Price: $20 (U.S.)
 

Gunbarrel

Allegiance: Minicon
Size: Mini-Con
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Black, milky light brown, and some white, silver, and bright orange
Rating: 6.2

(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Armada Gunbarrel. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Armada Gunbarrel here.)

    Looks like ol' Gunbarrel accidentally crashed into a Starbucks. Yessir, now he's mocha cappuccino-flavored! Seriously, though, his Universe color scheme really does remind you of coffee. The brown is EXACTLY the right color, and the bits of white kinda look like cream or something. And the black... well, I guess maybe concentrations of coffee grounds? Anyway, it's a very nice color scheme, and goes together very well in both modes. It's also rather realistic, as I could easily see an aircraft like this with a primarily brown color scheme. Truth be told, though, I don't think it QUITE measured up to Armada Gunbarrel's, as the older one tended to be slightly more "rusty" like you'd expect a large older aircraft to be, but the old version's just barely got an edge. Both color schemes look very nice.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe Gunbarrel. (He and the other Minicon in this 3-pack, Makeshift, still can transform into their weapon modes- they're just not pictured here, both for simplicity's sake and to conserve precious web space.)

Makeshift

Allegiance: Minicon
Size: Mini-Con
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Dark maroon, greyish white, and some silver, metallic gold, charcoal black, and dull orange
Rating: 7.7

(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Armada Makeshift. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Armada Makeshift here.)

    Universe Makeshift is another Minicon that gets a pretty good paint job. He has maroon as a main color, which gives him a bit of a dull, rusty feel, and the rather dull grey-white and orange only adds to this effect, like he's been through his share of choppy flights. He does have some nice shiny metallic colors for contrast though- there's some silver and gold paint apps here and there. They're especially decorative on his robot face, with some lines around the edges of the head and such. It looks really nice. It seems that a few paint apps that were on his previous versions- such as the triangular paint app that was only visible in his weapon mode- have been removed, though. I guess for cost purposes? I dunno. He still has a nice overall paint job, although, just like Universe Gunbarrel, he tends to come in ever-so-slightly below his original Armada version, primarily because I thought the old color scheme fit a helicopter just slightly better.
    No mold changes have been made to Universe Makeshift.

Autobot Whirl

Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Between Deluxe and Mega
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Dark navy blue, light sparkly blue, dirty white, light brownish gray, and some transparent dull yellow, maroon, silver, black, dull red, and dark maroon
Rating: 8.4

    Like all Universe toys, Whirl is a repaint of an older toy, but I haven't reviewed the previous version of this mold- Machine Wars Sandstorm- so I'll be reviewing Whirl in full here.
Not surprisingly, Universe Whirl is a throwback to G1 Whirl. Not only does this toy have the same alt mode as G1 Whirl (a helicopter), but the color scheme is somewhat similar (blue). (Although it should be noted that G1 Whirl was primarily light blue, while Universe Whirl definitely has a darker shade of blue on him.) Universe Whirl's overall color scheme is quite schnazzy. The dark blue and camo sparkly light blue patterns really play very nicely off each other, and give Whirl more of a military feel. The brownish gray can be kinda dull, although it does fit in with the other colors. The red "Energon radiation" and black "burnt" patterns on the missile launchers help to break up some of that monotony, though, as do the yellow side thrusters and helicopter blade. Speaking of the helicopter blade, it rotates reasonably well- better than Armada Cyclonus', but not as good as, say, RiD Ro-Tor's. The blades themselves are actually at slightly different heights (one half piece is on top of the other half), but it's so slight that you don't normally notice it. Besides that, Whirl's other gimmick is that his two missile launchers flip down from below his blades to the sides of the helicopter's main body, which is more of a "attack ready" position. Whirl's robot legs are rather obviously on the bottom side of this mode, but they blend in very well with the overall structure of the mode, and don't hang down much farther than the bottom on an actual helicopter, so that's a very minor thing. His cockpit is transparent, although I'm not sure if it's for the best in this situation- Whirl's robot head is seen clearly inside the cockpit, and there isn't any other details in there like a miniature control console or seats or anything. So I would've preferred if they just painted the windows on in this case. Whirl has surprisingly good mold detailing for a toy of his age, although in some places- like the top of the back half of this mode- are almost devoid of detailing altogether, which is rather odd.
    Whirl's robot mode is also quite good, although it does have a few minor flaws in it. For one, the helicopter's tail halves look rather odd, jutting out from behind Whirl's shoulders as they do. They don't get in the way much, luckily, but it is still a little distracting. The landing skids also hang off the sides of Whirl's legs, but they fold back easier and don't get in the way at all, not to mention they're a lot smaller than Whirl's shoulder extras. The helicopter blades- now bent in half behind Whirl's back- also can't lock in place, so they tend to swivel around a bit, which can be a tad annoying. Whirl's proportions, however, are top-notch, as is the overall look of his robot mode. His head has some pretty good mold and paint detailing, and make Whirl look like a bonafied Autobot. This mold's age is starting to show a little, however- although the articulation was reasonably good when the mold was first made, now it's a bit below part. He can move side-to-side at the shoulders, but not back-and-forth, so that limits how he can aim his guns. He also can move back-and-forth at the elbows, hips, and knees. But it should be noted that his legs are connected together at the knees, so although he can move his legs individually at that point, but of his legs have to move as one at the hips. So he doesn't have the greatest range of articulation.

    Universe Whirl is a very nice repaint of a mold that was pretty good for its time, if a bit unoriginal. Nice gimmicks, nice color schemes, and excellent proportions. Back in the mid-90s, this toy may have earned a "must-buy" rating of 9.0+, but in 2004, it is showing its age a little in such things as articulation and on some of the mold detailing. His partners Gunbarrel and Makeshift are both excellent repaints, if not slightly inferior to the originals, and the overall value of this team, if released individually, totals slightly less than $20, I'd bet. But it's still a great set, and if you don't have any of the previous versions of Whirl and aren't a stickler for articulation, than I'd mildly recommend this set.

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Review by Beastbot

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