DE 
EN 
Sureshock, High Wire & Grindor
combine into Perceptor
Series: Armada
Allegiance: Mini-Con
Categories: Mini-Con
Year: 2002
Seek your true power.
Although they look ordinary, these three robots are keys to the Mini mission of all the Mini-Cons. They combine into a robot, showing the strength of teamwork. Their capabilities continue to grow over time, but their real power is in making others discover their true potential. The Autobots and Decepticons see the unlimited power hidden beneath their innocent forms and struggle to possess them.
Grindor: Grindor is a broad-looking Minicon with shoulder wings. His articulation is restricted to moving his arms and legs out sideways. The detailing is okay considering the size. He transforms into a kind of rocket-powered skateboard (or a really small aircraft carrier on wheels). Sure, you can still see the hands under the ‘board’ and it doesn’t really look like any skateboard I’ve ever seen, but all in all it’s a nice design (again, considering the size) and all in all Grindor is a decent Minicon.
High Wire: High Wire has the double disadvantage that he transforms into a bicycle, so there is very little mass to work with for his robot mode, and has to incorporate the head of the combiner robot (see below). So... yeah, he looks really strange as a robot. The pedals of the bike become his feet, the front wheel sticks to one hand, the rear wheel splits and each half serves as a heel of sorts, as the actual feet are much too small to actually allow this guy to stand. He does transform into a pretty decent-looking bicycle, though, which kind of reminds me of Cy-Kill from Gobots. Okay, his robot mode face is right there at the front, not hidden at all, but apart from that: nice work. Still, all in all one of the worse Minicons from Armada.
Sureshock: The biggest of the team is Sureshock, who transforms into a scooter. In robot mode she (according to the Dreamwave profile she’s a girl, the cartoon never said one way or the other) is probably the most articulate of the team, though not by much. The detailing is pretty nice, though the very visible seam right down the middle of her body somewhat bothers me. As a scooter she looks cool, though. No hint of the robot mode (well, you can sort of see the face from the side a bit) and overall a solid design. So bottom line: a good Minicon. Best of the team in my book.
Combined Mode: The main point of this team is, of course, the fact that they can combine into Perceptor. Sureshock becomes the legs, Grindor the torso and arms, and High Wire the head and rucksack. The resulting combiner robot does look pretty cool and is moderately posable, as well, having ball-jointed arms and legs that can do the split. Considering the small size of the component figures, that’s a pretty good engineering feat. So to sum it up: a very nice combining robot. Not a revelation, naturally, but very nicely done.
Remarks: The Street Action Team were the kid appeal characters of the Armada cartoon series, becoming the friends (and personal vehicles) of the three human kids whose names I don’t remember anymore because I hate 90% of the kid characters in Transformers, period. Anyway, they played a big role in the cartoon and High Wire was also the only Minicon who could actually speak instead of just communicating via beeps. They did combine into Perceptor a few times during the cartoon, but I don’t really remember them doing much in that form.
The Minicons were the gimmick of the Armada toyline and apart from being able to unlock bonus features on the bigger figures, quite a few of the Minicon Teams could also combine. Most of them into weapons, but the Street Action Team became a bigger robot together. That, plus their prominent role in the cartoon, makes them worth getting if you’re an Armada fan or just like Minicons.
Rating: B
Picture Gallery:
