Phil's
Gobot Blowout, Frenzy & Megatron and
Spychanger Artfire & Hotshot
Review
It's hard to know what to say about the Gobots/Spychangers. I suggest
reading this in conjunction with the Gobot/Spychanger repaint guide.
This mold has 12 distinct versions (11 if you discount the Tiny Tin
re-release) This makes it one of the most recoloured Transformers in TF
history !
Blowout is a smoked clear Autobot car. If you turn him over the front and
the back of the underside are coloured blue while the middle is black.
TF: Most of the Gobots/Spychangers - all the ones originally designed for
G2 - have the G1 Sideswipe Transformation. Pull the back of the car back,
fold down the bonnet under the front of the car. Pull the arms out to the
sides.
Robot mode carries the clear colour over to the body, back of the lower
legs and the arms. The blue is the front of the lower legs and the neck
piece. The body (under the car bonnet), upper legs and head are all black. The arms are the only part of the toy that moves and then only at the shoulders. In this mode he gains a clear gun.
Overall: The smoked colour isn't as good as Firecracker's clear red. It's a
bit anonymous.
Frenzy is one of the few Decepticon Spychangers. He takes the clear and
substitutes purple, the blue for silver and keeps the black. Very
Decepticon colours, better overall than Blowout
Megatron is effectively a solid version of Blowout - swapping the clear for
silver. Makes for a good set of Megatron colours. Megatron is the second
Decepticon Gobot.
There's a Japanese version of Megatron adding the T shaped Transformers logo
from Gobot Soundwave to the roof of the car. The least offensive of the
three Japanese versions.
Arfire is Car Robots toy C-005 also available in the C-011 Spychanger
Multipack. He becomes black in car form and gains some yellow & orange
flame decoration on the bonnet. The underside of the vehicle becomes white
at the ends and clear in the middle with the robot's feet and head gaining
some silver paint while the head keeps the eyes & back unpainted to form a
lightpipe.
The colours on this toy are very similar to the Japanese Targetmaster
Stepper - a black Jazz repaint with flame details who was released with an
Inferno repaint called Artfire. I'd always thought TM Stepper & Artfire had
their names the wrong way round and this just adds to my suspicions.
Decent recolour.
Clear Artfire turns the black clear orange (with blue flames) the white
becomes clear green and the clear parts turn clear blue. A tinsy bit of a
colour car crash !
Robots in Disguise Hotshot is Artfire with a tiny Autobot symbol added to
it's head. He was sold in a two pack with REV. Hotshot appears in robot
mode in the first version of the packaging and in vehicle mode in the
second.
Clear Hotshot takes the existing mold and makes the black clear black and
turns the white clear too. A does what it says on the tin release. A KB
Toys exclusive
Tiny Tin Hotshot is identical to RID Hotshot. He comes with a little
matchbox size tin to hold the car.
Super Artfire swaps the black for white, white for black, makes the clear
bits clear green and colours the flames metallic blue. The head is now gold
instead of silver. Nice repaint.
Clear Super Artfire takes all three of Super Artfire's colours and makes
them clear but retains his paint modifications. You'd still struggle to pick
him out in a Clear Super Spychanger lineup though !
Clear Hotshot's Recolour takes the Hotshot colours, makes the black clear,
the white clear blue and the clear plastic clear red while retaining the
flame deco. Similar to clear Super Artfire, but benefits from being the
only US clear recolour that's not colour don the main body.
Email Philip
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