Name: Hubcap
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Communications
Alternate Mode: Porsche 944
CAR MODE
Height: 3cm Length: 5cm Width: 4cm
A small yellow superdeformed, 2-door hatchback. The 944 itself is a sports car, but Hubcap's deformed, so he's more of a hatchback in shape. He's got black windows, black trim along the bottom on the sides and a silver panel on the back. The tyres are rubber and the wheels chromed silver. He has a silver & red Autobot symbol sticker on the back panel.
He has no rear spoiler unlike Cliffjumper, of which he is a retool. Also, Cliffjumper has a painted rear bumper, Hubcap's is unpainted and is taller (actually it extends further down). On Cliffjumper the sticker on the back panel is tech detail, not an Autobot symbol. Lastly, the black brackets holding that silver panel in place are tapered down on Cliffjumper but not tapered on Hubcap.
The toy's play value is limited to rolling along on it's wheels. Without any axles, Hubcap doesn't roll very far when simply pushed, but rolls fine when guided by a hand. The rubber tyres provide some traction, so you can make him do controlled cornering and other tricks. The level of detail is pretty good for a toy this age and size. So you can easily tell Hubcap from a yellow Cliffjumper on car mode if you know what to look for.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Identical to Bumblebee, Cliffjumper and Bumblejumper. Pull out the front of the car and fold up to form the feet. Lift up the rear panel to reveal the head. Pull the wheels out from the sides to form the arms.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 8cm Width: 5.5cm
A yellow robot with black arms & legs and yellow feet. He's got an orange face (which is the most obvious difference to yellow Cliffjumper), with excellent moulded detail. He's got a rubsign on his chest and wheels attached to his arms. It's a fairly nice robot mode, the orange works better than you might expect, probably because it's isolated to his face only.
Poseability is limited to swivel joints at the shoulders, which is standard for the Minicars. He's not necessarily better or worse than the others of this design, but it's a pretty good design, and the robot mode works well. I'm very impressed by the intricacy of his face moulding.
VARIATIONS
Often confused with the yellow Cliffjumper, and was reissued in red in G2.
OVERALL
If you like the Minicars as I do, then I'd suggest you'll like Hubcap. A cute car mode, a well done robot mode and good colour scheme all make him worthwhile to a G1 collector. He never appeared in the cartoon, and he is very similar to Cliffjumper, so he may be seen as redundant to some fans. But I still think he's worth getting - 7.5/10
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