Sixturbo (Micromaster Combiner Team) - Reissue


Sixturbo (Reissue)

Images courtesy of tfu.info

At first, I didn't bother picking up the Sixturbo reissue set. I've never been a huge fan of Micromasters, though in retrospect, I think it's because I never really gave them much of a chance. Their fused, non-posable legs and clunky transformations are unappealing at first, until you realize (as I finally did) that they're no more simplistic than half the G1 figures made. In fact, considering their small size (between a Minicon and a Spychanger), it's surprising they're not more simplistic.

In this case, especially, it becomes obvious that a lot of design work sometimes went into these little guys. Unlike some of the "Six-" sets, each member of the team, with one exception, has a totally different transforming scheme, even when their alt modes are similar. These are not six Spychanger/Go-bots where you just flip down the hood and lower the legs on each member. Let me take you through the team, individually...


   Road Police   

"Road Police" sounds rather Japanese - straight to the point and rather redundant. I think it's a bit of a silly name and tend to call him "Road Pig" instead (no offense intended towards police officers; it's the name of a G2 toy). His vehicle mode is a white police car, with black wheels and bumper, silver windows, and red lights, with an autobot symbol on the hood. You can see his robot body if you flip the car over, but not otherwise.

To transform, lift the hood-and-front-window, rotate the side doors out as arms, flip the trunk-and-rear-window down for legs, and lower the hood piece down behind his lower back and legs. In this form, he has a lot more blue with some silver accents. Very attractive color scheme, and one that definitely says police officer. His arms rotate 360 degrees and his fused-legs bend at the hips and knees. He is stable and stands with little to no effort. His lack of kibble in this mode is surprising; it helps that the hood piece folds completely behind him.

All in all, I like this figure a lot. It has enough personality and playability to stand on its own.


   Glide   

Glide is a blue touring bike, complete with saddlebags and dual seating - very reminiscent of G2 Road Pig (RiD Axer). He has silver exhaust, black seats, and a gold windshield, with an autobot symbol on his left saddlebag. It's difficult to see his robot parts, even if you flip him over, because his head (the only visible part) is recessed so far in this mode. The detailing on the bike, from the panels behind the windshield to the molded dual exhausts and foot pedals, is rather impressive for such a small and simple toy.

To transform, flip the windshield forward and around to become the fused feet, pull the rear end of the cycle down to expose the head and form his chest, and swivel his arms down. His color scheme doesn't change much as a robot, just adding more silver (his head and lower torso). I have mixed feelings about Glide's robot mode. His arms are rather short and the windshield looks more "fused" than the feet of any other Sixturbo member. On the other hand, he's well proportioned, very interesting looking, and stable (to stand).

Given his surprisingly well-done vehicle mode and his decent robot mode, Glide is another toy that could stand by himself. Very playable.


   Circuit   

A white Indy-type racing car with red detailing (and autobot symbol on the front end), Circuit reminds me a lot of RiD Skid-Z, only with a better color scheme. The only thing that throws it off is the ugly gray spoiler. You can see the robot if you look underneath (which is acceptable, of course) and the hinge looks a little out of place in the driver's seat (but only a little).

To transform, pull the front end up and back, flip the back end around (adjusting the spoiler while you do so), and rotate the arms out. The instructions seem to say that he should stand on the spoiler somehow, but that doesn't work right - the picture above is more accurate. Unfortunately, there's really nothing you can do with the spoiler. It just looks like he has a piece of gray plastic nailed to his knees. And the front of the car doesn't fold behind his back neatly - it sticks out at a 90 degree angle so you have to hunch him forward to make him stand properly. The only redeeming feature are his arms; they're molded nicely enough that you'll actually say, "Hey, those are nice arms." But that's about it.

With Circuit, the lame robot mode is somewhat offset by the decent alt mode. Regardless, it's not a toy that I'd want if it wasn't part of the Sixturbo gestalt.


   Neo-Wheel   

Sideswipe's younger brother? Seems like it - Neo-Wheel (yeah, another forced-sounding Japanese name... I just call him "Neo", myself) is a yellow Countache with black windows and an Autobot symbol on the hood. You can see the 'bot if you look underneath (but by now you probably realize that's a normal thing here), but there's no bot-parts showing otherwise. Neo-Wheel's alt-mode looks attractive and fast, a good combination.

His transformation is just like Road Police (the only similar transforms in the set), but his arms are molded differently, so I find you have to flip the legs down first, before swinging out the arms. Now, in car mode, Neo-Wheel looked good. In 'bot mode, he looks gooooooood. His torso and head is red with gold and silver accents (including two antennae on his head that remind me a bit of Star Convoy). His arms are the door panels, but with two clearly molded arms on the inside, his legs look like two separate legs (no, they're fused, but they don't look fused), and just like Road Police, there's almost no kibble getting in the way.

Neo-Wheel is, in my opinion, the best of the set. He looks amazing in either mode and has the same articulation as Road Police... it's just a bonus that he also forms an arm of Sixturbo. This toy is good enough to sell without any gimmicks - he would fit into a normal Micromaster group with ease.


