G1 Fizzle

Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Autobot
Categories: Sparkabot
Year: 1988

Planning a battle is ten times more important than fighting it.
Overloads his circuits with grandiose schemes and cheap fuel. Acts as if his true worth is measured not by what he does, but how much he talks about doing it. If he could run on his own hot air, he'd go forever. In car Mode, leaves trails of flame in his path. Capable of going from 0 to 200 mph in 8 seconds. Prone to stalling on left turns. Possesses superior logistics and geographical data banks.

Robot Mode: Like many Transformers figures from the so-called “gimmick years” of Generation 1 (when just about every figure released was part of some gimmick group or other), Fizzle is both defined and limited by his gimmick. Which, btw, does absolutely nothing for him in robot mode. So he’s basically a big brick, his posability restricted to swinging his arms at the shoulders, and with his robot mode sculpted into the underside of his vehicle mode. Which makes him both a successor to the original G1 Minibots (though some of them had knees, at least) and a predecessor of sorts to today’s RPMs. What’s that obsessive compulsive disorder where you see connections between unconnected stuff everywhere?

Anyway, I can’t really think of anything else to write here. Fizzle does nothing for me in robot mode, but compared to other figures of his year he’s pretty much average.

Vehicle Mode: Fizzle transforms into a blue car, a mixture between a dune buggy and a race car of some sort. Not sure what it’s called. It’s pretty much blue all over and the detailing is decent, if not in any way spectacular. Here’s where the gimmick of the figure comes into play, as rolling it across the floor causes sparks to shoot out of its back. That kind of gimmick is probably prohibited today, as stupid little tykes might set themselves on fire this way. How did we ever survive our childhoods with all these dangers around?

Back to topic, Fizzle is a blue car that can shoot sparks out his rear end. Whether you like that or not is up to you. Nothing more I can write here, sorry.

Remarks: Fizzle was actually the first of the three Sparkabots / Sparklers I acquired, but the last of them to be reviewed. The reason for that? Well, he’s boring. Mind-numbingly boring. Objectively he’s not that different from Sizzle or Guzzle, but neither his vehicle nor his robot mode are anywhere near as appealing visually. Which is why I pushed him to the back of my review pipeline for years. Well, he’s out now. I’m keeping him because he’s part of the Sparklers, one of my favorite gimmick groups from the old Marvel UK comics, but that’s the only reason.

Rating: C-