Bombshell is one of the Insecticons that originated as a Diaclone toy, in this case a Waruder Insecter Robo Kabutron. I've seen him described as a robotic rhinoceros beetle but I can't see much of a resemblance to the insect picture on Wikipedia. If anything he's a Zoidlike vehicle, probably a tank, based on an insect. His legs are fixed in position with a wheel mounted on the fore & rear most limbs on each side. His tank barrel like antennae, complete with trident shaped tip, elevates at it's base. Most of the insect is black, with some purple on the body, a chromed antennae and some round yellow protuberance that maybe are eyes on the side of the body. There's a clear orange hatch on the body which folds back to allow your Diaclone driver to sit inside the toy, but to lift the hatch you have to raise the rear of the vehicle slightly.
Transformation: Fold the rear of the vehicle back, it will split in two on the way, to form the robot's legs. Stand with the top of the insect facing you. Fold the insect legs out to the sides to form the arms. Fold the turret onto the robot's back. Place his gun, which resembles his antennae, a theme on the Diaclone Insecticon weapons, into his fist.
Straight off I have a major problem with Bombshell's robot mode: the fronts of his legs are open. That does annoy me on a you. A little tweak of the design, by adding a waist, like Shrapnel has, would have solved this problem making the toy look so much better. Given that his upper legs have folded out of the lower ones it's a surprise to discover that he has knees that can fold back between 20 & 30 degrees. Unfortunately they do also fold forward as well! His hips each turn 45 degrees backwards & forwards while his shoulders rotate and fold back. His head is dominated by the grilled silver faceplate while the cockpit canopy covers the chest.
As with all the Insecticons he's a little fragile. Beware the insect legs/robot arms and antennae/gun barrel.
Not a bad little toy, and nothing a few tweaks wouldn't fix.
Bombshell was released in the west in 1985 and was available as Transformer #41 in Japan in the same year.
He was reissued as part of Transformers Collection #16 with Kickback & Shrapnel in 2004. This set also included Energon cubes that could be stored in the Insect/Vehicle cockpits.
In 2009 Bombshell was reissued as part of a Toys R Us Insecticon giftset where he was renamed Hardshell and came with Kickback & Sharpshot (a renamed Shrapnel).
Bombshell was remade in 1991 as European Action Master Bombshell with Needler, the only Insecticon to appear in the Action Masters series, and in 2009 as Robot Heroes Hardshell. I think Bombshell is a prime candidate for a Classics release for Transformers: upscale the toy, add a waist & ball jointed elbows and attach the antennae by a C-clip so it can be removed and held as his gun. Easy.
Doesn't do it for me, I prefer the Insecticon colours.
Salvo was sold with Shothole, a repaint of Kickback, and Zaptrap, a repaint of Shrapnel. Like the TFC 16 pack these Insecticons also come with Energon cubes.