Phil's
Micromaster Combiner Constructor Squad:
Sledge & Hammer
and
Micromaster Combiner Transport:
Terror-Tread & Cement-Head
Review

Sledge

Sledge is an orange truck, forming the front half of a combined vehicle. He *almost* looks like a proper tipper truck by himself, the problem being the truck bed at the back is far too short.

Transform: Turn the cab & tipped bed front round 180 degrees. Fold the rear of the vehicle back 180 degrees then return the cab & tipper bed to their original position. Stand with the underside of the vehicle facing forward.

In this mode we get grey on the upper legs, like the rest of the squad, but we also get grey on the arms. The chest & head are yellow, the colour used for Stonecruncher & Excavator's vehicle modes. He's got standard Micromaster articulation of turning shoulders and bending but linked hips.

Decent enough robot but can't quite pull of being a stand alone vehicle. The name Sledge has endured on many Decepticon construction vehicles and will soon be used on a Power Core Commander figure.

Hammer

Hammer is a 4 wheeled tipper truck bed. The bed itself is sealed at it's connector end so although it doesn't make much sense by itself it works well towed, especially by one of the more sensible front end Combiner Micromasters. Stonecruncher is especially good as his crane hook can be rotated round to reach into the truck.

Transformation: Fold the front (connector) end of the truck forward 90 degrees to form the legs. Stand. Raise the arms.

Again, like his partner Sledge, we get grey on the upper legs and arms but this time the chest is Decepticon Purple like the vehicle modes for Grit & Knockout. Standard Micromaster articulation again here.

One of the better back end Combiner Micromasters by virtue of being a good trailer attachment.

Sledge & Hammer Combined Mode

Like all the combined Micromasters it's a simple matter or plugging these toys together: If you look at the connector on each toy there's a hole on the left and a peg on the right. Turn them to face each other and the peg on one toy slots into the hole on the other. This allows you to connect any Micromaster combiner with any other Micromaster combiner - front piece to back piece or two fronts or even two backs - which can create some odd combinations. The same connector is found on the door of the Japanese Micromaster Trailers and the western Micromaster Combiner Transports allowing Micromaster combiners to merge with them also.

Sledge & Hammer's combine mode actually has a decent name by concatenating the names together - it's the Sledgehammer truck. A tipper truck is what we get here, but it's a little bit of a stretched out truck with the wheels in totally the wrong places. It's a variation on the theme of the stretched out truck seen with many combined Micromasters and it's nearly plausible..... just not quite.

Sledge & Hammer. are part of the Decepticon Micromaster Combiner Constructor Squad along with Stonecruncher & Excavator and Grit & Knockout

In Japan four members of the Micromaster Combiner Constructor Squad, Sledge & Hammer and Grit & Knockout , were released as Cybertron (Autobot) toys C-367 Dump Shovel W Team with Microtrailer #7.

The remaining two members of the Micromaster Combiner Constructor Squad , Stonecruncher & Excavator were released with Direct-hit & Powerpunch , from the Micromaster Combiner Battle Squad , as part of the Cybertron C-368 Crane Cannon W Team with Microtrailer #8 .

The rest of the Micromaster Combiner Battle Squad Fireshot & Vanquish and Meltdown & Half-Track. were released as Cybertron toys in C-369 Jet Tank W Team with Microtrailer #9.

Terror-Tread and Cement-Head

The Decepticon Grit & Knockout are repainted as Terror-Tread and Cement-Head and packaged with the Cannon Transport. These are the only members of the team to be repainted and remain Decepticons

For this release the following colour swaps are used:

Yellow becomes Red
Grey becomes Black
Orange becomes Sea Green
Purple becomes Orange
Red becomes Pale Blue

The same swaps are used on the other four members of the Constructor Squad when Stonecruncher & Excavator are packed with the Missile Transport and Sledge & Hammer are packed with the Cannon Transport.

So for this release we end up with two Decepticon Construction vehicles in green. Unfortunately the green is too dark to be a decent Constructicon green which would have been really nice.

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