Combiner Wars First Aid

Robot Mode: First Aid might be the Protectobot who is closest in both look and design to his G1 predecessor. Bigger, of course, and far better articulated, naturally, but overall the two figures look very much alike. Red torso, white arms and legs, most of the vehicle shell on the back, even the look of the chest and head are very similar. So yes, no doubt, this is First Aid here.

First Aid continues the trend of the other Protectobots in that he is a good, solid, unspectacular figure. No obvious flaws except that a few more painted details wouldn’t hurt, yet nothing particularly spectacular, either. Articulation is fully okay, I like the head sculpt, just about the only thing slightly off-putting here is the choice of weapons. First Aid, the pacifist doctor, carries a big axe? Not sure that fits. He also comes with the Combiner Wars standard hand-foot-gun, of course, but personally I’d have preferred him to have a pistol of some sort instead of that axe. Just a personal thing, though.

Otherwise: no complaints. A fully satisfying Deluxe-class robot that nicely translates the character of First Aid as seen in the original cartoon and the current IDW comics. Thumbs up.

Alternate Mode: Unsurprisingly First Aid transforms into an ambulance. Red and white paintjob? Check! Light bar on top? Check! The word “Rescue” written on the side? Check! No doubt, this is an ambulance, thus mission accomplished. A few more painted details would have been appreciated here, especially to break up the white parts a bit, but otherwise: no complaints. First Aid’s ax can be mounted on the side of the vehicle and you can sort of mount the big hand-foot-gun on the rear, though it looks pretty stupid. So all in all, a decent vehicle mode.

Combiner Mode: First Aid can become an arm or a leg for any of the Combiner Wars combiners, but is of course intended to become part of Defensor with his fellow Protectobots. I'll do a separate review for Defensor once I'm done with the team members.

Remarks: First Aid is the one Protectobot who managed to get some character development for himself. In the 80s cartoon episode “The Ultimate Weapon” he was shown having doubts about being a mere medic among warriors, only to end up saving everyone by being the only one with the know-how to fix Metroplex. More recently he has become a regular cast member of IDW’s More than meets the Eye comic, where he is shown as being the heir apparent to aging chief medical officer Ratchet. No telling if that storyline will continue, though, seeing as First Aid is currently stuck being part of Defensor. We’ll see how that goes.

The toy itself, a retool of the Stunticon Offroad, is pretty much the same as most of the other Protectobots, meaning quite good, but nothing terribly special. The new head sculpt and coloring works nicely to translate the character and there is nothing really wrong here, except maybe the choice of weapon. Otherwise, though: a good Deluxe-class Autobot and combiner team member. And of course you really want him in order to complete Defensor.

Rating: B