Bot Reviews: Studio Series 86 Voyager Wreck-Gar

First, a confession from a Transformers: The Movie superfan: I think the Junkions are my least favorite part of that movie. Maybe their TV-speaking gag didn’t vibe with me (it doesn’t help that the odd vocal processing on their voices makes it impossible to parse a lot of their dialogue), maybe it’s the fact that, out of a movie made out almost entirely of plot cul-de-sacs, they’re the most cul-de-sac-ish, appearing as they do immediately before we move to the finale, but they’ve never compelled me as much as the rest of the story and characters. Still, I do like their character designs, and the concept of a gang of rough-and-tumble motorcycles, and like the rest of the film, their world and the characters in it have impeccable design work and aesthetics.

As their leader, the one with the most screen-time, and the one with a celebrity voice (Eric Idle, who actually received top billing in the opening credits!) Wreck-Gar’s usually the sole Junkion that gets all the merchandise, and he’s had a few figures over the years. Outside of his G1 original (above), he got a Deluxe in 2011’s Reveal The Shield (which is apparently super easy to break, so I never got it), a little Combiner Wars Legend, retooled from the autobot Groove, and a bigger   Deluxe, also retooled from a larger Groove. That last one was what I used as my Wreck-Gar for my Transformers: The Movie display, and since I’m not particularly into the character, I wasn’t really planning on upgrading it.

So, why did I go in on this new, larger Studio Series 86 release? It’s kind of the opposite of last week’s Kingdom Tracks, where the figure had bad press, but I liked the character, so I went in on it. With Wreck-Gar, I’m neutral on the character, but I’d heard really great things about this release, with some people calling it an all-timer. I’d assumed I’d skip over it, but a couple copies of the figure very recently showed up on retail shelves in my area, along with some Sweeps, so I decided to pick one up, and see what all the commotion was about.

Robot Mode

Big and bulky for a voyager, this is the first Wreck-Gar with mass. This almost feels too big for the character, until I actually checked screenshots, and yep, this is about right compared to Studio Series 86 Hot Rod.

 

Regardless, it’s satisfying to have this figure be so large for the price point, and he’s got a pleasant size to him, looking like he’s made out of big, colorful blocks.

Out of the box, his wheels come detached, and you’re meant to mount them on spikes on his left forearm and leg, respectively, altering what’s otherwise a really symmetrical robot. See, I never bought the idea that he was supposed to be made out of junk (he’s too clean, blocky, and symmetrical, wheel aside), but he does look really nice, and like Hot Rod, or the Quintession Pit of Judgement, manages to capture the particular je ne sais quoi that Floro Dery’s movie-era designs had, that kind of retro-scifi aura that’s often hard to render in plastic.

That’s probably because he’s also crazy-accurate to his animation model, including details like the giant screw on his chest, or (and there’s no other way to put this) his weird sticky-out gun nipples. Those details also include the aforementioned spikes on his wrists and knees, which, surprisingly, aren’t made out of the kind of super-soft plastic these parts usually are. They’re still a bit flexible, but they’re firmer than I thought. One of his arm-spikes came out of the box bent on my copy, but the look kind of suits him, anyway.

It’s amusing that the helmet on his head is a shrunken-down, fake version of the front of his motorcycle mode, since no figure’s capable of shrinking it like in the animation. As for the face, I do find his expression a wee bit gormless, and wish he had, like, a smile or a determined look or something.

Probably the only inaccuracy on him is present here, in that his goatee doesn’t hang down nearly as far as it did in the animation (presumably for practical reasons), though he does have a nice big mustache.

Wreck-Gar’s colors are a big highlight of the figure for me. He’s got an eye-catching palette of different shades of orange, brown and gray, with a bit of yellow and black on his wheels, and a little bit of gold and blue on his head. I think it’s meant to evoke rust, but that’s another thing about the Junkions that didn’t land for me. Instead, I like it because it invokes a sunset, or maybe a warm fire. It’s oddly pleasant, and again, very screen-accurate. The only downside is that his helmet’s picked up a paint chip, thanks to his transformation.

Another nice thing about him: Not only is he impressively large, but he feels properly hefty and chunky in-hand, and really satisfyingly toy-ish. There’s substance here, and barely any visible hollow bits, mostly limited to his inner thighs. That weight also makes him really good at standing up.

One of the other reasons I think people are going gaga over this guy is his above-average articulation. At his size, I’d have been fine with them skimping out on a few joints, but they managed to fit them all in, plus some extras. His ankles ought to be limited to just back-and-forward rocking due to his transformation, but they made the bottom of his feet and toes into a separate piece, just to include ankle tilts. Speaking of those rockers, he can “run” really well, thanks to both those, and reversible knees.

