Dave's Transformers EarthSpark Rant: 1-Step Flip Changers wave 1

Wheeljack (race car)
Optimus Prime (semitractor)
Bumblebee (sports car)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/ES/Flip1

The One-Step concept persists, but with slightly smaller vehicles and a
"throw it in the air and it transforms on its own" gimmick that does somewhat
limit the transformation style.
Note, it might help to read the Deluxe wave 1 review first, I started
that one about a week before starting this one, but this one finished really
quickly while I was still tinkering with Thrash.

CAPSULES

$10 price point. Collectively, they're all very mildly recommended, and
mostly for people who like the gimmick. If you just want to get one to mess
with, Optimus seems least likely to have the QC lottery hurt his flip
changing.

Wheeljack: A design that really needed more paint than Hasbro could
spare. The gimmick is cute, but didn't work well on mine.

Optimus Prime: Slightly ugly vehicle, quite ugly robot, but a reliable
gimmick.

Bumblebee: Looks okay in both modes, and mine has a reliable gimmick,
but I can't guarantee that.

RANTS

Packaging: These are negligible-plastic tray cards, much like the Elites
have been since the start of Cyberverse. Rather than sealing the toy inside
a plastic blister, it's just tied to the card back, with a sort of open-
topped box affair letting it sit on a shelf and protecting the toy from being
too dinged up in shipping.
The cards are 6" (15cm) tall and a little over 5" (13cm) wide. The box
part is rounded in the lower right corner as seen in other Earthspark
packaging, 2" (5cm) deep and a little taller on the left (2.75"/7cm) than on
the right (2"/5cm). The card back is not printed on both sides, it's just
folded over so that the string knots are inaccessible unless you cut the tape
on either side and inside the bottom.
The front left of the box part has a tilted oval shape that shows
renders of both modes with a looping arrow calling out the "1-STEP FLIP"
gimmick. The left top of the card front has the cartoon model of the
character, while the right top has a small inset showing the flip changing
gimmick a little it. Otherwise, same basic trade dress style as other
EarthSpark toys, including whether the faction symbol in the upper right is
normal or GHOST-affiliated. On the card back are repeats of the various toy
renders from the front. There's no instructions sheet, but the usual
multilingual warning sheet is tucked into the bottom of the box bit.

Flip Changing: So, the packaging is unclear on this, but the gimmick is
basically this: if the robot falls over the right way, it will snap into
vehicle mode once the trigger hits a hard enough surface. You can also
manually transform it by pressing on the trigger, although the spring may not
be strong enough if you're holding the robot vertically.

AUTOBOT: WHEELJACK
Assortment: F6715
Altmode: Race car
Transformation Difficulty: 1 step
Previous Name Use: Yes
Previous Mold Use: None
GHOST Affiliated: No

Packaging: Two undyed rattan strings hold the vehicle mode into the card
tray.

Vehicle Mode: A mostly white car with some elements that evoke the
Lancia Stratos, but not enough to require licensing, and a black hook
sticking out behind the driver's side door. Well, very dark gunmetal hook.
3.5" (9cm) long, about an inch shorter than the typical 1-Step in
Cyberverse. The wheels are a very dark gunmetal plastic, the rest of the
body shell is bright white plastic. The windshield is painted metallic
medium-light blue, the headlights are canary yellow, and there's red and
bright green stripes on the roof and hood.
It doesn't roll particularly well, but that's not the fault of the
snap-on wheels, it's because the transformation trigger scrapes along
underneath. It kind of has to touch the surface to do its job.

Transformation: To transform to robot mode, just flip it open like a
Balisong ("butterfly knife") and make sure the little latch on one leg
catches on the other leg.
In theory, falling backwards makes the robot auto-transform so that the
car is facing the way the robot was. The trigger is on the back of the left
knee area, and a spring applies just enough torque to flip the chest plate up
and over to become the windshield/roof piece.
The trigger doesn't like to trip from just falling over backwards, it's
too low to really hit. Even dropping it level doesn't always do the trick.
This might just be a batch variation sort of thing and I got one that doesn't
like to transform, though.

