Bot Reviews: Transformers: Studio Series Deluxe Wheeljack (Bumblebee version)

You know, for such an important Transformers character, I haven’t talked about Wheeljack on this blog ever, probably because he’s an odd absence in my collecting. I always meant to get the War for Cybertron Trilogy Deluxe (it got released three times, too!) but never actually got around to it, though I did get its retool, Exhaust (reviewed here). I also used to have his old Generations 1.0 figure, which was a great toy that I sold for some stupid, foolish reason.

My partner has the Transformers Prime deluxe, though, and that’s a really cool figure, even if its personality (both in media and as conveyed by the design) are a big departure from his usual stick. But until I grabbed this version, my shelves were Jack-less.

Wheeljack’s an important 1984 original character, one that managed to stay in focus in both the cartoon and comics, as the chief scientist and inventor of the Autobots. On the show (where he had a cheery Brooklyn accent), his big gag was that a lot of his inventions didn’t quite work, or blew up, but he just kept making them.

Another reason for his continued popularity is likely his fairly distinctive design, as far as Transformers go. His original figure’s white, green and red rally racer alternate mode was eye-catching, and provided him with a good set of colors to follow him around through subsequent re-imaginings. In his robot mode, he’s got an interesting-looking head, with big “ears” and a ridged faceplate, plus little wings on his back. He’s just a good combo of stuff.

And, like so many other classic characters, it was nice to see Wheeljack show up for a second in the Bumblebee movie’s prologue. They even made his ears glow when he talked, a classic cartoon visual. So, this design getting a Studio Series figure is the perfect time to belatedly re-add a Wheeljack, any Wheeljack, to my collection.

Robot Mode

So, that big Cybertron-based prologue that everyone loved in the Bumblebee movie was actually a super-late addition to the film, added in reshoots (well, you don’t shoot an all-CGI sequence, but you get what I mean), so, as a result, basically every character that only shows up in those scenes is kitbashed from one of the film’s Earth-based Transformer designs, by placing the new parts over the already-rigged skeletons of that other group. And, in a funny kind of accuracy to this, Wheeljack almost exact same height as Studio Series B-127 (he’s a hair taller), but more obviously, has the exact same kind of squat, broad-shouldered proportions, since Bee was used as the base for his CGI model. The figure isn’t a retool or anything, it’s all-new, it’s just, very broadly, Shaped Like Bee, and it’s neat (well, neat to me) to see a production detail like that reflected in the figure like this.

And honestly, this silhouette kind of works for Wheeljack. Granted, his G1 self’s appearances in animation and comics tended to give him more Standard Human Man proportions, but his original toy was kind of squat and odd-looking, so this feels a bit like a shout-out to that, specifically, on top of the rest of his design in general being a shout-out to it.

Between the car-hood chest, the wings on his shoulders, and the headsculpt, this is pretty directly the G1 design, filtered through the Bumblebee movie’s aesthetic of greebles, and diagonal lines in lieu of boxes.

And, y’know, it’s still an interesting-looking robot, just unconventional enough to be eye-catching. The only thing that bugs me are the odd white panels on his forearms, which wrap around the inside halves of them, and look and feel a bit awkward, especially since they’re not present on his film model, which he’s otherwise very faithful to.

Speaking of that headsculpt, it’s one I’m enamored with on a couple levels. It follows the G1 animation model’s look of the “ears” on the sides, and the ridged mouthplate, but this version gives the whole thing a sort of angular v-shape that, aside from looking slick, reminds me of the Alternators version of the character.

Plus, between the sculpt and the paint, he looks like he’s got kindly eyes, and that counts for a lot.

For colors, Wheeljack’s a combination of a sort of white, and very dark grey, with red and green accents, some metallic blue bits, and clear blue chest-windows. The odd, and kind of interesting thing with that white is that it’s actually a kind of tinted off-white, with a hint of brown or yellow, like the figure’s suffered from sun exposure, or existed in a smokey household.

It’s an interesting choice, and makes him look visually distinct from his wave-mate, the mostly-white Ratchet (reviewed last week).

He’s definitely got less red and green details on him than most other versions of the character (limited to his chest, along with an Autobrand, and green bits on his shins), but between that, and the grey, he’s got enough visual interest. Again, shout-out to the excellent headsculpt, with bits of metallic blue on the ears, and tiny blue “pupils” in his eyes that really pop. In terms of screen-accuracy, he’s missing a little bit of red on his lower legs, some bronze around the pelvis, and white on his hands, but similar to Ratchet, it’s all deco that wasn’t actually visible onscreen, so it’s nothing I immediately notice, or honestly miss.

