G1 Beachcomber

Robot Mode: Beachcomber is one of Generation 1's early Minibots, figures on a scale just below today's basic-class, all of them Autobots. The Minibots generally had very simple transformation procedures and limited posability, but still managed to look very good and original. Beachcomber is one of them.

His face, despite limited detailing, gives him a very characteristic look, his body features solid detailing for his size, such as a sculpted engine block as his chest. His posability is better than some bigger G1 figure's, he can move his shoulders and knees. Beachcomber is certainly not a revolution as far as robot modes go, but he is the best figure he can be considering his size and time period.

Alternate Mode: As an alternate mode Beachcomber has a blue-and-gray dune buggy. The vehicle features two seats in an open cab and quite a bit of detailing for so small a car. No extra features here, of course, but remember, this is a figure from the time where the whole 'transforming-into-a-car' was the extra feature. So absolutely no complaints here, a decent vehicle mode.

Remarks: Beachcomber was the laid-back 'give peace a chance' guy among the Autobots, fighting only out of necessity and when it became unavoidable. He also loved animals (and animals love him, as proven by our cat Lilly). His character was strongly defined by the episode 'The Golden Lagoon', where he actually held back valuable information from his comrades because he wanted to protect a natural environment from the horrors of war. In the end, with the landscape destroyed by fighting, Beachcomber just solemly looked around at the devastation and said "We won", the strongest anti-war message I remember from any child cartoon series.

That, if I may say so, is the one big difference between many of the Generation 1 figures (at least those that actually made the cartoon) and many latter-day characters. They were actually characters with as much depth as you could give them in a 22-minute children cartoon show. Especially the Japanese series never much bothered with that. But I'm getting side-tracked.

As a figure Beachcomber is a good average for his time. A minibot with (for his size) decent posability and detailing, a nice alternate mode, an all-around solid package. Judging by the figure alone I'd only give him a C+ or B-, but I really like the character it portrays a lot, so that nudges Beachcomber up to a solid and well-deserved B.

Rating: B