Get in the damn robot!

Rescue Bot Heatwave [Age of the Primes/Voyager Class]

In Generations, there’s been an attempt to take Transformers from various series and essentially give them a more traditional-looking bot design. Rescue Bots, being a show aimed at preschool-aged kids, originally had some extremely cute and chonky toys—perfectly sized for small hands. Well, just like Chase and Medix (I’ll eventually make a post about him), Heatwave has now found himself worked into mainline Transformers.

Heatwave is one of the more popular Rescue Bots, and he’s popped up in various other Transformers media over the years. I’m particularly fond of his role in Transformers Angry Birds… I really liked that game. I even won a Halloween tournament in it one night while watching a marathon of the various versions of Disney’s Halloween Treat and handing out candy to kids. Good times.

This new figure of Heatwave is pretty great, and it does something I’ve wanted for a few years now. You see, it’s a retool of the Legacy Bulkhead mold from a few years back. That Bulkhead was one of the first examples of characters from series with very specific visual aesthetics being given a more traditional Generations look. I really liked that Bulkhead (don’t think I ever covered him here), and I kept hoping they’d use that mold for other truck-based characters. It just felt like a good, big, utilitarian truck-guy base. I didn’t anticipate Heatwave being made from it, since the previous reuses were all characters from the same Prime series Bulkhead came from-but honestly, it’s perfect for Heatwave.

Now… when Heatwave was first introduced in Rescue Bots, I was a little sad they didn’t call him Rescue Roy. Rescue Roy was another toy aimed at younger kids from the early 2000s that I missed out on due to making “responsible financial decisions” (dammit) and focusing my Transformers budget on Robots in Disguise (2001). Heatwave always kind of looked like Rescue Roy to me, and in this toy that resemblance is even stronger. In a lot of ways, this feels like my spiritual Rescue Roy.

That aside, on its own this is just a really cool Transformers toy. The base mold is pleasantly big and chonky. With the new parts, what was once a military truck is now a genuinely solid fire truck. All of Heatwave’s signature visual cues carry over nicely, resulting in a figure that could almost fool someone into thinking it was an all-new mold.

Heatwave is nicely articulated and transforms fairly easily. There are a few fiddly bits that took me a little extra effort, but nothing major. Thankfully, he’s not one of those Transformers with Lament Configuration–level transformations. I’m pretty sure I summoned the Cenobites more than once during the Revenge of the Fallen toy line. For me, the sticking points were getting the arms to fold correctly into the cab and lining up the legs just right. If you get it wrong, the truck ends up uneven—like the remains after Wile E. Coyote dropped a boulder on it.

There’s a new ladder piece that looks great, but it does need to be removed during transformation. It pegs nicely onto Heatwave’s back in robot mode and attaches to the back of the truck in vehicle mode a bit differently. It looks like it should just rearrange from its backpack position, and technically it can, but it’s not quite an exact fit.

I don’t remember this being an issue with Bulkhead, but it’s very easy to accidentally remove Heatwave’s arms. They’re on simple shoulder pegs, and it’s surprisingly easy to slide them off while transforming, so just be mindful of that. He comes with some neat new weapons too: a water cannon and his Energize Energy Axe, both cast in a really nice translucent blue. I like translucent colors—they just look good. Both weapons can store on the sides of the vehicle mode, which is something I usually appreciate. Not all the time, but there’s just something about a vehicle covered in gear… you know?

It’s actually kind of remarkable how closely the vehicle mode resembles Heatwave’s Rescue Bots alt mode. I’d almost swear this was planned during Bulkhead’s original design process—but even if it wasn’t, it’s really well done. I was genuinely happy to unwrap Heatwave on Christmas morning as one of the presents from the Mrs. He’s a fun, well-executed Transformer, and if you didn’t know better, you’d swear he was an original mold—which says a lot, considering how noticeable retools usually are.

There’s just something deeply satisfying about a big, chonky robot fire truck.

SEGA GENESIS w/Sonic The Hedgehog (Part 1) [Console Heroes/SEGA Genesis]

Our look at the Console Heroes SEGA Genesis line is winding down… but it’s going out with a bang. The final set in the initial series is a BIG box absolutely packed with Genesis goodies. The SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive console itself is here-because of course you need a console to play all these great games-and just like consoles back in the day, it comes with a game!

