Review – Unofficial Transformers Throttlebot, Aurora (Searchlight)

Toyworld is a fairly new third party Transformers toy maker with — to the best of my knowledge — only four toys on the market. Their unofficial Megatron, Hegemon, was neat and all, but when Grind Rod reached me I was blown away by the transformation design, the quality of the plastic, and just how much damn fun the toy actually is. Grind Rod is one of those transforming robot toys that’s intuitive to transform and can be played with while I am on a conference call . . . and Aurora is more of the same!

An Unofficial Throttlebot

The Throttlebots (see the TFWiki) were always kinda looked down on when I was a kid because of their toy-like nature. Squat designs, pullback motors, and simplistic transformations weren’t, I guess, all that cool for me or my friends. I’ve since come to realize that the Throttlebots were actually great little toys, but no matter how much I appreciate the old designs I have to say that Toyworld’s modern take on the characters has brought us far superior action figures. I may miss the pullback motors, but if the lack of motors means I get robots this awesome then I can accept the trade.

A Swift Transformation

Using a transformation near-identical to Grind Rod, I was able to transform Aurora from vehicle mode to robot mode simply by looking at the photos on the box. And this is a great thing — the instructions aren’t exactly clear — and the trick of rotating the roof panel and windshield 180-degrees between modes really makes Aurora look more complex to transform than he is. For me, the sign of a great transforming robot design is when the act of transforming the toy is fun and not frustrating. Both Aurora and Grind Rod are fun to transform.

Vehicle Mode

Aurora is presented as a modern crossover or light SUV and, to me, looks great in vehicle mode. I would have liked to have seen a ton of lights on the front of the car to be more like the original Searchlight (see the TFWiki), but I suppose that would have harmed the whole “robots in disguise” idea a bit. And besides, if any third party maker thinks I’m right they can always create new feet/bumpers with the lights since those pieces are on ball joints and would be easy to swap out for new parts.

Robot Mode

Aurora, standing 5.5-inches tall, is just slightly taller than Grind Rod and fits quite nicely with many “Deluxe” Transformers from the past six or seven years. For a character that was originally one of the smaller designs he may be slightly too tall, but I feel that he looks good with most of the toys — the Bumblebee with the Growing Pains Upgrade Kit (video review here) looks especially awesome with Aurora.

Articulation

Aurora is as articulated as any modern “Deluxe” Transformers toy and features:

• Head – Ball-jointed neck.
  
• Torso – Swivel waist.
  
• Arms – Ball-jointed shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, and swivel wrists.
  
• Legs – Ball-jointed hips, swivel upper thighs, hinged knees, and ball-jointed “toes” (the front parts of the feet).

Closing Thoughts

Third party Transformers toys are pricey — Aurora ran me about $60 — but with low production numbers I’m fine with spending a bit more if the toy’s as incredible as this design is. I’m still not totally clear on how the whole combining Throttlebots team idea is going to work, but I also don’t care as long as Toyworld gives us the entire team in as high a quality as Grind Rod and Aurora.

Fantastic work! Toyworld will definitely be getting more of my money.