In terms of build quality, he’s mostly solid, but a couple parts of him feel dicey. First, there’s the blocks on either side of his torso that his shoulders are attached to, seemingly meant to peg into both his “collarbone” piece, and his hood-chest. In practice, they don’t like to stay in, and will wiggle around and come slightly undone if you manipulate him too much, though it’s easy to set them back in place.

Secondly, the backs of his lower legs are a somewhat dicey-feeling combination of parts and panels, that seemingly hold together on friction rather than pegs, though unlike Kingdom Mirage’s unclipping mess, all the joint tolerances are such that they hold together.

For articulation, Wheeljack’s missing both of the staples we’ve been spoiled with since Siege: He has no ankle tilts, and no wrist swivels (what a scandal!) But he’s not hurting for bendy-ness, he’s got all the expected joints and swivels on the rest of his body, and even required-for-transformation swivels for his wings (which attach to his shoulders), so you can keep them in a dynamic position. His chunky, short proportions, and his general design make me inclined to pose him in silly positions.

Like Ratchet, Wheeljack’s got one accessory, another long rifle, the same size as Ratchet and Optimus’s, but, again, a totally new sculpt (it was probably kitbashed from Prime’s gun for the film, too).

He has the same features of being able to hold it in his hands, or peg it on his back, though this time, it’s on a dedicated War for Cybertron-style port.

He’s got two more WFC ports, too, one on each foot.

I feel less like he’s missing any characterful accessories, since the Earthrise version only comes with a single missile launcher, anyway.

Transformation

This is a weird one, and I’m not even sure how to properly explain it. His legs compress into the front of his car, and his torso basically turns inside out, revealing his back wheels, as his arms form the inside-back of his car. That’s the tricky part of the transformation, as it’s hard to get that inversion to happen without his arms bumping into stuff. That, and his hands need to fold beneath his roof in a way I’ve been unable to accomplish without needing to squeeze the two parts past each other. At least neither’s painted, so no scraping should happen.

Still, it’s easier to pull off than Ratchet’s transformation, and it all pegs together tightly by the end.

Car Mode

While some might grouse that Wheeljack doesn’t change into a boxy space van like he did in the first episode of the original cartoon, there’s something else going on here that I’ve been enamored with since I first saw photos of this alternate mode.

See, as I mentioned during Ratchet’s review, other than Bumblebee and the Seekers, these vehicle modes didn’t exist until this toyline, and were entirely made up by HasTak. So, whoever designed this figure decided to run with the concept of Wheeljack having the same proportions as B-127 and Cliffjumper, and give him a Cybertronian car mode that’s similar to theirs.

It’s not exactly the same car mode, it’s a bit bulkier, there’s a spoiler in the back, and he’s got actual windows, among other things, but it’s got a similar shape and lines, like it’s a different model of the same car, or made by the same company. It’s a clever twist that I really enjoy.

Wheeljack’s a lot more colorful in this mode, too, with different red and green striped patterns recalling the original figure, on his hood and car doors, and some black deco on his headlights. They did the same impressive extra bit as with Ratchet, where they painted the rims of his translucent blue wheels, too, despite not needing to. It’s all just enough to make him more interesting than his much more monotonous cousins.

For features, Wheeljack is, unfortunately, not great at rolling, thanks to a small amount of ground clearance.

On the upside, you can peg his gun into the rear of his car mode via a dedicated, unique peg, for an attack mode.

Overall

It’s funny. I got Wheeljack at the same time as his wavemate, Ratchet, and while I think Ratchet’s the better figure in terms of engineering, design and features, I find this guy a lot more interesting. He’s more colorful, has a more unique, interesting design, and managed to change into an even more clever alternate mode. Of course, he’s not as poseable as I’d like, and has just enough minor stability and engineering quirks to fall shy of, say, his Earthrise tooling, but at the same time, this version feels a lot more characterful, and Wheeljack-ish.

Honestly, if you want a Wheeljack for your collection, and aren’t the type to fixate on toyline or aesthetic unity, he’s a pretty good general choice, on the grounds that he preserves the essential Wheeljack-ness of the character. And if you’re grabbing the whole Bumblebee movie prequel bunch, like I am, he’s a fine addition to that collection, too.

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