If only he were a bad toy so I could call him “Thurston Howell the Turd.”
on November 30, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Redface is all the rage this year.
Reveal the Shield Tracks is kind of insane. He’s insane in a way I don’t think I’ll be able to express fully until his retool comes out, but I’ll give it some lip service here, because it’s on my mind.
Much like Universe Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, Reveal the Shield Tracks’s toy is intended to eventually do double duty as Wheeljack. What’s different this time, though, is the severity of changes between the two toys. The only difference between Sunstreaker and Sideswipe was a headswap and rotating the waist 180 degrees. From what we’ve seen of Wheeljack’s toy in promotional photography, though, shows stuff that blows that out of the water. It’s crazy. I told you, it’s insane.
Hasbro photo of Wheeljack. Note the new head, wings, wrenches, feet, and shins with fold-down wheels.
Back in 1984/5, Tracks and Wheeljack were two totally different molds that were entirely unrelated to each other. They transformed pretty similarly, with both getting the roof-chest, hood-legs treatment, plus they both had wings. It seems like a smart move to make the new Wheeljack the same guy as the new Tracks, but with a new head and a twist of the waist during transformation. But, like, holy cow. The number of new parts we’re getting on Wheeljack is crazy. He’s got a new front bumper, a new spoiler, he gets wrenches instead of missiles, different wingtips, and the super-crazy part is the entirely new robot shins. Why are they new? I dunno! The robot parts of the shins end up on the back of Wheeljack’s robot legs, so you don’t even see them! But apparently it’s just that important to make it so that Wheeljack’s front wheels can fold down by his heels where they were on the original toy.
The old flame deco was so last millennium.
Anyway, enough about the toy that Tracks isn’t. It’s a hard subject to avoid, since it informs a lot of my feelings about him. So much about him is just there to be Wheeljack later. He has Wheeljack’s stumpier proportions, for example. The original Tracks was tall and lean. His hand weapon is just Wheeljack’s shoulder-mounted missile launcher with a 5mm peg. His wheels are on a hinge that rotates around the upper bicep so that you can position them on the front like Tracks’s original toy or out to the side like on Wheeljack’s original toy.
I fully expected this hedging to make the toy into a fiddly mess, but Tracks still remains a solid toy that has a lot of Tracks-specific features. It’s not as clean of a transformation as RtS Jazz, but it’s not anything near a disaster, either. The only problem I’ve ever had transforming him back and forth was finding out exactly where to shove the forearms into the car shell so that they fit. And now that I have that figured out, it’s no problem at all.
Once again the clip-on weapons make the toy enjoyably versatile. Tracks has three. One of them, Wheeljack’s shoulder weapon, as I mentioned previously, has a peg on it so that Tracks can hold it in either of his hands. Tracks also has two other clip-on weapons that approximate his dual shoulder missiles. They can clip under the doors in car mode and either stay stowed or fold out at an angle to the sides, or you can attach them to the back of the car mode via a panel that rotates around a hinge to unveil notches that the missiles can peg onto.
Sweet for Tracks, not so sweet for his passengers.
Just like the original Tracks toy, this one also has a winged car mode. It’s, uh, about as good as the original, which isn’t saying much, but it’s still fun as hell. I’ve been keeping him in winged car mode probably more than robot mode, but then I’ve had a predisposition to flying toy cars around in the air since I was a child. When I was little, I had a little Matchbox car with little opening doors. I’d swing them open and pretend the car had wings. That’s… basically where the idea for Ultra Car came from. A car with wings. It’s basically the best possible vehicle ever, I tell you!
I’m still loving the open-sculpted hands. Tracks’s are particularly good, since I like how bulky his fingers are, like he’s wearing hockey gloves. They add so much personality to a toy.
I really like this toy as Tracks, so I’m bound to like a partially-different toy as Wheeljack! I look forward to him so hard. But, man, I am not complaining for having to have 70% of the toy twice. This is a good toy. And, Jesus, the lengths they’re going to distinguish the two is admirable. Hasbro/Tomy’s outdoing themselves here.
As the only Tracks and Wheeljack toy I ever had were the Alternators ones (I don’t count Energon Downshift, though I probably should) I’m really looking forward to these two. I always loved it when they use a little creative engineering like they did here and on Sideswipe/Sunstreaker. It doesn’t take much more forward thinking but the end results are utterly awesome.