Up top, his wrists swivel! This is exceptional, because they also flip inwards for his Transformation, and ever since Siege started doing wrist swivels in late 2018, the rule’s been that hands that need to transform don’t have them. The same goes for his waist joint, which I was expecting to be absent due to his transformation, but nope, it’s there, and it comes with an ab crunch (the term for when a figure can bend at the stomache,) thanks to his transformation, which is a joint mainline figures basically never have. If I had any criticism, it’s that his hips are on ratchets for their side-to-side motion, so they move between pre-set positions that I wish were more fluid. At least the little packets on his hips move, so they stay out of the way.  Oh, and, bizarrely, those nipple guns are articulated on balljoints, drawing even more attention to them.

Wreck-Gar’s two bike wheels are technically accessories, since you can take them off if you want, though he can’t really do anything with them except mount them on those spikes of his. His other major accessory, though, is a short little four-pronged axe.

It’s a little hard to get into his hands at first, and you’ll want to squeeze it. The orange blade on it spins really freely, and you can even blow on it to get it moving, which just makes it funny to me, since it looks like those little handheld fans that kids blow on.

You can also mount it on his back for storage, or maybe an extremely silly flight mode.

Outside of that, he manages to have a small amount of War for Cybertron-compatible weapons ports, on the bottoms of his feet and sides of his legs. It clearly wasn’t a priority, but I appreciate it, since he doesn’t have anything on him that can normally use those. That brings me to an odd thing about him: As an indestructible junk-person, you’d think he’d be able to break apart at the limbs, like Studio Series 86 Kup could. I guess they poured all of their points into making everything else about him really good.

Transformation

It’s kind of hard to remember what to do with the various bits of his torso as you transform him, and not getting them properly lined up is how I paint-chipped his head, dinging it into the front of his motorcycle. I think it comes down to feeling like his robot-mode chest is misaligned when you flip it into its bike-mode position, because it’s not quite straight, but no, that’s where it goes.

Outside of that, it’s mostly just a matter of moving his limbs around into a motorcycle shape, and removing and replacing his wheels into their bike-mode locations, the kind of convenient, simple partsforming I wish more Transformers would do, since it would have been a lot more complicated if they’d tried to keep them on a ligature or something.

 Bike Mode

It’s kind of funny how the front of the motorcycle is, again, a blown-up version of his robot-mode helmet, complete with the same gold accents, but larger (with his real robot head fitting inside it). Beyond that, the other thing I want to note right out of the gate is that I really appreciate the two little flip-out stands on the bottom of this motorcycle, because they let it stay upright perfectly, while being barely visible. That’s some good design and engineering, on top of how, between his tight joints and solid pegs, he feels really durable in this form.

So, yes, Wreck-Gar changes into a bulky, off-road motorcycle, the type that looks more like it’s built for power, and not speed. He looks a little bit like a folded-up person, but better than a lot of bikeformers. The spikes on both his wheels, and his sides look nasty, in particular.

His colors are mostly the same, looking like the sunset you’d want to ride this into. He’s now got a clear blue windscreen on the front of him (and behind that, speedometers sculpted into the back of his robot head).

For features, two of his War for Cybertron weapons ports end up on the sides of his bike mode, perfect for mounting weapons.

Meanwhile, his axe can stash at the back of the bike on a smaller, dedicated peghole, again making it look like a funny flight mode, or submarine form.

But enough about all this. As an open-cockpit vehicle, everyone’s first question with a motorcycle-former is how well the altmode can be ridden, and the answer is, pretty well. There’s a small little sticky-outy-peg in his seat that’s meant to fit into the robot mode’s, well, crotch, so if you’ve got a second Wreck-Gar (or are going to get his upcoming retool, Junkheap), he can ride himself.

But I’ve only got one, so I need to try other figures. I’ll say this: He works best with Deluxes, most Voyagers are a bit too big. But a lot of different figures can ride him, and they all look pretty good doing it. In particular, Studio Series 86 Hot Rod pairs really well with him, thanks to a set of complimentary colors.

Basically, if a figure can get their hands around Wreck-Gar’s handlebars, they can stay on him, with my only criticism being that I’m never quite sure where to put a rider’s feet. Anyway, enough talk. Let’s get to some money shots:

Overall

Yep, the hype was real, this is a very fun figure. They didn’t have to go this hard on this guy, but they did, and the results conquer my own ambivalence towards Wreck-Gar the Guy.  Wreck-Gar’s a chunky, colorful, good-feeling Voyager, with a simple transformation, that changes into a cool rideable bike. If you’re lukewarm on the character, like me, it’s still really fun on its own merits, and makes for a nice bike for characters to ride. He’s just simple, clean fun, which is funny when you consider what a messy guy he’s supposed to be.

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