Thrilling 30 Arcee

Robot Mode: Let us disregard the eternal debate of why an alien race of robots that reproduces asexually (at least outside of fan fiction) has boy and girl robots. Instead let us look at this figure here, which is certainly depicting a girl robot. THE girl robot, to be exact: Arcee, first seen in the 1986 animated Transformers movie. Here she is in all her pink and white glory, including the Princess-Leia-memorial cinnamon bun hair..., eh, helmet-style. A near perfect adaption of the character we saw on the screen. This here is Arcee, no doubt.

Aside from the screen accuracy, Arcee is also a very nicely articulated robot. One could become a tad suspicious here and suspect that the designers went the extra mile in order to make this female bot here capable of pulling off sexy poses, but surely such ulterior motives only exist in paranoid delusions. Whatever the case, Arcee can pose with the best of them, very nicely done.

One thing that is different here from the G1 original from the 80s is the amount of weaponry Arcee brings to the table. This is clearly more in tune with her current IDW comics incarnation, as Arcee carries quite the arsenal. Two guns - one big, one small - can be held in her dainty hands or be fastened to her thighs. Additionally she wields to translucent blue swords that can either be held or fastened to the forearms. The swords can also be stored in her rucksack, though only very loosely.

Which brings us to the only very minor flaw of this figure: the big rucksack. Okay, I have no idea how else one could have done this, considering that the character depicted here was never meant to be made into a toy in the first place. So yes, Arcee carries the largest part of her car mode as a big rucksack, but it works fine, so it's only a very, very minor point deduction. So bottom line: a near-perfect G1 Arcee in robot mode. Two thumbs up.

Alternate Mode: Just like we saw in the 1986 movie Arcee transforms into a streamlined, futuristic open-top sports car in pink and white (man, every single time I want to type ‘pink’ I end up typing ‘punk’ and have to correct it, what is wrong with me?) The car chassis is formed mostly from Arcee’s robot mode rucksack, naturally, only her chest plate becomes the front middle part of the hood. Everything else folds away very nicely and the car even features a fully sculpted interior. Arcee’s many weapons can be mounted on the back and the sides of the car. The two guns can also be stored on the underside, something that is not mentioned in the instruction booklet, by the way. So to sum it up: exactly the car we saw on TV in the 80s. Nicely done.

Remarks: Arcee, the most famous female Transformer of them all, made her debut in the 1986 Transformers movie and became part of the main cast of the third season of the original cartoon. It wasn’t until 2001, though, that she got her first toy… a giant spider. More Arcee toys followed in the Energon and various Movie lines, all of them motorcycles. It wasn’t until 2010 and the delayed release of some remaining Animated toys that we finally got an Arcee figure that transformed into something resembling the pink car from the 80s. And now, nearly three decades after making her debut, we finally get a fully G1-accurate Arcee toy (that isn’t an incredibly fragile Third Party product). Took you long enough, Hasbro!

So the bottom line here is quite simple: This is Arcee as we saw her on the 80s‘ TV screens. And from the pages of the IDW comics, of course, where her massive armaments originate. So for all those G1 fanatics who spent a large portion of their lives waiting for the definitive Arcee figure, the wait is finally over. Here she is, questionably good posing ability and all. What are you waiting for? Go and buy her!

Rating: A-