Retro Bot Reviews: Transformers: Generation One Scoop, with Holepunch and Tracer

Why am I writing about a random late-G1 nobody? Well, I’m reviewing Scoop here mostly because actually having the completed figure is the end of a multi-year journey. See, back in 2023, I received a very nice box of bots from another member of my streaming crew, containing, among other things, Legacy Nightprowler, Beast Machines Mega Cheetor, and most of the Buzzworthy Bumblebee Creatures Collide box set, all reviewed at the links. This box also contained a G1 Scoop, missing all of his accessories, but otherwise in surprisingly good shape. So, I made it my mission to grab the missing pieces of him, a winding road that involved, among other things, getting sent an entire extra Scoop with the wrong parts! 

I finally managed to get his last missing bit at the last TFCon, so I figure it’s time to look at the fruits of my labour. Plus, how many people have actually looked at Scoop up close and personal? Statistically, if you’ve handled a G1 toy, it’s probably one of the 84-86 A-listers that gets reissued every few years, not a late G1 guy that’s never been re-released in any form. 

So, Scoop. He’s an Autobot Double Targetmaster from 1988, at a time when the original Transformers toyline was starting to feel like it was a little over the hill. His tech specs calls him a “gung-ho fighter” who uses “cool-headed logic and hardened battle tactics” and is “always willing to lend a hand.” So, in other words, an extremely generic Autobot. So generic, that he was only in one issue of the Marvel comic, with only a singular line, as a part of a big group of Autobots engaging in raids on Cybertron.

Scoop got a few more little appearances in the UK and German comics, before IDW Comics got a hold of him in the 21st century (mostly because he got a shiny new Thrilling 30 toy to promote). In his IDW role, he was a devoutly religious bot, who believed a prophecy about Starscream being the Chosen One, and quietly has his faith destroyed when he realized that Starscream is, well, Starscream. Honestly, I didn’t much care for him in these stories, where his role is basically “be a religious nut, then spend most of the Dark Cybertron crossover yelling at Starscream while not actually doing anything, then mope around a bit,” so I kind of prefer the tough, helpful G1 nobody. 

And let’s have a look at that nobody. But first, I’ll start with those accessories, since they’re the guys I had such a tough time finding.

Holepunch and Tracer

As a Double Targetmaster, Scoop comes with two little companions. They’re both Nebulans, i.e. human-like aliens wearing power armor. According to his tech specs, Holepunch is, interestingly, an “office manager turned military man,” while Tracer’s personality is….. “Turns into an ion blaster.” Hm. Okay, a profile book later wrote him as “a prisoner on parole doing community service,” which is also interesting.

Now, the thing about Double Targetmasters is that they were smaller than the original ‘87 guys. So these two are teeny-tiny, smaller than Battle Masters, Prime Masters, modern Micromasters, almost every mini-Transformer I’ve got, with the exception of Titan Masters.

The sculptwork on the pair is surprisingly lavish, though, especially considering their size. They’re both humanoid figures dressed in armor, and between their helmets, little ridged tubes, and other techy details, there’s a ton of detail crammed in there. There’s even little humanoid faces inside the helmets, though they look more like robots than people in suits. And they’re both totally unique designs from each other, too, rather than any kind of mirrored design. I accidentally wound up with Quickmix’s Targetmasters, too, so I can confirm that these unique designs are a feature of the line.

They both have one big, obvious flaw in their looks, though, in the form of huge pegs sticking out between their knees. The designers were decent enough to sculpt them low enough to not look crude, but still, they’re a big, obvious eyesore on otherwise shockingly clean looks.

For colors, Holepunch is cast in deep blue, and Tracer in a cheesy yellow. There’s actually a fair bit of paintwork on the pair, on top of that. Holepunch gets yellow accents on his armor, and a gold face and pelvic plate, while Tracer gets orange armor accents, and a blue face and pelvic plate.

Like many late G1 toys, these two are solid little chunks of durable plastic, but this comes with an obvious tradeoff: They have zero articulation of any kind, and are complete statues, stuck in neutral poses. This is a little disappointing, since most of the other -Master Minifigures had some kind of poseability happening, even if it was basic things, like “the ability to sit down” or “shoulder swivels,” and even a singular joint would have gone a long way here.

