Review – WST Robots Communications Liaison

Blaster is one of those Transformers that has developed a cult following since he was introduced back in 1985. A towering, powerful tape player colored bright red, yellow, and silver, I always found it a bit disturbing that the Blaster was so damned tall. Well, toy manufacturer Justitoys must have also been bothered by Blaster’s massive size because they’ve created a smaller version of the Autobot cassette player.

But I think they may have gone a bit far in shrinking this guy down. He’s only two inches tall!

Packaging

If you spotted this box on a toy shelf you would automatically assume that this is a licensed, official Transformers toy. Except for the lack of the Transformers logo and the fact this toy is named “Communications Liaison” instead of Blaster, this looks like it’s authentic and ready for any hardcore Transformer fans collection. But no, what we have here is another “inspired by” toy . . . but at least the box looks great. Good enough, in fact, that I’m going to keep this box and display it with my microscopic Blaster toy.

That’s One Tiny Boom Box!

The photos below give you a good look at Blaster in his cassette player mode. The team at Justitoys did a great job of mirroring (and shrinking!) the original toy design; take a look at the photos at the Teletraan I Wiki and you’ll see just how much this tiny Blaster takes after his bigger and older brother.

And the deck evens opens to reveal a tiny cassette. Tiny isn’t even the word to describe this transformable cassette; at less than half-an-inch at its widest dimension you can be sure that whoever assembled these tiny Steeljaw cassette robots is likely blind by now. Trust me, this is one over-the-top toy. I am amazed at how small it is . . . and Blaster follows the classic toy’s transformation pattern.

More Durable Than You Expect

Blaster holds up pretty good for a toy with such tiny details and moving parts. One forearm slides off, but it’s easy to pop the arm back into place and all of the joints hold up well and the legs don’t collapse on themselves when you stand Blaster. And the arms are even strong enough to support the weight of the gun. Damn, this guy may have cost me about $15 (I bought mine from TFSource), which is a lot for a tiny Transformer, but the quality is better than I had hoped. Strong plastic, tight joints, clean transformation, basic but nice paint . . . I’m really happy with this and can’t wait to score another toy in the series.

Steeljaw is the Only Weak Point

The photo below shows Steeljaw transformed into his robotic lion mode, and I don’t think it would be a good idea to transform the cassette too many times. Each piece is held to the body by a simple post — there is nothing holding the post in place except friction — and every time I’ve transformed the cassette a piece has popped off. And these are tiny, tiny parts that are just begging to be lost. My Steeljaw is going to stay in Blaster’s chest where he’s safe from loss.

How Many of These Exist?

I would love to know how many of these tiny toys the group at Justitoys had to make in order to keep the cost down to about $15/each. The Blaster toy itself is excellent, the box is professional, there’s even a plastic tray to hold the bits during shipping, and the instruction sheet is as professional as the box. I can’t imagine they made even 1,000 pieces, but maybe I know less about the knockoff Transformers market than I think I do. Anyone out there have some inside information they’re willing to share? Because if these are being made in runs in the hundreds then a lot of want-to-be toy designers need to partner with Justitoys because they’re making a quality toy. Even if it just happens to walk all over existing copyrights and IP.

Which Reminds Me . . .

One of the funniest things I heard in Hong Kong was how the people in the city respect and enforce copyrights and trademarks. Yeah, I can see the respect and enforcement right here and in the various unofficial Transformers toys from Impossible Toys. Seriously, there’s no denying that this toy and the many other third party/aftermarket Transformers toys and accessories are walking all over Hasbro’s designs and characters. I can’t quite figure out how these different groups are getting away with what they’re doing, but I’m sure being based in Hong Kong really helps.

Closing Thoughts

Really damned small, not cheap (though not exactly expensive), and more durable and cool than I expected before opening the box, this WST Robots Communications Liaison toy is highly recommended to any Generation One Transformers fan who wants something unusual and neat in their collection. I’d seen a few of the WST toys in the past, but this is the first chance I’ve ever had to really play with one and it’s a lot more fun than I expected.

For a toy from an unknown, tiny company this is much better than we usually get. I’ve no doubt that someone at the company is a massive Transformers fan, so maybe this is all fan service and the company is just breaking even on the project. I find that hard to believe, but at $15 I don’t really care what they’re doing as long as they keep giving us tiny Transformers toys that faithfully follow the originals.

Philip Reed wishes he had a WST Soundwave to put up against Blaster. Oh well, Philip will just have to keep a close eye on the line and make sure he doesn’t miss any other cool characters. Man, a Devastator in this line would be cool as hell.