Review – 1985 Transformers Mini-Spies

In my current book project (Each Sold Separately) I discuss the practice of packing bonus items in with toys. The idea is that this gives someone a little extra push from “I might want that” to “I’ll buy that!” by increasing the perceived value higher than the actual cost to add the item.

And what better way to illustrate the concept than with the 1985 Transformers Mini-Spy toys?

What’s a mini-spy?

These are very small — yet still official! — Transformers toys that Hasbro included in some releases during 1985. As the TFWiki page states:

“Mini-spy toys came packaged with Mini Vehicles in early 1985. Mini-spies were the first toys to debut with rubsigns, and the only way to determine whether a given Mini-spy toy was an Autobot or Decepticon was by rubbing the rubsign. They also use a pull-back motor to zip along smooth surfaces. They’re just packed with gimmicky goodness.”

I can totally remember these little cars from when I was a kid and mentally I classify these under the same category as Transformers Powerdashers: Silly and fun, but not meant to be taken seriously.

As Mark Bellomo’s Transformers Identification and Price Guide* tells us there are 24 different Mini-Spy variants, meaning that even if you think you’ve collected all of the Transformers Generation One toys there’s a good chance you may be missing a few pieces.

Shown in the pics here are just three of the 24 designs.

Vroom!

All of the Mini-Spies, regardless of design, includes a pull-back motor so that we can race them across the floor. Even almost thirty years later the motors on these toys work great, making me think that the engineering was fantastic or these toys were never played with. Considering the shape they are in I suspect “fantastic” is the correct answer here; these are kinda rough in spots and have clearly been played with.

Transformation Design

All of the Mini-Spy toys share the same basic transformation: Flip the legs up and back, pop the arms out of the sides, stand the toy. It’s pretty much the same transformation as the 1984 Windcharger toy (review here), and while simple it’s a very effective and easy design. Perfect for what was a free toy.

Love Those Faces!

Take a look at the robot mode pics — especially the pic directly below this — and marvel at those very strange Mini-Spy face designs. One thing about the first few waves of Transformers toys that I love is that so many of them have less human-like faces and instead weird, robot heads. Shockwave and Whirl with their one-eye designs, the Gears face (see the TFWiki), and even the original Trailbreaker face (review here) are all excellent examples of non-human faces. Fun!

Closing Thoughts

The Mini-Spies are very simple designs, yes, but they spark some fun memories of childhood and it was completely worth snatching up a handful of them on eBay. The dedicated collector will no doubt want all 24, but I think I can be completely happy with the ones I have. These are durable and small little toys, and I have no problems recommending that you grab one or two if you can find them for $5 or $6/each.