Wrecker

Wrecker was built to be the muscle of RoboForce, but after the superior Utopia Aegis 101 line was released to the world, he had no choice but to take a job working at the deepest depths of the ocean floor. After over a decade of isolated underwater labor, far away from the flowers Wrecker once picked and loved, he will have to take up his battering ram and rejoin RoboForce on their mission to stop the forces who seek to control the universe. Maxx was a nice update of the 1984 figure, keeping the broad strokes but updating everything into a new style. If you didn't know who he was (his name is on the sticker on his chest if you forget), you'd be unlikely to ever guess. And not just because Robo Force is so deeply obscure today. This is nearly a ground-up rebuild of the entire concept of the character. Like, imagine if there had been a character who was originally created as a Funko POP!, but it then got turned into a real action figure - that's the kind of jump we're talking between 1984 Wrecker and 2024 Wrecker. It's interesting to see what parallels there are, though. Like, the original toy's head was a simple dome with a vertical notch in the front, and a "face" that's really just two black eyes in the middle of a yellow band. The new one's head is more like a helmet, with a raised line over top, and there are now a pair of big, comedy eyebrows over his red eyes. It's a very "Mega Man boss enemy" kind of vibe. The shoulder pads are similarly updates: they used to be flat on the bottom, rounded on top, and with an inset line with a circular element tucked into the end of it, all the same things that could be said about this toy. But the old one didn't have any of these bundled tubes in his stomach, nothing resembling a belt, and certainly no legs! It's interesting to see how Nacelle makes the details on the legs look very similar between Maxx and Wrecker, yet doesn't actually reuse the same molds. It's possible they started from the same digital file (look at the way the tubes cross in the shins, for instance), but there are more changes than just some paint, here. Instead of the same flexible arms all the toys had in the '80s, this Wrecker gets big, unique arms that look suitable for demolition work: the right hand is a big, articulated pincer, while the left is spring-loaded battering ram. Well, sculpted to look spring-loaded; it doesn't actually move. Despite that, Wrecker still has more articulation than Maxx does. He's got the balljointed ankles, double-hinged knees, balljointed hips, swivel wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, barbell shoulders, and balljointed head, but also adds hinges for both halves of his claw hand, and a joint for the ridge around the lower part of his face, so you can tilt it up and down like a moveable jaw. Fun! Oddly, he doesn't have a waist. Not sure why that got cut from the budget, but this is still a lot of fun to play with and pose. One thing that is disappointing about this release is the paint. Vintage Wrecker was a bright, orangey, yellow, the same sort of color as construction vehicles tend to be; modern Wrecker is a pale, sickly yellow, closer to the green end of the spectrum, and it does not look good. Not sure why Nacelle chose this as the color for him - even the art on the box shows him in a more appropriate shade. And since these are apparently re-releases of figures that came out a while ago, there's no claiming they were hurried or it was an unpreventable mistake at the factory (last year's original release was this same wan, anemic shade, so if it was wrong back then, they had time to fix it). The decals on his chest are a nod to similar colors on the 1984 figure, right down to having his name written out under the 12 colorful dots. '80s Robo Force toys had small guns that plugged into holes on their hands, nothing else. '20s Robo Force toys get better stuff than that! As a construction-bot, Wrecker has things that would help him with that job: a pair of extra crane-arms that plug into his back, and have tools hanging from thick chains at the ends; a large hook on the right side, and a bundle of four blasters on the left. While the arms are sculpted to look like they have various hinges and pistons, they're actually a solid piece all the way down, which is frustrating. There's no way to position the arms so the tools can reach forward even slightly, meaning all they'll ever do is dangle behind him disappointingly. These absolutely needed some more work in the design phase. Early stock photos showed the blaster-thing without a chain, just plugging directly onto the arm, which makes a ton more sense for a weapon that needs to be aimed anywhere other than "down." Of course, early pics also showed the crane arm attaching vertically and reaching forward, and showed an extender for the right wrist, like the claw could shoot forward to grab things farther away, and none of that happened, either. Finally, Wrecker comes with a bouquet of flowers, which are chintzy plastic flowers stuffed into an outsized brown stick - hardly an inspiring accessory. With his theme of "construction" rather than "generic robot," Wrecker is a more interesting release than Maxx was, able to fit in with more kinds of toys. But the lack of execution on his accessories, and the odd color they chose to paint him, definitely knock him down a few notches. Still, both these Robo Force figures have been cool things to find on the shelf at a real store, and we hope Nacelle gets to make some more of them! -- 12/22/24