Phil's
Car Robots Build Boy,
Robots in Disguise & Wal-Mart Wedge
and
Universe Constructicon Bonecrusher
Review

Build Boy

Having done cars, a fire engine and trains Takara turned it's attention to construction vehicles next Four construction vehicles were selected to serve as Cybertrons. Build Boy as the name suggests is the smallest of the four and also the leader of the team.

Build Boy is an orange tracked Bulldozer larger than a basic but smaller than a deluxe and had a price point to reflect this when he was released in Japan. His track were black and there's a large Autobot symbol on his roof

TF: Split the shovel in two and fold right the way back so that the shovel halves are out to the sides at the back of the vehicle. Remove the shovel support by unpegging both of the hydraulic pumps from the side. Unpeg the caterpillar tracks to serve as arms. Slide the rear halves back and rotate the front halves out to the sides ninety degrees. Fold down the panel under the cab, fold out the robot head and close the panels. Grasp the sides of the bulldozer body and pull to the sides separating the front of the bulldozer in two down the middle. Fold each half of the front grill out to the sides. Bend down at the front of the bulldozer revealing the robot's upper leg and allowing what you can now see is the lower leg to point out to the sides. Swing the lower legs back at the knee & bend down. Fold the peg out of the back and onto the back of the waist.Fold the feet out. Take the shovel support and fold the hydraulic pumps so they're flat with the support. Place in the hand as a dual blaster.

Build Boy's robot mode preserves the colours of the bulldozer mode with the black of the tracks being transferred to the arms. The peg in the back is important in the TF as it affects he balance - with it folded down his centre of gravity is lower and he balances better. His neck & waist turn, his knees bend and the legs rotate above them. Ball joints make up the remaining articulation at hip, elbow and knee.

An alternative robot mode is possible with the combined head folded out the chest instead of the smaller robot head.

Decent small toy.

Build Boy is Car Robots toy C-018 and also appears in the Build King giftset numbered C-022

Wedge

Wedge is the Robots in Disguise release of Build Boy. The same basic colours are used but with the addition of some grey to the top of the bulldozer.

Wedge was only available individually carded - there was no Landfill boxset. The initial release of the Build Team & Mega Octane in the UK was an exclusive to Woolworths, but further (imported ?) stock later materialised in Toys R Us.

Wal-Mart Wedge

The Wal-Mart Landfill set unites the build team for the first time in unified colours. Wedge swaps his orange for yellow, and gets some silver paint marks (dirt ? Camouflage ?) on his bonnet. His cab roof becomes black with an Autobot symbol on it.

Wedge is only available in the Landfill giftset.

Target Universe Constructicon Bonecrusher

The idea of recolouring the Build Team as Constructicons was mooted quite early on and in 2005 the Build Team recoloured were up for release when the Universe line was cancelled. In 2006 Target released a pair of Ultra sized twin packs with two build team members in each along with a vs pack Overbite (BWII Hellscream) vs Repugnus (BW Fuzor Buzzclaw recolour). Bonecrusher (Build Boy/Wedge repaint) sold with Scavenger (Build Hurricane/Grimlock repaint) and Hightower (aka Hook - a Build Cyclone/Hightower repaint) sold with Longhaul (Build Typhoon/Heavy Load repaint)

Bonecrusher is mostly green with some purple trim, a large Decepticon symbol on the cab and a grey shovel (I'd have gone for green or purple)

Decent repaint fitting the G1 name to the toy and importing the colour scheme adequately.

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