I told you it was going to get all Micromastery up in here. Go ahead and skip this if you're not interested!

So, at least in the beginning, Micromasters began as traditional vehicles: cars and trucks for the Autobots, and aerial vehicles for the Decepticons. They didn't branch out until a bit later.

NIGHTFLIGHT

We're going alphabetically today, so Nightflight gets to be first. He transforms into an F-14 Tomcat, popularized by the motion picture Top Gun in 1986. (Hasbro seemed to occasionally look to pop culture for ideas about Transformer vehicle modes, if Swindler and Stakeout are any indication.) He's pretty much entirely grey with a black cockpit.

It's a swing-wing jet design, but the wings don't have this functionality (indeed, there are blocks of plastic attached to the back of the wings that aren't part of the jet design at all, probably to make the wings less fragile). The oversized, toyetic hinge behind the cockpit is especially prominent, and the robot feet also poke out prominently from the top of the fuselage. One other design element worth mentioning is that, while he has two rear landing gears, the nose gear is not a fuctional wheel at all, but a plastic nub, like the ones on Powerglide.

He does take his transformation cues from a number of other Micromasters, with the rear section of the jet unfolding to become the arms (the wings fold against the sides of the legs, like GoBots Leader-1) and the cockpit folds back behind his head. His arms aren't made from any vehicle parts, so they're nice and blocky, and he's got a wide range of articulation in the shoulders. As a robot, he's grey with a blue robot body and a red-painted face. Unlike a lot of other Micromasters, his legs move in tandem and cannot move independently.

Nightflight got a redeco as Autobot Airwave. Every member of the Air Strike Patrol ended up serving double-duty as a different character, actually.

As I've said, when I was a kid, I reimagined Micromasters as updated, tiny versions of 1984-85 characters when practical. I decided Nightflight was in fact Micromaster Starscream, but I had to color him a bit in order for him to look right. I used red and blue permanent markers on his tail fins and air intakes and gauntlets to more closely match Starscream's color mapping. Yeah, I totally ruined the toy. I later sacrified him for the Micromaster Optimal Optimus project (I used his wings and arms) so at least he was able to do some good at the end of his life cycle.

STORM CLOUD

Storm Cloud turns into a twin-engine Dassault Rafale. He's light purple with a black stabilizer fin and a grey painted cockpit. Like Nightflight, he only has two working rear wheels, with his nose gear being a plastic nub. Also like Nightflight, his robot face is plainly visible as part of his undercarriage.

Unlike Nightflight, the front of Storm Cloud forms the legs. The jet nose folds up and tucks behind his feet, and the jet wings fold up and point towards his back. He's a little top-heavy, due to his relatively tiny feet, and he relies a lot on the nose gear as a support strut. He's purple and black with a light green painted face. His legs also move in tandem together and cannot move individually. Storm Cloud got a redeco as Skyhopper.

Storm Cloud enjoyed a turn as a full-sized toy when he was released as a Universe Powerglide redeco in 2008, though it's actually Tailwind who shares a vehicle mode with Powerglide, not Storm Cloud.

Speaking of whom...

TAILWIND

Tailwind is a cute little two-inch A-10 Thunderbolt, like a tiny blue Powerglide. He's also got a large roudned hinge just behind his cockpit, and that, combined with his two really big wheels, makes him look really toyetic. He's got a red painted cockpit.

The transformation engineering is about the same as Nightflight, only the rear of the plane forms his legs this time. To tuck his legs away for vehicle mode, you fold the upper legs backwards 90 degrees and the knees backwards another 90 degrees. When you tuck the wings back, it reveal the robot arms. Like Powerglide, he's just got a pair of tain fins for feet.

In robot mode, his arms cannot move (they're connected to the wings, and the only working joint here is the ability for the wings to fold back). He's blue with a grey body and a black painted face. Tailwind got a redeco later as Autobot Hot House.

The lack of working arms hinders the toy a bit, but I think he's the cutest of the four, at least in vehicle mode.

WHISPER

Whisper transforms into a black stealth jet with a red cockpit. He's arguably an F-19, which is technically a designation that was never used by the United States Air Force to describe a specific vehicle. There's a speculative design that's been used for Testors model kits, video games, etc. so this is pretty much what Whisper is designed to resemble. His name seems to be an allusion to the secrecy of this jet model, if it even exists.

Anyway, he's definitely an unusual design, sort of wedge-shaped with rounded wings that are angled downwards and stabilizer fins that point towards each other, almost making an X-shape. Like the others, he's only got two working wheels to his name, with a little nub serving as the nose gear.

He transforms like Storm Cloud, with the jet cockpit folding back to form the legs, the wings tucking back, and the legs extending. As a robot, he's black with a light purple body and upper legs, and a light grey painted face. He's got a battery of missiles on either side of his head.

The canards on the front section of the jet tend to snap off rather easily. It took me a while to find one that was completely unbroken.

Just as the Race Car Patrol is the definitive Autobot Micromaster team, these guys are what I tend to think of when somebody mentions Decepticon Micromasters. They were the first Decepticon team to be introduced in Marvel Comics, and they played a (small) role under the command of Scorponok, until they were finally taken out by Hector Dialonzo (aka Dynamo of the Neo-Knights team). These little guys are great.

Zob (yeah, I'm cleaning the house to get ready for Christmas, but I've also got at least two more of these Micromaster Patrols to write about, so get ready)