The Transformers summer big-budget spectacle is nearly upon us! Which means for the next few months, when you go to the toy aisle for a Cybertronian pick-me-up, you’re going to have to get those fixes from the twisted mind of Micheal Bay.
At least for a little while, anyway.
But once the DVD release comes and goes, and maybe even before, we’ll be able to get back to the very important business of building our ranks from the rest of the Transformers mega-culture. And whether your tastes run fundamentalist G1, Beast Wars, or the chocolate-and-peanut-butter-that-is IDW, things are still looking pretty good.
And things are looking particularly good for my personal favorite team of Autobots, the patron saints of lost causes, The Wreckers.
Between the mainline Generations figures and the third-party companies, we’re actually making genuine progress toward a functional team roster. And by team roster, I mean basically a list of repeat offenders who show up between Marvel’s and IDW’s teams. Here’s where we are thus far:
Leaders
Active: Kup, Springer
Two of the most prolific team leads are currently accounted for, one of whom got one of the best figures in the Generations line. Kup also came out pretty well, but dammit if I don’t need a bigger, more Masterpiece-scaled version. If you snagged the cy-gar head from iGear, though, you’ve done okay.
MIA: Impactor
If you have the iGear version of this guy, you probably work for iGear. And I hate you. Sure, there is a kinda Impactor made from Fall of Cybertron Onslaught, but I don’t think that counts. You don’t make a badass like Impactor a repainted deluxe and call it a day.
Veterans
Active: Sandstorm, Whirl, Top Spin, Twin Twist, Perceptor, Scoop, Broadside (Semi-Active)
We’re doing well in the seasoned soldiers these days. Hasbro has delivered strong as ever in the voyager class Whirl and Sandstorm figures, and even the FoC Top Spin and Twin Twist ain’t bad in a pinch. Longshot Scoop now has a respectable deluxe figure to call his own, and while Perceptor did get a Reveal the Shield release, I’d gladly take a better one when they get around to it.
The third party guys round the options out nicely here with the Mech Ideas Demolition Crue, giving us IDW versions of the spark-brothers, and Fansproject doled out a pretty imposing Broadside.
Pending Deployment: Roadbuster
Hasbro and the third-partiers are set to bring some serious Wrecker muscle into the ranks by getting this guy on the list. My money’s on the Hasbro one, for what it’s worth.
MIA: Rack n’ Ruin
Somebody has to take this one on. It’s a rare excuse for a non-transformer!
New Recruits
Semi-Active: Pyro, Guzzle
As vital parts to the Wrecker opus Last Stand, these two have seen some limited release, with Pyro as a BotCon exclusive and Guzzle as a legends-class figure. But surely these soldiers deserve better than that.
Pending Deployment: Ironfist
Mech Ideas has rescued this particular offering from the smelting pit, and it’s good to see what looked like a solid design to be making it’s way to us, but I would still like to see something a little more substantial for this nobody-turned-heart of the team.
MIA: Rotorstorm
Oddly enough, with so many helicopter figures to choose from in the last decade, Rotorstorm hasn’t had a figure since G1. However, that same G1 figure was redone into Universe Whirl, so maybe now Whirl can return the favor…
So, like I said, not too shabby for a team that was completely bastardized in the last Bay movie, right? Let’s hope the Dinobots fare at least as well in the aftermath as these guys have because, while it ain’t easy being a Wrecker, it is a little easier to survive movie infamy when they barely grab three of your members.
Wreck n’ Rule, Bitches!
