Bot Reviews: Transformers: Collaborative Blue Booster and Wingtail

You know, you’d think I’d be more into Sonic the Hedgehog, given, well, the kind of brain I have, and given the not-insignificant overlap between fandoms it has with Transformers (I say, remembering them handing out free Sonic 3 posters at the Transformers One premiere). I blame the fact that I was a Nintendo kid, and never owned any Sega consoles, only experiencing Sonic games for the first time on the Wii’s virtual console. But I really like the bits of Sonic that I have seen and experienced, which are mostly limited to the 2D games, Lets-Plays of the 3D titles, the 90s anime movie, and a surprisingly good trilogy of modern films. How often do you run into a trilogy that starts decent, and then actively gets better with every installment? 

Still, on the merchandise side, the only Sonic thing I actually owned until now was the excellent Lego Ideas set, pictured above, which was actually designed by a friend of mine, and reviewed here. I’d have gotten more of the subsequent Sonic Lego sets, if Lego in general wasn’t so dang expensive. But now, Transformers Collaborative has managed to hook me yet again, by crossing over with another thing I like. 

So, the bots in this two-pack are “Blue Booster” and “Wingtail,” which, according to the short promo video Hasbro posted about them, are two Cybertronian Autobots who crash-landed on Sonic’s World (Earth? Mobius?), and scanned a pair of vehicles from the franchise. Let’s be real, though, these are just Sonic and Tails But Robots to me. Either way, let me tell you, I recently cancelled a big pile of preorders because, well, money, but I kept these guys on order out of sheer curiosity. And Omega Prime and TFCon meant I got to sit with these for awhile before getting to this review, so this pair are very impatient with me to share my thoughts. 

Blue Booster, Robot Mode

Yes, we’ll get to that head, but let’s start with the body here. Blue Booster’s firmly a Deluxe-sized figure, shorter than a normal one, but taller than most Deluxe Minibots. And when it comes to every part of the sculpt that isn’t the head, I admire the restraint the designers showed in *not* trying to make him look like some kind of accurate rendition of the real Sonic.

His chestplate sort of suggests the character’s cartoon-animal furless chest, but the rest of him’s firmly in Transformer territory. Between the big boots made out of car hood, and the shoulderpads made out of the rear wheels, he really reads as an update of a G1 Minibot that doesn’t exist, or like, a new version of Glyph, the blue Bumblebee repaint.

He’s got altmode kibble in the form of those shoulders, and a bubble cockpit for a backpack, but it all feels characterful.

I’d say the sticky-out altmode panels on the front of his shins are the only real eyesore. Well, that and he’s got really hollow lower legs and forearms, but the legs, at least, are due to the needs of the transformation.

So, the head is where they went full “this is Sonic, but a robot.” He’s got the quills, the cartoony mono-eye, the button nose, and a mouth with a very stern, serious expression on it. And, honestly, in person, I don’t hate it? It looked weird and distressing in the promo photos, but in hand, it scans better than I’d have thought. Not as good as Party Wallop’s Robot Ninja Turtle head, but a close second. Of course, if they wanted me to believe this wasn’t Sonic, but an original character, they really should have given him a different head, but that’s my own derangements. 

His colors do a lot of the heavy lifting to make the sculpt look like Sonic, but again, it’s all restrained in a way that I like. He’s mostly a nice deep shade of blue, with a few white bits here and there, and a bunch of good-looking gold highlights. There’s also some black and red where his wheels are, and a bit of light blue on his feet, and on his mono-eye. Speaking of that, the fact that he doesn’t have pupils was another thing that I immediately thought looked bad, until I saw him in person. In fact, looking at the recent Toyhax kit that gives him actual eyes, I think the mono-eye was actually the best call.

Yeesh.

So, the color blocking does sort of suggest the form of the famous hedgehog, with the gold on his chest and forearms suggesting the bare-skin parts of him, and the white on his hands and wrists suggesting his cartoon-character gloves, but the whole thing’s reserved and subtle enough to actually look good on its own merits. They didn’t, say, attempt to give him red feet to simulate his shoes, which I appreciate. 

That’s the good bits, let’s get into the big problem with him: His build quality. Simply put, this doesn’t feel like a modern Transformer, of the type that began with Siege, and continued into the present day. This feels like an older Prime Wars Trilogy figure, from the mid-to-late-2010s. It’s mainly due to the what he’s made out of, that kind of glossy, slick, cheaper-feeling plastic that was the usual material used in that era, as opposed to the sturdier, matte stuff we see today. The other thing is that his joint tolerances are all out of whack. Some of his joints, like his bicep swivels, feel uncomfortably tight, while other ones feel way too lose. In particular, his shins have a problem where his knees are supposed to peg into the inside edge of each shin, but the peg outright doesn’t work, resulting in his lower legs coming apart sideways without much provocation.

