Hasbro Transformers Studio Series Junkheap Hasbro, 2022
Day #2,441: July 26, 2022
Junkheap Transformers - Studio Series 86 #14
Transformers Studio Series Voyager Class Toy
Item No.: Asst. E0702 No. F3177 Manufacturer:Hasbro Includes:2 wheels, axe, backdrop Action Feature:Transforms from motorcycle to robot Retail:$33.99 Availability: May 2022 Other: Junkyard, but Junkheap
We don't get a lot of non-Wreck-Gar Junkions, so Junkheap is pretty exciting - his last toy was also a remold of Wreck-Gar, and was made about 10 years ago. This one is a pretty hefty retool of last year's Studio Series 86 Wreck-Gar [FOTD #2,353], which is a pretty excellent toy. Given the limitations on a remold, Junkheap turned out pretty well.
In short, he's good. The figure is basically the same as the very good Wreck-Gar toy, but with a new head, new wrist cannons, a new chest, and a few other retooled and redecorated elements. The robot does a good job of giving you something much closer to the original character model for the cartoon, but they take some liberties in the name of getting this toy made within budget. You get your new forearms and shoulder spikes, but the legs are the same old legs. Does this matter? It leaves the door open to do an even more accurate remold down the road, but given how rarely we get Junkheap toys that's pretty unlikely. Instead, you can just be happy we got the weird handlebar head with goggles and a brand new face rather than "Wreck-Gar but with different mustache" like last time. The primer gray elements don't look like much, but they're accurate to an idealized version of this background character.
The sculpting is excellent, and the articulation is about as good as you get these days without paying Masterpiece prices. Even at the higher 2022 Voyager prices, it's still a solid figure. You get Wreck-Gar's spinny axe, and you also get the removable wheel shields that can be reconfigured and placed on his knees, which is a great cheat to giving him a different silhouette compared to Wreck-Gar.
I didn't use the instructions but almost reached for them - getting everything tucked in place is tough, thanks to a lot of jointed panels in the upper-body area. The back of the bike is the lower waist and legs, and that's easy.
The bike looks very close to what we saw in Transformers: The Movie but it sin't perfect. The basic form factor is there, but things like his bike mode cannons are gone since the robot chest plate doesn't have guns, but the bike does - it worked out well for Wreck-Gar. The colors are pretty close, and the bike benefits from having a couple of kickstands tucked in the robot mode shins so it'll stay upright.
As promised, Wreck-Gar's robot mode can ride Junkheap! There's even a peg and a slot for them to connect, but it doesn't lock together particularly well - he just kind of sits there and grips the handlebars, which is still pretty awesome to have since there are so few vehicles for the robot modes over the years. To actually have a play feature in robot mode - a vehicle that serves as a mode of transportation for other figures, no less - is really welcome and the kind of thing I hope they do a lot more in the future. It gives you a good reason to buy two of the same mold, which is also in the era of "we made three nearly identical Siege Red Alerts." The added remolded bits - like the robot writs blasters - do a good job of augmenting the bike's bulk and giving it a slightly different appearance from Wreck-Gar's.
Figures like Junkheap (and Wreck-Gar) are the kind of thing I was hoping we'd someday get back when I read early online reviews of Beast Wars in the 1990s. It seemed like we were due for a major change in how toys were done, with things like show-accuracy and articulated hips being normal. After the previous Generations version of this character turned out to be pretty fragile, I'm glad to have this one - with its better head sculpt and all - finally. If you want a new character (since he looks nothing like the previous model), go get this one. It's designed nicely and it's fun... and with the customization kits to make other characters that fans are making, maybe you should buy a few if you ever see them on sale.
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