The Autobot Rescue Patrol was the first Transformers set I ever encountered with the 1989 trade dress refresh, and after four years of using the same logo it was a shock and surprise to me. By this point, Micromasters were a firmly established part of the toy line, and I loved how they continued to introduce all sorts of new types of vehicles. And, naturally, any time they happened to hit upon a similarity to a favorite character from 1984-85 didn't hurt, either.

The Rescue Patrol did enjoy some brief prominence in Marvel Comics, having been part of the group that battled the Mayhem Attack Squad within the depths of Cybertron, until accidentally awakening the long-dormant Primus during the battle. I always loved it when a toy I owned managed to make it into the pages of the comics, which didn't always happen (there were plenty of toys near the end of the toy line that were never featured in any capacity)..

FIXIT

Fixit is a tiny white ambulance, with blue painted windows and emergency lights. Weirdly, the side windows remain entirely unpainted, and the word "AMBULANCE" is painted over top of them instead. The rear window is likewise unpainted.

His transformation borrows ideas from the Decepticon Air Strike Patrol, in which the robot hips fold backwards 90 degrees and then the knees fold backwards another 90 degrees. The robot head remains embedded within the hood of the vehicle, which does not transform or fold away at all. But, the upshot of this is that I imagine his head is protected by all that armor.

As a robot, he's white with a red body and head, and a blue painted face and pelvis. So, similar in appearance to Ratchet in some ways, but with a different sort of helmet design (he has two prongs poking out of either side, almost like Scorponok). Back in the day, I had colored the fists on my childhood Fixit red, to make him look a bit more Ratchet-like.

In robot mode, his arms can be raised almost-but-not-qutie 180 degrees (the hood surrounding his head gets in the way a bit) and his legs can move individually from the knees down.

Fixit played a small but important role in Marvel Comics when he was charged with separating the Megatron/Ratchet fusion after their bodies were merged in a trans-dimensional portal accident. He had been successful in physically separating their bodies, but their minds remained connected.

RED HOT

Red Hot is awesome. He's an adorable little futuristic fire engine. Gang-molded with Fixit, he's mostly red with a white fire truck ladder and blue-painted windows and emergency lights. The ladder is articulated and can swivel, and is hinged in two places. The ladder mount also utilized the single screw that typically secures a toy's back half to its front half, so Red Hot gets away with not having a comparatively huge Phillips head screw right in the center of his chest. Like Powertrain, he's got six wheels but only four of them work. The false wheels are nearly identical to the real ones, but they are entirely black, missing the metal pin hubcaps, which is a dead giveaway.

Transforming him involves unfolding the front of the cab to form the robot legs, basically like Mixmaster. That's it. One supposes the fire truck ladder took up the budget for other moving parts. He's tall for a Micromaster, about two and a quarter inches in height, and his robot helmet is nearly twice as big as most other Micromasters. As a robot, he's red with a white body and upper legs, and a blue painted helmet and pelvis. His helmet design is basically identical to Inferno. Coincidence? Hmm. Hard to say.

Red Hot is probably one of my favorite Micromasters. The articulated ladder adds a lot of play value.

SEAWATCH

Ah, an aquatic Micromaster. This is rare and unusual. Seawatch is a turquoise boat with a grey cabin area and yellow cabin windows. He has two front support struts and a single rolling wheel in the rear.

The idea behind his transformation is the same as toys like Roadhandler or Hyperdrive, but applied to a boat shape instead of a car. The rear of the vehicle unfolds to become the robot legs, while the front of the coat folds back on a hinge, ending up behind the robot's head.

As a robot, he's mostly turquoise, with a grey body and upper legs, and a red painted face and pelvis. His head and face design look like they were cribbed directly from the 1985 Tracks toy. His legs can move individually from the knees down, and that center wheel ends up tucked away behind his robot knees in this form.

Seawatch is honestly a little weird-looking, since he's one of the only Micromasters who doesn't have jet parts or car parts hanging off of him.

STAKEOUT

Stakeout seems to be loosely inspired by the vehicle driven by RoboCop in the 1987 film of the same name. He transforms into a Ford Taurus, the same vehicle driven by RoboCop in the movie, and it's colored a very dark grey, looking like the matte black used in the film. This cannot possibly be a coincidence. He's got off-white painted windows, the word "POLICE" emblazoned on his hood and doors, and red painted roof lights.

His transformation is the same as Roadhandler, but due to the configuration of the car, he ends up really leggy as a robot. The trunk unfolds into the robot legs, and the hood of the car flips back and ends up on his back in robot mode.

His proportions are so odd as a robot. He's two and a quarter inches in height, and that extra quarter-inch is all legs. As a robot, he's mostly dark grey with a turquoise body and upper legs (he's gang-molded with Seawatch, of course) and he has a silver painted face and pelvis. He's just awkwardly tall, though. I can't get over it.

This effectively concludes the current batch of Micromaster reviews, effectively covering every Patrol that I owned as a kid (except for the Autobot Construction Patrol; my original set is in great shape so I won't be hunting that set down on eBay). I really didn't have a clear idea of which ones I needed to replace with better ones, until I actually dug through the box and pulled them all out. With that done, any future Micromaster sets I pick up will be an entirely new experience for me!

Zob (gonna have to wait until January for that, though, because I'm still trying to budget this stuff in a reasonable way)