#73: Transformers Generations - Wheeljack

During the transition from the Generations/ Reveal the Shield/whatever Transformers lines to the movie line, the last wave of toys inevitably got lost in the shuffle. In some areas it's been available for months, while in others it hasn't shown up at all. Since there were a couple figures from the last Generations wave that I wanted, naturally they were nowhere to be found. Fortunately, I have been fairly obsessive about checking Hasbrotoyshop.com frequently in case they showed up in stock again. After a while, Wheeljack finally showed up. Mainly I wanted him because he was a prominent G1 character. He is pretty distinctive in that he has a covered mouth like Optimus Prime, and the two flashing lights on the side of his head. I'm not sure what their purpose was other than to visually demonstrate that he was speaking, but they look cool and are very memorable. Also, he created the Dinobots! One of the recent trends of Transformers toys has been engineering vehicle modes to be changed into two slightly different robots with some modifications between molds. So this version of Wheeljack is the twin of Tracks. Basically, his legs are shorter and face the other direction.

His vehicle mode is cool, and looks very sporty. With the green, white, and red color scheme the Italian flag comes to mind. Bot mode is pretty solid too. His legs are retooled to not extend as far as Tracks, so their lack of length combined with their width make him look a bit stumpy. There are three accessories, one gun, and two guns/tools. The instructions show them in the positions pictured, but they are all attachable by the little c-clamps so they can be moved around. So the gun can be mounted over the shoulder for the proper G1 look. The other tools when mounted on the shoulders look like guns, but when held in the hands look more like giant robo wrenches. In addition to being held in the hands, they can be mounted in the backside of the legs, like holsters. Neat! I'd say Wheeljack is a solid toy, and if you're able to find one, definitely worth picking up. Maybe the final wave he's a part of will start showing up more plentifully, but you may have to go the online route to find one.