Triple Changer brethren and tell me that he isn't the best.  Is it a contest that he won by default?  Nah.  Sandstorm is just gorgeous. 

Triple Take Over Part I - Springer!

Image from www.botchthecrab.com

Welcome to part one of a three part series on Triple Changers I've acquired over the past couple of months.  We'll start off with Springer first, since I seem to have to most to say about him.

Image from TFWiki.net

I'm going to be completely honest and just say that I've never cared for Springer at all.  Something about him just put me off when I first saw him in The Transformers: The Movie, he just annoyed me.  That annoyance carried over into Season 3 of the show, unfortunately.  Thankfully, Springer wasn't featured in the Marvel comic, so I didn't have to deal with him.  Maybe that's why I loved the comic so much?  Even to this day, I'm not really sure what all the fuss is about with the guy.  After Last Stand of The Wreckers, I was worried that we'd be inundated with a metric ton of Springer appearances, but we were thankfully spared.  My dislike of Springer is hard to pinpoint, and I've never given it much thought, but I'm sure it has to do with the bravado.  I just don't get it; it's not like he's Grimlock or Omega Supreme.

Enough about my distaste for the character.  Let's onward to the actual figure.  We'll start with the Springer's most famous mode - the helicopter.  Out of the three modes, this is by far the superior one.  It would seem that most of the design time was used for the chopper.  The blades feature some of the best spinning of any helicopter in G1 that I can remember.  The arms sticking out of the sides don't really look too much like skids, but they're passable, I suppose.  At least he doesn't look like a brick.

Speaking of bricks, have you seen the "armored car" mode?  That's...that's a generous term, I think.  Actually, looking at him at this angle, Springer looks like he was designed using very early 1980's 3-D computer graphics.  I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that Floro Dery just sketched out his designs.  The most disappointing aspect of this mode is that Springer's gun won't even mount on the roof.  I'd probably be a bit more forgiving if that were an option.

I loved the helicopter mode, and I wasn't too impressed with the car, which now leads us to robot mode.  Robot mode, man I forgot how much I never liked that mode.  As a kid, I grew up with many a brick of a Transformer, but Springer seems to take the cake.  Yes, there's arm articulation, but it is horrendous.  Any kind of side-to-side movement makes the chest pop up.  If Springer is holding the sword, attempts to move that arm makes the sword fall over.  This could be the result of the helicopter blades being a bit loose, but I seem to remember this happening to me as a kid as well.  Yes, this is my second Springer.  I was so disappointed as a kid with my first one that I traded him for other Transformers. 

Maybe my childhood recollections of this figure have colored my perceptions.  Perhaps Springer is just an awful figure that should be best forgotten.  I know I'm in the minority, but I just don't like the guy. 

30th Anniversary Blitzwing

I was very concerned recently about being able to find a Generations 30th Anniversary Blitzwing.  Every store that I went to had plenty of Springers, but not one single Blitzwing.  From what I had read online about this particular Blitzwing, that surprised me.  There have been many, let's say, less than enthusiastic reviews of Blitzwing and nothing but glowing positivity about Springer.  Then again, I'm fairly certain that I may the only person in town that reads online blogs and reviews about Transformers.  Thank goodness that my TV died the other day.  During my search for a new TV, I finally ran across Blitzwing.  Is it a match made in heaven?  Read on to find out!

Being a Johnny-come-lately, I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about the other Blitzwing iterations.  The last time a Blitzwing was on the shelves, it was for the Animated line.  Unlike Springer, each iteration of Blitzwing after the G1 version has been a triple changer, so it's not like this is something that I've been itching to see.  Still, seeing Blitzwing, all boxed up and nice amped me up a little.  Then I pulled him out of the box.

Here is Blitzwing in robot mode.  I actually like this mode, even with the shoulders that don't peg or connect together properly.  In term of sheer eye appeal, Blitzwing has it.  He's tall, but he's not as lanky as Springer; definitely bulkier.  The wings protruding from the back of his legs are a great nod to his G1 counterpart.  For The fact that he has feet is a wondrous achievement.  Never in my wildest dream did I imagine that Blitzwing would have feet!  On the downside, I'm not a fan of the gun that he comes with; it's too small.  Then there's the whole face changing deal, which I couldn't even get to work.  I nearly ripped off Blitzwing's nose trying to get it to move, so that's a failed experiment, Hasbro.

Feet!

Here, we have my G1 reissue Blitzwing with Generations Blitzwing.  My original Blitzwing is having loose feet (tail wing?) issues.  Toy engineering has come a long way.



The problems that exist in robot mode carry over into Blitzwing's other modes.  The jet mode, while it looks far and above previous jet modes, suffers from parts that don't connect well and like to pop out.

It seems as though the lower half of the jet should peg into the top half, where the arms are.  Not so.  At least, I wasn't able to get them to go in and stay in.

I don't hate the jet mode, but I don't love it.  Still, it does look better than the G1 version.  The jet mode also features an attack mode.  All you have to do is flip the cannon out and he can fire a missile.  It's not the worst thing in the world.  The gun can peg in at the top, or you can peg it into the bottom of the wings.  Same goes for the sword.  I refuse to do it because I'm a fan of symmetry. 

I know that the flap over the fist isn't up all of the way.  I was too lazy to take another picture.

Then there's the tank mode.  This thing is really nerve wracking.  I just don't like it.

Gh-gh-ghost tank!

 It looks decent, but looks can be deceiving.  I don't have any pictures of the turret moving because when it's moved, the turret essentially falls apart, again, due to parts that don't properly peg together.

I really don't have much to say about this mode.  I'm happy that it actually looks like a tank.  Here he is with the G1 version.

After reading so much online about Blitzwing, I was prepared for the worst.  While not quite as bad as I had initially read, he's not as good as Springer.  I appreciate what the designers tried to do with this figure.  Creating a triple changer that has three distinct modes is hard work, I'm sure.  Blitzwing does accomplish this.  The actual execution of each mode is far from perfect.  Maybe if everything pegged together, then I'd be a little more in love with this figure.  As it is, he's just there.  I'm glad to have him in the collection, but I don't think I'll ever play with him.