Warbotron WB-01D Whirlwind

In celebration of TFCon Chicago 2018, let’s spend some time with a Third Party Transformer, since we haven’t done that for almost two months at this point. Let’s get back on the Warbotron Wagon and talk about the massive letdown that is Whirlwind.

Robot mode is a good and threatening looking, giving the appearance of being a fast and dangerous warrior. The upper half of the figure, from the head to the waist, is really successful. Whirlwind sports forearm mounted rocket pods, shoulder mounted blasters, the front end of the helicopter mode as a large blaster, and four back mounted swords that compose the helicopter rotor. So Whirlwind is armed to the teeth for both ranged and melee combat. He is the only figure in the set that has this spread of accessories, all the others having ranged weapons only. At this point in the human experience, the helicopter-blade-to-sword conversion is almost expected, and while it is not surprising it does add a level of playability to any figure. And conceivably, other members of the Warbotron team could borrow Whirlwind’s swords to augment their own weaponry. For the most part, the legs are fine, but Whirlwind’s feet are a real problem. The feet are too small and narrow to adequately support the weight of the figure, especially with the back mounted rotor. The front part of each foot is mounted on a mushroom peg so it swivels from side to side, necessary for transformation, but compromising stability to a degree that is often real frustrating. The back of the foot has a rear-facing heel plank, but it is far, far too thin and short to be of any assistance in balancing the figure. If the legs are spread enough and the foot parts positioned just right, then Whirlwind stands in a way that is best described as “ok”. Like it’s functional, but he wobbles a lot, and will often fall over. The way the feet function is necessary for transformation, but why they wouldn’t have been reinforced or something is kind of a head scratcher.

In many ways, Whirlwind is the low point of the entire Warbotron set. The shoulder mounted blasters are removeable and can be held in hand, but not very well. They also don’t attach to the shoulders very well, doing so via very, very stumpy little pegs, and they can be dislodged at the slightest provocation. The forearm mounted parts are simply attached via the same stumpy little pegs, and they fall off with too much pressure, no matter how slight. This will come up again shortly, but the large blaster that becomes the front of the helicopter is too large and doesn’t fit securely into the robot hand, and then is heavy enough to tilt the figure to the side that is holding it. The shoulder cannons and forearm panels make Whirlwind seem overly fidgety, and that is something that saps the enjoyment of manipulating the figure. Everyone likes the idea of the combat chopper that turns into a robot, but I could not put this figure down fast enough. A few transformations, and I’d had all I needed of Whirlwind. Really a shame.

It’s a good looking figure for the most part. Lots of molded detailing, and a real good, very Vortex head sculpt. The dominant color is grey, and there are some anemic purple flashes here and there, as well as some more prominent blue on the legs and hands. The temperamental nature of the figure and the terrible feet are just too much to overcome.

Whirlwind is the strange member of the Warbotron team in terms of aesthetic. The alt mode differs from his teammates by being the least realistic looking of the vehicles. Air Burst got some applause for being something different and taking a chance by straying from tradition, and it really worked; Heavy Noisy and Sly Strike both succeeded by being as realistic as possible. Whirlwind upends this pattern by being large and puffy in alt mode, perhaps aiming for the risk taking nature of Air Burst while thinking of the realism of the other two before totally abandoning it. As per tradition, Whirlwind converts into a military helicopter, this time intended as a sleeker, attack oriented one instead of the less impressive cargo transport version of the 1980’s. The end result is kinda just bad, simply put. It’s a Frankenstein’s Monster type of vehicle, with a fat, rounded body and real small, stubby wings and a totally inappropriate tail. It’s almost like two different helicopter designs fused together, and neither half works. The nose cannon is the robot’s handheld weapon slightly rearranged, and is too comically large to work with the overall silhouette of the vehicle.  In a really baffling move, the cockpit opens, revealing a pair of much too tiny pilot seats, and this totally blows the notion of the size of the helicopter. Judging by the seats, this vehicle would be absolutely gigantic. This is not a deal breaking detail, don’t misunderstand. It’s just another odd design choice in a series of odd design choices that make the vehicle mode less and less acceptable with each newly discovered one. Even the nose landing gear is stupidly larger than the ones toward to rear of the vehicle. Just strange choice after strange choice.

 

Really, the helicopter doesn’t even look that good, and it’s not certain that fixing these bizarre ideas would have actually fixed the helicopter mode.

Whirlwind isn’t just the low point in the Warbotron set; it’s a legitimately bad figure. Puzzlingly so. It’s a military helicopter, how does that go this wrong? He doesn’t look terrible in the team photo of these not-Combaticons, so there’s that, and all he’s really going to need to do is serve as an arm for Warbotron, and at that, Whirlwind does a pretty good job as well. But for the most part, I will often look at 3P combiners in combined form and miss their individual members. Not so with Whirlwind at all. Not long after I finished taking pictures of Whirlwind and Fierce Attack, I combined Warbotron and was honestly glad to be finished with Whirlwind. It’s such a frustrating figure because of its instability and fidgetiness, and so strange because of the alt mode choices. I don’t know all that much about this company, and maybe I should do some investigating, because after Sly Strike, this set starts to go downhill, and I'm not sure how many other figures they released; I do know they've been pretty quiet for quite some time. Fierce Attack has some issues, but is generally a fine figure, in case anyone reading this is now terrified. But Whirlwind is just . . . not.

Practically every combiner team has a member you buy because you must, and Whirlwind is most likely the poster bot for that in my collection. I’d been putting off writing on him for a long time, honestly trying to think of good things to say, and nothing ever came. I would not recommend this figure at all, but he is necessary to form Warbotron, and his performance in the combined mode does atone a good deal for his individual weakness.