United Wheeljack

Review by Laserwave13:

Prelude: Transformers United, the Japanese series that bring together both the Generations and Reveal the Shield toy lines, is the highly anticipated successor to the beloved Henkei toy line. But the more United figure came out, the lower the expectations went after fans saw that the paint jobs were nowhere near the high quality Henkei had. Even more surprising: in some cases they cannot even hold up against the Hasbro releases. Of course there are exceptions like United Jazz and Tracks, plus a few exclusives. So let’s check some of those and see what United is really worth.

Packaging: A Deluxe figure on a blister or bubble card. As usual pretty in Japanese and very colorful. This time without that fake collectors card (Blurr had one). Only the figure and accessories, nothing more.

Alternate Mode: As opposed to some other United figures, at least a few, Takara was really creative with this one. So for a change, they changed nothing. Yes, the stripes are a little different, but that is about it. No extra details here. Let’s focus on the vehicle for a moment: they even used less paint on the tail lights. Well, the Hasbro version did a sloppy job with the paint, but used more for bigger lights. And again, that’s it. Nothing else is different between the two versions. On to the racing stripes: the United version has them going from front to rear. Going right over the rear window, in fact, because there is no rear window. Why is that? Yes, it is a racing car and it is hard to tell whether G1 Wheeljack had a rear window or not, but anyway, this point goes to Hasbro.

Then the color: yes, it is metallic green and yes, it looks as awful as it does in the pictures. The Hasbro version’s brighter and less dominating green mixed with more red looks better. The design of the stripes is, of course, a question of personal taste and everyone who demands perfection will need to go for Reprolabels set anyway. Bottom line, vehicle mode goes to Hasbro.

Robot Mode: For the robot mode it is somewhat different. The darker green featuring prominently on his chest gives him an overall darker appearance, but that might just be me seeing it that way. Again, a matter of taste. Just for fun and a different look, try leaving Wheeljack’s legs in “Tracks mode”. Otherwise the number of new details is low or near zero. Only the head received some paint, unfortunately in the wrong place. His “cheeks” are painted silver and why is that? Yes, to kill the light piping of the translucent originals from Hasbro. Again, all points to the Hasbro version and by the way, accessories also remain unchanged.

Conclusion: Definitely Hasbro. The figure itself, if you do not have it already, shame on you! Go get him, get him now, and get the Hasbro version! The United figure by itself is nice and definitely Wheeljack, of course, but also not really worth the extra money for a Takara import. So get the Hasbro version. Next to RTS Jazz I consider Wheeljack one of the best toys around, so he gets the same rating, but one full grade lower than the Hasbro version would or did get.

Rating: B-