Review #26: Reveal the Shield Windcharger
Windcharger! This was a figure that was hard to come by. Much like the previously reviewed Grapple, Wreck-Gar, Perceptor and G2 Laser Prime figures, he was part of the Reveal the Shield line... and much like those figures, he never made it to general retail in the U.S. due to that line's early cancelation to make way for the Dark of the Moon toys. All of these toys were eventually released to discount retail chains. Alas, the chain that got Windcharger was no where near where I lived, the closest one being a few states away in New Jersey. Even when my girlfriend and I were taking a day trip pilgrimage to visit the Quick Stop, the closest store to our route would have added two hours to an already lengthy drive, and we couldn't even be sure they would have Windcharger in stock. There is a limit to my fandom, and that was it.
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Fortunately, a member of one of the Transformers forums I frequent came to the rescue, said he was able to find an extra Windcharger at a store near him, and was willing to let me have one for cost plus shipping. Nice to know that there are still awesome people out there in the world!
So, was this toy worth the roundabout meathod necessary to aquire it?
Well, looking at it in vehicle mode, it is a good looking car and quite a nice "Classics" style update to the original G1 Windcharger, down to the sculpted black louver covering the back window. As part of the Reveal the Shield line, he originally didn't have a faction symbol on his hood. The rub sign currently on his rear was previously located there. I had an apropriately sized Reprolabels faction symbol, and so made use of it. Since then, Reprolabels came out with a set spicifically for Windcharger which had its own faction symbol for the hood, but I saw no need to replace the one I had already placed there. What I did get from that set, however, was improved looking headlights, tail lights, and a licence plate. A tiny bit of silver Sharpie work can be seen on his vehicle mode as well, adding an accent to his tail pipes and also very careful application to his side mirrors.
So, was this toy worth the roundabout meathod necessary to aquire it?
Well, looking at it in vehicle mode, it is a good looking car and quite a nice "Classics" style update to the original G1 Windcharger, down to the sculpted black louver covering the back window. As part of the Reveal the Shield line, he originally didn't have a faction symbol on his hood. The rub sign currently on his rear was previously located there. I had an apropriately sized Reprolabels faction symbol, and so made use of it. Since then, Reprolabels came out with a set spicifically for Windcharger which had its own faction symbol for the hood, but I saw no need to replace the one I had already placed there. What I did get from that set, however, was improved looking headlights, tail lights, and a licence plate. A tiny bit of silver Sharpie work can be seen on his vehicle mode as well, adding an accent to his tail pipes and also very careful application to his side mirrors.
Now we move onto robot mode!
In this mode, Windcharger does look somewhat different from his G1 self. In the old days, his upper body was just the underside of his car, and his animation model was based on that. So this Windcharger does look a bit different sporting a somewhat standart hood chest, but that does not make him look bad. Also, he does trump his G1 toy in that this incarnation of him actually has a face, something the original lacked! (His animation model did have a face, and this toy's face is based on that.) His lower body looks rather spot on to the original toy, with the louver becoming the front of the legs. It is a nice, satisfying transformation that gives you a well proportioned robot. Windcharger is a scout class figure, which is the size below deluxe. And, of course, the smaller the scale the lower the expectations reguarding articulation. This figure exceeds those expectations wonderfully. He has ball joints for his neck, shoulders, elbows, and hips allowing for a wide range of movement. The knees are a hinge that can bend the leg almost completely back on itself, and finally the ankles have ball joints. The only thing missing is a waist joint, but even if this wasn't a small enough figure for me to not get upset at that omission, I would forgive it as his transformation would make such a joint difficult to include. |
If you want to arm Windcharger, you have two options. First, on each arm he has a bar that can accomidate 3mm clip weapons, so if you have other figures that have them Windcharger can borrow them. Or... you can just fold his hand into his arm which pushes out to replace his hand a small gray cannon. Figures below Deluxe class often don't come with any weaponry, so Windcharger having these built in cannons is a very nice touch.
Reprolabels supplied tiny little stickers that you could use to detail the muzzle. There were two options, red or blue. I thought since Windcharger was already a predominantly red figure, I went with the blue option. (The red option could be better for Wipe-Out, a Decepticon recolour of this mold that was included with Windcharger as a two pack for his Japanese release. Reprolabel's sticker set for Windcharger included a few other stickers that were definitely for Wipe-Out for those who had him, and given Windcharger's scarcity, for some people importing him is actually an easier option then getting an over priced second hand domestic version.) |
And here we are with the size comparison photo!
My final thoughts: this is an excellent figure that I would happily recomend to everyone... if you can find it for a decent price. Alas, since Hasbro dropped the ball on giving this fellow a wide release, he can be quite difficult to come by for anything aproaching a decent price. (Thanks very much to tformers.com forum member fuzzyprime for helping me get around all of that!) But this is a great figure, and an update of one of the original 1984 Autobots, so any Classics collector would be remiss to not have him in their collection! Review added 15 May 2012 by Yotsuya. Please comment! |