Got mine today.

Group shot in vehicle mode

Comparison with G1 Technobots is here.

There is the temptation to review the entire set in one hit - I've already had a fiddle with them all. But in order to better appreciate each toy on its own merit, I've decided to review one figure at a time. And unless anyone here was lucky enough to get the gift set (which was never released in Australia), then collecting the Technobots one figure at the time would've been the way that we collected the originals too. So in the spirit of how I collected my G1 Technobots, I'm going to review the UW Technobots in the same order that I acquired my G1s.

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Name – Afterburner
Series - Unite Warriors (UW-08)
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - redeco of Deluxe Groove
Released Here - no
Approximate Retail Price - ￥16200 (AU$211)
Approximate Size – 13.5cm to top of head, 18cm to top of back-mounted wheel
Allegiance - Autobot (Cybertron)
Sub-Group - Technobot (Techbot)
Alt-mode – Motorcycle
Main Features/Gimmicks – gestalt
Main Colours – vermillion & white
Main Accessories – guns x2, hand/foot module for Computicon

I have a lot of fondness for Afterburner as he was my first Technobot, and also because his bike mode was the closest thing I had to a Light Cycle from Tron. UW Afterburner is predominantly vermillion with prominent white accents throughout, which is modelled after Afterburner's G1 cartoon colours. Judging from images that I've seen of Combiner Wars Afterburner, it appears that the Hasbro version is more toy-accurate. Typical of TakaraTOMY, UW Afterburner has a few extra paint ops which help to highly parts of the mould which are unpainted and thus not highlighted at all on the Hasbro mould. This includes the silver shoulder mufflers and spokes.

The instructions and stock photos show Afterburner with the front wheel sticking up and out towards the back of the robot in robot mode. Surprisingly Afterburner's heel spurs are able to cope with this shift in weight. The robot's balance isn't affected by the more back heavy configuration. Having said that, I personally find this official configuration to be ungainly looking and I prefer rotating the wheel down as shown in christalcase's photo.

I don't have Deluxe Groove, so this whole mould is new to me. The motorcycle mode is quite bulky (although G1 Groove was always a rather bulky bike). I do like how they have made a good effort in trying to make the motorbike mode more thin. It still doesn't beat Wreck-Gar & the CHUGUR Junkions, but then again, the Junkions can't combine. So all things considered I think that they did a pretty good job. The bike is ridiculously oversized, but considering that this is meant to be a scifi bike I find it easy enough to suspend disbelief. The way that the kick stand folds down from the arm is a nice touch.