Authentics Wheeljack

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Tantrum
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Authentics Wheeljack

Post by Tantrum »

Name: Wheeljack
Line: Authentics
Size: Voyager
Bio: "Heroic Autobot Inventor" (This is all it says on the box)

Authentics has a well-deserved reputation for overly simple, unimpressive figures. Grimlock was an OK value for the price, but the unarticulated, minimally decoed upper half of the dino mode kept him from being a legitimately good toy. Authentics Wheeljack manages to not just be a good figure for the price, but an actually good figure.

He's basically an OSKO of the Kingdom/Earthrise Deluxe figure, with a simplified transformation scheme. Instead of the legs collapsing up for alt mode, they simply tab together. The bits of windshield attached to the legs remain visible on the bot's knees rather than folding away. The arms shrug down to form the rear fenders and door of the car instead of the rear fenders and back end. The Deluxe is in most of the photos for comparison.

The original G1 Wheeljack was my first ever Transformer back in 1984. I've had an affinity for the guy ever since, and have collected over a dozen homages/remakes, including Energon Downshift, CHUG, Kre-O, Kingdom, Prime, Alternators, Cyberverse 1-step, SS Bee Movie, 4 of the CW, and a little Matchbox-style Lancia Stratos. I don't know if I could honestly call Authentics the best toy of the bunch, but it does the best job of scratching that nostalgic itch.

Robot mode: He looks like a G1 Wheeljack should look, with the expected car parts on the chest and shins, wheels on his shoulders, and sculpted detail everywhere else. Some figures, like the Earthrise Seekers, go a little overboard with the sculpted detail. Wheeljack isn't quite so busy, and looks better for it.

The wings are a bit stubby because they form the spoiler, like Kingdom, but this doesn't look too bad. This also prevents them from bumping against the shoulder kibble when posing the arms. The shoulder kibble does prevent the arm from moving out on the side with the shoulder cannon. The cannon can be removed and used as a hand-held weapon.

The holes for this weapon are much smaller than the standard 5-mm holes. This figure also lacks the 5-mm holes found on the limbs of most mainline figures. I prefer this, since I'd rather not have the looks of the limbs compromised for a play feature a almost never use. The spoiler wings are connected with 5-mm holes, so those can be removed to attach Weaponizer/Fossilizer parts. He does have 3 small holes in his chest; two due to sculpting of an internal transformation hinge, the third to store the weapon in alt mode.

The head is nicely decoed with blue eyes and a silver mouth plate. The only other non-car paint is on the forearms and thighs. Both are a gunmetal/silver color to match the spoiler wings rather than the traditional black. The hands are left unpainted, probably due to the likelyhood of paint rubbing off when sliding the arms into place during transformation.

He has balljointed neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and ankles. The knees are pinned hinges. Another pair of pinned hinges in the ankles, used as transformation joints, allow more tweaking of the foot position. All the joints are nice and stiff. The pinned ones especially so. The left shoulder on mine isn't as snug as the other others, but still snugger than many mainline figures.

The ball jointed elbows do a decent job of compensating for the lack of bicep swivel. No such luck with the lack of thigh swivel, though the ball jointed hips allow for some rotation there. There's no waist articulation due to transformation. The $20 Deluxe has the budget to add a second waist swivel, the $12 Voyager not so much.

Alternate mode: His sculpt matches the Lancia at least as well as any other Wheeljack I own. He has less paint than many, and lacks the sponsor details of Kingdom. Repro labels are unlikely given it's Authentics, and probably wouldn't work due to the transformation seams in the sides. The underside of the neckplate stands out in the back due to being grey. No other robot parts are visible in alt mode.

Only 3 wheels roll freely, which is on a par with far too many mainline figures. He rolls well enough with the stuck front left wheel.

Transformation Design: It's the Kingdom/Earthrise Deluxe dumbed down and scaled up. It can be a bit tricky to get the arms to slide into place, and get everything to tab together, in alt mode. These are minor complaints, though. It's quick, easy, and does a better job of hiding bot parts in alt mode than many mainline figures. 8/10

Durability: Nothing seems particularly likely to break, but nothing seems particularly robust, either. I'm a bit worried about the weapon handle snapping off in the hand, but I prefer it on the shoulder, anyway. 7/10

Articulation: I can't give Wheeljack full marks because he lacks some joints expected of modern figures, like waist and wrist. But what articulation is present is great. He can pull off a running pose unassisted while the Kingdom Deluxe needed an HFG on his foot for support. Auth's ball-jointed hips are stiffer than the Deluxe's more complex hips. The pinned knees are almost too stiff, required more force than expected to move them. 8/10

Fun: A well articulated bot. A nice looking car. A simple transformation to get from one to the other. He could roll a bit better. 8/10

Aesthetics: The bot mode looks great, except for the lower leg hollowness. Only the front and outer sides of the legs are there. The back and inner sides are open. The rear isn't bad, and needs to be open due to transformation. But, the inner legs can be seen from the front in some poses. I also wonder if he'd look better with the windshield remaining in one piece in bot mode. Kingdom split the windshield to make way for the waist joint, which this guy lacks.

The sculpt of the car looks more like the G1 toy than the Kingdom figure. I like the wider placement of the green stripes better on Authentics, too. He is missing the red rims and sponsor livery of the smaller figure, though. 8/10

Price/Value: A simplified Deluxe design at Voyager size for a Legends price. This is the most bang for your 10 to 12 bucks you're going to see at retail. That's not say he's on a par with mainline figures. Put him next to a similarly sized Voyager and you can see where the extra money went in terms of plastic quality, articulation, and paint. Put him next to a similarly priced Legends, and you can see what corners are cut to stretch the budget and the size.

But, those compromises aren't enough to stop this guy from being the best value I've gotten buying a Transformer at retail in a very long time. I don't know if any other figure reviewed here has gotten a 10/10 in price before, but I'm pretty confident that this is a better value, so I'm going off the scale. His score is what I paid for him in US$. 11.25/10

Overall: He has his flaws, but most of those are present in mainline figures that sell for double the price, like forearm hollowness and a wheel that doesn't want to roll. I'd happily buy this toy reshelled as Sunstreaker, and I don't even care about Sunstreaker.

My only issue is that I wish Hasbro had stuck with the $18 price point for the Cyber Batallion series, which seems to chase the same market, rather than the $10-$12 Authentics price point. The extra budget could've gone to covering the forearm gaps entirely, covering the lower legs gaps from 3 sides instead of 2, and extra paint. 9/10
Last edited by Tantrum on Fri Sep 23, 2022 10:22 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Tantrum
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Re: Authentics Wheeljack

Post by Tantrum »

pics
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Tantrum
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Re: Authentics Wheeljack

Post by Tantrum »

One more pic
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Tantrum
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Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:24 am
Custom Title: Systems Analyst
Location: Aquidneck Island, RI, USA

Re: Authentics Wheeljack

Post by Tantrum »

I think that's it. Let me know if there's anything I should add or change.
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