Moonracer

We already reviewed one new female Transformer, in the Legends size class. Now let's go up a category! How will the joyful Autobot shrapshooter wield the power of the Primes? Moonracer isn't a new character the way Slash is: she appeared alongside the other female Autobots in the G1 cartoon, but literally the only toy she's ever had before now was a repaint of Energon Arcee that was released as an exclusive at BotCon 2005, and even then use of the name didn't clear the legal department, so Fun Publications had to identify her as "Chromia" (though they did eventually call her by the right name in their comics), so let's hear it for a character making their long-awaited debut! The bio on the card doesn't tell us anything about Moonracer's personality, but the cartoon depicted her as a reckless youngster, basically making her the femmebots' equivalent of Hot Rod. Thankfully, the year of the Headmasters gimmick is over, so peppy little Moonracer is free to have a head that isn't a gigantic square. Her helmet takes cues from the old animation model, but isn't as ridiculous as that was: although it's no longer a Marge-Simpson-style-beehive of metal, it keeps the U-shaped panel on top and the angled flares over the ears. The proportions of the body are a bit wonky to begin with, even before you try to contend with the acres of kibble that's plastered all over her. She perpetually looks like you're viewing her from a low angle, thanks to her huge feet and tiny head. There are big plates of kibble on her lower legs and her forearms, and a massive, massive chunk of it on her back. That block alone is twice the thickness of the rest of the body. It's so big you have to angle her feet forward slightly to keep her from falling over backwards! If there were some way to remove all that stuff, she'd make a decent-looking robot, with many of her design elements homaging the cartoon: the raised collar with the circle in the center, the style of the knees, small things like that. We already mentioned the ankles, but Moonracer also moves at the knees, thighs, hips, waist, elbows, shoulders, and head. The head pops off its balljoint super easily - I guess Headmasters live on after all! Her knees are double-hinged, despite the fact that they're not used in the conversion. Clearly they're just meant to make the toy more fun! Despite being the Autobots' best sharpshooter, her only accessory is a little blaster rifle - why not give her a big sniper rifle like that Blurr who was a repaint of Drift? Streetwise could be her spotter! 2018 also sees the return of Combiners to Generations, so she comes with a hand-foot-gun, molded in the same teal as her body. Converting Moonracer isn't too tough - the legs become the front of the car, the arms become the back - but there is a problem with mine that makes things harder. The hinge in her right ankle, which is a curved piece of plastic, was assembled backwards; so now rather than just barely clearing the end of the shin, the foot has to be pushed past it forcefully; and the tab on the bottom of the foot that allows the windshield to plug into place no longer lines up right, so that has to be forced as well - and since it's translucent plastic, that seems like a recipe for trouble. The entire lower leg is held together with pins, not screws, so there isn't even a way for me to fix this. Moonracer does not turn into a winged lion, but rather a weird car of some sort - since she never stopped living on Cybertron, she never needed to blend in on Earth, so this is what she's got. The car is very long and narrow, and seems like it would be too small for any occupants. There's a large windshield, then two more spots of trans blue plastic farther back on the top - she's got a sun roof, I guess? The hand/foot/gun thing can plug into the back of the car, making it even longer than it already was, but also looking like rocket boosters. Since she doesn't belong to any specific combiner team, Moony is free to become either an arm or a leg - the instructions include steps for both. The arm mode is okay, with the color-coordinated hand looking much nice than a solid black one would, and the leg mode makes use of the knee joints from before. So that's why she has them! My enjoyment of Moonracer is hampered somewhat by the misassembly - she's not as broken as Nitro Zeus was, but I'd still like to get a new one. Unfortunately, she's apparently one per case, so I'm lucky I found this one in the first place. -- 03/27/18

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