G1 Huffer

Robot Mode: The early G1 figures often didn't resemble their cartoon counterparts all that closely, but Huffer does a fairly decent job. With the exception of his face, which features a visor and a mouthplate instead of a humanoid face, he looks pretty much like he did in the cartoon series. Okay, he doesn't have any hands, but I can live with that in a toy this small. Posability is limited to the shoulders, hardly surprising, but Huffer packs a decent amount of detailing onto his small frame. So all in all Huffer does a very decent job in robot mode.

Alternate Mode: Getting Huffer into vehicle mode requires a simple, yet surprisingly intricate transformation, at least for a figure in this size class. It's not the simple lay-him-on-his-stomack-and-flip-in-the-legs, it's a bit more complex than that. The end result is a pretty decent truck miniature with a very decent amount of detailing for something this small. Huffer can't actually pull Optimus Prime's trailer, like he did in one of the early G1 cartoon episodes, he's too small for that, but he's a good little truck. No complaints.

Remarks: Huffer is part of the original Season 1 Autobot cast and took part in many Season 1 and quite a few Season 2 episodes. Mostly he spent his time saying "We're doomed" and such, but at times he could be an optimist, too, and he even led the Autobots into battle during "Divide and Conquer", when Optimus was laid out. Huffer was retroactively added to the casualty list of Transformers the Movie (1986) when Daniel walked past his tomb during the Season 3 episode "Dark Awakening".

As a figure Huffer is a nice little toy robot. A good-looking robot mode, a surprisingly complex transformation (for his size, that is) and a decent vehicle mode leave no room for complaints. He is a rather simple toy, of course, but considering his time and origins, he's pretty good. Recommended for G1 fanatics like myself.

Rating: B