Warbotron's Turbo Ejector (3rd Party Afterburner)

Introduction

I didn't actually finish many combiner sets when I was younger. From memory only Devastator, Piranacon, Menasor and Computron were completed with the other groups missing one or two figures. Because of this, Computron and the Technobots hold a place in my heart for being one of the few combiners I actually could combine into a giant robot.

Computron by Pete Slater

So when third parties announced they were releasing their own take on the Technobots, I paid attention. Maketoys released their version, called Quantron, as a giftset which meant you had to buy in the whole thing upfront without the benefit of reviews. I don't like dropping hundreds of pounds on something that may or may not be good, so I passed on that version. Warbotron announced WB03 Computron which, for me at least, had better looking and better sized figures and a more satisfying gestalt mode. They also tend to release figures individually which is great as you get the chance to read or watch reviews before committing to a figure.

Anyway, with that being said, what is Warbotron's version of Afterburner, Turbo Ejector, actually like?

First Impressions

I suppose the first thing to mention is the amazing box that the figure comes in. Not many companies take the time to create a nice, reusable box for their figures, but Warbotron have.

Turbo Ejector's Box by Pete Slater

Like Takara's Masterpiece boxes, you would feel bad recycling the box because it looks so damn nice. Warbotron have a record of providing nice boxes as they did something similar for their version of the Combaticons. The box for Turbo Ejector is even better than those however and comes with a kind of fake leather effect which is hard to describe but makes sense when you see it. It also has a nice paper wrap around to hold it all together and a magnetically closable cover that can be opened to view the figure inside.

Turbo Ejector's Box by Pete Slater

The box itself is opened by pulling on the tasteful fabric tab located on the side of the box. This reminds me of some of the gift boxes I have bought in the past and adds a touch of class to the whole package.

Turbo Ejector's Box by Pete Slater

Once that the drawer is pulled out you only have a plastic shell to remove before you have the figure in hand.

Turbo Ejector's Box by Pete Slater

In The Box

If you have had experience of a Warbotron figure before then you know what to expect from the figure itself. The plastic feels of the same quality as that of Warbotron's Combaticons. The figure is of a decent size and heft meaning that it should be sturdy enough for general play. Everything on my example is tight with no extra play in the joints. I suppose I could complain that things are a little too tight but that would be nit-picky.

Beside the figure and accessories, you get a bag of parts which isn't mentioned in the manual and which I am not sure the purpose of. You also get a collector card and a rather nice manual.

Turbo Ejector's Manual by Pete Slater

The Figure Itself

The head sculpt is pretty special in my opinion. It captures the character really well and has the same cool light piping that other Warbotron figures have had.

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector by Pete Slater

Warbotron's Heavy Noisy by Pete Slater

The bot mode retains the look of the original figure but adds the now familiar Warbotron detailing to the plastic which helps make it look a little more realistic. They matched the orange colour quite well and added grey in all the right places.

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector and Afterburner by Pete Slater

The alt mode's front wheel can be stored in bot mode in a similar way to the G1 Afterburner figure or it can be split to form wings. When split, the wheel from the back looks to have turbine blades which is rather cool. You could imagine these being use to aid in giving the figure flight capabilities... perhaps. The other wheel can also be split to reveal yet more turbine blades.

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector by Pete Slater

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector and Afterburner by Pete Slater

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector and Afterburner by Pete Slater

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector and Afterburner by Pete Slater

Personally I prefer the wheels as wings because I love robots with wings and these are particularly nice looking.

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector by Pete Slater

Articulation

Turbo Ejector has a decent amount of articulation for a figure of it's size. The shoulders can rotate and can also lift up. The wrists can swivel and the biceps can also swivel. The waist is turn-able and, due to the combination gimmick, the figure can even do a kind of abdominal crunch. The head is ball jointed and static as it doesn't go anywhere during transformation. The hips have ratcheted ball joints which feel like they should be stronger, the knees bend a fair amount and the feet can tilt a little.

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector by Pete Slater

Because of this level of articulation you can get some really dynamic poses from the figure as you can see above. The feet are solid and chunky which means standing on one foot is not a problem.

Transformation

The transformation is surprisingly very similar to the original G1 Afterburner figure's transformation. The arms rotate around to have the hands pointing upward...

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector and Afterburner by Pete Slater

The legs then collapse down into themselves. They don't go all the way in, but just enough to compress the legs.

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector and Afterburner by Pete Slater

The whole thing then folds over onto itself, leaving the chest and wheels to be clipped into place.

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector and Afterburner by Pete Slater

There is some kibbley partsforming stuff which has to be attached in order to complete the transformation which I really wish wasn't there. You get the impression that if a little more time were spent on the figure, those parts could have integrated somehow. It's a minor fault though and not serious... unless you lose the parts in which case the alt mode will just look wrong.

And speaking of the alt mode... wow. It's pretty much exactly what I would want a modern take on Afterburner to look like.

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector by Pete Slater

There isn't a duff angle to view it from... not matter where you look at it, it looks top.

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector by Pete Slater

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector by Pete Slater

Conclusion

I have had some bad times with Warbotron figures in the past. My Air Burst arrived cracked out of the box and had to be replaced. The replacement has lots of stressed plastic and feet that just wouldn't stay on but at least it wasn't broken. Sly Strike developed stressed plastic after only a few days and Heavy Noisy got stressed hands after a few times trying to fit the weapons into them.

Turbo Ejector has had none of these problems so far. It arrived in perfect condition and doesn't seem to suffer any of the issues that the previous three figures suffered from. There are a couple of places that look like they may cause issues in the future so I am being careful with them. In particular the kibble that gets attached to the back of the alt mode ,where the bot feet are, feels a little fragile. The tabs that attach the pieces to the feet feel like they may stress or break in the future.


Overall I am very pleased with this figure. It's sturdy, chunky and a really good take on the old G1 Afterburner character. I shall be keeping a close eye on the rest of the Technobots from Warbotron. Hopefully they will be just as good as Turbo Ejector.

Warbotron's Turbo Ejector and Afterburner by Pete Slater

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the article.