There aren't many G1 toys from the 1984-85 era that I've never owned. But, I was very much a fan of the Transformers cartoon, and my interest in the toys was dictated to a large degree by which characters were featured on television. The Deluxe Insecticons weren't part of the media experience, so I just never made it a priority to collect them as a kid.

So what distinguishes a Deluxe Insecticon from a regular Insecticon? They're bigger, for one. Slightly more complex, with two accessories instead of just one. Perhaps the biggest difference, though, is that they were licensed from Bandai instead of Takara, so they exhibit a different design philosophy. Their Bandai origin is also the reason they were never part of the cartoon, because Takara didn't want a competitor's toys showing up in the TV series.

So, Chop Shop is a stag beetle, similar in concept to Shrapnel, but bigger and more elaborate. He's around five inches in length, including his huge mandibles, and he's almost completely dark red in this form with some white-painted decoration on his head (the Beetras release in Japan was black). He has two orange mouth pincers visible below the mandibles, and two prominent rocket thrusters on his abdomen. Each of his six insect legs is articulated, but they do a good job of supporting him. The mandibles themselves aren't design to move without partially untransforming him. He has two circular red eyes, and his rub symbol is on the left side of his abdomen, oriented sideways to better fit in the limited real estate. (I think the priority for Hasbro was that the rub symbol always be visible somewhere on the toy through the packaging window.) Since he wasn't a Diaclone toy, he doesn't have any cockpit for a driver, and unlike the smaller Insecticon "vehicles," he has no wheels.

To transform him to robot mode, the abdomen splits apart and unfolds into the robot legs. The beetle's "wings" are on hinges so they can open up and allow the legs to unfold, but instead of closing them back up, you just leave them open. I find this exceptionally weird. The robot hips are connected with a metal pin, like Roadbuster, and they separate slightly for the robot configuration. The insect legs attached to the robot legs actually tuck away into the recessed area behind the lower robot leg, which I like. The robot fists and forearms are spring-loaded, and will pop out automatically as you swing the arms out. How fun! The beetle's head splits in half to form the robot chest armor, which also reveals the robot head. The orange pincers become antenna that end up on the robot's head.

As a robot, he's about four and a half inches at the head. In this form, he's still mostly a maroon color, but accepted with a bright orange for the upper legs, toes, fists, shoulders, and robot antennas/mouth. His eyes are painted a fiery red that pop surprising well against the darker red face. His upper body is die-cast metal, which was a surprise to me. His articulation is rather limited—his hips look like they should be able to move, but they don't. His knees can bend, as required by the transformation, and his arms can pivot out to the sides. That's about it. Due to the design of his shoulder armor, he can't even swing his arms forwards. But, articulation was never a priority during the G1 days. The robot being able to fold up and change into something else was the main draw.

He carries two weapons, a dark red photon cannon and an orange vibro-spear. They both fit very loosely in his hands, and the vibro-spear keeps slipping out as I've been figuring him out. He has two holes on the insect head that *look* like you should be able to mount his weapons there, but it's just for the assembly pin that holds him together. If he wants to use his weapons on an Autobot, then his enemy would need to be standing directly to his side, since that's the only way he can get his weapons in the air.

So, I recognized on some level that the Legacy version of Shrapnel is very probably due for a remold/redeco as Chop Shop, and new toys of heritage characters always inspire interest in the vintage versions on the secondary market. I wasn't very proactive when we got neo-G1 versions of various Micromaster Patrols and Micromaster Stations, so I thought I'd get ahead of the curve this time. I got Chop Shop complete for $40 plus shipping, which felt like a good deal since I've seen complete Deluxe Insecticons go for as much as $70 or $80 sometimes. (I also got a set of authentic Venom stickers for $20, because why not.)

I have a little more familiarity with Ransack, who I did own briefly after I bought him at BotCon one year (exploring the idea that he might be the same character as the G2 Rotor Force plane), as well as Barrage, since I owned a Convertors knockoff version of him at one point. Venom I know basically nothing about. Hasbro just barely officially unveiled the Legacy version of Bombshell today, and we already got a new Ransack in a Target exclusive four-pack, so it's only a matter of time before they start churning out redeco versions and giving us the other Deluxe Insecticons.

Chop Shop has already gotten two homages in his likeness—the tiny Targetmaster that came with Megatron in 2014, and the Combiner Wars redeco of Legends Shrapnel from 2016. Mark Maher of Hasbro is admittedly a huge Insecticon fan, so I think it's inevitable he'll give us a big, Deluxe-sized Chop Shop eventually.

Zob (Deluxe Deluxe Insecticon)

