The name Road Pig does of course belong to a GI Joe Dreadnok so joining a band of names used on both toys. Like his compatriot Road Rocket, Road Pig is also a motorcycle, this time a black Harley Davison type bike resembling Groove in form and more blocky than the sleek form used for Road Rocket. A button on the petrol tank causes the exhaust pipe to light up - sadly the headlights don't light up off this same gimmick. The handlebars and front fork don't turn but the handle bars do have brake grips molded into them.. `
TF: Fold the arms out from under the sides removing the hands from the pegs they are mounted on as you go. Turn each elbow out 180 degrees before you push the arms against the side of the bike. Fold the front wheel back and the windshield forward. Pull the back of the bike apart. Fold the rear wheel under and to one side of the bike. Straighten the back of the bike out with the saddle box moving behind what is underneath it - the saddle box makes several plastic breaking type clicks as you move it. Stand on the back of the bike.
The resulting robot ends up with the bike's wind shield upside down on it's chest. His light piped head - red like the forearms - turns but he lacks Road Rocket's waist. He's got ball joints at shoulder, elbow and knee. The legs bend the wrong way at the knee but the right way a little lower down. The exhaust pipe - mounted fixed on the arm - light up if you press in the chest or the front wheel on the back.
Somehow lacking in every respect compared to Road Rocket - bike isn't as sleek, robot's more blocky, bad leg articulation, windshield on chest gets in the way of the arms ....
He does however have the same wonderfully varied repaint history though !
Road Bison is like Soundwave mainly silver but once he's transformed he reveals the same red on the head and forearms plus the black of the revealed robot limbs that Road Pig had.
Road Bison comes with a blue Microman named Walt.
I'm a fan of clear repaints but neither of the bikes really does it for me.
Tornado Bison comes with a clear red and clear yellow Microman called Laser Shakunetsu
Sideways is a repaint of Road Rocket, who was a red, blue and black Kawasaki. I have to admit that I always thought this toy looked very plasticy and artificial, but the new yellow & black paint job makes it look fabulous in Bike mode and improves the robot no end.
Axer is a repaint of Roadpig (mainly black with some red and gold) still mainly in black but with more authentic silver accents (mainly on the forks and engine blocks) and some gold highlighting, all of which is carried into the robot mode.
Both feature a lot of transparent plastic (lights, windshields and light pipe eyes) which you can easily light up by detaching the lamp from the weapon piece (though Sideways could do with a slightly longer wire !) Not bad repaints, but perhaps not an essential buy if you have the originals. "
Axer is named aster an Action Master that rode a motorcycle. The paint scheme used looks nothing like AM Axer !
What I missed at the time was that Double Face is of course the Japanese name for Sideways ! It's a bit bright and the colours clash awfully.
Of the five Axer is probably the best coloured of the molds but I'm feeling like a really good definitive version is yet to be done.