It’s not the worst-feeling figure I’ve handled recently (that dishonor goes to MLDX Rodimus Prime, whenever I get to that review), but it feels like the bad kind of throwback, to an era when figure quality was, well, worse. 

At least he’s got a modern suite of articulation. If you can deal with the shins popping out, Booster’s got a very generous set of universal ankles, as well as swivelling knees, thigh swivels, universal hips, and a waist swivel. Uptop, his head’s on a pretty generous ball joint, he’s got universal shoulders, those tight bicep and elbow swivels, and while his wrists don’t swivel, it’s for his transformation, and they can at least dip forwards.

So, he’s got everything you’d expect out of a modern Deluxe, if you can deal with the wonky tolerances. 

Blue Booster’s accessories are equal parts clever and strange. One of them is a big transparent blue shield, with gold paint around the rim, making it resemble one of the collectible rings the games are famous for. It’s on a 5-millimeter connection, and plugs into a port on the back of his hand, or in his fist for some Captain America-type action. 

His other accessory’s the weirder one. It’s a clear orb, with a plastic red base and hat on it, and a spinning red-rimmed panel on the inside, half of which has a blue-with-white-sparkles pattern on it, while the other half has an Autobrand on a white background. 

It took me a minute to remember that this is actually what collectable power-ups look like in the 3D Sonic games, since I’ve only played the 2D ones, where the power-ups are smashable computer monitors instead, as depicted in the Lego Ideas set.

The sparkly one’s temporary invincibility, but your guess is as good as mine as to what the Autobrand does.

There’s a few gimmicks in this item. You can grab the top of it, and spin the power-up around on the inside of it. You can also flip out a peg on the bottom, and hand it to Sonic, who holds it….like a blaster? It’s a really strange choice, the sculpt doesn’t suggest “weapon” to me at all, it’s more like a cudgel or something.

Bad tolerances also strike again with him, though, and this weapon doesn’t actually fit into his hand very well, falling out without much provocation. Luckily, it fits better into the port on the back of his hand. There’s also another 5-millimeter port on the side of the clear orb, the most obvious use being to hook the shield up to it (which I, genius that I am, forgot to take a photo of.) Speaking of ports, they did manage to sneak a few more onto him, besides the four on his hands. Specifically, the center of each of his wheels (two on his shoulders, two on his feet) are also secretly 5-millimeter, in case you felt like Sonic didn’t pack enough heat.

Transformation

This is a fun one, because it’s very straightforward, but filled with a bunch of fun little twists and turns. Basically, he flops on his back, you straighten and compress his legs to become the car’s front, and move panels and stuff on his torso until it’s the rest of a car. There’s a neat set of rotations along his waist where you exchange panels between his chest and back, and an interesting set of twists and dips that his arms go through to curl up underneath him.

Lastly, his chestplate feels like it should fold up flush underneath him, but yes, it does dangle beneath the car mode a little bit. Speaking of that…

Car Mode

Oh, this is strangely cute. So, this is an actual vehicle in the Sonic franchise, a car called the “Speed Star,” that Sonic drives in some of the racing games that I haven’t played.

From what I can tell, there’s a few different designs for it, so I’m not sure if this is accurate to any one of them. But what I do know is that it’s an adorably squashed little racing vehicle, continuing the vibe of him feeling like an update of a G1 Minibot that doesn’t exist.

It’s almost not edgy enough for Sonic, like there should be some spikes on it, instead of the swoopy curves it’s got. Seriously, there’s almost no straight lines or corners anywhere on this bubble-domed, shoe-like car. It looks great, though,with the only downsides being the visible robot fists at the back, and the fact that there’s kinda…nothing inside the driver’s seat underneath the dome. No seat, no controls, or anything. Probably should have just made the dome opaque.

Speaking of colors, all the gold vanishes in this mode, and the car’s body is mostly a clean, shiny blue. There’s still a bit of white (both painted and plastic), and he’s got a light blue mono-headlight upfront, and four red taillights in the back. Plus, his black wheels have red-painted rims!

Looking at the images I can find of the Speed Star’s various in-game designs, it does seem to be a bit underpainted compared to the game model, but, like, whatever, it looks well-painted as it is, and I didn’t even know until I checked!

His build quality is, fortunately, better than his robot mode. Granted, he’s still entirely composed of that glossy, less-good-feeling Prime Wars-type material, but at least there’s no weirdness with the tolerances, since he’s all pegged together. Well, his two rear-side panels feel like they ought to secure tighter to his doors, they’re a bit gappy, but that’s about the only real problem.

For features, he rolls nicely on his four wheels, which I wasn’t expecting, because that chestplate dangling a bit from the bottom of him seems like it might scrape the ground. But it doesn’t, and his racing is unencumbered! He doesn’t have much else going on in this mode, though, just the four 5-millimeter ports on his wheels, which can’t really work with either of his accessories, due to their size.