Robot Mode: They kind of messed up on the paint here. He's in battle
mask mode, but the animation art shows most of the mask as white with silver
around the eyes and on the chin. The toy has the mask and chin silver but
the rest of the upper face white. Given that this may be the only Wheeljack
we get, I might go ahead and at least fix the face.
The roof piece flipped down and makes a sort of tabard on which ar
emolded a fake roof chest and the pelvis/belt piece. Another thing that needs
fixing is the lack of roof colors on the chest.
4" (10cm) tall and way too white. The dark gunmetal plastic is also
used on the backplate (which has his wings) and the shoulder hinges. Much of
the helmet is painted regular gunmetal, as are the fists and the abdomen/
pelvis parts. The eyes are bright blue, and a gloss red paint is used on his
helmet crest. As noted earlier, there's silver on the lower face. No
Autobot symbol, I suppose I'll use a Reprolabel there if I do mod this.
As one might expect from a 1-step, there's negligible articulation.
Basically, you can lift up the arms, but they'll flop back down again.
The fists can hold 5mm pegs, but since the arms can't lift up there's
not a whole lot to be gained by arming the figure.

Overall: It's a cute gimmick when it works, but this suffers really
badly from the usual Hasbro paint neglect, not to mention the incorrect
application of some of the paint it does have. Only get this if you really
want a toy of Twitch's daddy.

AUTOBOT: OPTIMUS PRIME
Assortment: F6716
Altmode: Semitractor
Transformation Difficulty: 1 step
Previous Name Use: Very Yes
Previous Mold Use: None
GHOST Affiliated: Yes

Packaging: Two blue rattan strings hold the vehicle mode into the card
tray.

Vehicle Mode: A semitractor that's a bit of a mess in back, what with a
transformation strut and a lot of cost-cutting hollow spaces in the legs.
The back of the cab is also open and hollow, although the transformation
requires at least some hollowness. The fuel tank area on each side is a bit
weird, since it uses the same very dark gray plastic as the wheels, and I'm
not sure if they were going for a step or what, but it seems to be bigger and
wider than it needs to be. Very short smokestacks.
3.75" (9cm) long in bright red, medium blue, and very dark gray. The
very dark gray is used for the wheels, the not-fuel-tank bumpers on the
sides, and the transformation strut running down the centerline. The cab is
otherwise bright red plastic, and the back end (and some hinges on the cab)
is medium blue. All of the windows are painted for once, and in light blue.
The grille, bumper, and smokestacks are painted silver.
While it also has its transformation trigger scraping along the
tabletop, it rolls a little better due to the lack of a spring directly
pushing it down. (If there is a spring inside, it's really weak, this seems
to be more of a case of other parts next to the trigger keep it from flopping
around too much.)

Transformation: Not the same as the other two, this one falls forwards
to flip change. Getting to robot mode involves grabbing the top of the cab
with one hand and the rear wheels with the other and pulling the cab out on a
strut until it snaps against the backs of the boots, which makes the
chest-and-head piece on the other end of the strut swing up while the arms
spread out. This does mean that his head is firmly tucked between his knees
in vehicle mode.
Most reliable of the bunch in terms of auto-transforming, and it can be
done in a smaller space (Bumblebee is apt to try to clamp closed around
anything nearby).

Robot Mode: This looks bad from every angle except straight on. The
not-fuel-tank flaps just sort of stick out awkwardly in back, there's the
roof of the cab stuck to the back of the monoboot, and the back of the torso
is basically missing. The head is connected to the torso front piece, but
unlike the other two the pelvis is not part of the torso tabard, instead it's
molded onto the transformation strut.
4" (10cm) tall. The torso plate is painted red with light blue chest
windows, but the abdominal grille is left red. The faceplate is silver and
the eyes light blue. No paint on the thighs or hands, the arms are all just
unpainted red plastic other than the silver grille and bumper bits on top of
the shoulders. Similarly, no paint on the thighs, the legs are just blue all
the way up and down. No Autobot symbol or GHOST symbol, even though the
fronts of the shoulders would be good places for them.
Because of the different transformation, this one can't even flap its
arms, but it does still have 5mm-compatible fist holes.