I recently acquired a complete set of the rarest Transformers fouresome of all time, the Europe and Australasia exclusive Action Master Elites. These were four new molds made in an Action Master subline that actually Transformed, and since they were never released in North America and never redecoed into anything else, they are today the rarest Transformers molds out there released by Hasbro, especially in a complete states since some of them come with several accessories which are made to be removed as part of the transformation.
With so little in terms of images out there, especially of the vehicle modes, I thought it would be a good idea to show you these toys, one at a time, and go over each of their modes along with their gimmicks, and finally have a review out there for each.
Today we will look at Turbo Master. Yes, that is his actual name. And while a Turbomaster also reffers to a different Transformers subline, he is not part of that line. Instead he is an Action Master which transforms. Three of the four Action Master Elites are shrunk down versions of towering robots that had already come out and this is an homage to Bruticus. It is a pretty faithful one when it comes to the main body and face, with the limbs streamlined and symmetrical to one another to make it more like an action figure.
His colours are more flamboyant than even G2 Bruticus with lilac and pink all across the toy. He has the most accessories out there and thus is the hardest to get complete. Not only does he have double blade weapon (which become wings in alt mode), he also has two rotors which clip to his shoulders in robot mode. He also has two rotating tail fins at his feet which are removable pieces.
Each of his fists have 3 small holes, one above, one below and one front and centre (to be used in alt mode). This allows you to either give him a sword in each hand or make a double blade weapon. There are two gimmicks associated to his wrists and they work in both modes. Simply by moving
one arm up or down,
both wrists will turn. Also, by pressing the yellow button in his back, cleverly disguised as one of Bruticus' two back cannons, both wrists will rotate furiously. Any enemy near him would be cut to bits in seconds, like the henchman Indy fights by the plane in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Of course, the four accessories are interchangeable so you could give him rotor fists if you wanted to.
For any IDW fans out there, he had a tiny appearance in MTMTE 12 where he fights against Ultra Magnus (he is in the background on the right):
Turbo Master transforms into a vertical take-off, Osrpey type, vehicle with wings. The transformation for all Action master Elites is nothing to write home about. In this case you just need to rotate the tail fins, turn his head, bend his knees and point his arms up. Then you attach the wings and rotors where they should be. Below you will see images of him with and without the wings attached, since the Osprey alt mode works better without the wings. Personally though, I much preffer with wings since it just makes it look so much more bonkers. The part of the transformation I find particularly clever is the head turning around since the window details in back of the head line up perfectly with the alt mode details already present in the vehicle mode chest so that the front looks uninterrupted. Pushing the yellow button in alt mode will make the rotors spin.
The robot mode is clearly the star this time, especially with all the display and equipment options, while we have had some non combining Bruticus components in the past, it is really unique to see what looks like a combiner design (Bruticus in this case) Transforming from a full combined robot mode into one alt mode.
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