Phil's
Energon & Cybertron Highwire,
Superlink Hopper & Axel
and
Micron Booster Brake
Review
Highwire is the Energon upgrade to Armada Highwire. Where the previous toy was a bike the new one is a motorbike - mainly white with a pale blue seat & front and black wheels. He doesn't use the dark blue seen on the other two toys in this set on any part of the bike or the robot but there is some tucked away ready to emerge when he becomes part of Perceptor. Bike wheels on the bike turn and he can rest on a stand midway under the bike that also houses his Minicon port which can be moved so it's on the side of the bike. Whatever you do with it, it looks like a bike when you attach it to a larger toy.... but I suppose with quite a bit of imagination you could lean the bike on it's side with the wheels towards you and pretend it's a twin buzzsaw.
TF: Make sure the Minicon port/stand is under the bike and rotate so the visored face on it is looking out the side of the bike that it can't be folded up. Rotate the handlebars round behind the other side of the bike. Turn upside down. Turn the saddle round so the top is the same side as the face. Separate it in two and straighten it out to form the legs. Fold the ends up to form the feet. The exhaust pipes fold down to form one arm while the front wheel forms the other reminiscent of his Armada form.
This Minicon looks less like a collection of Lego spanners that the original did with some decent moulding to it. He's got bending knees, ball jointed hips, a waist that turns, a ball jointed neck that can lean back as well as turn and ball joints at both shoulders and elbows - if you can call the second joint in the wheel arm an elbow !
I think Highwire can feel quite pleased with his upgrade !
When combined with the other two Minicons in this set Highwire forms the back & head Perceptor effectively just like his Armada version. In fact since both are linked by a Minicon port it is possible to swap them.
In Japan Energon Highwire was called Hopper and available with the rest of the team that form Cliffjumper (The Armada "Perceptor" in Japan was known as Bumble, as in Bumblebee) as Superlink toy
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In the US there was a deluxe version of this toy available with an Action Figure of Kicker.
Original review: "Highwire is still a bike and the head. Nice looking bike, nice TF, nice articulated robot. Favourite of the 3. "
Axel is a repaint of Highwire. The pale blue & black stays the same, but the dark blue becomes clear dark blue. The white becomes one of two colours: the back forks, exhaust/arm, hips & feet become clear and the body, wheel arm, upper exhaust arm and head become grey.
Axel was limited to 4000 pieces and available only at Japanese Toys 'R' Us stores in April 2004. He forms part of Windcharger - can you see the G1 Minibot thing going on with the names here ?
Brake appear in Micron Booster V2 with the other two Micron repaints in this team that combine to form Frenzy - see they're evil versions so they go to the tapes - the opposition of the Minibots for a name this time. White becomes grey, pale blue becomes black and dark blue becomes red while black stays as it is.
Highwire returns in Cybertron in a VS pack with Blastcharge of the Deep Space Team - a Decepticon repaint of Payload of the Space team.
The black stays the same, but the paler blue becomes orange. The dark blue becomes a more mid blue. The white becomes one of two colours: the back forks, exhaust/arm, hips & feet become dark blue and the body, wheel arm, upper exhaust arm and head stay the same..
There's very much an Evel Knievel feel to this repaint !
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