Phil's
Transformers Firecon Cindersaur
and
Masterforce Sparkdash Guzzle
Review


Firecon Cindersaur

The opposition to the Autobot Sparkabots is provided by the Decepticon Firecons. While the Sparkabots continue to be vehicles the Firecons are all animals as established by the pattern set with the Headmaster toys the previous year and continued into some of the 1988 toys.

Cindersaur is a dinosaur of indeterminate Type. He's got a horn on his nose and what looks like a frill at the back of his neck. His head, legs, back & tail are purple, his arms & the top of his body are bright yellow and his lower body is grey. The colour combination isn't the greatest in the world, and I'd be pointing the finger at the yellow as the one to change. Both arms and legs are hinged. Lying the toy down on his tummy on a flat surface with the head raised and moving the toy forward causes sparks to come from his mouth. Cindersaur is the only Firecon with no wings which may be significant later.

Transformation: fold the tail under the toy to cover the sparking wheel. Fold the arms down and the head forward. Turn the toy so it's back is facing you. Straighten the legs. Split the back in two and fold to the side.

Ladies and gentlemen I would like to nominate the Firecons for Worst Robot Mode ever. Here's why:

1) The arms don't move at the shoulders for a start. If you've got one point of articulation you make it at the shoulders. Instead all he has in this mode is hips that turn.

2) The arms aren't even attached at the shoulders! They're connected about half way down the body & arm with the joint that folds them out to the sides.

3)The face is just a little square of plastic stuck in hole. the face sculpting is fine but this huge lump surrounding it looks ridiculous.

4) The proportions are hugely wrong: very short and very wide: the width is over 50% of the toys height.

5) and worst of all they do the same thing three times over! I came very, very close to lumping all three Firecons into the same review because general shape, gimmick, transformation and robot mode is identical. They don't seem to share any piece, but al; bear a distinct resemblance, especially in robot mode, and look like they're essentially remoulds of each other.....

Horrible. Even in 1988 Hasbro could do so much better.

Cindersaur was sold in the US & UK in 1988.


Masterforce Sparkdash Guzzle

In Japan Cindersaur was recoloured & renamed. You wouldn't believe this if you'd seen the Masterforce leaflet packed in the toys or watched the cartoon as both show him and his fellow Destron Sparkdash toys in their western Firecon colours. The swaps made are:

Purple becomes Green
Yellow becomes Dark Grey

And both modes look an awful lot better for it.

Confusingly he's renamed Guzzle, which was the name for the Sparkabot Tank in the west, that in turn was renamed as Masterforce Sparkdash Hardspark for it's Japanese release.

Masterforce Sparkdash Guzzle was numbered D-319 in the Japanese Transformers toyline.


Generation 2 Cindersaur

In 1994 Europe got clear recolours of two Sparkabots (Generation 2 Blaze, a repaint of a href=http://www.tfu.info/1988/Autobot/Fizzle/fizzle.htm>Fizzle & Sizzle) and two Firecons (Flamefeather & Sparkstalker). Alas Cindersaur missed out but given the other two are clear red & clear orange, both with purple chest I suspect we can make a reasonable guess that he's probably have been clear yellow with a purple body. What the other two toys have, that Cindersaur doesn't, is some form of wings. On the original toys they're moulded grey while on the G2 versions they're an eye watering neon lime green. This suggests the other two are gang moulded together and thus why whey had G2 versions made when Cindersaur didn't

Cindersaur has had the last laugh on this matter though when the Botcon 2010 G2 exclusive Cindersaur was released, a "typically Generation 2 coloured" repaint of Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Megatron/Cybertron Jungle Planet Megatron. I really must get a version of that toy to review it!


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