TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

Sir Auros' review of: Spychanger Wheeljack

Name: Wheeljack
Function: Mechanical Engineer
First cartoon appearance: More than Meets the Eye
"Never do what your enemy expects you to do."

Wheeljack is a genius at combining throw-away objects into incredibly effective weapons. He is also a spectacular driver who never passes up a chance to show off his high-speed prowess. Arsenal includes a magnetic inducer shell, gyro inhibitor and and ever-changing array of new gadgets.

I was extremely surprised a few days ago when I found three of the six G1 Spychangers at my local KB Toystore because the things were rare when they first came out and I would assume even rarer now that they're apparently no longer shipping. Out of the three G1 Spychangers I could find, Wheeljack was the one I had the most interest in buying. I didn't buy a lot of the G2 Gobots or the RiD Spychangers, so this Wheeljack is my first experience with this particular mold and I have to say I'm fairly pleased with it, but it shares a few problems with the other G1 Spychangers.

Vehicle Mode:
In vehicle mode, Wheeljack does resemble his namesake roughly in shape and colors. It's far from 100% accurate, but the resemblance is apparent. The vehicle mode is a pretty sharp looking racecar and the only problem I see with it is the paint job. I have less of a problem with it not being entirely accurate (it isn't because there's too much black), but more with the fact that the paint job (on mine at least) is just shoddy. Even in the packaging, there were some visible flaws in the painting that are so bad that it almost looks like a kitbash custom paint job. It's not as bad as the robot mode's paint job and even flawed painting can't deny the coolness of having a little Wheeljack.

Robot Mode:
The robot mode is where the real flaws are with this figure. The head is hardly painted and as a result looks like a blob of white connected to the rest of the body with a visor on it. The arms are also much more loose than any of the other spychangers I have so they pretty much can't stay in the up position for any length of time without support. The arms also seem kind of frail and I worry about the figure in robot mode. Overall though, the head is what really holds the figure down and is just a ugly, ugly mess that really detracts from the figure.

Transformation: 7 - It's a spychanger, not rocket science.
Durability: 5 - The plastic feels cheap and the arms seem really fragile.
Fun: 8 - Spychangers are like Hot Wheels that transform into mediocre robots.
Price: 3 - Not worth what people are charging for them on ebay unless you're collecting and don't intend on opening the package. However, if you should actually find one in a store, the prices are very reasonable now.
Overall: 6 - Doesn't live up to the hype and can barely hold a candle to earlier spychangers.