Toy Review - Titans Return Wheelie

[Sutton]

Yep, mine can't keep itself together very well, needs some shaving.

Ironic when you consider that Wheelie is the one TF least likely to ever need to shave.

Big shame, because I love the design and transformation scheme - they went to a lot of effort to make that cockpit work!

[Lint]

Mine pegs together perfectly but I admit it can be pretty tenuous. A little bit of force applied to the sides of the vehicle pretty much starts it on the journey to falling apart. Not great for a toy that is meant to be a car. I do like the transformation though, it's pretty new and interesting plus the result is astounding.

All that aside: It's about time. A toy like this coulda been made back in the ROTF era. He does need more heels and/or better balance in bot mode though. You can't really make the most of his articulation due to these design elements.

[prjkt]

well LG Wheelie finally turned up to the party, I guess you can't blame him for spending centuries on a planet stuck in a timewarp (IDW)

compared to to the Hasbro one I feel he holds together a little better in alt mode, though that may just be me being more experienced with the transformation now, however his left knee flap is quite loose in bot mode.

Colour-wise I think I prefer Takara's alt mode to Hasbro's, less orange, and what is orange is less intense, just enough to break up all the yellow, and the the clear windshield is less distracting than the quite dark of the Hasbro. Apart from the silver section just in front of the windshield on the Hasbro, the Takara version's actually a little more G1 toy accurate in terms of the yellow/orange layout.

Bot mode the difference is a little stronger - we swap out the dull Hasbro grey for orange limbs and "skeleton" while introducing some gunmetal grey on his waist and lower legs - more cartoon and G1 toy colour accurate than Hasbro's toy accurate

[Bumbleb33]

I find it amusing for a character most hate everyone voted yes :P

[GoktimusPrime]

Which lends further credence to the idea that a good toy will sell on its own merit, regardless of what happens in supporting media. A bad toy based on a popular character on the other hand can still shelfwarm and draw widespread criticism.

Although in Wheelie's defence, this character has always been bad. He's only crap in the G1 cartoon, but his other incarnations are actually alright. In other media, Wheelie is a tough and stoic survivalist. Importantly, Wheelie actually contributes to the story in other continuities rather than just wasting appearance time doing nothing much of consequence (hence the comparisons with Jar Jar Binks). It also doesn't help that the G1 Wheelie toy is the worst G1 Mini Vehicle. Wheelie was the worst pegwarmer in 1986, and Hubcap proved to be a stronger seller despite have zero canonical appearance in the West.

[Bidoofdude]

Although in Wheelie's defence, this character has always been bad. He's only crap in the G1 cartoon, but his other incarnations are actually alright. In other media, Wheelie is a tough and stoic survivalist. Importantly, Wheelie actually contributes to the story in other continuities rather than just wasting appearance time doing nothing much of consequence (hence the comparisons with Jar Jar Binks). It also doesn't help that the G1 Wheelie toy is the worst G1 Mini Vehicle. Wheelie was the worst pegwarmer in 1986, and Hubcap proved to be a stronger seller despite have zero canonical appearance in the West.

Wheelie in both the comics and cartoon did have a killer design as well, which we see in the Legends figure. Too bad it didn't translate in 1986.

[Gasaraki]

I personally started disliking this toy, but after spending some time fiddling around I think they managed to achieve something quite good despite the glaring weaknesses, particularly in car mode. Overall I reckon much better than the last Universe Legends version, and a fair Wheelie worthy of my shelf alongside the other 1986 movie Autobots. Here's my video review: