Death's Head
02-09-11, 09:10 PM
“The Constructicons form Devastator, the most powerful robot. We should rule!”
When you get into collecting anything, - art, comics, records, fluff – over time, you’d be hard pressed to pull out a favourite. Sure, there’ll always be a rump of items that will form a core that you absolutely will not part with, but a favourite? An absolute? Couldn’t do it. No way. Every now and again, the question of top ten or top five Transformers figures crops up and I always struggle with it, but somewhere in my thoughts are these guys: The Constructicons.
Thanks to Hasbro’s big push in 1986, what are now termed the ‘Scramble City’ combiners (Bruticus, Defensor, Menasor and Superion) arrived like manna from heaven and pushed aside the displeasure at missing out on the Transformers first proper merge group. Rumours abound in the playground at the time that this was anything from too much lead in the paint to safety concerns that lead to us missing out on the Constructicons. I suspect that it was more likely something to do with Hasbro UK having to decide what would sell well in the UK and grappling with an array of product and licensing nightmares (1985’s Omega Supreme, for example, had already been released in the UK as Grandstand’s Convertors Omegatron as the mould was not the exclusive property of Hasbro). The original green and purple Constructicons did eventually see release in the UK during 1991, although anecdotal evidence suggests they weren’t widely available at retail. The following year saw a full release as part of the first of two years’ of original (and exclusive) Transformers product, but with a frustrating twist: they couldn’t combine to form Devastator.
Like a lot of characters easily available to American fans, but not to us Brits, the UK Transformers comic featured the Constructicons in fairly prominent roles, creating desire for characters that remained frustratingly out of reach. That probably goes some way to explain why I like Shockwave so much, but unlike him, the Constructicons more than lived up expectations and have become one of the favourite parts of my collection.
The Constructicons were released carded or as a giftset. I have the giftset version, which as well as featuring a decent enough picture of Devastator (although I do prefer the slightly more dramatic artwork that graced the Diaclone precursor), features nice little reduced clips of the individual characters' art. Unlike the later Special Teams, the only tech spec to feature on the reverse of the box is that of Devastator himself. A bit of a missed opportunity in my eyes, but this was still early days for Hasbro and this was their first giftset, so changes in production during the course of the line’s run are understandable. Likewise, it would have been nice to have the alternative battle scene on the back of this box that featured Devastator looming into view (although in fairness, that does look a bit like Devastator and Blitzwing have been shoe horned into it as an after thought).
Out of the box, the six Constructicons are nicely executed scale models of various heavy plant vehicles. To make the gestalt mode work, they are all out of scale to their real world counterparts. Depending on your mentality this is either going to provoke rage that this is yet another example of Transformers ‘getting it wrong’ with its fast and loose approach to scale, or you may just think (as I do) ‘Cool. The Decepticons have some land based vehicles!’ There’s no doubt that scale is an issue with Transformers, even before you get to the thought that it was originally a line culled from eight different Japanese toy lines, and yes, in some instances, it does seem daft that a Walther P-38 is larger than an F-15 Fighter Jet, but what are you going to do? Seriously, if you were a toy manufacturer, would you honestly spend many sleepless nights fretting that, really, Long Haul should really be ten times the size of the other members of his team? No.
Whilst each of the individual Constructicons are pretty static figures, in terms of looks and engineering, they still beat the various Scramble City limb-bots. There’s a real feel of quality about the toys that a lot of subsequent merge groups don’t have. They also work as individual robots too, which I really like, unlike the block headed 1986 Special Teams, which you always feel you have to make apologies for as they are simply parts of a larger whole. Each of the Constructicons has a distinct personality by virtue of their individual designs and appearance which makes them much more than the sum of their parts.
As with all merge groups, it ultimately comes down to the combined form. This is what it’s all about. Unlike the Special Teams, Devastator does rely on those extra pieces to fit together. He doesn’t clip together as easily as the Scramble City combiners and needs handling with care. Best place to start is with Long Haul, who forms the torso/hips. The lorry bends at a right angle, and his ‘wings’ slide under the back wheels and lock into place. A fair bit of force is required to get this piece in place, and it makes me wince every time. Mixmaster and Scrapper lock into the grooves on those wing parts and fit in very snugly. Hook folds in half, thanks to his cleverly engineered waist. The head module slides onto the back of the crane halves and Hook then clips on top of Long Haul. Scrapper’s wings pop onto the front of the upper torso. Although the two fit together well like Lego, this is the weakest point of Devastator’s combined form, and it’s not advisable to pick Devastator up from the top half of his body alone. Bonecrusher attaches to Hook by a connector point underneath the bulldozer and Scavenger has a flat panel that flips out from the underside of his vehicle mode and slides into a connector point on Hook.
Devastator is indeed “awesome and terrifying” as a gestalt. Awesome, because he just looks the business, with the uniform colour scheme of green and purple looking very sharp indeed, works well for merge groups having them all the same colour, no? Terrifying because he does feel very fragile – something which the 1986 merge groups do improve on. There’s not much in the way of articulation. As with most early Transformers, he can move his arms about and that’s your lot. Scavenger has a bit more clearance to move than Bonecrusher, who can’t move past the chest piece without being swung out to the side a little. As the first combiner team to emerge amongst the Transformer ranks, Devastator is nevertheless an impressively engineered bit of kit.
