Dave's Transformers Legacy Rant: Origin Wheeljack

Origin Wheeljack (Cybertronian van)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Legacy/OriginWheeljack

Rest in peace, Buzzworthy Bumblebee. Target has retired the subline and
not replaced it with anything else, so there's nothing on the box to indicate
that this is a Target exclusiv just like Origin Bumblebee and Origin Jazz.

CAPSULE

$35 at Target.

Origin Wheeljack: Wheeljack wearing a half a house on his back and a
toolchest wrapped around each boot turns into a credible version of the MtMtE
Cybertronian vehicle mode he sported for maybe a minute on screen. Works way
better than it deserves to. Recommended.

RANT

Packaging: Standard Legacy United Voyager box, although it's using the
thinner cardstock of Evolution rather than the corrugated cardboard seen on
Thundertron or Animated Universe Optimus Prime.
In addition to the usual two modes on the back, there's insets showing
the attachment of the shield chunk Wheeljack used briefly in MtMtE part 1,
and another showing how Origin Bumblebee can kinda fit in back of van mode if
you fold up his wings.

AUTOBOT: ORIGIN WHEELJACK
Assortment: F9688
Altmode: Cybertronian Van
Transformation Difficulty: 32 steps
Previous Name Use: None with epithet
Previous Mold Use: None
Function: Inventor
Origin Universe: G1

Packaging: The plastic ties are a little tricky, because one attaches in
back to keep the huge backpack panels from flopping around. Four more are on
the upper body, and a double tie is across the shins. One tie holds the
energy shield to the left side of the inner tray, a single tie holds the
pistol in the lower left, and a combination of a single tie and holes through
the tray hold in his bumper-mounted weapons.
It has the left side of this year's diptych, but since there probably
won't be any other Voyagers with thin cardstock boxes, we probably won't see
a compatible right half.

Robot Mode: One problem with turning this briefly seen Cybertronian form
into a toy is that they didn't really design a Cybertronian robot mode for
him (or Bumblebee, for that matter). So, you have to make the robot look
like it could turn into a racecar, while it actually turns into a boxy van
that can hold Bumblebee inside. This means a LOT of kibble, especially if
you attach the energy shield pieces. It IS possible for him to stand up
straight without falling over backwards, but you need to be careful. It's
not just a huge backpack, though, the Rick Dom called and suggested
Wheeljack's boots were a bit too big. These aren't bellbottoms, they're
belltower bottoms. The result is basically a Deluxe sized robot with enough
stuff on its back and boots to make a Voyager sized vehicle. Generally
pretty stable, although the forearm panels don't really lock in place so much
as the tabs rest in [-shaped partial sockets.
Not kidding about the size, robot mode is 5" (12.5cm) tall. If you have
the energy shield attached as wings, he has a wingspan of 6.75" (17cm).
Mostly white and medium-dark gray with a splash of kelly green and red on a
clear seafoam green fake windshield chestplate. Medium-dark gray plastic is
used for the back of the head, the torso core, the arms except for the
shoulderpads, the pelvis, the hips, the thighs, the knees, and some internal
hinge bits. Clear light seafoam green plastic is used for the chestplate
(fake roof and windshield), the gun, the emitter accessories, and some panels
in the backpack and boots. The energy shield wings are made of clear dark
blue plastic. The rest, including the front of the head and the big
sandwiched between the chestplate and the torso core, is made of white
plastic. The head's molding suggests lightpiping was an option, but they
didn't opt for clear plastic on the back half, as usual.
The front of the head is painted medium-dark gray in a good match for
the plastic, with the "ninja mask," triple mohawk, and ears painted silver.
The emitter weapons are painted silver except for their sockets, while the
gun is painted silver except for its grip and the muzzle stud. The eyes are
painted medium gloss blue. The fake roof on the chest is painted gloss white
with green and red details in the pattern of the animation design, an Autobot
symbol printed in the middle of the white part. The rest of the paint apps
are mostly or fully hidden in the kibble packs. There's no paint on the
white winglets (generally gray or gray-for-silver in animation, clear smoky
green on the G1 toy).
Wheeljack's neck is a ball and socket joint with the socket inside the
head (probably best that it's NOT clear plastic, then), the waist is a smooth
swivel. The little winglets are technically on swivels, but they need to be
in a specific position to keep the backpack stable. Pinned hinge and swivel
shoulders, bicep swivels, hinge elbows that can bend 90 degrees, wrist
swivels. The hips do that thing where the right and left thirds of the
pelvis are the hip joints as a compromise between Sunbow designs and needing
to actually move the legs, pin and swivel joints. There's upper thigh
swivels, hinge knees, and the ankles are forwards/backwards hinges at the top
of the strut and a ball and socket joint with the socket in the foot, not
only giving them good range of motion but also letting you slide them all the
way back to give more stability to the huge backpack.
The hands can hold 5mm pegs, there's 5mm sockets on the outer faces of
the forearms, one on the top of the torso to the right of the head (so the
gun can be a shoulder-mount), and one under each heel. If you remove the
energy shield wings, there's a 5mm socket where the gun can be stowed, but it
won't fit under the wings. There's also a 3mm socket below that 5mm socket,
in addition to the one on the back of the pelvis. There's 3mm studs on the
underside of each forearm, pointed at an odd angle that works in vehicle
mode, and two more 3mm studs on the backpack behind the energy shield. These
are for storage of the emitters, which can stay there under the shield
piece.
The things I've been calling emitters are what Wheeljack uses to "cut"
through Hotlink's wall of flame in More than Meets the Eye part 1, so MAYBE
they just rotate really fast and blow the flame out, but they look more like
they're some kind of mad science energy emitters that nullify flames or
something, so I'm going to keep calling them emitters. Each looks like a 7
toothed gear with a point sticking out in the middle, 13mm (about half an
inch) in diameter. They attach via a 3mm socket in the back, but the collar
around the socket is a little over 6mm (1/4 inch) in diameter so they can't
plug into a 5mm socket. The instructions do show one being placed on the tip
of the gun, reinforcing the idea it's a mad science energy emitter.
The gun sort of splits the difference between the various inconsistent
designs from G1 for Wheeljack's shoulder cannon, while also looking kind of
like a generic Autobot pistol. 35mm (just under 1.5") long, made of a single
piece of clear seafoam green plastic painted mostly silver. The grip is a
short 5mm peg, but since the peg is almost at the very back of the gun
Wheeljack has no trouble holding it in his fist. The muzzle tip is a 3mm
stud.

