Autobot "Mini-bots"

Vintage G1 Mini Bots
Autobots from left to right - Windcharger, Outback, Pipes, Wheelie,

Powerglide, Gears, Beachcomber, Warpath and Brawn

These Transformers are part of the Japanese Microman/MicroChange line released 1983.

Below I have detailed shots of my favorite mini-bots

Autobot Windcharger

This was the one that started it all for me, my first Transformer. As a red sports car I can see why this guy would appeal to a boy. I really don't remember too much about the ramp up to the release of the first Transformers toys, but I picked this up in a small toy store like KB in the mall in 84' I guess.

Windchargers alt mode is a 80's Pontiac Trans Am, well a very distorted and bloated one. They were pretty popular "cool" cars at the time, but now people don't think too much of them. Thankfully he was reborn as a Honda S 2000 for the Alternators line.

Autobot Powerglide

For a mini bot Powerglide makes a cool robot, if only they had the ability at the time to give him separating feet. Still, his arms have a lot of pose ability, the head rotates and proportions are nice. Transformation is very different from most other mini bots where the arms just pop out and legs flip down. The way the wings fold up to the body and the arms come out is cool.

The A-10 Thunderbolt is one of my favorite warplanes, it's so different looking and full of bad ass-ness! The mould has great details in alt mode, the big nose cannon is well represented.

Autobot Warpath

Warpath is one of the bots that suffers from a weak robot mode, but his tank mode is very cool. I allways did like how his head flips up from the turret.

Warpath is a M551 Sheridan light tank, and he looks great in this mode. The turret rotates all the way around, and even the simple use of color works well.

"Bonus pic"
Autobot Outback doing the robot, lol!

Decepticon Ravage

Revenge of the Fallen Ravage

This toy is a new release I picked up recently, I don't normally put up the newer stuff as so many other people are doing it and I want to focus on my vintage toys. This figure is unique though with its design as a non-human robot, also I think the toy is pretty fateful to the movie design. Ravage was just so awesome in the movie - and this toy is one of the best of the ROTF line.

The robot mode is cool, paint apps and use of plastics colors are nice. Articulation is good, and the pop out neck/open up jaw gimmick doesn't bother me. Unfortunately the alt mode sucks so there are no pics of that here.

Classics Inferno

Classics voyager class Inferno

Autobot Inferno

Vintage G1 Inferno

Today I'm uploading one of my last original "Car Robo" style Transformers, Inferno. I do have a couple reissues and many more G1 Transformers to add, so I have plenty to still do. These early type of Transformers are really my favorite, Inferno is a worthy figure to kind of cap things off.

For what must have been a deluxe size figure he's big, has a ton of detail, chrome, rubber tires, basically everything cool about the original Japanese line shows up here. Diecast only shows up in the feet but with everything else they put into Inferno you wouldn't care. He really seems to be a more expensive Transformer compared to the other Autobots but I don't think that was the case.

Inferno has a simple but neat transformation, which gives him nice arm articulation. His body is well proportioned but the lower half only moves at the feet as part of the truck mode. Each of his forearms contains a spring-loaded missile launcher, so he can fire his own fists or silver missiles. The white "wing" nozzles are separate parts you attach after the transform, like the fists, but I really like the extra details these parts add so I don't mind that. In many ways he is like another Optimus Prime, only with less metal.



Inferno transforms into a Mitsubishi Fuso firetruck. Truck mode still looks great even today.


The ladder is fully extendable, pulling out into 3 sections. I remember this toy being fun to play with, and even took him to a park/picnic the day I got him. Thankfully no damage or loss of parts occurred.

Autobot Smokescreen

Alternators Smokescreen

Smokescreen is a good example of an Alternator, and one of my favorites. The Transform is fun and relatively easy to get back into a nice tight car mode. All the graphics, detailed lighting and rubber wheels make him look like you spend far more than 20$. Of course now a days they tend to go for 2 to 3 times as much, a few sell for even more. Unfortunately this line was canceled around the time the first Transformers live action movie came out. They didn't want so many lines competing with each other, and today they would have a hard time making these for a 20$ price point. A least the "Classics" line will return to give fans realistic G1 inspired toys. It is great time to be a Transformers fan.

Yes, car mode is pretty hot!

Alternators have great detail, with seats, dashes, shifters, as well as opening doors, hoods and sometimes even trunks. All 4 of Smokescreens door open, truly Alternators are adult collectables with everything they put into them. Transformations on Alternators are often complex but not usually too hard, the problem is things like doors and hoods may be very difficult to line back up.

Here I've armed him with some military spec weapons. This has been done before by others but I have always wanted to get some guns and arm a bot up myself. I happened upon a set of guns at Toys R'Us on clearance so here we go.

Ready to take on some Con's.

Gundam Xamel

YMS-16M Xamel

Taking a break from Transformers, we have today a Gundam from "Gundam 0083 - Stardust Memory" Bandi 2003. This toy is a US release and was bought on clearance, these toys didn't sell to well here but I picked up all I could. These Gundams are composed of a nice almost rubbery plastic and have great paint and details. Articulation is high with these figures, they are like pre assembled models which is great for me as I'm too busy/lazy for model building. I love these Gundams, I think I have about 10 total.

From GundamOfficial.com - "This unusual mobile suit is a prototype left over from the One Year War, and employed by renegade Zeons during their attack on the Federation's Torrington base. The Xamel is essentially a mobile gun platform, able to hover at high speeds thanks to the jet engines housed in its legs and skirt armor. Its tandem cockpit houses two people - a pilot to operate the mobile suit itself, and a gunner to fire its massive long-range cannon. While the Xamel is virtually helpless in close combat, it proves supremely effective at long-range bombardment."

Baby got back! The rear hover cannon part clips off and gives more mobility, but as far as the Gundam show I don't think they ever showed it that way.

Ready...Aim...

FIRE!!!

Autobots Rewind and Steeljaw

Vintage G1 Rewind and Steeljaw

Here we have my other 2 mini cassette transformers, and these went with my Blaster figure (who is the Autobots tape deck). I never had Decepticon Soundwave, my brother did I think, but I always liked Blasters character from the Transformers animated movie. Steeljaw (the yellow lion) is defiantly the coolest one out of this set, and to me the best Autobot tape. Something about the robot mode Rewind never looked right to me, he looks kind of cheap with his lack of detail, diecast or anything cool really. The Soundwave's older tape robots (Rumble and Frenzy) were way cooler than Blasters.



In trying to research these toys a bit I found little info, except that the gold chromed weapons were the earliest and actually rare variants. I never knew they didn't come in gold, but they definitely look better in gold.

Steeljaw's transformation is nice, although being a cassette tape former he is very thin. There are nice details moulded in the "lion" side and he is very well proportioned. The legs are metal which is a nice contrast to the yellow plastic and gold gun packs. A strange thing I never noticed is on the "tape" side the graphic maine is flipped on the wrong side, if you flip over the tape to the lion side the colored maine is on Steeljaws back end.


With regard to Rewind, well there is not much to say about him. There is some nice articulation in the legs but over all this guy is pretty dull. The arms are bad, the head has little detail, he does have some nice shiny guns though.