G1 Windcharger (Keychain)

Robot Mode: Much like the other G1 Minibots, Windcharger has a relatively simple transformation. Most of the car parts are on his back while the rear of the car forms his legs. His face, unlike that of his cartoon incarnation, looks rather inhuman, pretty much just a visor with a kind of chin below it. Cartoon Windcharger had a more or less humanoid face. As a re-issued key chain Minibot Windcharger has a small ring on top of his head (the front bumper of the car) where the keychain connects. That's the only difference between this re-issue and the original.

Posability-wise Windcharger does pretty good work for a G1 Minibot. His knees bend individually and his arms can twist a full 360 degrees around his shoulders and sideways a bit. Not much, but good for a figure from that time. The only place where Windcharger disappoints a little is colour and detailing. To put it simple: He looks boring. A bit more colour and/or details would have done wonders for him. As it is he looks okay, but nothing more than that. Which pretty much sums it up for the whole of this robot mode, too.

Alternate Mode: Windcharger transforms into a miniature Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am sports car. The car looks somewhat cartoonish, but for a car that small the detailing is quite good. I have no idea why the rear wheels are considerably larger than the front wheels, I don't think the regular Trans-Ams had that (KITT certainly didn't). Still, as Minibot vehicle modes go, Windcharger's is quite good. No complaints.

Remarks: Possibly the least known of the Season 1 Minibots, simply for the fact that he never did appear much. The US comic books didn't feature him at all past the first two or three issues, the UK comics had him in a few stories at the beginning, and the cartoon pretty much used him as background only (he's the only Autobot who wasn't named in the pilot "More Than Meets the Eye"). His most outstanding appearance was in the G1 episode "The Ultimate Doom", where he used his magnetic powers to rescue Bumblebee from a cravice. Strange that a robot with a special ability as powerful as magnetism never did much. I mean, come on! All the bad guys are made of metal! Do I need to explain it further than that? Sadly Windcharger was among the casualties of the battle for Autobot City in Transformers the Movie (1986).

The figure is a typical G1 Minibot. Nice to look at, reasonably detailed, relatively posable for his time, but that's pretty much it. Colour-wise he's also among the blandest of the G1 figures, offering little to the eye of the beholder. So while I kinda like the little guy, I can't honestly recommend him to anyone but a die-hard G1 fan.

Rating: C+