G1 Guzzle

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

It's better to have fought and lost than never to have fought at all.
A battle-hardened survivor of the software wars of Polyhex. His hunger for combat is only equalled by his hunger for fuel. Tough, no nonsense, has few enemies and even fewer friends. He can thread a washer from 2.5 miles with a blast from his plasma cannon. Flame exhaust in tank Mode incinerates on contact. Requires considerable fuel consumption.

Robot Mode: There really isn't all that much you can write about Guzzle's robot mode. He's basically the tank standing upright and he can move his arms at the shoulders, that's it. For a robot his size he's got good detailing, I especially like how they molded the tank threads on his arms and shoulders. Sadly he can use neither his big cannon nor his 'spark' gimmick in this mode. So at the end of the day he's an average robot for his time, meaning not that exciting.

Alternate Mode: Guzzle transforms into a small tank equipped with a fully-turnable turret and a big cannon that can swivel up and down, giving him a full field of fire in three dimensions. That's actually better than quite a few other tank Transformers from G1 and G2 I can think of. This is also the mode where the spark gimmick comes into play. If you roll Guzzle across the floor, the flintstone inside him causes sparks to shoot out of his exhaust. The tank is nicely detailed, too, so as far as his vehicle mode is concerned, Guzzle does a pretty good job. No complaints.

Remarks: Guzzle is one of three Sparkabots, little robots who shot sparks out of their exhausts when you rolled them over the floor. Not the most fascinating gimmick idea ever, but G1 produced worse (Pretenders, anyone?). Now as a toy none of them Sparkabots were very remarkable, but in the Marvel UK comics they were called Sparklers and they were a kick-ass team that fought side by side with Ultra Magnus against foes like Galvatron and the mad scientists Flame and used their spark exhausts to melt bad guys into slag. Like with many G1 figures the strong characters didn't translate all that well into toy versions, but I got Guzzle very cheap, so I bought him for sentimental value. Recommended to fans of the Marvel UK comics.

Rating: C+