Preamble
It’s been well over a month now since Variator arrived into my collection, and for one reason or another I just don’t seem to have had time to put ‘pen to paper’ as it were to arrange my thoughts of him into something worthy of sharing. Well, I had some free time at the weekend and arranged various random thoughts into what follows below.
I cannot say in all honesty that Gears would make it into my Top 10 of favoured Transformers characters. That’s not to say I dislike him, more that he’s never really stood out for me. In fact, my main memory of him from childhood isn’t tied to the cartoon or Marvel UK comics, it’s actually from the Tell-A-Tale Ladybird Book “Autobots’ Lightning Strike”. A memorable part of the story where he and Huffer attempt to be more of a ‘grump’ than the other…
Box & Accessories
It’s the Fans Toys staple, nice box, collectors card and with the figure in a polystyrene case. As for accessories, many swap out faces, two guns that can be combined into one larger ‘rifle’ and a welding/cutting attachment made from die-cast which I cannot seem to get to fit. As with Rig and Hunk, I am quite disappointed that there is no ‘toy’ accurate swap out face.
Vehicle Mode
A good solid vehicle mode that bears more than a passing resemblance to his G1 toy. All clips into place as it should, no mis-alignments or such. Rubber wheels (I have a thing for these as you'll all know) and rolls well on them. No play or gimmick features here, what you see is what you get. I attempted to try identify what truck this vehicle mode is based upon and had little luck. The TF Wiki outlines it as “transforming into a red and blue pickup truck of indeterminable model”, but does go on to say that “though some details resemble an old Dodge Power Wagon or Kaiser Jeep M715”. So I guess I’ll leave it there.
Transformation
Transformation is clean and straightforward, no where near a fraught as Parkour. There is good clearance when moving panels and like in vehicle mode, all clips and slots in where it should for robot mode.
Robot Mode
Well, it’s a cracking little robot mode to be honest. Good articulation, not as dynamic as some of the larger figures but for the size it does what it needs to do. The lack of forward and backward tilt on the ankles does restrict some poses but the inclusion of an ab-crunch offsets this deficiency. Hands hold the guns well, and as mentioned earlier I cannot get the welding/cutting attachment to fit. The plethora of faces swap out to give you a range of moods and emotions, the chest lifts up to showcase the inner workings and that’s it, that’s Variators robot mode features and gimmicks.
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I kept this brief and hopefully to the point as I hadn’t much time and with Variator been out for a while now, most reviewers will have more than likely said what is to be said about him. So a short review for a short robot!
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So has this helped to promote Gears into my Top 10 of Transformers characters? No, not really. But while I may not have much regard for his media inspiration, Variator is a cracking little figure that I’m glad is in my collection.
And that’s about it. The rest you can gather from the photo’s or by heading over to Omegalock and buying one for yourself.
Right, I’m out of here. I’ve been Edd, he's been Variator and you’ve been awesome for spending a little time reading my ramblings.
