Very early this morning we brought you the latest IDW solicitations, and we received an unexpected bonus in the process. The two covers for issue two of Windblade's new series give us our first look at Defensor up close and in some detail. After a series of smaller information leaks gave us clues to their existence, we finally have our proof of the Protectobots, and we know what toys some of them are. Keep reading to find out!
The Casey Coller main cover to Windblade #2 is our best overall look at Defensor, where we can see clearly that Blades will be a red or reddish orange recolor of Alpha Bravo, which has been speculated as being the case for some time. Enough of Defensor's left leg is also visible to identify Stunticon Offroad's vehicle details, and point to that mold as being First Aid. This is all we get to see from the main cover, but the subscription cover by Livio Ramondelli gives us some extra information. Now seen is Defensor's right arm, whose appearance closely matches the limb configuration of both Stunticon cars, though the rounded shapes suggest a recolor of Dead End. Earlier retailer listings that we reported on mentioned Protectobot Rook being an armored vehicle, suggesting this character is Streetwise, despite the red not being a very police color.
Finally, Hot Spot himself. Only seen as a torso component, hints still exist. Both pieces of art squarely peg this as a new design, though some simple reasoning would lead to that conclusion anyway as it's very unlikely Hasbro would redeco again and release one mold in three successive waves. But what's interesting to note is the similarity of Defensor's torso armor in the Ramondelli cover to the shapes of Bruticus's chest armor. Those familiar with the G1 toys of Hot Spot and Onslaught will recognize that both shared similar transformations and had similar general appearances in their robot modes. It's no far leap to consider that one mold could be designed to represent two characters that share some key features. Indeed, taking the G1 toys as an example the conversion could be very simple, starting with new robot and combiner heads, a weapon assembly that can be switched - a water cannon perhaps for Hot Spot and the standard double barrel cannon for Onslaught, and perhaps modifications to the detailing on the combiner mode's torso. All of these are well within what's possible. While Hasbro may have first wanted to focus on other teams after so many forms of Bruticus in the Fall of Cybertron mold in 2012 and 2013, it was inevitable that the Combaticons would get revisited in the new line, and this may be our first hint to it coming to pass.