Semi-Documented Feature: While the instructions do have the usual "how
to assemble the robot mode the first time" steps, they do not include the
fact that you have to take the shield piece apart and reassemble it
differently before it can go on the robot's back. They DO show that the
packaging-mode version of the shield can be used as a section of roadbed, but
that's at the very end of the instructions. I suspect the instructions
assumed that the shield piece would ship in the shield configuration rather
than the road configuration. The pieces don't just change connectors, they
have to change sides...and getting them apart can come uncomfortably close to
feeling like I'm just going to break them entirely. So many stress marks
already. Not to mention pain in my fingers from the snapping force needed.
Finally figured out the optimal way to do it, hold onto a side piece and push
down HARD on the hinge part of the center piece. But only from one side, the
other won't work. See below for more on the shield mode and roadbed.

Transformation: So many panels to fold, many of the joints are just
snap-on and will snap right off again. The arms fold up to become the front
end (and getting them both oriented correctly was as much luck as skill),
while almost everything else is just thin panels snapping together. The
robot chest actually unfolds so that it's not too thick underneath and also
provides a level raised surface on the bottom to let the vehicle mode fake
being a hovercraft. The gun goes on the roof, while the emitter things are
removed from inside the backpack and go on the front bumper.
Generally speaking, the windshield and roof come from the backpack,
while the rear and sides are the boots. The clear chunk detaches from the
back and folds back on as the shield, it cannot be left on during
transformation since the tabs it attaches to need to attach to something else
in vehicle mode.
Going back to robot mode is fairly easy, because while there's so very
much folding on the boots it's pretty intuitive and there's tabs to hold
stuff together. About the only tabs that aren't as solid as I'd like are the
ones holding the chest to the upper torso. Note, alignment of the winglets
is important, since they have slots that receive a backpack tab.
I suspect part of what brings this up to a Voyager price is that there's
SO MANY pinned joints involved in the transformation. They aren't all
pinned, but most of the ones that feel like they might be suspectible to
popping during transformation have pins. This does have the side effect of
making difficult to remove all of the kibble and have most of a vehicle mode
next to the robot mode. :)