Review: #36
Name: Wreck-Gar
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Reveal the Shield
Year of Release: 2011
Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 2)
Variations: there is a better painted United version, United Scrapheap was a retool with a different head, and Generations Junkheap is yet another retool with a different head.
BIKE MODE:
Wreck-Gar transforms into a off-road motorbike, and at first glance, he looks pretty good. He has a kickstand on the left, and if you have another version of this mold, there are holes on the seat that correspond with clips on the robot mode so you can have then ride securely on top of each other.
Sadly, Wreck-Gar is plagued with the condition of all the silver parts being cast in a flat grey plastic, as such, he doesn't look as great as he should have been. The exhaust pipe and rim of the back tire doubles up as his axe weapon, which I thought was great integration into the bike.
That's about as far as the positives go, prepare for a lot more negatives coming your way. First of all, while the overall shape of the bike is spot on, if you look more closely, you will see a lot of robot bits, pretty much most of the lower half of the bike is robot bits that doesn't do a very good job of imitating a bike. You get to see the hands, waist piece, chest, and if you look from the bottom, you will clearly see the head (this in particular is not a major problem as you've got no reason to look at Wreck-Gar from that angle...).
Wreck-Gar is a big bike with one exception... he is thin. There's a rubsign on the front which shows an Autobot symbol when you press your hand on it and heat the sticker up. The handlebars and side mirrors are made of rubber. After thinking about it for some time, I've decided that in my mind, this is a mediocre bike mode, and it only gets worse from here (relatively).
TRANSFORMATION:
The transformation, in theory, is quite good, and they are improving on Transformers that transform into a bike a lot. I mean, Animated Prowl was pretty good, but Wreck-Gar is about on par in terms of transformation. One thing to note, the handle bars, I've been really careful with mine so thankfully they haven't broke yet, even if you don't manually flip the handlebars and use the Automorph, you will still break it eventfully. This, in my mind, is a huge oversight during the prototype or testing stage, this shouldn't happen. Reverse transformation can also be a pain when trying to align the legs right. I haven't transform Wreck-Gar all that much, as I'm worried that this transformation might be the one that breaks him.
ROBOT MODE:
After transforming Wreck-Gar (and maybe breaking a handlebar or two along the way), we get to the robot mode, and it's one of the best robot modes from a bike Transformer ever (Animated Prowl is still my favourite). He is asymmetrical, and it works really really well. He is also reasonably accurate to the G1 model, you can pivot the front wheel to become a sort of shield on his left arm.
He has barely any kibble, and what he does have, enhances the look. I really like how the front and back part of the bike form his shins. If you look closely, most of the bulk is in the lower half, I think around half his height is due to his legs.
The rubsign is now situated on his leg (which is a stupid place to be if you ask me). The left leg is permanently bent, you cannot straighten it out completely. There is still an overabundance of grey here, some silver paint would go a long way.
Wreck-Gar's weapon is his axe, if you don't unfold it, it can be interpreted as a circular saw.
When you unfold one blade, the others are geared to open as well. It looks wicked, and one of the best melee weapons I have seen on a Transformer.
You might see that there is a C-clip joint on the axe, which you can use to store it on his back, in addition to being practical, it looks good there too.
The head sculpt is brilliant, it captures the essence of Wreck-Gar well, the smile, and the 'evil' look. His facial hair is made of soft plastic, which is slightly annoying, and he is supposed to have lightpipe, but his eyes are paint red instead.
Wreck-Gar is poseable, I don't think there are any restrictions to the joints that he has.
Now, onto the bad points, the first is his hands. When you plug in his weapon, it is just slightly too big for the hand, causing a huge stress mark, like the one pictured above. I've since learnt that you should just plug the end in and be done with it, or shave down some of the plastic.
The other widespread problem is his shoulders, the ball joints seem to be stressed very easily due to the pin being a bit too big. It's annoying, making the shoulder loose, but what I hope doesn't happen is the plastic eventually cracking. These two problems ruin what is a fairly decent robot mode.
OVERALL:
For such a pivotal figure (especially one that people like to buy multiples of), you would hope that the toy would be good. The problems Wreck-Gar has ruin the figure overall, it's good in theory, but what was actually produced is plagued with flaws. This is seriously the first toy I have gotten that I have majorly regretted purchasing. From the break issues to the annoyance of getting the bike together, this is the first figure I will recommend you be wary of getting.
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