This year, following the second Transformers film, I came to the realization that I would probably never be as interested in the Transformers toy line as I once was. I'd started to thin out my enormous collection a while back, but now I've decided that it's pretty much over, and aside from a very small handful of figures from the Beast Wars and G1 lines, I'll be selling it all off.
Like I said, much of what I once owned is gone, but I've held on to a few from the Beast Wars, Machine Wars, Beast Machines, Robots in Disguise, Armada and Energon lines that I thought were special. As I sort through them over the next month or so, I thought that I'd look at a few of my favorites, and briefly reflect on what made them great toys.
First up is Team Bullet Train from the Robots in Disguise (RiD) line, made up of robots Railspike, Midnight Express, and Rapid Run, who combine to form Rail Racer.
These three Transformers, and their gestalt form Rail Racer, are a perfect example of what made the RiD line fun. After the previous focus on a blend of organic and mechanical forms, RiD took a more traditional approach by giving us characters that were entirely related to vehicles. I freely admit that Beast Wars may in fact be my favorite Transformers series, and I even found Beast Machines to be entertaining, but there was something genuinely cool about the obvious nod to the classic Transformers line that came with RiD. And when you get down to it, there's not much that's cooler than bullet trains, so these three were an instant hit with fans.
Aside from their very simple vehicle modes, the individual robots are extremely simplistic as well. There's nothing tricky about their transformations, as they each tend to be of the "extend the legs and unfold the arms" variety of Transformers. But again, part of their appeal is the simplicity, which isn't always present with toys from this line.
The combined form Rail Racer is another matter entirely, as it takes a great deal of fiddling, folding, and maneuvering to get the three robots to combine and connect. The result is a little ridiculous, but in a very typical way for a Transformers toy, as Rail Racer is largely impossible to pose, and tends to be somewhat rickety and unstable.
But, really... so what?
He looks very cool when assembled and posed, which counts for a lot when it comes to bots like this. In fact, many of the little problems associated with toys from this line were easy to ignore when compared to the "cool" factor. Rail Racer definitely has its flaws, but the aesthetic link to Takara's Microman and classic Diaclone lines, has made it one of my favorites.
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