Time to Bot Some Decepti'Shots

I don't know who in the hell I am, Praahm!

I have way more Bot Shots than I need. Granted, a good portion of the total Bot Shots in our home belong to my son, but I still have a lot of my own. And I managed to grab a few more this week.

I had to make a run to the store Thursday night, and ended up picking up Jazz. Nothing really special about him; he's a straight-up replication of G1 Jazz, #4 on the hood and all. I transformed him about twice and then put him next to the other Jazzes on the shelf.

Yesterday, I had to go back, so caved on the Old Duo - Ratchet and Ironhide. I hadn't really planned on getting either of them, but you know how it goes....I knew that Ironhide was getting a clear black Super Bot release in the upcoming three-pack with Shockwave (yay!) and Blue Brawls (eh...), so I initially just figured on that being my BS Ironhide. However, I gave my son the latest in a series of Super Bots Friday afternoon ("matrix blue" Optimus, as I call him. Oh, didn't I mention that I got him, too? No? Oops). He loves the clear sh!t, and I had been pretty impressed with how normal Ironhide looked in the store the other day when I got Jazz, so I concluded that whenever the ShockHideBrawls set came out, my boy would get the clear Ironhide and I would go ahead and get the "real deal". And, naturally, if I'm going to get AHHNHAAHD, I've got to get his doctor buddy that I've avoided since May, right? I mean, Kup's not around, so it just felt right.

Anyhow, turns out that Ironhide is pretty great. The truck mode manages to look both badass and adorable at the same time, and the robot mode feels like the Ironhide we all know and love (GEEWUN, amirite?) without being exactly that. In fact, he's sort of a 4-way homage. For starters, we all can tell that the truck is based on movie Ironhide (yeah, yeah, RiD, Energon, and Prime Ironhide are all trucks, but the movies are the reason this toy is a black truck). The chest design and color scheme (duh) are both also call-outs to the movies. Or are they? Turns out, black was the original color for Ironhide's G1 mold back when it was a pre-Transformers Diaclone toy. And guess what? It's the same color used for Ironhide's evil Shattered Glass incarnation, which is based on his Universe toy's design. Topping all of this off, of course, is the clearly G1 (or is it SG? We'll never know) head sculpt. The official Hasbro pic up there shows him with the blue "blaster" symbol, but I rotated it to the red "sword" one so that it recalled his G1 colors at least a little. Not that Ironhide is known for using swords, but what're you gonna do? At least he can go GDTR with the "fist" symbol, what what!!

Ratchet is a bit more pedestrian. He looks pretty G1, like Jazz, but closer inspection reveals a movie-inspired chest and ambulance mode clearly (most obvously in the grille) taken from Transformers: Prime. Also, his red is a bit more maroon, something Ratchet has never had. Not sure why; maybe the 'Bro was worried about him being on shelves while another red & white Autobot - Jetfire - would show up just a few weeks later? I use the blue "blaster" for him; it gives him a sort of emergency light effect.

Anyhow, this is all just more evidence that I'm easily hooked by the "cute mini-TFs" thing Hasbro's been doing for years now. Robot Heroes, Kreons, and Bot Shots? I don't stand a chance.