An inordinate number of fans think his name is “Spinster.”
on May 7, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Spinister was one of the at-show surprises, and the one at-show guy other than Kick-Off who wasn’t a Shattered Glass mirrorverse guy. He’s a redeco of the Tomahawk mold, which I hadn’t owned a toy of yet. Back when Tomahawk hit stores, I figured eventually he’d be some guy I liked better, probably in a BotCon set, and I was right! Huzzah. Spinister uses the mold’s alternate head, which until now had only been used in Japan.
He feels really close to a perfect Spinister toy. Fun Publications obviously tried to go for a more accurate helicopter mode, colorwise, leaving us a robot mode with flipped colors. Y’know, with pink legs instead of a pink torso. I dunno if that’s how I woulda gone. Sure, the other way would have resulted in a pink helicopter, but if anything’s gonna be a venue for a pink helicopter Transformer, it’s gonna be BotCon.
That said, the colors ARE very nice, and not what we’d expect at retail. His pink, teal, and blue screams 1988 all over. Open up the Decepticon side of the 1988 Transformers catalog, and this guy’s colors are what you’ll see everywhere.
The toy itself, since I hadn’t owned a version before, is pretty standard. In vehicle mode his legs are obviously kinda hanging underneath the whole helicopter deal, especially now that they’re bright pink. He’s got some missile launchers and some c-clips to attach other weapons to.
I kinda want this toy redecoed as Rotorstorm. Probably wanna use the other head, though.
You know, you’re right. Those colors were all over the place during that year. (Seacons, the clones, Doubledealer.) I kinda miss those colors and get nostalgic for them. Like you do with Action Master orange.
As a child I thought he was Spinster.
I lucked out because I bought Kick-Off’s pack but I was too cheap to get Spinister and Octopunch, though I wanted Spinister. So I ended up trading a guy my unwanted BotCon 2012 SG Optimus for it. It was a very good deal.
I vouch for that being a good deal.
Yeah, that’s an insanely good deal.
I was totally reading that as Spinster up until now. Thank you, David Willis! Spinister is a much cooler name!
Dude… Now that you’ve said it I can’t UNSEE him as Rotorstorm.
I love 1988 Decepticon colors. It’s a large part of the reasons why I own Submarauder and Piranacon.
same, I dont usually care about G1 toys but I made sure to buy the BBTS re-issue of Piranacon
Actually, this topic actually reminded me how much I liked the Seacons, and since I had the spare money, I just bought it.
Lol I love the 1988 ‘Cons too, I have my Seacon set up front on my shelf. I just think its funny that e’ryone is Teal and Green, but then there’s Weirdwolf right in the middle who’s sharp yellow.
Spinister’s deco is one that I have wanted since we first saw this mold’s retooled face hinted at in Tomahawk’s instructions. And Spinister himself I’ve wanted since I read my first Marvel US comic (Matrix Quest part 4 if memory serves – whichever one it was that had Spinister and Windsweeper’s bios in the back of the issue.)
Seriously though, there’s so much mileage you could get out of this mold. Rotorstorm comes to mind, as Willis said, as does Armada Cyclonus. And I would buy both those decoes like I bought the last couple.
(Also, for the record, there’s a third party making Singe and Hairsplitter Targetmaster updates. Those might work well with this toy given he’s got a couple of 5mm ports on his wings.)
Though it occurs to me now… I sorta now want a “Mr Spinister” in updated fiction who conducts experiments on Autobots and Decepticons, to unlock their hidden potential/graft on abilities/create clones/etc. Just beause of the name/primarily blue color layout on this toy.
I kinda always figured the “Spinster” thing was something Raksha insisted on, as “Spinister” sounded far too evil for a noble Decepticon!
*Snort*
We’re still talking about Raksha? *stares around wildly*
WHAT YEAR IS IT
1988 according to this thread.
I’ve wanted to see this mold used as Battletrap oddly enough. I never liked the Duocon concept, and the disjointed design of this molds movie-ish legs with classics-ish torso seemed fitting to me that he traded in his separate component legs for some new ones.