Must Have Toy for Ages 6 Years and Above: Transformers Autobot Wheelie

With Michael Bay's 2009 summer blockbuster Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) succeeding as a sequel to his 2007 summer blockbuster Transformers, the ROTF merchandising is a hit among children and collectors. Out of the dozens of ROTF transforming toys available, one toy captures the look, feel, and playability of its respective on-screen movie character well and qualifies as a must have toy for any Transformers fan: Autobot Wheelie from Hasbro. Wheelie is durable, recognizable, and fun for children over the age of six years.

Recapping the character in the movie, Wheelie arrived as a Decepticon spy disguised as a remote controlled monster truck. He traipsed to Mikaela's garage to steal the Allspark fragment but junk in the garage thwarted him and Mikaela captured him. As Mikaela's prisoner, Wheelie led the human protagonists to the legendary Seeker Jetfire, who in turned led everyone to Egypt to continue the movie's plot. Upon learning that Jetfire defected to the Autobots, Wheelie did the same and now seems to be Mikaela's new companion. Wheelie is portrayed as a hyperactive little robot who happens to sound like an enraged Spongebob Squarepants on steroids. This modern take on Wheelie is an improvement over the annoying couplet spouting Wheelie of the original cartoon.

Robot Mode

Autobot Wheelie comes packaged in its robot mode. Despite being one of the smallest characters in the movie, the Wheelie figure is actually taller than most of his fellow Deluxe Class Transformers toys. The extra height-as well as its ball joints in its arms and legs-gives Wheelie more posing potential and playability. His head resembles the WALL-E from the critically acclaimed Pixar animation of the same name and features a comically fearsome mouth that is posed to bite or spout a sassy wisecrack. Its three-fingered claws can open and close to grip objects. Using the monster truck wheels on its feet, Wheelie can skate along the ground or stand still with its kickstand toes. Wheelie can convey various emotions by adjusting the angles of its eyes. Reflecting his change of heart during the movie, the Wheelie figure features a gimmick that allows him to switch the insignia on his chest from evil Decepticon to heroic Autobot with a turn of a dial. As a robot, Wheelie is a fun figure that does a good job in reflecting its movie character. All it needs is a voice chip to replay some of his comical lines.

Alternate Mode: R/C Monster Truck

It takes a little practice to convert Wheelie into his alternate mode, but once converted he becomes a fascinating toy vehicle. Wheelie converts into a miniature monster truck with gray wheels. The gray grill, greenish blue floodlights, and mock suspension add to the details of the vehicle. As a toy monster truck, it is arguably life-sized compared to the scale model representations that other Deluxe Class Transformers car characters are. Wheelie hides most of its robot mode well with its limbs becoming most of the truck's suspension. The main imperfection is that Wheelie's gaping mouth occupies most of the truck bed. All it needs to complete the remote control monster truck feel is a prop remote controller.

Wheelie may not get as much respect as Bumblebee or Optimus Prime during the ROTF movie. But as a toy he is quite movie accurate and children can easily reenact his scenes with it. At $12.99, Wheelie is a good price for a hot toy.