I personally feel these are possibly the most important set of TF's ever released. Here's some reasons why:
1) Ball Joints ! Ball joints had showed up the previous year (1995) on the hips of the Laser Rod cars and the Stealth Bomber/Fighter. These toys are the first to use ball joints for all their joints (with one exception) This represents a huge step forward articulation wise for TFs. Some of the larger early TFs were quite well articulated but in general articulation on G1 TFs isn't good - especially bellow the waist - as each point of articulation requires multiple parts and thus has a cost at assembly. Some TFs are effectively bricks - Powermaster Optimus springs to mind as a G1 TF that would be stunning with a few more points of articulation. Ball joints allow a full range of articulation with just 2 pieces - each limb part involved. You even get some bonus articulation thrown in - a ball jointed elbow effectively serves as both an elbow and a rotational bicep joint in that it allows the lower part of the arm to move up and down (which you'd expect at an elbow) but also allows movement from side to side. They pop out easily preventing breakage for the most part and a worn ball and socket joint can be easily restored with a bit of clear nail varnish. Make no mistake, this is a gigantic leap forward for TFs as you can now get some good action poses out of your toys - this is the point where TFs truly become action figures.
2) Light Pipes ! I love lightpipes. It's a simple action feature adding real value to a toy. This is where there's a piece of coloured clear plastic running from the eyes/visor etc on a toy through to the back of the head. Light shines through and makes the eyes glow. The only down side is a clear coloured panel in the back of the head but to me that's an OK price to pay. It's also been used effectively on Star Wars Jawa figures and most modern R2 & R4 units. Light pipe eyes first show on the Euro G1 Turbomasters and Predators in 92 so were quite common by the time the Cyberjets showed in 1995
3) Marble missile launchers ! We'd had a string of weak missiles, then huge oversized missiles. These missiles are long, yes, but they look a reasonable size for the launcher, and don't have any springs involved. Nice touch.
4) Landing Gear ! Each plane has 3 sets of fold down landing gear (which previously would have been a treat on larger toys)
5) Small Jets ! You may have heard me rave on this subject before. As a rough generalisation Autobots are Cars, Decepticons are planes. It infuriated me as a child (11 in 1984) that although there were mini Autobot Cars there weren't mini Decepticon Planes. The first mini Plane is an Autobot (Powerglide), the next 4 are part of an Autobot combiner (Superion - why ? Surely the plane combiner should be a Decepticon ?), the next is again an Autobot (Strafe) making the first Decepticon small planes Needlenose (dual TM) and Windsweeper (Triggercon) in 1988 the 7 & 8th small planes (and there's another 2 Autobots - Dogfight and Raindance that year !) Things improve with Micromasters but it isn't till the Euro exclusives of 1992 that things start to be put right. We get 4 Predators in 1992, 4 Skyscorchers in 1993, 1 Rotorforce member in 1994 and then these
Several common colours run throughout these toys: Red for the upper limbs, 2 heads and some robot body parts. Problem: I associate red with Autobots. For Decepticons I'd have gone for a purple, or a black or even the pale blue that eventually turned up on the Autobot repaints. Black for the missile launchers and landing gear Yellow for the missiles Clear Yellow for the canopies and lightpipes
Hooligan is a Swing Wing jet along the lines of the GI Joe Skystriker or (to bring it up early) Autobot Jetfire. To be honest it's hamstrung a bit by looking like Jetfire as you somehow feel it should be G1 Jetfire's colours, and that they should have done Jetfire first and made this the repaint. But hey ho. The paint scheme itself - while a trifle unrealistic for a jet fighter - is nice, orange body with black tigerstripes. Of the 3 Decepticon Cyberjets Hooligan probably suffers the worst for odd G2 paint schemes - though all 3 have some hang-ups. A very similar design nearly showed up on Tigertron and if this design ever got a release (as it would in my fantasy repaints assortment *) the Hooligan name might be appropriately reused on it. Hooligan has a couple of incredible features on a jet toy this small - as well as the landing gear he has working swing wings. Superb. Like the other Cyberjets there's a storage point for a missile underneath - it's actually on the robot's forearm so can be worn there in robot mode - and he's got a missile launcher - which in his case sits rather obtrusively pegged between the 2 tail fins. The launcher can be folded under the plane but it won't balance properly with it underneath.