Since this set is pretty big, I’m splitting it into two parts: this week and next week. We’re starting with the game most people remember coming with their Genesis. I know, I know-some of you got Altered Beast or Streets of Rage… but work with me here-Sonic the Hedgehog. There’s a reason I went a little out of order with the Sonic games.

As you’d expect by now, Sonic in cartridge form is a well-done (and slightly larger) replica of the original cart, complete with reproduced artwork. When opened, it reveals a nicely sculpted recreation of one of the game’s subterranean sections. You’ll have to pardon my brain fart on exactly which specific zone it’s meant to represent. There are some great vines and little spikes included that decorate the background and complete the look. No matter how many Sonic games I play, those damn spikes still get me.

Figure-wise, we get a repeat of the Sonic figure from the Sonic 2 cartridge, which at this point feels fair-and frankly, justified. There’s also one of those clear rod doohickeys… do those even have an official name? The clear rod doohickey is used to suspend the also-included Dr. Robotnik/Eggman in midair as he flies around in his signature Eggmobile. I completely geeked out over this figure, because I’ve always loved the image of Robotnik swooping in at the end of a level in his little pod.

All told, this is a great little diorama that pairs perfectly with the big tamale playset diorama we’ll be getting to next week. It’s been a blast covering this series, and our final item-at least until they hopefully make more-is going to end things with style. The Genesis “Supervillain Bundle” is truly something to behold. Make sure to come back next week for part two of Blast Processing!

Optimus Primal Robot [Classic Class]

During Christmas last year, the beast mode companion to today’s post played the narrator in our Christmas Carol production. That’s ironic, because the robot mode kit of that same guy was one of the presents the Mrs. got me for Christmas. A neat bit of synchronicity, and a much-appreciated gift. These larger Blokees model kits are an absolute pleasure, and I really like having a small pile of them waiting in my backlog.

Optimus Primal’s robot mode wasn’t seen much in Rise of the Beasts, which honestly makes today’s kit even more fun. It lets us get a better look at the Maximal leader. Frankly, his robot mode isn’t all that dissimilar from his classic gorilla design. It’s a little more techno-organic, a little more live-action movie dark and gritty, but it’s mostly classic Optimus Primal. Really, a simple repaint in classic colors and he’d make a solid, ultra-serious update of the original toy. And yeah, I’m into that.

Building this kit was fun, though slightly more challenging than some of the other larger Blokees kits I’ve put together. There are a few smaller parts that took a moment to get just right — specifically a set of pins that insert into his knees to hold everything together. It’s not hard, exactly… but I’ve got big fingers. It was just awkward enough that my bent tweezers didn’t really help either. The first one took a few tries. The second went right in. I guess my fingers retained a little muscle memory.

His shoulders were a little odd as well. They use the normal jointing you expect from a Blokees kit - actually, like the Megatron we talked about a few weeks ago, he’s got the upper torso of a Shining Version at his core. That said, my Primal’s upper arms didn’t want to stay connected at first. I’d snap them on and they’d pop right back off. After a few cycles of snapping them on, them popping off, me cussing, and putting them back on, they finally stayed put. Weird, but fine. Blokees kits are made from a pleasantly softer material than a lot of other model kits, so I’m guessing the joint stretched just enough after a few tries.

Once assembled, Optimus Primal is a solid robot mode figure loaded with articulation. He shares the mostly inky black color scheme of his beast mode kit, but there’s silver detailing here and there, along with green glowing parts like his eyes and the Maximal symbol on his chest. My copy’s battery was apparently dead, so I’ll swap that out eventually. CVS keeps sending me those $4–$5 off coupons, so I’ll probably score one cheap… maybe even free.

Optimus comes with two alternate faces. One has the mouthplate like the one I’m using in the photos, and the other has the plate open enough to show his mouth, just like in the original cartoon. You can swap them out anytime, and combined with his articulation and the choice between open hands or closed fists, you can get a surprisingly expressive Optimus.

He also comes with the twin scimitars that his first two toys had. In the movie, he mostly wielded them combined as a double blade, so you might have thought he had a spear - but nope, they split apart and can be used individually. I’ve always really liked these swords, so of course this makes me a little giddy. As usual, there’s an included display stand with whooshing energy effects. Those work great in a display case, though they’re a little less practical around the base.

This is a great kit of Optimus Primal, just like the beast mode version was. And really… that’s just Prime.