Warpath Blammo, Zowie Transformers Generation 1 Minibots Item No.: n/a Manufacturer: Hasbro Includes: n/a Action Feature: Turns into a tank Retail: approx. $5 Availability: 1985 Other: The original Warpath
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While Warpath has been reissued (and remade twice), the one in this article is the real original I had when I was a kid. As part of the very popular (and cheap) Minibots line, it was one of those toys your parents might buy you because it was cheaper than the deluxe cars or boxed Optimus Prime that you really wanted. Since the character had a lot of action on the TV show in the second season, it wasn't exactly a bummer to get him-- if anything, he was fun, because he was one of few animated characters to prove you can be a functional member in a society while working through your Tourette's.

The original toy is a small, 2 3/4-inch tank with a few moving points. His turret can rotate, and under his fake tank treads are actual tiny rolling wheels. They're so small that they don't exactly roll freely, but the idea was a nice one. There's a fair amount of detail on the vehicle mode, and he holds together really well. The tank mode is convincing-- unlike the 2009 Legends release-- and the grey color breaks up the red nicely.

Transformation is easy-- pull out the legs, swivel the feet and chest into place, position the arms, and pop out the head. It should take about 12 seconds tops.

As an action figure, he kinda sucks. The play feature of many of these old Transformers toys was that they could go from a decent vehicle into a semi-convincing robot, although it was generally the case that you had to deal with weird small parts or a less-than-convincing alt mode. This guy has a great tank mode, but his robot suffers due to the strange placement of the turret. The chest's bulk prevents the arms from fully swinging down, so you have to angle them down slightly or just leave them pointing straight ahead. It's a little chunky by today's standards, but it's still a neat toy and a good representation of how to make a transformation happen really friggin' quick. The original toy is quite common-- you can get a loose sample for $10 or less, and sealed samples don't seem to be supremely common... so if you just want one to play with, you can easily afford it.

Variations: The guys at TFWiki.net show a paint variant in which the eyes are unpainted, but the mouth paint is indeed colored black.

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