Review – Transformers Throttlebot Rollbar

I mentioned the upcoming unofficial Transformers Throttlebot Rollbar earlier this month (mentioned here) and now it’s time to grab the classic 1987 Rollbar from the shelf and get him up on battlegrip.com. Since this is the first Throttlebot review that I’ve posted it’s probably best if we dive right in with a bit of an overview of the Throttlebots and their place in the Transformers universe and eighties toy series.

Throttlebots in Comics

My first introduction to the Throttlebots was in the old Marvel comics (I really should grab IDW’s latest take on the reprints since they’re not deleting material). The TFWiki has the details, but what I most remember of the comic was that the Throttlebots had a strange, misshapen look . . . no doubt Marvel’s attempt at translating the look of the toys into comic form. Actually, looking back at the panels the character designs aren’t all that bad.

The IDW version of the Throttlebots is a bit different, presenting the team as a bunch of couriers who are separated from most of the action. The one Spotlight story with the team was reprinted in All Hail Megatron, Vol. 3* and it’s an okay story that makes the Throttlebots seem a bit more crafty and sneaky than I would have thought. Again, the TFWiki can help you out.

The Mini-Cars of 1987

The Throttlebots, according to the various Transformers toy books in my collection, were the replacement for the Autobot mini-cars in 1987. And with their small size, superdeformed looks, and low price I can completely accept the idea that Hasbro used these to replace mini-cars in stores. To be honest, though, I’m not sure if these were all that great of a replacement. One of the nice things about the old Autobot mini-cars was that the toys had a variety of different looks — even if the Windcharger and Tailgate review that I posted makes it seem otherwise — and that effect was completely lost with the Throttlebots

Sure, each Throttlebot had a different sculpt, but they all had the same transformation and similar boxy looks. As a group they look pretty cool — see the TFWiki Throttlebots entry — but if you’re a kid looking for a cool new toy there aren’t enough differences between each member of the team to make any of them really pop as a special piece.

Anyway, About Rollbar . . .

So Rollbar is pretty standard for the Throttlebots line. He’s got a pull-back motor so that you can roll him around in vehicle mode or robot mode — actually, it’s basically the same gimmick as used in the Moto-Bot Pick-Up (review here) and the Marchon Roadbots (Loadorr review here, Hookorr review here, and Cementorr review here) from 1984 — so it wasn’t new for the Throttlebots. But it’s fun and that’s all that matters.

The transformation is very simple — fold the arms up, raise the torso and drop back the back to reveal the head — and the toy has no articulation at all in robot mode. And Rollbar is so small that he’s not even 2.5-inches tall in robot mode . . . and by the pics you can tell that he’s basically as wide as he is tall so that doesn’t help the silly proportions look any less goofy. But the Throttlebots as a subline seem pretty cool to me; a gimmick that works, a unique look unlike any others in the eighties Transformers series, and low prices make this a good subline for a collector who wants each piece in a series.

Closing Thoughts

I won’t deny that the planned unofficial Rollbar (mentioned here) looks way cooler than the original, but there’s a charm to this guy and all of the Throttlebots that make them fun. I’ve only got a couple of Throttlebots in my collection, but now that I’m starting to get some new display space prepped it might be time to track down the missing pieces and put the entire team together.

Stupid and fun. I think that’s how I’ll describe Rollbar and all of the other Throttlebots.

Philip Reed should lock himself in a room for a weekend and write a Throttlebots choose-your-own-adventure. Hey, where are Philip’s old Transformers choose-your-own-adventure books?