Generations Power of the Primes Windcharger
Windcharger started life as a Microchange MC04 Mini CAR Robo 06 Trans Am and I've been rather fond of him ever since I acquired my first one, a Joustra Trans Am - see TF1.com for more on Joustra Transformers - from a pop up shop in Kingston in 1986 alongside his fellow minibot Gears. He's appeared more regularly the last few years than most Transformer characters outside of the big names: in 2011 he was a Reveal The Shield basic: this was during Generations "redesign the classics" phase so although he has the right legs his chest is a "fold the car front over the head" job. He's the only minibot done in that size, although which was cancelled just after depriving western fans of the new Demolition Rumble and a couple of repaints, Downshift & Bodyblock. In 2015 Windcharger turned up again as a Combiner Wars Legend repaint of the previous year's Tailgate. The chest is better this time but because Tailgate is modelled on his More than Meets the Eye design, the distinctive legs are now wrong! So you could argue that Windcharger was a Minibot who needed a redo, though perhaps not ahead of Huffer, Pipes & Cliffjumper who've only had one modern Legends sized version so far.In robot mode the new Windcharger feels a bit of a chunky chap which doesn't rally suit him. Everything is the right colour in the right place, but the proportions are a bit off, too wide arms, too short upper legs, too small a head. The head looks very odd and I think that's down to it missing the rim that's generally surrounding the tops & sides of the face. The head is also set a little bit too far back and once you get high enough to see how far back it is a lot of space between the back and front of the toy is revealed.
Articulation: head turns. Shoulders raise at the body and are ball jointed at the arms. also ball jointed are the elbows & hips and the knees bend. 5mm fist holes, which look too large for him, enable him to hold weapons but the Prime Master Decoy Suits in weapons mode are way, way too big for him.
Transformation: Straighten the arms to the sides. Pull the back panel out of where it's tabbed into his backside. There's two hinges where the neck meets the body: in robot mode the body side is bent and the neck side straight. You want to reverse that by straightening the body hinge and bending the neck hinge, raising the neck up but bringing the head closer the front of the body. Fold the back panel, the car front, up over the head. Swing the top of the arms up, under the bonnet, bringing the arms into the sides of the vehicle. Unfold the heel spurs under the foot to become the car roof & windscreen then swing the lower legs back 180° at the knee to become the rear of the car allowing you to tab the front window into place.
This last step is an ideal point to sit a Titanmaster or Primemaster in the car's driving seat because you'll need to fold back the top of the car to do it later, a bit like how the same feature was accessed on Titans Return Bumblebee. Slightly annoying. Among the Titanmaster compatible Minibots Brawn is still the winner for ease of accessibility for a minifigure driver.
Windcharger's car mode looks decent enough. A little high off the ground, maybe, and yes you can see the chest hanging down under the car from the side, but you could put that down to the car's undercarriage hanging low. I can get the smoked clear panels in the roof are meant to be evoking sunroof but the odd design, with a rim only halfway down he door side, is distracting me. Those pieces might have been better in solid red plastic.
The most cartoon accurate Windcharger yet. Nothing really wrong with it at all and it's only a few subtle tweaks that would make it any better.
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