TF: Turn the plane over and fold the landing gear in. Unpeg the rear undercarriage on both sides (robot legs) and fold them (and his waist) 180 degrees forward from under the cockpit so they're fully extended in front of the nose of the plane. Unpeg the missile launcher and fold out behind the plane. This is attached to a piece of plastic on the right hand side of the plane - swing round to the right so the missile is pointing forward. Then swing the arm up at the shoulder ball joint so the missile is pointing out the back. Pull the other arm out to the left from where it's been sitting in the centre of the plane's underside. Pull the head back, turn the plane over, and push down on the little square of plastic just behind the cockpit. Fold this right the way back through the plane. Fold the head up into the hole this has left, turn the plane over so the top is facing you and fold behind the cockpit & at the back of the hole so the rear of the plane folds over the shoulders to form the back of the robot and locks into place on the robot's bottom.
In 1995 this was the most poseable TF ever. And thanks to some large feet it was stable too. There was nothing a GI Joe figure could do that he couldn't - ball joints at knees, hips, shoulder, elbows and neck gave it an incredible range of motion. Was there a TF before this one that could kneel down on one knee and stay there forever with no support ? We also get a nicely molded head with a T shaped visor that lets the light through. About the only down side is the lack of a right hand - it's where the missile launcher is but I can forgive that. Swing wings still operate in this mode which give the appearance of a flight pack on Hooligan.
I can remember buying this from a Toyshop in Wimbledon in 1995 (on about the same spot as where the Entertainer now stands), taking him back to the office in Merton Park and being gobsmacked at what I could do with him. He was incredible ! And do you know what ? 12 years later he still is. This is an outstanding toy.
(But I did think even then I'd like it in G1 Jetfire colours)
Now onto repaint city !
Jetfire's swapped Hooligan's Orange with Black tiger stripes for pale grey with a darker grey camouflage pattern. Looks great in jet mode, and works well with the robot mode. Just not the name. Jetfire's a big G1 name. You're expecting white and red. So decent repaint, but poor use of the name without a proper Jetfire having been done first. The name for the Energon Jetfire repaint - Overcast - might be appropriate here.
Windsheer is the Hooligan repaint in this vs pack.
"Cool - a vs pack ! Both of these have limbs in the nice burgundy that's been in so many of my recent Universe purchases. Air Raid - the Autobot - is the stealth jet and done in a fetching dark blue. Windsheer is a lovely metallic grey with burgundy camouflage pattern on him - different to the pattern on my existing grey Autobot version of the mold. Both nice, well worth having and a good edition to a con army which lets face it does not have enough small size jets."
Windsheer still looks dynamite today in a colour scheme that I don't think has been reused on a jet yet. There's a Windsheer in RID and he looks good too, but has a totally different colour scheme.
R-Blade ? It's Jetfire, but Jetfire in Japan is a huge can of worms due to the reuse of the Robotech mold for the original jet. This is one of 2 repaints from the first RM wave to finally nail down the colour schemes that *should* have been on toys onto the molds in question. They're 2 of my favourite TFs. And as far as I can see I didn't review either of them which I find very hard to believe. But then I thought I reviewed Overload and Skywarp at the time and I can't find those either !
Colour - Everything you'd expect to see on Jetfire is where it aught to be down to the black on the boots being where the big robot's feet are. The only imperfection is that the wings are stickers on top of black plastic, with nothing underneath so there's black wings on the underside. The cockpit and lightpipe is a lovely ice blue.
This is worth tracking down, it's a superb repaint, it's a great toy (see above)
In the course of writing these articles I discovered that Hooligan has an all black Botcon exclusive repaint. Ricochet is an appropriate name, having been previously used for the US version of Stepper the Black Targetmaster version of Jazz. I don't own this toy but like the look of it ! All black is an obvious paint choice but here it works - would have been nice to see on the other 2
KNOCK OFF
I possess 1 Cyberjet Knock Off - and that's a deluxe sized version of R-Blade. Colours are reasonably accurate, though the head hatch is fixed, as is the head to the body and there's no lightpipe. The black plastic is brittle and I've broken one trying to fire the missile - so don't ! But if anything it proves how good the Hooligan mold is by upscaling it and it still looking good - if a small toy can be upscaled then it was a good small toy. Conversely being able to down size a larger toy usually means the larger version isn't much cop ! (Cybertron Starscream)
1) Night Slash Cheetor in bright Yellow, with Black spots, and Green clear
plastic. Like what it aught to be
2) Armada Wheeljack with the Autobot symbol repaired, the car in Red, the
body parts in Black as Sideswipe
3) Armada Hoist in Purple and Green as Scavenger
4) BW Buzzsaw with the Purple painted Black and the head painted Yellow as
Bumblebee
5) Armada Demolishor in White and Green as Sixshot (like what they meant to
do before the cartoon animators mucked it up)
6) Movie Longarm in Green as Hoist
7) BW Rhinox with a Black hide and Red robot body parts) as Ironhide
8) BW Tigertron in Orange (with either green or red limbs) as a Predacon -
Hooligan