Collecting and saving in the Allspark Studios today is the leader of the Junkion race, Wreck-Gar! Will he kill the Grand Poobah? Will he eliminate the toughest stains? Will he find a forced way to slip in the Universal Greeting? Tune in after the break and find out! Operators are standing by!



As a weird kid from the 80’s, I really connected with Wreck-Gar. He said random out of the blue things that people did not always understand, and while my material was beyond just TV talk, I felt like there was finally a Transformer that was quirky like me. Beyond the strangeness, there was a wild side in Wreck-Gar’s behavior that young me wished he could emulate, especially after watching his first scenes in the movie, as the Junkions rode each other to encounter their newly found Cybertronian brethren. Wreck-Gar was powerful, strangely enigmatic, and the leader of a group of people that did not really fit in anywhere…and that was where I was in 1986. Of course, Wreck-Gar was OK with it, and eventually, so was I.



As far as I can remember, young me never even got to see the original toy in person. When I finally did, as an adult, I started to question younger Jason’s taste. Apart from the Robo-nipples™ and the color scheme, there was not much of the Wreck-Gar I knew and loved. I was so disappointed that I never ended up buying one, and he and Blurr are the only 1986 movie figures I still do not own to this day. When the Generations figure was released, I was elated. It was a great robot mode Wreck-Gar, even if the cycle mode departed greatly from his original design. I think getting even a serviceable figure of a beloved character allowed me to think I even liked to transform it, but doing this gallery and review reminded me why I bought multiples and leave some in cycle mode. I can finally admit now that I really don’t like the Generations toy that much, although various releases have given me a considerable Junkion tribe. The Walgreen’s Power of the Primes Wreck-Gar is everything I wanted in a Wreck-Gar toy.



Vehicle Mode

If you have the Unite Warriors/Combiner Wars Groove/Afterburner mold, you know how great this motorcycle is. It is a solid mold, with wheels that spin nicely, that balances well on the kickstand, and that accommodates a number of Deluxe class figures as rider. The clear windshield and inset headlights are nice added details that make a fantasy vehicle feel a little more “real”. What I really love about this mold is that it throws the Wreck-Gar color scheme on and becomes a perfect update to the G1 vehicle, improving on a lackluster futuristic motorcycle. I rarely keep my figures in vehicle mode, but I will own multiples of this toy, and some will always be motorcycles.



Though I love this mold, there are a few minor low points. One is that the handle bars and front wheel are not connected in such a fashion that they move in unison. The wheel can be rotated manually, but not naturally like a motorcycle should. The other minor gripe flows over into the robot mode, and that is that while the color scheme is great, it is missing the light tan of the 80’s figure and character. Again, it’s not that big of a deal, but it would have been nice to have the grays swapped out with light tan to get more of the original colors on this figure.



Robot Mode

Power of the Primes Wreck-Gar is one of the better combiner figures. He has articulation at the knees, lateral thigh movement, ball jointed hips, a rotating waist, ball jointed shoulders, later bicep movement, elbows, and a ball jointed head. He balances well in poses, even though he has a wheel assembly hanging off his back. The color scheme fits this mold well, and it does the best job of recreating Wreck-Gar’s G1 toy robot mode out of any version of him to date. I definitely love this figure, and hope we get more versions as generic Junkions. Bonus points to the Shapeways designer that makes Robo-nipples™ for the rectangular peg holes in the chest. In the meantime, I think I may have to try out Octavirate Forge’s Cy-Kill head for another future custom.



Again, while this is a great figure, there are a couple of issues in robot mode. The biggest problem is the head, for two reasons. First, Hasbro releases another figure with a head on a ball joint that has little range of movement. The entire reason for ball joints is a nice field of movement, and I wish the current design team would look back at older figures with great neck articulation, take a cue from them and fix what they are doing wrong. I love most of their work, but this continues to be a weak point in their designs. Apart from that, the head is a bit tiny when you compare it to Groove and Afterburner. There is almost 2 mm of clearance on either side of the head as you move it through the torso in combined mode, so I can’t help but think it they had made it just a little larger the head would be more proportional to the body. It’s not THAT bad, but it is noticeable.



Combined Mode

While Wreck-Gar works fine in both leg and arm modes, I think he is best served as an arm. The motorcycle parts and robot mode leg articulation lend themselves to make the best arms. Additionally, the hand/foot peg hole is very tight on this version of the mold, so holding weapons in the arm mode works well. I also think that the strengths for arm mode are weaknesses in leg mode, as the vehicle windshield sticks out too much, unless you balance it with another motorcycle like I did below.





Overall Recommendation

Power of the Primes Wreck-Gar gets 8 Bah-weep-Graaaaagnahs out of 10 Wheep Ni Ni Bongs!

This is a great update to a character I did not realize needed a great update. It replaces the original Generations mold as my go to version of Wreck-Gar. It is a solid figure, has great articulation, is fun to transform, and works well as a bike for my ever growing Junkion army. If you have younger kids, this figure is highly recommended, as it is not likely to be frustrating. So go out and buy Wreck-Gar! Offer expires while you wait!







Happy motoring. Cock-a-doodle-doo!





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