Toy Review - Autobot Agent Knight
Autobot Agent Knight
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Collaborative
Size/class - Leader
New/remould/redeco - New mould
Released here - October 2024
Approximate Retail Price - $100
Approximate Size - 17cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - 1982 Pontiac Trans Am
Main Features/Gimmicks - Electronic voice of KITT and vehicle sounds; KITT's signature red, moving light at the front of the car; pop up headlights
Main Colours - Black, grey, light blue, transparent blue windows, transparent red visor; small areas of silver, white, orange and red
Main Accessories - Machine gun, pistol, wrist comlink
A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the powerless, the helpless in a world of criminals who operate above the law.
This figure is a 2024 Transformers Collaborative project with the 1980s TV show, Knight Rider. The TV show was popular here in Australia and helped launch David Hasselhoff (Michael Knight) into stardom.
The vehicle mode is based on the AI-infused Pontiac Trans Am that was the basis of the series. Its name was Knight Industries Two Thousand, or KITT. The vehicle mode is quite faithful to the screen appearance, though the front end is a bit blocky, partly because the battery compartment (3x LR44) and the electronics sit there. The car rear doesn't have the TV licence plate and it has red tail lights (the TV version was all black). The rims have the Pontiac logo, which the TV version did not.
The pop up headlights are manually opened and closed.
The weapons can store in car mode attached to the shins.
The main feature of the figure is the red light that moves back and forth horizontally, which was the iconic feature of KITT. A button on the hood cycles through sound clips and KITT's voice with each pressing. It seems to remain in standby, though there is no indication, until a short period of no button pressing leads to KITT saying, "KITT signing off". The most noteworthy sound clip is that of KITT introducing itself to Michael Knight at the start of the series, "I am the voice of Knight Industry 2000's micro processor, K.I.T.T. for easy reference, KITT if you prefer."
The robot mode is, I guess, meant to be Michael Knight ("Agent Knight"), with his black leather jacket and blue jeans. The wrist comlink is a throwback to Michael's wrist watch comlink he used to communicate with KITT.
The transformation is essentially based on two styles of engineering common to recent Transformers figures.
The upper body transforms similarly to the War For Cybertron Earthrise Datsun brothers (Smokescreen, Bluestreak, Prowl). The hood folds forward, through which the head pops out; the arms untuck from under the car next to the doors, bringing the shoulder wheels out; rotating the hood also brings the doors in line with it, which are then swung open to form wings (the doors can also be rotated up and down to give different wing angles); the top of the car folds down to form the back.
The legs transform similarly to the War For Cybertron Siege Lambo brothers (Sideswipe, Red Alert) or the Lambo-retooled Gigawatt. The shin panels swing open to allow the lower leg cavities to encase the thighs when the knees are bent. Bending the knees fully brings the feet areas to the middle of the car, forming the rear window, while the knee areas become the car rear-end. The feet form part of the car roof, instead of folding into the lower leg cavities like the Lambo moulds.
The waist is rotated to bring the upper body and legs into proper facing positions.
Transformation is straightforward if you have played with the above moulds or similar, but I had trouble inserting the black part of the abdomen into the grey part of the abdomen - there was a big gap that I couldn't force shut. I discovered that the hood hatch, which needs to be folded down to allow the head to pass, was not pushed all the way forward into its tabs (flush with the battery compartment).
Articulation is standard and good - all head movements, wrist rotation, ball joint shoulders (limited cross body movement due to the front of the car getting in the way), ankle tilts.
As for paint, it is mostly black or grey plastic. The windshield and roof is a clear plastic part with the roof painted black. The rims have black paint. Silver paint is used for the shoulders, head and rims. Headlights are white painted. Blue paint is used for the thighs and crotch. Red paint is used for the Pontiac logos on the rims, lights, forehead and shins. The turn indicators are orange. The Knight Industries logo is tampographed on the car rear.
My copy did not have any major quality issues. Joints are tight. Parts come together well. There was a very small area of overspray that I fixed with isopropyl alcohol and a small scratch on a window.
This crossover is aimed at 80s collectors, those around for G1 and these 80s franchises. Since I enjoyed watching Knight Rider and I like the G1-style boxes, I'm glad to have Agent Knight in my collection. He goes well as a sub-collection of the Collaborative subline i.e. G1-style packaging carbots with 80s franchise tie-ins.
Robot Mode:
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With The Hoff:
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Car Mode:
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Boxes:
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