G1 Dogfight

Robot Mode: Dogfight is a blocky little robot with typical late 80s articulation, meaning he can turn his arms at the shoulders and nothing else. Unlike other barely articulate Transformers figures from his time, his shoulder movement is part of his gimmick. As a Triggerbot his gimmick is snap-out weaponry, which in his case is mounted on the underside of his arms. Pressing the release trigger on his back causes his arms and guns to flip into a forward position. Which is pretty much the extent of what he can do.

Dogfight might be small and mostly immobile, but he features some interesting sculpting. He has a sculpted minigun and missile launcher on his shoulders and quite a bit of detailing on his chest and legs. Also, my version of Dogfight has lost some of the red paint on his face, giving him a blue mustache, which for some reason looks really spiffy, I think. Makes him look like a tiny little terror. Anyway, Dogfight certainly isn't a revelation in robot mode, but rather a very typical 1988 Transformer.

Alternate Mode: Dogfight transforms into a blue fighter jet with forward-swept wings. It somewhat resembles a Grumman X-29, but not closely enough to warrant a law suit. The Triggerbot gimmick works in jet mode as well, of course, pushign his release trigger causes the guns to flip forward (and the jet now has back-swept wings). The jet also has a landing gear and the front wheel can even be folded in. Not bad for a 1988 mini jet. All in all Dogfight has a nice-looking jet mode considering that the entire figure has been built around a gimmick. Not a classic, but a decent alternate mode regardless.

Remarks: By 1988 when Dogfight came out, not only was the G1 cartoon over, but we had also entered the "gimmick years", meaning that every new Transformers toy just had to have a defining gimmick that he shared with at least a few others. It later escalated to the point where all figures coming out in a given year shared the same gimmick (Pretenders, Micromasters, Actionmasters), but in 1988 we weren't quite there yet. So Dogfight is one of six Triggerbots/-cons. He's neither the best nor the worst of that particular gimmick group in my eyes, standing somewhere in the middle. Given the time he was released, I'd say that Dogfight is on the good side of average when compared with other figures from his time and price segment. Not really spectacular from today's point of view (and not from a 1988 point of view, either, to be honest), but a fun little figure. And you can probably get him for pennies on ebay these days.

Rating: C+