Alternators

In the early 00's I really wasn't collecting much in the way of Transformers. I picked up a figure here and there, but overall the toyline didn't really grab me. In the back of the little catalog that came packed with the figures was an advertisement for the Alternators toyline. The focus of these figures were fully licensed 1:24 scale vehicles that were re-imaginings of characters from the original toyline and cartoon.

Smokescreen was the first toy they released. Based on a Subaru Impreza WRC rally car.

I'd love one these in real life

Fancy

Unfortunately the wheel doesn't work

They really went all out trying to make them appear to be models. In fact, I've had friends that thought they were. Of course they wouldn't be as much fun if that were the case.

It almost doesn't look like a folded up robot

An interesting side note on the underside of the car. While the steering will isn't tied to the wheels, the wheels are connected to each other. Each wheel has a magnet in it that ties it to a piece that runs the width of the car.

Classic car robot styling

Overall it's a pretty nice robot mode. Decently kibble free, that is, there's not a lot of car junk hanging off of it. One of my biggest issues with it is the feet. It's not necessarily that they're huge, which they are, it's that they don't provide the most solid base for the figure.

Those are big feet

One of the issues is that he doesn't have any toe swivel or ankle tilt. If you splay his legs, he only stands on the edges of his feet. Another issue is that the heel is a small rotating tab which has to work double duty to provide back support but also to keep the wheels off the ground. Finally, it can be awfully fiddly to get back into car mode. The legs have been bend at a fairly specific angle in order for the rear sections of the car to line up and tab correctly to minimize panel lines and gaps.

Little more car-like from behind

All in all, it was a great way to kick off a new toyline. They would eventually release figures based on the Mazda RX-8, which was an evolution of this basic design and fixed many of it's flaws.

The toyline itself saw the release of twenty-seven figures across thirteen car models. But those are other robots for other posts.