You can also just plop his power-up item on the ground, for him to run into and pick up. I’m not complaining, though, him being such a swooshy car’s fun enough. 

Overall

It’s a shame that Blue Booster’s let down by his poor materials and build quality, because he’s got a lot going for him.

He’s got a well-designed robot mode, that feels like a proper carbot Transformer that happens to have a weird Sonic-looking head, he’s got a good transformation and fun car mode, and a creative pair of accessories.

So, it’s a shame that he feels like the bad kind of throwback when you actually hold him in your hands. Still, while it’s a significant issue, it’s the only real issue I have with him, and I’d still call him basically competent. His partner, on the other hand, is a little more complicated.

Wingtail, Robot Mode

Wingtail, aka the Tails Robot, is a bit taller than Blue Booster, but also way, way wider, and takes up way more shelfspace. That’s because he changes into a biplane, and his wings just go everywhere.

He’s got two attached to his shoulder, sticking up, and two attached to his back that are meant to go straight out behind him, kind of awkwardly. But the real awkward thing about him is the two big panels of Airplane Rear that are hanging off of a pair of struts that come down from the small of his back, because they just get in the way of everything.

It took me awhile to figure out why they’d do this, and then I realized it was supposed to visually suggest how the actual Tails the Fox has two tails. I guess it’s a clever idea, but it compromises the figure in so, so many ways. Most of the time, I move them into a position where they hang off of his hips, like sword sheaths. 

While most of him’s shaped like an airplane configured into a robot, including his propeller-chest, his legs are, oddly, designed to evoke the actual fox’s legs, with sculpted “shoes” at the bottom. Those legs are another issue, though, because they’re extremely thin, flimsy, and hollow enough that they’re basically half-legs.

It’s a need of the transformation, granted, but it doesn’t look great.

Uptop, his headsculpt’s doing the same sort of thing as Blue Booster, where it’s a mildly roboticized version of Tails’s head. I think it came out a bit better than the Sonic head, actually, save for the odd choice of facial expression. I think they were going for “determined and serious,” but I read it as “gloomy.” It’s like he’s depressed about all his design problems. 

For colors, they’ve gone less Tails-accurate in the name of a better colorscheme, which I appreciate. He’s mostly a deep red, with light yellow-orange, white, and black as accent colors. It looks good, and manages to avoid the issue of looking like a horrid mechanical approximation of a furry organic, same as Blue Booster. Uptop, he also has eyes with no pupils, painted light blue, and they, again, don’t look as weird as I was worried they would.

The build quality here….whoof. So, he’s got the same problems as Blue Booster, where he’s made out of the worse-feeling, pre-Siege plastic, and also has some odd joint tolerances. In particular, some of his leg joints are strangely tight, and that’s where the plastic’s the thinnest. He’s not in danger of breaking, but it doesn’t feel great. On top of that, the wings attached to his shoulders on 5-Millimeter pegs are prone to popping off and taking a tumble off of my desk if you bump them against any part of his body, which, given how much he gets in the way of himself, is likely to happen.

It’s an annoying thing that keeps happening. And he’s not the most stable, either. Between the wings on his back, and the panels around his hips, he’s in danger of falling over due to backheaviness, and I frequently have to fiddle with his wings and tailfins to keep him balanced.

His articulation, meanwhile, is decent on paper. He’s got ankle tilts, knee and bicep swivels, universal hips, a waist swivel, double-elbow joints, a bicep swivel, universal shoulders, and a balljointed head.

But, like, he’s a pain to pose, because of how much he gets in his own way. You bump the tailfins, you bump the rear wings, you bump his shoulder-wings, and they pop off and go flying yet again…It just never stops being a problem.

For features, unlike Blue Booster, Wingtail’s got a straight-up gun, a cylinder cast in black, and painted shiny silver.

Not only that, but he’s got a clear blue effect part for it, which you can fit into the 5-millimeter barrel at the end of it.

This is one of those new blast effects, though, where they’ve opted to cast it in rigid plastic, instead of the gummy stuff they used to be made from, and it doesn’t have the inner little port on the end, which limits its functionality a bit, but it’s still nice to see it used here.

Oddly, there’s another 5-millimeter port on the top of the gun, too, and the Transformers Wiki mentions you can make some kind of “ultimate weapon” from it, through combining it with Blue Booster’s gear, though the instructions don’t mention this. 

Speaking of 5-millimeter ports, the fact that his shoulder-wings pop off means a couple things. Firstly, you can get him to hold them in his hands, as some kind of Beating Paddle, or shield, or something.

Secondly, you can access 5-millimeter ports on the back of his shoulders, and pegs on the sides of them, to give him a little bit of extra weaponization. 