556557558559
When you get into collecting anything, - art, comics, records, fluff – over time, you’d be hard pressed to pull out a favourite. Sure, there’ll always be a rump of items that will form a core that you absolutely will not part with, but a favourite? An absolute? Couldn’t do it. No way. Every now and again, the question of top ten or top five Transformers figures crops up and I always struggle with it, but somewhere in my thoughts are these guys: The Constructicons.
Thanks to Hasbro’s big push in 1986, what are now termed the ‘Scramble City’ combiners (Bruticus, Defensor, Menasor and Superion) arrived like manna from heaven and pushed aside the displeasure at missing out on the Transformers first proper merge group. Rumours abound in the playground at the time that this was anything from too much lead in the paint to safety concerns that lead to us missing out on the Constructicons. I suspect that it was more likely something to do with Hasbro UK having to decide what would sell well in the UK and grappling with an array of product and licensing nightmares (1985’s Omega Supreme, for example, had already been released in the UK as Grandstand’s Convertors Omegatron as the mould was not the exclusive property of Hasbro). The original green and purple Constructicons did eventually see release in the UK during 1991, although anecdotal evidence suggests they weren’t widely available at retail. The following year saw a full release as part of the first of two years’ of original (and exclusive) Transformers product, but with a frustrating twist: they couldn’t combine to form Devastator.
Like a lot of characters easily available to American fans, but not to us Brits, the UK Transformers comic featured the Constructicons in fairly prominent roles, creating desire for characters that remained frustratingly out of reach. That probably goes some way to explain why I like Shockwave so much, but unlike him, the Constructicons more than lived up expectations and have become one of the favourite parts of my collection.
The Constructicons were released carded or as a giftset. I have the giftset version, which as well as featuring a decent enough picture of Devastator (although I do prefer the slightly more dramatic artwork that graced the Diaclone precursor), features nice little reduced clips of the individual characters' art. Unlike the later Special Teams, the only tech spec to feature on the reverse of the box is that of Devastator himself. A bit of a missed opportunity in my eyes, but this was still early days for Hasbro and this was their first giftset, so changes in production during the course of the line’s run are understandable. Likewise, it would have been nice to have the alternative battle scene on the back of this box that featured Devastator looming into view (although in fairness, that does look a bit like Devastator and Blitzwing have been shoe horned into it as an after thought).
Out of the box, the six Constructicons are nicely executed scale models of various heavy plant vehicles. To make the gestalt mode work, they are all out of scale to their real world counterparts. Depending on your mentality this is either going to provoke rage that this is yet another example of Transformers ‘getting it wrong’ with its fast and loose approach to scale, or you may just think (as I do) ‘Cool. The Decepticons have some land based vehicles!’ There’s no doubt that scale is an issue with Transformers, even before you get to the thought that it was originally a line culled from eight different Japanese toy lines, and yes, in some instances, it does seem daft that a Walther P-38 is larger than an F-15 Fighter Jet, but what are you going to do? Seriously, if you were a toy manufacturer, would you honestly spend many sleepless nights fretting that, really, Long Haul should really be ten times the size of the other members of his team? No.
Whilst each of the individual Constructicons are pretty static figures, in terms of looks and engineering, they still beat the various Scramble City limb-bots. There’s a real feel of quality about the toys that a lot of subsequent merge groups don’t have. They also work as individual robots too, which I really like, unlike the block headed 1986 Special Teams, which you always feel you have to make apologies for as they are simply parts of a larger whole. Each of the Constructicons has a distinct personality by virtue of their individual designs and appearance which makes them much more than the sum of their parts.
As with all merge groups, it ultimately comes down to the combined form. This is what it’s all about. Unlike the Special Teams, Devastator does rely on those extra pieces to fit together. He doesn’t clip together as easily as the Scramble City combiners and needs handling with care. Best place to start is with Long Haul, who forms the torso/hips. The lorry bends at a right angle, and his ‘wings’ slide under the back wheels and lock into place. A fair bit of force is required to get this piece in place, and it makes me wince every time. Mixmaster and Scrapper lock into the grooves on those wing parts and fit in very snugly. Hook folds in half, thanks to his cleverly engineered waist. The head module slides onto the back of the crane halves and Hook then clips on top of Long Haul. Scrapper’s wings pop onto the front of the upper torso. Although the two fit together well like Lego, this is the weakest point of Devastator’s combined form, and it’s not advisable to pick Devastator up from the top half of his body alone. Bonecrusher attaches to Hook by a connector point underneath the bulldozer and Scavenger has a flat panel that flips out from the underside of his vehicle mode and slides into a connector point on Hook.
Devastator is indeed “awesome and terrifying” as a gestalt. Awesome, because he just looks the business, with the uniform colour scheme of green and purple looking very sharp indeed, works well for merge groups having them all the same colour, no? Terrifying because he does feel very fragile – something which the 1986 merge groups do improve on. There’s not much in the way of articulation. As with most early Transformers, he can move his arms about and that’s your lot. Scavenger has a bit more clearance to move than Bonecrusher, who can’t move past the chest piece without being swung out to the side a little. As the first combiner team to emerge amongst the Transformer ranks, Devastator is nevertheless an impressively engineered bit of kit.
556557558559