Taking the basic tooling for their unofficial Transformers Huffer toy and giving it a new head and paint scheme, X-Transbots has created an homage to the 1984 Go-Bots Road Ranger character. Standing 5.75-inches tall, this toy — named Hoss — is nearly identical to Krank (at Amazon.com*) and looks more like a re-colored Huffer with a new head than it does the original Road Ranger design (see Counter-X). Personally, I’m quite happy with the recolor, but then I was never really a Go-Bots fan and have no nostalgic emotions connected to the character or original toy design.

Truck Mode

Totally unlike the original Road Ranger and definitely inspired by Huffer, the toy’s truck mode has hard plastic wheels/tires that roll smoothly and everything locks neatly into place. I especially love how the feet and legs open up from truck mode into robot mode and overall the transformation design is excellent. The one area that could give some trouble is in collpasing the arms into the cab; it’s not tough, but unless everything is lined up just right there can be some tight spots that take time to lock into place.

Robot Mode

The way we can tell that Hoss is using the Krank design rather than the Stax retool is by the chest plate design and how the cab hangs from the rear of the toy. If you look at pics of Krank and (at Amazon.com*) you can instantly see how X-Transbots took inspiration from the original Huffer and Pipes toys to make these new designs and how Hoss has his cab hanging straight back instead of rotated.

Articulation

Hoss stands well and has enough poseability to be a fun toy to display and stage for pics. Going through the individual parts of the robot we find:

Head – Ball-jointed neck.



Ball-jointed neck. Torso – Swivel waist.



Swivel waist. Arms – Ball-jointed shoulders, swivel wrists, hinged fingers (the four are one part; not individual joints for each finger), and double-hinged elbows.



Ball-jointed shoulders, swivel wrists, hinged fingers (the four are one part; not individual joints for each finger), and double-hinged elbows. Legs – Ball-jointed hips and ankles, hinged knees.

The weight of the cab on the back of the toy can cause some balance issues if you lean the toy too far back, but as long as you keep the arms extended forward somewhat the cab doesn’t send the toy flat on his back at the first random bump. The extended heel spurs on the feet help a lot with keeping the toy stable!

Closing Thoughts

While some fans of the original Go-Bots Road Ranger may not be entirely happy with this toy I’m personally quite satisfied and looking forward to more Go-Bots-inspired recolors of third party Transformers toys. What truly makes this one work for me is that new head which was definitely inspired by the original Road Ranger design (see Counter-X).

Nice paint apps, quality plastic, strong poseability, and a tight sculpt make Hoss — as well as Krank (at Amazon.com*) — a wonderful entry in the field of unofficial Transformers toys. For more on Krank and Stax you can search the web or check them out in my new book, Transforming Expectations, which is now and print and set to start shipping next month.