Transformation

To begin with, just take those 5-millimeter wings off, and set them aside. He’s not supposed to be a partsformer, but they 100 percent are going to fall off of him during transformation. Beyond that, though, this is a pretty fun transformation, if a bit strict about order-of-operations, i.e. you need to do the arms before the legs, or the arms won’t fit. There’s some tricky parts-fit issues, too, where it’s a bit of a struggle to get his propeller plugged into his shoulders, and there’ll be a big ugly gap in his fusilage if you don’t line everything up right, but still, it all works (except the wings), and it’s all fairly unique, since we don’t see many bots that transform into a biplane. Speaking of that…

Airplane Mode

What a complete 180, after that messy robot mode. Wingtail transforms into an old-fashioned, two-winged propeller airplane, and this is a swanky looking thing. It’s got sculpted landing gear, the propeller up front, everything you’d expect. I call it old-fashioned, but between the bubble-dome cockpit, and the jet booster on the bottom, this feels both futuristic and classic at the same time.

It’s also a good choice, since Tails famously pilots a biplane in tons of Sonic games and media (including the second movie!).

I don’t know if this is based on a specific airplane from the games, but it feels right. I like that they managed to make it much larger than Blue Booster’s little car mode, too.

For colors, he’s got a lot more going on. His base shades are still mostly red, with some white and black, but the transformation now exposes a ton of shiny silver paint on the top of both sets of wings, changing up the vibes. He’s also got a bunch of livery painted onto the sides of the plane, including a big “Sonic” with a white stripe, and a little logo with a star on the tailfin. They didn’t skimp on the deco budget here, and it looks very complete, as well as pleasantly cartoony. 

Build quality and handfeel are, again, a heck of a lot better in this mode. The fact that all his panels, wings, and parts lock in means that he’s not prone to having things pop off of him anymore, and he doesn’t get in his own way. Well, okay, I have found that it’s bizarrely easy to pop his tailfins off of the back of the plane (they’re just in there on little clips), but that’s about it. He’s still clearly composed of that Prime Wars-era less-good plastic, though, but at least his other issues are fixed. 

For features, there’s not much here, not that he really needs it. His propeller spins nicely, though. His wheels are solid plastic, so he can’t roll. Underneath him, there’s a 5-millimeter peg, where his gun can plug in to serve as a jet engine, with the blast effect acting as a contrail. You could also always point it forward as a weapon, if you like, or use the port for something else, same with the port on the weapon itself.

Overall

I’ll be frank: Wingtail’s robot mode is a complete mess, between the bits that fall off, bad design choices that make him clumsy to handle, and the same poor materials and construction as Blue Booster.

And yet, that altmode. It’s nice, and fairly unique by Transformers standards.

On one hand, he’s definitely the weaker of this duo. On the other hand, I admire the ambition here, as he’s a lot more experimental than Blue Booster, and even if it doesn’t work, I can’t fault them for trying. But as to whether or not I can earnestly recommend him…only if that altmode compels you, he’s too uneven otherwise.

The Duo Overall

Okay, so, here’s the other Transformers Collaboratives that I own: Gigawatt (the Back to the Future one), VNR Optimus Prime (the Volvo one), and Party Wallop (the Ninja Turtles one). They’re all straight bangers. I’m bringing that up because Blue Booster and Wingtail are the weakest of the Collaboratives I’ve gotten, but it’s stiff competition on my shelves, so that’s not me immediately calling them bad. Well, okay, I wouldn’t call them unconditionally good. I think the premise behind them is a solid one, and the stuff about it that I thought I wouldn’t like (their odd headsculpts) came out okay. The problems all lie in the execution. The materials and construction of the pair just feels bad, a throwback to an awkward time in Transformers history where the budget crunch had led to worse figures, and engineering and materials hadn’t caught up yet. And Wingtail’s got his messy, unfun-to-mess-with robot mode, on top of that. 

And yet, they compel me. There’s something interesting about the pair, and I still like to mess around with them anyway, despite their flaws. I think there’s some kind of symbolism here, like these figure are emblematic of Sonic as a whole. There’s always been a veneer of jank over the thing, especially when the series moved to 3D games. Glitches, wonky voice acting, technical problems, and so forth. Even the movies have their share of issues! And yet, it’s a popular franchise, with enough compelling elements to have a loyal legion of fans. Blue Booster and Wingtail are just a plastic representation of Sonic the franchise. They’ve got problems, they’re messy, they’re not all-timers. But they’re *interesting,* and that counts for something. Still, I can really only recommend them if you like both Sonic and Transformers, and are prepared to accept a level of messiness in the name of owning figures that embody that concept very well. At the same time, if Blue Booster gets a Shadow the Hedgehog repaint, maybe in a two-pack with some kind of Knuckles robot, I’ll absolutely bite.

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