My only problem with Tracks is the flames. Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m not going all purist here, being like “Dammit, they should have the original firebird decal on him!” No, it’s not that at all. I totally understand that the firebird flame decal would be somewhat “dated” (to put it very mildly), which wouldn’t help out in selling toys to kids. But the tribal flames… I’m not sure that’s much better. The tribal motifs are starting to get a bit dated in itself, as that was more of an early 2000s thing. Hell, I don’t have a much better solution, outside of leaving it blank… So maybe I should shut my piehole.
Doesn’t matter really. I’m still gonna buy both of them.
Really, the flight mode is “about as good as the original”? I think the original is waaay more solid and intentional-looking than this new one. Goofy as hell, sure, but well-executed for what it is. With the new one, unfolding the wings creates big gaps, they’re a mess of inner greeblies laid bare on mishmashed shapes with only a hint of wing-itude at the ends, and the rear end doesn’t do anything interesting. I can accept the idea that the missile launchers are less impressive because Hasbro is more conscientious about weaponry being discreetly storable, but no other elements have been brought in or emphasized to make up for that. The original was the lovechild of a car and an alien jet fighter. The new one is just a car with unfolded doors and a couple of guns.
Honestly, that’s what convinced me to save my money and just get Wheeljack. In my mind, the only reason to buy a new version of a character is if it’s an improvement over previous toys. The Alternators version already had the ‘toon-accuracy and poseability covered, so if this one doesn’t have a better flight mode than the original, I just don’t see the point.
(Of course, I’ve gotten REALLY picky about my toys over the last decade or so…. If this had come out five years ago, I would’ve been all over it in a heartbeat. Someday I’ll be insisting on absolute Dery-accuracy, physics be damned.)
I’d say this new Tracks is way better than the Alternator if only because the Alternator is one of the most frustrating toys I’ve ever owned and I want it to die.
As for comparing fake jet modes, I say they even out only because the new one has a more impressive wingspan. If leaving the arms hanging out the side makes it better, the new toy can do that, too.
Really? I mean all the Alternators are rather frustrating. It’s one of the reason I’m glad to see characters like Tracks, Jazz, Prowl, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe — who I previously only had the Alternators versions of for modern toys — released in the Classics/Universe 2.0 /Generations lines, so I can replace them.
But the Tracks Alternator was actually one of the better ones IMHO. At least compared to most of the other Alternators. Pretty solid in both modes, good proportions in robot mode, with no arms popping off during transformation. Good articulation, and a comparatively simple transformation for that toy line.
But like I said, I’m glad to be getting a replacement.
Naw, no way, man, the Tracks/Ravage mold is easily at the bottom of my Alternators list. I think the only Alternators mold I hate more than it is Grimlock/Wheeljack. I’m debating whether to sell my Alt Tracks or just take it out into a field and smash it with a sledgehammer, Office Space-style.
And, hey, there’s Friday’s strip. *ponders deleting this*
I REALLY wanted to like Alt Tracks.
But when I have no problem with ROTF Mixmaster’s transformation and I think Alt Tracks’s is frustrating, there’s a problem with the toy. Heck, I could even forgive that if it weren’t for his hindered articulation.
Great alt mode, but I don’t collect cars.
RtS Tracks is great, even if he’s better as Wheeljack.
~Matt Booker
I definitely agree about Grimlock/Wheeljack. Jazz/Shockwave is pretty bad as well, with arms and pieces falling off during transformation. Optimus Prime is probably the worst. IMHO at least. You know, I loved those toys while they were coming out. But they all seem pretty annoyingly frustrating now.
For me, actually, Jazz/Shockwave was at the top of my list. He was a less sucky version of the Silverstreak/Smokescreen mold, and I could get him transformed back and forth without any problem and in a decent amount of time.
What wingspan? It has doors with little teeny tiny nubs of wing tips on them.
Also, the original toy didn’t need to have a third of the side of the car missing to achieve this mode. As for the arms sticking out – that was intentional – the arms look like jet engines.
If the doors aren’t part of the wings, what ARE they? Wing-tip extenders? Let’s not be petty, here.
I think he was being hyperbolic, not petty. Sure, they’re “wings” inasmuch as they’re flat-ish things extending to the sides, but the quantity of surface area comes at a huge price of aesthetic quality, especially compared to the original. Maybe it would look a little better if the arms were out like engines, but I haven’t seen any pics of that – in fact, I didn’t even know it was possible.
