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
I'm not sure what sort of plane Space Case is but he's the same design as the Conquest X130 a GI Joe plane (see http://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/86/conquest/ and linked paint variations) Since GI Joe was still reasonably plausible on their military vehicles at that stage it might actually be known as a conquest ! The white jet reminds me of the aerialbots - possibly Slingshot.
The most prominent feature of the jet mode is the swept forward wings. The plane's white body is covered by blue and black squares which I presume is some sort of anti radar thing. Or another moment of G2 paint madness. In this mode the missile launcher is fixed under the jet, and it's operation usefulness is rather limited by the cockpit's undercarriage.
TF: Turn Over. Unpeg the back to form the legs and fold forward as per the other 2. Unpeg the arms and fold the shoulder panels out. Swing both lower arms out to the side 90 degrees at the elbow. Find where the robot head is and rotate everything forward of that round 180 degrees so the cockpit of the jet is the same side as the undercarriage of the rear of the jet. Fold the robot's chest and head up so they lock into the underside of the rear of the jet - the hips should peg into where the arms were and the connecting strut completely recess in the back.
In many way Space Case has the colour scheme that should have been on Hooligan - mainly white with red inner body and upper limbs. The only let down is the blue head. Ball joints are present at knees, hips, elbows, shoulders and wrists. As a bonus he has 2 hands - the missile launcher is slung under the right arm. We do have a mild problem with the shoulders though - the ball joints are on panels that fold out and aren't actually secured so they do move about a little bit. Pretend it's bonus articulation and you'll be fine.
Great again, completing a fantastic set.
Now onto repaint city !
Strafe was the Technobot Plane. No hint of continuity colour or formwise here as Spacecase's plane get a camouflage job - there's a similar one on a version of the GI Joe Conquest linked above. Plane mode is nice. Robot mode should clash horribly but does somehow work. Other colours - black even - might work better on the upper limb pieces though.
"Spacecase however is a thing of articulated beauty. I could rave about the importance of the Cyberjets all day in terms of articulation on small toys but these are the great stepping stone forward for TFs. But since I have 4 more Cyberjets to talk about in the next few months ...... Lovely colour scheme - just like RID Sky Fire..... "
Not very descriptive, is it ? Refers to a rare RID toy and doesn't link to pictures of either jet ! Well here's RID Skyfire:
Both jets are mainly grey with purple trim. Simple, effective, it works and says Decepticon. I quite liked the Soundwave he came with too ! Who says Universe was all a big smelly pile of poo ? These are good repaints.
X-Gunner is the Spacecase repaint.
"These aren't the best colour schemes of these molds I've seen. X-Gunner's grey is nice enough, and goes well with his purple clear plastic but it sort of doesn't work with the red in the forelimbs. Whereas Delta Seeker's metallic blue/green positively clashes with the red forelimbs on him. And to make matters worse DS suffers somewhat in the joint department - mine's gun hand came off coming out of the box, but the joint on the shoulder is so tight I damaged the plastic attaching the shoulders to the wing section. Not the greatest moment for the RM range "
Subsequent experimentation showed that X-Gunner (the Decepticon) works far better with Strafe's light blue limbs. A 2nd of each may have to be purchased and a permanent swap arranged. I suspect the same is true for Delta Seeker ! Apart from that I stand by the above comments still