Wheeljack's always had a stylish alt mode, but for Prime they really "futuristic-ed" it up a notch (yes, I'm using that word as a verb now). He fits in with the Prime styling perfectly, with sharp angles amidst a couple of curved areas around his wheels. It's definitely mostly sharp angles, though, with pretty much everything on Wheeljack in this mode-- whether it's mold or paint detailing-- being some combination of diamonds and/or triangles. Even his transparent windshield is angular, coming to a dull point at the front. Wheeljack's characteristic green and red paint apps come through here, though not quite as much as I'd like-- the designs on the top look nice enough, but having just a couple of sparse red paint apps on the sides make them look a tad plain against all that white. His mold detailing in this mode is already minimalistic due to his alt mode choice and Prime styling, so having a few major details like headlights left unpainted turns me off a bit to his deco job here, too. I would've preferred those being painted to his hubcaps. At least his taillights are painted a nice dynamic yellow mostly surrounded by light red, though. Proportions-wise he's just a touch thick when looked at from the side, but otherwise he's more or less what you'd expect from a nonlicensed sportscar mode. He doesn't have any obvious robot extras (and this includes not being able to see any robot bits in his transparent windows), but his vehicle mode does have a distinct lack of a front grill due to his transformation, so if you look at him from a low angle that can be distracting. In addition, just the tiniest parts of his shoulder joints can be seen from the back, though this is minor at best (and, although not as obvious as from his front end, his back end is missing a little mass in the middle, too). Wheeljack has two peg holes on the rear sides of this mode for you to plug standard-sized weapon handles into, including his swords (though the swords also store fairly well on the bottom of this mode).
    Wheeljack's transformation is a bit more complex than it might first seem (though it's by no means hard); his legs go through quite a few interesting flips, and the way his lower arms fold around is pretty ingenious, too. The end result is a slightly hunchbacked robot mode with fairly large arms (because of his doors). It's a pretty dynamic-looking design with a fair amount of personality, not looking particularly bulky (beyond the arms) nor slender, with large shoulders and two little Wheeljack-esque fins on the back of his "hunch". He fits the usual Wheeljack design of having the front of the car become his legs, but they're turned with the wheels facing forward this time-- a nice twist on an old theme, though honestly I would've preferred the more decorative front (with the red and dark green paint apps) facing forward on those pieces. He still looks rather pointy in this mode, with his aforementioned back-fins and spiky knee caps, long angular feet, and his headsculpt is quite angular as well-- taking his G1 face and stylizing it quite well, with a larger chin, swept-back side antennae, and long silver "ears". (Unfortunately, because of the back fins and his being a bit of a hunchback, the light piping in his eyes doesn't work too well.) His hood-chest is partially fake, with a rather brilliant maneuver swiveling his head up and "shrinking the windshield" on his chest too-- visually, it and his headsculpt are definitely the most interesting parts of this mode. His actual windshields hang off the bottom of his forearms, and are pretty much the only actual pieces I would call "kibble" in this mode-- everything else from his car mode fits right in, which is always nice. More gray breaks up his color scheme a bit more in this mode, but I still find the paint apps a little lacking on the arms. A few of his gray areas-- like the sides of his chest and his waist-- have a bit more mold detailing, but overall it still remains minimalistic in this mode. Since this version of Wheeljack is a bit more of a "warrior"-type character, he comes with two sword accessories, which are painted mostly silver and even have some little "Cybertronian writing" details near the handles-- they fit into his hands quite well, but can't store on his back or anything, unfortunately. For articulation, Wheeljack can move at the neck, shoulders (at three points), elbows, wrists (at two points), hips (at two points), knees, and ankles. Moving his arms back at the shoulders a bit exposes a rather odd gap in between the middle of his large shoulder pieces, though. It's overall pretty good movement-- particularly in his wrists, so he can pose his swords dynamically-- but sideways elbow and/or knee articulation would've made him a bit better. He can still get in some pretty awesome poses, though, given how well-balanced and stable he is.
    Prime deluxe Wheeljack has a few minor flaws-- such as the lack of a front and back fender in vehicle mode, and a deco job that could've been a bit more elaborate-- but overall he's a solid design, with some neat weapons, good articulation, and a unique look in both modes that updates the character's look well while adding in a few unexpected twists. Highly recommended, particularly if you want a show-accurate color scheme for the character and not a themed/"upgraded" redeco.

Review by Beastbot

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