As for the Alternator, I never meant to suggest that it was better than the RtS version on all counts. I said it had comparable poseability and Dery-accuracy. The lack of a flight mode is already a knock against it, and I agree it has an overcomplexity problem. I suppose if I didn’t own any Trackses, and I was looking for a single toy now, the RtS version at least tries to hit all the marks – and for the cheapest price, to boot. But as it is, if I want a cartoony Tracks robot on my shelf, I can get out the Alternator, and if I want a nice-looking jet-car, I can use the original. Not ideal, of course – the ideal would be both in the same toy – but the RtS mold is also far enough from the ideal that I’m content giving it a pass in favor of its Wheeljack variation.
It’s petty because it takes the discussion two steps back. Before we could argue our opinion on the aesthetic of the wings to our hearts’ content, but now not even that shared staging ground for argument remains. Suddenly we’re arguing the terms of what we’re arguing about… and, yes, because of a hyperbolic statement. It’s super-annoying, and it doesn’t actually further anything along.
Here’s a picture with Tracks’s arms hanging out the side, filling in the gaps along his vehicle mode: http://www.shortpacked.com/?attachment_id=4260
It’s totally made-up by me, and it achieves much of the same silhouette of the original Tracks toy, but I prefer the bare wings.
Thank you for the photos. I think that that arrangement is… marginally better, but with its share of tradeoffs. Still definitely a step down from the original, to my tastes.
Man, I love me some Internets. On the one hand, I do miss the surprise factor we used to have in the olden days, but on the other, seeing a toy inside and out before I get it is a great way to make sure I’m only buying what I really want.
The reason he has the remolded shins is so Tracks’s knee-panels don’t block his leg mobility. Right now if you turn Tracks’s legs around, he can’t bend his knees more than 15 degrees.
The whole “it lets the wheels drop down like the G1 toy!” is just added candy.
Then why give him big kneecaps to begin with? There’s also some other wonkiness going on, since you can’t see the sliders on the fronts of Wheeljack’s legs like you can on the back of Track’s. Are Wheeljack’s legs not designed to pull out as far?
Why giant kneepads? Fuck it, if they budgeted for it, why not giant kneepads?
(Seriously, I’d say it’s so Tracks looks as dramatically different from Wheeljack as possible, despite them having the exact same torsos and arms.)
The wrenches aren’t actually new tooling – they’re just Tracks’ existing missile launchers held differently in Wheeljack’s hands.
Which is ridiculously creative.
….or at least I thought they were the same. On further inspection they aren’t. I’m just an idiot is all.
That was the original speculation back when we didn’t have clear photos of WJ. Experience says that corrections take longer to be widespread than the assumptions they counter.
In other words, don’t beat yourself up. Nearly everyone thought that they were missile-wrenches not too long ago.
To be fair, you can almost certainly still use them as missile launchers. They still appear to have the clips, after all.
A flying car, how droll!
Check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_(roadable_aircraft)
Did you know Sidearm Sideswipe has a flying car mode?
And it’s more plausible than the one for Tracks, in a M.A.S.K. meets BttF kinda way.
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6925/sassroads1.png
Instructions for how to do it can be found here.
http://mattbooker.info/2010/10/19/sidearm-sideswipe-flight-mode/
It’s the mode I have him in most of the time because, well, flying car!
~Matt Booker
“A plane? This is an automobile!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUYplpYuD08
When it comes to putting wings on cars to make them fly, I have to admit that I’m quite partial to the way The Car of the Future… Today! uses them.
Sorry, that should read “The Flying Car of the Future… Today!” And there’s a better view a few minutes in.
I’m so torn. I like both characters, and I’ll no doubt get both versions of the mold. But, I don’t think the mold works well for either of them. It ends up with Track’s bot mode proportions being off, and Wheeljack’s car mode proportions are all wrong. It definitely works better for Wheeljack, though.
Like I said, I’m sure I’ll get both. I just don’t think they should have shared a mold.
If they sell Wheeljack as Downshift again, I’ma burn down Rhode Island.
I don’t see why anyone would worry about Wheeljack being named Downshift, if they understood the circumstances of the Energon renaming. It’s not like they named the Alternator “Downshift.”
Those circumstances are “Hasbro did it WRONG WRONG WRONG because they don’t know anything about Transformers unlike Takara which is literally infallible and is responsible for reissuing this Masterpiece Convoy I had as a kid,” right?
No, just the “they already named a major character ‘Wheeljack’ in that continuity” thing. But, uh, thanks, I think.
So, ‘there was absolutely no communication between the two companies’, then?
My mom ordered this and Jazz from CMD Store for me for Christmas I hope the ship and arrive in time. I love tracks so much I’m jealous of Raul.
Do I detect a closeted M.A.S.K. fan?