G1 Vroom

Series: Generation 1
Year: 1989
Allegiance: Autobot
Class: Mega Pretender 
Function: Saboteur 

Don´t take a chance if you don´t stand a chance.
A drag racing daredevil. Learned his trade blowing up enemy fuel depots in the Asphalt Wars on Cybertron. Armed with two exterior 3000 rounds-per-minute ion pulse guns and magnetic repeller rifle. Also wields mind-altering illusionizer that distorts optic impulses. Transforms to rocket car made of rubber-coated armor that deflects and ricochets enemy shell fragments. Outer shell cycle equipped with oil slick and smokescreen ejection mechanisms, retractable tire spikes, hydraulic jumpers in suspension system, and rocket boosters in rear that provide short-term flight capabilities. Combines with rocket car to form super cycle equipped with digital fuel gauges and micronized turbo injectors.

Prelude: Mega Pretender Thunderwing played a big role in many comics. Mega Pretender Crossblades was repainted into Blue Bacchus and appeared in the Victory cartoon. And then there is Mega Pretender Vroom, who got a pretty weird toy, full stop. Well, he’s also got a pretty unique name, let’s give him that. So here is Vroom, the Mega Pretender that fans forgot. Let’s say vroom-vroom!

Many thanks to Jörg “the Carpenter” Zimmermann, who loaned me Vroom for this review.

Robot Mode: Brief overview of the Mega-Pretender gimmick: a small robot, that can transform into a vehicle, can fit inside a larger Pretender shell, that can also transform into a vehicle. The two vehicles can also combine into a larger vehicle. Got it? Good, so let’s start with the robot.

Vroom’s inner robot is relatively small, roughly the size of a Legends-Class figure, but is actually the biggest of the three Mega-Pretenders, if only by a hair. He kind of reminds me of the Technobot Lightspeed a bit. He is obviously a car Transformer with the hood becoming the legs. Articulation is limited to rotating the arms at the shoulders and spreading his legs, that’s it. In terms of weapons he carries a small grey pistol and has an extra wheel (the sidecar wheel of the combined vehicle mode, see below) which he can carry as a shield on his arm (forgot to take a picture of that, sorry). Overall not the worst inner robot of a Pretender, but far from a great figure on its own.

Vroom’s Pretender shell is a pretty chunky-looking guy with quite a bit of vehicle kibble hanging off his shoulders and back. His human face looks somewhat pissed off, maybe because his armor makes him look very much overweight. Like all Pretenders he is limited to rotating his arms at the shoulders, no further articulation available. Well, technically he can bend his legs sideways at the knees in order to transform, but I wouldn’t call that articulation. Vroom’s inner robot can fit inside his torso, though you have to transform him nearly all the way into car mode to do it.

The Pretender is armed with a big rifle, where you can also mount one of his bike tires on top, and can also carry the smaller robot’s pistol in his other hand. If Vroom’s inner robot is inside, the spare tire can fit onto his butt. So bottom line: definitely one of the more unique looks for a Pretender shell, though with all the vehicle kibble he carries, I wonder why they even bothered putting a human face on it.

Alternate Mode: Vroom’s inner robot transforms into something resembling a car, a rocket car according to his bio. It’s basically the robot lying on his back with the legs tucked in and a panel from his back flipping forward to hide his face. His robot mode arms are still very much visible. The sidecar tire he wore on his arm goes on top and you can mount the big rifle on top, too. So… yeah, it’s kind of a car in the sense that it has wheels. Nothing more comes to mind here, to be honest.

The Pretender shell transforms into a bike and by transform I mostly mean that it lies down on its stomach, flips out the various kibble pieces on its bike, and flips its legs sideways. To be fair, though, it does look more like a bike than the inner robot resembles a car. Vroom’s inner robot or any other robot that is capable of spreading its legs can actually sit on the bike. Alternatively you can mount Vroom’s pistol on the back to give it firepower. So bottom line for the bike: a bit silly-looking, but actually pretty much recognizable as what it’s supposed to be and compatible with other figures.

Finally, the two vehicles can combine into one. Vroom’s rocket car mode becomes a side car for the bike. The red canopy piece that Vroom’s Pretender shell carried on its back covers most of the car and attaches to the right side of the bike, the extra wheel now becomes the outer wheel of the side car. It’s mostly there for cosmetic reasons, really, as Vroom’s car mode already has wheels, but it fits with the rest of the look. I actually find myself liking this mode a lot, as a science-fiction-style bike with a sidecar with a really big gun on top just fits with the over-the-top silliness of the late 80s Transformers designs. You can still have other figures ride this thing, though the sidecar doesn’t actually offer room to seat anyone.

So bottom line for the vehicle modes: the car mode alone is pretty forgettable, but the bike and the combined bike are fun in a rather silly way.

Remarks: Unlike his more famous peers, Vroom has almost no media appearances to his name. He was mentioned in two text stories in the German Transformers magazines from Condor and had a blink-and-you-missed-it appearance in the IDW comics. His most notable appearances were in the pages of the Transformers Collectors Club magazine, but his role there wasn’t really that big, either.

I’ve ranted about the oversaturation of the Pretender gimmick in the late 80s quite a bit in other reviews, so I’ll spare you the repeat here. Vroom is not quite the epitome of how silly the Pretender gimmick became (that would be the Ultra Pretenders), but he is quite close. Still, for some weird reason I find myself liking this toy. Probably nostalgia poisoning or something. Anyway, Vroom is certainly not for anybody and finding him complete is difficult due to his many accessories, but if you have some fond memories of the time he came out, he might be worth a look.

Rating: C+

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