From Newsgroup: alt.toys.transformers

Dave's Transformers Cyberworld Rant: Cyber Changers wave 2

Starscream (jet)
Wheeljack (sportscar)
Elita-1 (speedboat)

Also in the wave but not reviewed is off-road Bumblebee.

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/CW/Changer2

$10 price point, consider them all somewhere between mildly recommended and very mildly recommended, other than Bumblebee who I recommend skipping
like I did. :) Rather than do full reviews this time, since there's not a
lot of variation in the toys, I'm going to do something more like extended capsules. They're all about the same height, none come with accessories but they have at least a few 5mm sockets for borrowed upgrades, and none of them have elbow joints. And all three of the ones I got have very stiff ball
joints for the shoulders that feel like they'd rather pop off than turn.
Bumblebee is Desert zone.


DECEPTICON: STARSCREAM
Zone: City
Altmode: Jet
Transformation Difficulty: 4 steps
Package Cosells: Bumblebee, Elita-1

Fairly close to the animation model, the jet mode is a weird
forward-swept wing deal so that the wings can be angled upwards in robot mode without needing to add joints to move them around. There's 5mm sockets in
the fists, on the forearm outer surfaces, and the center of the back which
ends up the center of the top in vehicle mode.
Transformation is semi-automorph. Peg the boots together, grab the
wings and shove the legs upwards. Then fold the nosecone the remaining 90 degrees up and tab the arms to the sides. Do not try to pull the nose up first, it's hard to get a grip on anyway.
It can do a gerwalk mode, more or less.
Walmart exclusive Mirage is a headswap redeco of this mold. I doubt
I'll pick one up, this mold isn't good enough that I want multiples.


AUTOBOT: WHEELJACK
Zone: City
Altmode: Sportscar
Transformation Difficulty: 2 steps
Package Cosells: Bumblebee and Elita-1 again.

This is as Wheeljack looked in his flashback (and as he might look again later, but he doesn't have the bodged-together arm with P4B10 on it in Cybertronian for this toy).
Transformation is more like a bunch of steps that have to happen all at once as you squeeze the parts together. You start by shoving the legs up and lifting the chest, but then the arms need to be squeezed together before
you're done lifting the chest, sort of an all-together motion. Going back to robot mode starts with pulling the arms out, which can be kinda difficult.
He has the same fists/forearms/back 5mm ports as Starscream, but the
ones on the forearms are more accessible in vehicle mode. Additionally, the rear window-ish area on the butt has a 3mm socket, which is unusual for this line.
While there's no actual connectors, the shape of the feet does let the robot mode stand atop Elita-1's boat mode fairly stably for the surfing
action seen in Wheeljack's flashback episode of the cartoon.

AUTOBOT: ELITA-1
Zone: Water
Altmode: Speedboat
Transformation Difficulty: 3 steps
Package Cosells: Starscream and...wait for it...Bumblebee.

Made of deep coral and pale light orange plastic, with paint that's
mostly white or bright yellow. Okay, the shoulder roots and some internal mechanisms are white plastic. My guess is that she got to be a boat because they wanted someone on each side to specialize in the water environment, and
of the Usual Suspects characters she's the least strongly tied to any particular altmode. Given some of the shapes on the shoulders, I suspect
she's meant to be a hydrofoil. They cleverly took the spring-loaded joint
for the front of the deck and molded it as a winch with a tiny hook...it
almost makes up for the rear deck being totally hollow since it's the backs
of the boots. Same five 5mm ports as Starscream, and the forearm ones do end up on the sides of the hull. There's an unpainted fake cockpit on her chest, and a painted yellow real one on her back and butt.
Transformation involves pegging the boots together, holding the front
deck bit up behind the head, and then smooshing everything together. This locks the deck piece between the shoulderpads and slides a panel up over her face. On the off chance anyone actually wanted to put in the effort to make gap-fillers for the boots, the fillers wouldn't get in the way of anything. (Gap-fillers for the arms would need to leave some gaps however.) Pulling
the legs down automorphs the figure back to robot mode.
We're unlikely to get a better toy of this version of Elita-1 unless Studio Series really scrapes the bottom of the barrel in a few years, making this a curiosity worthy picking up even if you've otherwise avoided
Cyberworld.


Dave Van Domelen, now to do the Armored Cyber Changers, then back to reviewing figures with elbows.

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