Got these guys in the mail yesterday. I will probably be talking about vintage Micromasters for the forseeable future, especially since I didn't ask for many (or any?) Transformers for Christmas this year (basically everything I wanted, I'd already pre-ordered). So, strap in and get ready to go back in time.

Where the original 1984 division between Autobots and Decepticons tended to be cars vs. planes, the approach was refined in 1987 so that the Autobots were mostly vehicles and the Decepticons were mostly animals. By the time the Micromasters came along, there was no clear distinction between teams at all, and either side could be cars or planes or what have you. (Indeed, the lack of insignias anywhere on the toys suggests to me that, perhaps at one stage, the affiliation of the Micromasters would be undecided, like the Battle Beasts or the old Mini-Spy pack-in toys.)

To that end, the Decepticons eventually got their own team of tiny performance cars. In the Marvel Comics stories, this group actually briefly went undercover and pretended to be Autobots, which makes sense given what they all transform into. In their limited fiction appearances, the Sports Car Patrol was notable for working behind the scenes with Megatron after he survived his space bridge accident, helping to secure the Ark and capture Ratchet, who inadvertantly helped develop Pretender Starscream as well as reviving Jazz, Bumblebee, and Grimlock as Pretenders as well.

The Sports Car Patrol was sold in 1989, part of the second wave of Micromasters, and were among the first toys to showcase the Transformers brand packaging refresh with the new, stylized logo and the revamped tagline, "More.... much more than meets the eye!"

BLACKJACK

Blackjack is the group leader, turning into a first-generation Ford Probe GT. He's a bit more squarish than the actual car, which was a little more round in shape. As a car, he's black with gold painted windows, and it's a very attractive look.

His transformation scheme is identical to Swindler from the Autobot Race Car Patrol. The back of the car unfolds to form the legs, the sides of the car become the arms (and he carries on the grand tradition of wearing gigantic Nightbeat shoulder towers), and the front of the car flips down to form his chest. The chest isn't designed to lock in place the way it does on Swindler.

As a robot, he's still predominantly black, with purple as a secondary color for his upper legs and robot body. His face is painted gold. There's nothing extraordinary about him, but he doesn't suffer from any major flaws, either. Being so similar in appearance to Swindler made it easy for the two characters to become mold mates when they were brought back for Siege in 2019.

ROAD HUGGER

Road Hugger is based on an unproduced prototype car, specifically the Ferarri 408 4RM from 1987. It's got a body shape vaguely remeniscient of the Testerossa, except it's got this crazy ugly cabin with rounded rear windows. The car never actually went into production. Road Hugger is a deep purple, a great color for a Decepticon, with sky blue painted windows.

His transformation is the same as Roadhandler of the Autobot Race Car Patrol, with the trunk forming the feet and the hood flipping up and ending up on his back. He's got bulky shoulder armor which prevents his arms from swinging up more than 90 degrees. Like Tailspin, he's got a battery of blasters of some sort on either side of his head. Also like Tailspin, the front of the car basically ends up mounted to an assembly behind his head, so it's not a great look.

As a robot, he's purple with a black body and upper legs (naturally, he's gang-molded with Blackjack) and decorated with a silver pelvis and face. He definitely looks like a bad guy, but I think he's the least attractive member of the team. I guess they can't all be my favorite.

HYPERDRIVE

Ah, here we go. I think Hyperdrive is my favorite Micromaster of all time. There's just something gorgeous about him. He's another concept car, the Plymouth X2S by Mitsubishi. It was featured in a 1988 issue of Road & Track magazine, but the vehicle was never mass-produced. He's got a futuristic rounded look that really appeals to me, more aerodynamic and sexy than the more boxy cars like Swindler or Blacjkack. And his turquoise color is very attractive. He's got brown-grey painted windows.

His transformation is also like Roadhandler, in that the trunk forms the legs and the hood flips back. He's got the same armor above his shoulders as Road Hugger that limits his arm articulation. As a robot, he's turquoise with a yellow body and upper legs. Prototype versions of Hyperdrive appearing in Hasbro catalogs showed him with a red painted pelvis and face (and this color scheme was the basis for his appearances in Marvel Comics) but the finished version had a dark blue paint instead.

DETOUR

Detour is just this crazy-looking futurustic-looking thing that could hardly be called a car. He'sa Corvette Indy, a supercar design with a rounded cockpit that looks like something George Jetson had in his garage. His car mode is yellow, with the entire cabin area is painted brown-grey. It's like a jet cockpit plastered to a car body.

His transformation is like Blackjack's, in that the trunk unfolds into the robot legs and the hood folds down to become the chest. He's gorgeous as a robot, with rounded styling everywhere. He's still mostly yellow with a turquoise head and pelvis and upper legs (he's gang-molded with Hyperdrive, of course) and a red-painted face. His colors really appeal to me in this form, maybe because his eyes are actually Decepticon-red for a change. He's got an attractive head sculpt with big goggles and reminds me of Astrotrain a little.

It's been 32 years since these guys were originally released, but I still love them to death. Hasbro was never afraid to experiment with the Transformers brand, and Micromasters are very different toy experience than, anything from 1984-85. But, I've always loved the smaller toys, because they were historically easier and more affordable to collect.

Zob (also, speaking strictly from a pragmatic standpoint, it's going to be easy to find shelf space for these blokes)

On Friday, December 24, 2021 at 10:54:56 AM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:

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> It's been 32 years since these guys were originally released, but I still love them to death. Hasbro was never afraid to experiment with the Transformers brand, and Micromasters are very different toy experience than, anything from 1984-85. But, I've always loved the smaller toys, because they were historically easier and more affordable to collect.
>
>
The Decepticon Sports Car Patrol is definitely my favorite of all the Micromasters. Maybe I got them first? Maybe I liked their colors? Maybe I just liked the concept of Decepticon cars (hint: I still do)? Maybe it's just that they were novel at the time I got them. I wonder if Micromasters as a whole would be remembered in a better light if they were a smaller subgroup as opposed to the near-entire lineup.

Being Micromasters is fun and all, but I do have a fascination with upsizing them to regular Transformers (kind of like how I like transforming Action Masters). I guess this assumes that they used to be regular sized and were downsized, instead of just built that way (honestly, it's weird either way). The Sports Car Patrol is the one I'm most interested in - I just think they would look really cool and give off almost a Stunticonish vibe. The Autobot Race Car Patrol comes in second place.

I often took a step back from this idea wondering if they would actually "fit" on my cars' shelves. Could Road Hugger stand next to Exhaust and Loud Pedal? Could Swindler look right next to Bluestreak and Wheeljack? I used to think that they were just too simple both in design and colors, but I don't know if that's actually accurate. I mean, G1 Sideswipe isn't all that much more than an upscaled Micromaster... The box art for the Sports Car Patrol even has a few extra details that would help and make them feel more alive.

Freewheeler is a bit of a headache though. Since his alt mode is *another* yellow Countach along with Sunstreaker and Tigertrack and Laster and Flame, and his recolor (Deadwheeler) is *another* red Countach like Sideswipe and Spinout. On that note, I've had my MP Sunstreaker transformed into regular Countach mode for about a week now it's weird how much I like it - I'm usually much more of a "it HAS to look like it does in the cartoon!!!"

BJN