For features, the idea is that they become a pair of guns for Scoop, which you accomplish via a single-step transformation, flipping their barrels out of their backpack, and over their heads. Each of them changes into a double-barrelled laser cannon, and the designers manage to keep the techie sculpts on them unique. There’s no additional color in this mode, but there’s another surprisingly great feature: Those pegs that they have for holding are 5 millimeter, meaning that you can actually give these guns to most modern mainline Transformers!

In addition, each gun has a 5-millimeter port on its lower back, so you can plug the pair together to make a meaner, four-barrelled weapon, or combine them with other modern accessories.

It’s a level of forwards compatibility I genuinely wasn’t expecting, and it really adds a lot to what’s otherwise a pair of extremely basic, if detailed microfigures. With them out of the way, let’s get onto the main event!

Scoop, Vehicle Mode

It feels like every time I see a G1 figure in person for the first time, they’re always way smaller, or way bigger than I expected. Scoop’s front-loader construction vehicle, though, is actually about the size I was expecting, which is as big as a modern Deluxe. He looks a bit tiny at first glance, due to how much of that size comes from his shovel, but actually comparing him to modern figures, nah, he’s a standard Deluxe.

So, this is what the Transformers Wiki classifies as a front-end loader, specifically. It’s got some real sandbox construction toy energy to it, in a good way, thanks to its straightforward design, with its big wheels, little driver’s compartment, and so forth.

I think there’s just enough robot-mode details visible on the sculpt, though, that you’re not going to fool someone into thinking this is literally a construction toy, between the flipped-away robot fists, and the fact that the whole back section is clearly lower legs that slightly jut out from the body. But it passes the “quick glance” check. Either way, it’s a very pleasant little vehicle to look at. 

For colors, Scoop is mostly orange, with a yellow shovel, and black wheels and hydraulics. There’s a bit of grayish paint for the windows to the driver’s compartment, and a little bit of silver chrome on his wheels, but beyond that, nearly all of the rest of the extra color comes from the foil stickers across his body. It’s mostly indistinct techie details in various metallic colors in a few places, and seems kind of arbitrarily added, instead of anything to help sell the vehicle mode. Like, what’s supposed to be on the sides of his scoop? Who knows. 

For build quality, we’ve got a land of contrasts here. Like G1 Hot Rod (reviewed here), we’re in the phase of the original toyline where durability was the emphasis, so Scoop himself is a rock-solid block of plastic, and feels like he could survive in the sandbox he seems to be a part of. Certainly, I’ve got no qualms against dropping him on the ground. However, what isn’t holding up is those foil stickers, which are prone to wear and tear, and definitely show it on my copy. Speaking of that, the chrome on his tires is also a bit worn, and I can see what looks like rust forming on some of the bolts holding the figure together.

That said, I don’t mind these issues on Scoop, in particular, since he’s supposed to be a down-in-the-dirt grimey vehicle, and it feels characterful. I could always spring for a Toyhax set of reproduction labels if I wanted to fix the stickers, but I like them as is, especially considering they all seem to be here. 

In terms of features, we’ll start with the obvious, which is that Scoop rolls nicely on his four big plastic wheels. A bigger feature is his, well, scoop. It’s got a total of three different joints, letting raise, lower, and articulate.

He’s got more joints in those hydraulics than some entire G1 guys robot modes!

If you’ve got anything small enough to fit in there, he can raise, lower, and dump it with gusto. 

The other major thing is his interactions with his Targetmaster partners, who, when they’re in gun mode, can mount on the five different ports across his body, including one in front of his driver’s compartment.

And, like I mentioned earlier, these are 5-millimeter ports, so you can totally arm him up with 2025’s weaponry, too. That said, they feel a hair loose, so I’ve had a few heavier modern accessories flop around.

If I had one criticism here, it’s a general one I have about Targetmasters: There’s no way for these two partners to meaningfully interact with the vehicle in their humanoid forms. They can’t drive in it like the Headmasters, or peg onto him in any sensible way. They just have to kind of hang out around him. It feels a bit like they’re missing some functionality, to me.

