By Loran
Even in the repaints, the 2010 line has given us some pretty clever homages.
I’ve noticed these quite a bit since 2008. Hasbro’s been taking a lot of regular-sized figures and making them Micro-size with the power to surprise! No, they don’t downscale them, they just repaint them to resemble Micromasters! It’s a great idea, seeing as how in some pieces of fiction they started out as normal-sized Transformers and got downsized to Micromaster size. Oil Pan doesn’t actually share the name the G1 character he’s based on-not due to copyright reasons, but more due to the fact that they already used his name in the ROTF line (Skystalker) and because kids would be kind of confused at the concept of a car named Skystalker…
Oil Pan is a redeco of the Revenge of the Fallen Breakdown figure, who was an homage to the G1 Breakdown. He transforms into a little Lamborghini-esque sports car. He’s very, very orange, with only some black detailing and white racing stripes to really break it up. His front wheels have some annoying clearance issues that were present on the first version of the mold-they don’t quite roll properly. He also has a Decepticon license plate-not suspicious at all!
This mold has a pretty neat, unique transformation, with the back of the car becoming his chest. In fact, that’s the only part that really stays in the same “place” from his vehicle mode. I quite like it, but his head can be kind of a pain to get out the first few times. You might need a little screwdriver the first few times when putting him in vehicle mode.
Oil Pan is adorable. I know it’s probably not intentional, but he’s just so cute! He looks like the annoying little guy that just runs around Decepticon HQ bugging all of the bigger bots. As a movie-mold he doesn’t have as much character as some of the “onscreen” characters, but he’s still pretty good in his own rights. The original Breakdown was a very good tribute to the G1 figure in many regards, and this actually translates really well to the Skystalker homage.
I’d actually say his face is pretty close to Skystalker’s in terms on shape, though this guy has eyes as opposed to Skystalker’s visor. His face is also white as opposed to orange, but I can see why they did that (gives him a bit more variety).
Oil Pan has some unfortunate kibble problems, specifically his backpack. The entire top of car just folds up and hangs there, not really contributing to the design it all. It doesn’t help to give him a unique silhouette or anything. It’s just… annoying.
Like a lot of other car-formers lately, he ends up with car doors on his arms. Since he’s mostly movie-styled it doesn’t bother me THAT much, but it’s something I’d like to see them move past.
He is pretty poseable, however, and he’s actually pretty stable when you consider his feet shape. However, he has a bit of a problem with his arms-they’re quite loose at the shoulder swivel now. That’s some pretty quick mold degradation right there. He does have double-jointed elbows and wrist joints, which is awesome.
Oil Pan is a cute little guy. He’s not the best scout by any means, but I love Micromaster homages, and his mold isn’t terrible. I’d recommend it to anyone wanting more Micromasters or scouts Decepticon in general.
