Posted August 12, 2013 at 1:16 am
Hasbro's been trying to make new Trailbreaker toys since like 2002, but losing the trademark to "Trailbreaker" kept on getting in their way, but finally once they bit the bullet and renamed him a year or so ago, we've gotten this flood of him.  And here's the version of him everyone wanted -- "Classics" G1-style Trailbreaker at non-Legends scale!  Of course, his name is "Trailcutter" now.  The comic book he comes packaged with even shows him deciding to rename himself.  (Well, okay, the original comic-book-store version of it did, but the version that comes with the toy excises these exchanges and calls him Trailcutter throughout.)

(The toy version of the comic also removed his alcoholism.)

(Because he's an alcoholic.)

(You see, because his 1984 tech spec said he was inefficient at metabolizing fuel, so...)

Anyway, now that Trailbreaker's out, your roster of 1984 Autobot Cars is complete!   He was the last out the door, much like at the bar every night OHHHHHHHH!  Ha ha ha, gems like that are why I'm a popular webcartoonist.  And once Hoist and Skids come out in the upcoming waves, your 1985 Autobot Cars'll be done, too.

Like Skids (and also like upcoming Legends Class Tailgate and Swerve), Trailbreaker is based on his appearance in the current ongoing More Than Meets The Eye comic book.  His robot mode, anyway!  Also like Skids and Tailgate and Swerve, the toy gives him an Earth-ish style vehicle mode rather than the wacky-looking Cybertronic vehicle he is in the comic proper.  This makes Trailbreaker look less like his comic book robot mode design than he would otherwise, because about 40% of his robot mode is his truck's front end.  But make no mistake, the parts of his robot mode that aren't parts of his truck mode are definitely based on Alex Milne's design.  Check out those Milne-style forearms (larger box connected to a smaller box with a little tab between them)  and the sculpted FOC-style light-stripes Milne put on the thighs.   Also, well, the feet.  The armored-SUV parts are the only non-Milne stuff to be found on him.

The truck bed cover is removed during transformation to robot mode to become either a shield or be attached to his back to give him his usual double-cannoned silhouette.

His transformation hits that sweet spot between simplicity and complexity.  His hood/torso area's multilayered and takes a short while to figure out, but it's not rough to do.  The arms fold underneath as you'd expect and his legs collapse in on themselves.   The only point of real annoyance for me are his shoulders.  Not because they don't functionally work, but because even though the joints are tight enough for his arms to stay in the right place, it's obvious that the grooves which should lock on to the side view mirrors aren't attaching fully.  It's a neuroses thing.

He's the size that Deluxes are now.  On the smaller end of Deluxes Through History, but still clearly a Deluxe.

I like him.  He's fun.  And he's an alcoholic except when edited for children.  And he's in a comic I like.
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