Transformation

Like most G1 figures, this is a pretty simple set of steps: Flip the back of the vehicle down and out to form the legs, rotate the arms into position and flip out the fists, move the scoop back, and flip back the driver’s compartment to reveal the head.

What stops it from being the kind of excellent hand-candy stimming experience as, say, G1 Hot Rod, is that the order of operations is actually a bit finicky, particularly going back to altmode, as the arms love to bump into stuff and get in the way. So, it’s not Hot Rod good, but it manages to be simple and intuitive, which is mostly what I’d expect out of a G1 figure.

Robot Mode

Where he was formerly about standard Deluxe size, Scoop’s about the size of a modern Deluxe Minibot in robot mode.

And like a lot of G1 bots, he’s a man composed of different boxes in the loose shape of a person, which means he’s got some wacky proportions. Bottom to top, he’s got a mono-leg below the knees (sculpted to suggest two legs), a couple of really skinny thighs, a gigantic torso with a scoop hanging off of the back, two thick arms with big wheels on one end, and teeny tiny fists on the other, and a little pinhead.

It was the style at the time, the engineering would prioritize the vehicle mode, and make a robot that loosely suggested the design they were shooting for. He’s a bit weird looking, but he’s definitely got that kind of retro-robot charm that a lot of G1 guys have, even if he’s a bit less “super robot” and a bit more “generic guy.” Every group needs a generic guy!

Uptop, they still found room on his tiny headsculpt to give him a round helmet, an angular visor, and a little mouth and nose with a serious expression. He’s definitely got a job to do. 

The colors are mostly the same in this mode, with some extra yellow, and a bit of white paint on his face. He’s got new cool blue foil sticker details exposed on his robot chest, along with a red Autobrand. They’re just as worn as the rest of the stickers, but they suit him. His build quality is similarly solid in this mode, with that mono-leg being perfect for standing on. 

For articulation, well, it’s G1, so he’s got two points of articulation: Basic shoulder swivels, on clicky ratchets, letting his arms move up and down. Here’s a flaw in his design, though: His shoulder-wheels bump the scoop at his back after a couple clicks, meaning he can’t normally raise his arms very high, unless you raise and move the scoop out of the way. Which is easy enough, but feels like an odd problem to have. 

Now, my second copy of Scoop was treated with Shock Oil, and so has an additional point of articulation: His head can rotate, via the entire panel it’s on being able to spin. I’ve got no idea if he’s supposed to have this joint or not, though, but I hope so, since it does add a bit of expressiveness. 

For features, it’s, again, all about the Double Targetmasters, which can still access most of the 5-millimeter ports across his body, though the ones on his shins are a bit pointless.

Funny enough, one’s now in front of his head, letting you turn him into some kind of gun-headed robot.

Curiously, his fists are solid blocks that can’t actually hold anything, he relies on the ports near his wrists to mount his weapons.

You can even still arm him up with modern 5-Millimeter weapons!

Overall

It sounds mean, but I can kind of see why some oldheads think G1 was a bit in decline by ‘88, looking at this guy. Scoop has the same kind of solid 1986-and-onward construction as G1 Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime, but a lot less of the secret sauce of being a Cool Space Vehicle. Scoop may be more durable and approachable than his Diaclone and Microman brethren, but it came at the cost of a certain coolness factor, and he feels like a bit of a downgrade.

But all that aside, on his own merits, there’s some simple and straightforward charm here, not to mention the coolness factor of Scoop and his friends being forwards-compatible with the current Gimmick Ecosystem. It’s pretty easy to find a G1 Scoop in good shape, too! Well, it was a pain for me to assemble and complete his Targetmasters, but I’ve seen the whole kit and kaboodle go for a pretty reasonable price for a G1 character.  So, I wouldn’t call him essential, or even particularly novel, but he’s solid and charming on his own merits, and a stalwart guy like Scoop deserves a bit more respect. We can’t all be a part of the TV Show Cast! Some of us have real jobs! 

For over 200 Bot, Non-Bot, and Retro Bot Reviews, click here to view my archive.