   Discharge   

"Huh-huh... huh-huh... he said 'Discharge'. Huh-huh...." Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way....

Discharge is a blocky little fire engine, almost super-deformed. He's totally red except for black windows, a white ladder on top, and some silver detailing (which also illustrates an Autobot symbol on his upper left side). While his overall form is noticeably brick-like, he still manages to have a very attractive alt-mode. The silver detailing brings out side storage panels and coiled fire hoses on both sides, and the molded grilles and buttons on the side add a really nice touch. The best thing on Discharge may be his ladder, however, which swivels 360 degrees, making him the only Sixturbo member with a gimmick in car mode. It's a shame the ladder is so short, though.

To transform, pick a direction for the ladder, flip back the truck cab to reveal the head (like Spychanger Ultra Magnus), rotate the back of the truck down and around to form the fused-feet, and swing the arms out. There's actually two ways you can pose the "feet": straight-down (which makes him taller) or folded forward (which looks more like feet). This mode adds white and a touch of blue to his coloring. The first thing you notice on Discharge is his arms - they're like two sheets of plywood with hints of an arm molded on the inside. Also, his feet don't look much like feet (though you get used to that with Micromaster) and the truck cab doesn't really fold back far enough to get it completely out of the way. On the upside, his head looks great, like a firefighter with a gas mask on, and he's really stable if you fold his "feet" forward.

Discharge has an odd-looking but well-detailed alt mode, and a robot mode that looks okay, but not much better than okay. He wouldn't do well on his own... not unless they extended both him and his ladder, at least.


   Sireen   

The female of the group, or so I'd assume by the name, Sireen is a white ambulance with black windows, a silver grill, and red lights with a red strip down each side. Most amazingly, due to her transformation, there are absolutely no robot parts showing anywhere, even if you turn her over. Also of interest, her Autobot symbol is on the right side, where all others are either on the front or left side. Detailing is decent, but there isn't much needed. This is clearly an ambulance, and unlike Discharge, it's well-proportioned.

Her transformation is very interesting. Pull down the undercarriage, then pull down the cab, extend it, flip it forward, and attach it to the undercarriage. Flip up the arms and you're done. When I first saw her picture, I hated her 'bot mode. But pics don't do it justice. Sireen looks pretty neat in robot mode, almost like she's carrying a huge backpack with guns and stuff extending over her head. In fact, she appears to be packing at least eight separate weapons, making me wonder if she has an ambulance as an alt mode to give her enemies a chance to survive after the battle! This is definitely a "love it or hate it" mode, so all I can say is don't judge her until you see her in person.

Overall, I really like this toy. If you agree with me about her robot mode, you'll love it too. Even if not, you'll still like the alt-mode enough to justify having her around.


   The Jet   

Though nothing to write home about, at least the pieces for Sixturbo aren't just lying around when he isn't in combined mode. The jet looks nice, actually - it's amazing how just sticking the gun between his knees makes the Sixturbo torso really look like a vehicle. You can fit any Micromaster in the cockpit (though Glide tends to slip out the bottom) or just fly it alone, on "remote control".


Sixturbo - Gestalt Mode

To make Sixturbo, first snap together the torso, then do the following:

  1. Flip out Road Police's legs, plug them into the chest hole (former jet cockpit), and fold the front of the car down.
  2. Flip out Glide's legs, plug them into the torso's back, and fold the rest of Glide up alone Sixturbo's back. Or, the way I do it (which I feel looks far better) is to plug him in facing the wrong way, bend his body completely around, and tuck the very back of the bike into the chest hole. If you do this right, the seat will be visible from behind, and Glide won't wobble around like he does if you follow the instructions.
  3. Fold Circuit's rear end down 90 degrees and attach a fist underneath the car chassis. Plug the hole in the spoiler into the torso. Stick the radar dish into the other side of the spoiler.
  4. Fold Neo-Wheel's rear end down 90 degrees, rotate out the gray plug with the hole in it, attach a fist underneath the car, and plug the hole into the torso. Stick the gun in the hand.
  5. Plug Discharge's rear onto a foot, and snap him onto the upper legs of the torso.
  6. Plug Sireen's rear onto a foot, and snap her onto the upper legs of the torso.

    Sixturbo isn't very poseable, to put it mildly. Only his arms move, and they have some difficulty swinging forward, due to the chest wings getting in the way. It's easy to point his gun out at an angle, however, and fortunately, his head rotates to face the right way. And truthfully, he's no less poseable than, say, G1 Prowl.

    Sixturbo stands about half a foot tall, the equal of G1 Megatron but not quite as tall as Armada Scavenger. It's just amazing to look at such a (relatively) small robot and realize that it's a gestalt. That alone is worth the purchase price in my opinion. The fact that he looks great and breaks down into six separate Micromasters and a Micromaster Transport is a great bonus.

    Sixturbo comes highly recommended. If you can pick one up for a reasonable price, I strongly suggest you do so. Even you've never liked Micromasters, you just might want to give them another chance. I'm sure glad that I did.

    ReviewerReverend Pee Kitty  
    DateMarch 28th 2003  
    Score 9 stars (9 out of 10)  
    Reads8365


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