On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 4:01:51 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> There aren't many G1 toys from the 1984-85 era that I've never owned. But, I was very much a fan of the Transformers cartoon, and my interest in the toys was dictated to a large degree by which characters were featured on television. The Deluxe Insecticons weren't part of the media experience, so I just never made it a priority to collect them as a kid.
>
> So what distinguishes a Deluxe Insecticon from a regular Insecticon? They're bigger, for one. Slightly more complex, with two accessories instead of just one. Perhaps the biggest difference, though, is that they were licensed from Bandai instead of Takara, so they exhibit a different design philosophy. Their Bandai origin is also the reason they were never part of the cartoon, because Takara didn't want a competitor's toys showing up in the TV series.
>
> So, Chop Shop is a stag beetle, similar in concept to Shrapnel, but bigger and more elaborate. He's around five inches in length, including his huge mandibles, and he's almost completely dark red in this form with some white-painted decoration on his head (the Beetras release in Japan was black). He has two orange mouth pincers visible below the mandibles, and two prominent rocket thrusters on his abdomen. Each of his six insect legs is articulated, but they do a good job of supporting him. The mandibles themselves aren't design to move without partially untransforming him. He has two circular red eyes, and his rub symbol is on the left side of his abdomen, oriented sideways to better fit in the limited real estate. (I think the priority for Hasbro was that the rub symbol always be visible somewhere on the toy through the packaging window.) Since he wasn't a Diaclone toy, he doesn't have any cockpit for a driver, and unlike the smaller Insecticon "vehicles," he has no wheels.
>
> To transform him to robot mode, the abdomen splits apart and unfolds into the robot legs. The beetle's "wings" are on hinges so they can open up and allow the legs to unfold, but instead of closing them back up, you just leave them open. I find this exceptionally weird. The robot hips are connected with a metal pin, like Roadbuster, and they separate slightly for the robot configuration. The insect legs attached to the robot legs actually tuck away into the recessed area behind the lower robot leg, which I like. The robot fists and forearms are spring-loaded, and will pop out automatically as you swing the arms out. How fun! The beetle's head splits in half to form the robot chest armor, which also reveals the robot head. The orange pincers become antenna that end up on the robot's head.
>
> As a robot, he's about four and a half inches at the head. In this form, he's still mostly a maroon color, but accepted with a bright orange for the upper legs, toes, fists, shoulders, and robot antennas/mouth. His eyes are painted a fiery red that pop surprising well against the darker red face. His upper body is die-cast metal, which was a surprise to me. His articulation is rather limited—his hips look like they should be able to move, but they don't. His knees can bend, as required by the transformation, and his arms can pivot out to the sides. That's about it. Due to the design of his shoulder armor, he can't even swing his arms forwards. But, articulation was never a priority during the G1 days. The robot being able to fold up and change into something else was the main draw.
>
> He carries two weapons, a dark red photon cannon and an orange vibro-spear. They both fit very loosely in his hands, and the vibro-spear keeps slipping out as I've been figuring him out. He has two holes on the insect head that *look* like you should be able to mount his weapons there, but it's just for the assembly pin that holds him together. If he wants to use his weapons on an Autobot, then his enemy would need to be standing directly to his side, since that's the only way he can get his weapons in the air.
>
> So, I recognized on some level that the Legacy version of Shrapnel is very probably due for a remold/redeco as Chop Shop, and new toys of heritage characters always inspire interest in the vintage versions on the secondary market. I wasn't very proactive when we got neo-G1 versions of various Micromaster Patrols and Micromaster Stations, so I thought I'd get ahead of the curve this time. I got Chop Shop complete for $40 plus shipping, which felt like a good deal since I've seen complete Deluxe Insecticons go for as much as $70 or $80 sometimes. (I also got a set of authentic Venom stickers for $20, because why not.)
>
> I have a little more familiarity with Ransack, who I did own briefly after I bought him at BotCon one year (exploring the idea that he might be the same character as the G2 Rotor Force plane), as well as Barrage, since I owned a Convertors knockoff version of him at one point. Venom I know basically nothing about. Hasbro just barely officially unveiled the Legacy version of Bombshell today, and we already got a new Ransack in a Target exclusive four-pack, so it's only a matter of time before they start churning out redeco versions and giving us the other Deluxe Insecticons.
>
> Chop Shop has already gotten two homages in his likeness—the tiny Targetmaster that came with Megatron in 2014, and the Combiner Wars redeco of Legends Shrapnel from 2016. Mark Maher of Hasbro is admittedly a huge Insecticon fan, so I think it's inevitable he'll give us a big, Deluxe-sized Chop Shop eventually.
>
>
> Zob (Deluxe Deluxe Insecticon)

Very cool review, Zob! Chopshop is one of my favorite G1 toys, actually.

I've been a huge fan of the Deluxe Insecticons for years - just like the Omnibots - and appreciate any opportunity for them to get some added attention and discussion. I love their bright colors, inventive and cool designs - truly, robotic insects - detailed weapons, and use of die-cast metal.

I only wish they had been more fleshed out as characters, despite the obvious reasons why they weren't. It is interesting to consider how they might interact with the "regular" Insecticons as characters, and as a subgroup.

Appreciate these reviews, Zob.

JB

On Wednesday, June 21, 2023 at 12:54:33 AM UTC-6, Joseph Bardsley wrote:

> I've been a huge fan of the Deluxe Insecticons for years - just like the Omnibots - and appreciate any opportunity for them to get some added attention and discussion. I love their bright colors, inventive and cool designs - truly, robotic insects - detailed weapons, and use of die-cast metal.

I think I must have owned the Insectors 3-pack from the Convertors toy line as a kid, because I remember owning both the fake versions of Barrage and Ransack, as well as a weird transforming spider that didn't have a Transformers equivalent. Alas, most of my off-brand robot toys met a grisly end, because I fully bought into the Hasbro brainwashing. No rub symbol equalled garbage. But, it will be interesting to own official versions one day, finally.

I got Overdrive and Downshift when I was a kid, and I still have them, but they're in rough shape. Never owned Camshaft. Definitely going to pick those guys up at some point as well.

Zob (I'm hoping to find an Overdrive with a good chest sticker, which seems to be a difficult proposition)