Zob's Thoughts on KFC CST-09 "Rover" (Auto-Scout)

[Zobovor]

So I wasn't even looking for this toy specifically. I was hunting for
something else on eBay, don't even remember what now, when this came up
on my eBay feed for an absurdly low price. There ended up being a litle
bit of bidding competition and I got it for like $17, which is still
better than the $45ish that it seems to usually sell for.

For those who don't know, in the G1 episode "A Prime Problem," Soundwave
deploys an auto-scout cassette to investigate the dangerous korlonium
crystals, a decision that proves fortuitous, as direct contact with the
crystals immediately causes the poor auto-scout to explode. It was
invented for the cartoon to demonstrate how deadly the crystals were
without having to sacrifice a Hasbro toy character, and no official
version of the auto-scout has ever been released.

There are two third party versions of the auto-scout that I'm aware of,
this one by Keith's Fantasy Club (released in 2009, I think) and another
one by iGear that was part of a "Gear of War" upgrade set (which I
believe was also a 2009 release) and came with some other cool stuff
like a ladder add-on for Universe Inferno.

So this guy comes in a tiny little box with a translucent blue plastic
cassette case. The box spins a narrative about how Rover (the
auto-scout) is a defector and nomad who pals around with Fader (a third
party Eject), who rides the auto-scout like a pony. I'm not going to
seek out the third-party Eject just so he can ride the auto-scout like a
pony.

So, the design for the auto-scout's cassette mode was actually cribbed
from the design for Ravage. They began with the design for Ravage's
tape mode and then followed the contours to try to figure out how it
might unfold into some kind of scout vehicle. The toy transforms true
to its screen appearance. The top of the tape swings up to become a
tail-like sensor array (with a light and antenna that can pop out),
while a grasper claw flips out from the inside center, and the bottom
struts extend to form the three wheels on which it travels. Enough
thought was given to the on-screen transformation that it was possible
to duplicate it easily enough as a toy.

The toy is colored two shades of purple, which is authentic to its
screen appearance from "A Prime Problem." The grasper claw is
articulated at the base and the mid-section, but the claw itself doesn't
move and cannot grab anything. The wheels roll freely on a smooth
surface. I did have a lot of trouble getting the rear wheel struts
unfolded during transformation, and I kept thinking I was going to break
the toy. The claw is also hard to extract from its resting spot without
some kind of screwdriver or other tool. The transformation is kind of
unforgiving.

I believe this was originally touted as being a Masterpiece-scale
cassette; it fits inside Masterpiece Soundwave just fine, but it doesn't
fit correctly inside a vintage G1 Soundwave or any of the subsequent
reissues.

The auto-scout tends to be the unsung cassette of Soundwave's that never
gets a lot of love, so it's fun that this version of it exists.
Obviously, the fact that I'm so late in picking one up is a testament to
the fact that I didn't make it a huge priority to own one. But, it took
me a long time to warm up to the idea of third-party toys. It would be
so easy to go very deep down that rabbit hole without even trying.
However, it's clear there isn't going to be an official Hasbro or Takara
version of the auto-scout any time soon, so this is definitely the next
best thing.


Zob (good-bye Halloween decorations, hello Christmas decorations)

[Zobovor]

It's a review-within-a review!

After I did some research on the other unofficial auto-scout toy that
was out there, I ended up buying one. The "Gear of War" set by TFC Toys
was on my want list for a really long time, but it was in exceptionally
high demand and it tended to sell for like $70 or $80, which was just
insane. Nowadays, it's an older set designed as an upgrade for
outdated, obsolete toys, so it's no longer in popular demand. I got one
for $30, which seems pretty reasonable.

But, I recognize that this is a very old set (it was released in 2009),
and I deserve any sort of mockery or derision I get for having the
temerity to talk about this set so late in the game.

To me, the best parts of the set are the Inferno add-ons and the
auto-scout. Some of you may recall that when Universe Inferno came out
in 2008, he was more of a reimagining of the G1 character than a strict
update, and he transformed into a fire truck that had a water nozzle
instead of a rescue ladder. The ladder seems like a really important
piece for Inferno to have, which was one of the reasons I wanted this
set so dang badly.

The fire truck ladder is a two-piece assembly so that it telescopes like
the G1 ladder does. It replaces the water nozzle, which you have to pop
off. There's a two-piece silver blaster that can clip to the front of
the ladder to give Inferno some offensive weaponry in this form. For
robot mode, the ladder is designed to attach in a different manner to
Inferno's forearm, and the blaster can slide over one of his fists to
give him a proper gun-arm. It finally completes this 15-year-old toy in
a way that I wish I'd done a long time ago.

Also... man, Inferno is huge. I remember this being sold at the
Ultra-class price point (around $22 or so at the time, as I recall) but
he's big enough that Hasbro would sell this as a Leader-class toy
nowadays.

The set also came with three launchers which were reportedly enclosed
randomly. You got some combination of red, silver, or black. I
happened to get one of each. They are all vac-metal, but the black is
really more of a weird purplish-brown. It reminds me of the Death Star
Droid we got in the Star Wars toy line, which was also this same
blackish-purple color. It's like the ink from a ball-point pen.

The missile launchers are kind of cool because they have a couple of
different configurations. There's a ring with missile fins on it, and
it can be affixed either to the butt-end of the launcher, or it can
slide onto the missile itself to create a significantly different look
(strongly resembling the missiles that came with the G1 Mirage toy).
There are warnings in the instructions not to point the launchers
directly at your kids or cats, but it's not really an issue since they
don't function very well as launchers at all. I think the vac-metal
chrome added too much extra thickness and ends up gumming up the works,
both for the launch trigger and for the fit of the missiles into the
launch mechanism.

There are instructions showing how you can plug these weapons into
Universe Sideswipe (it plugs into his shoulder hole, and it's a very
tight fit) or Classics Mirage (you pop off the end piece and there's a
clip meant to fasten to one of the wheel struts behind his shoulder).
The guns strongly evoke the ideals of the Henkei! toy line, in which
every character had a vac-metal piece, even when it was completely
unnecessary. If the red launcher is for Sideswipe and the silver one is
for Mirage, though, I have no idea who the black one is intended for.

There's also a piece of sheet plastic that's meant to represent Mirage
as he turns invisible. It's described as an Energon Cover of
Invisibility in the instructions. Basically, it unfolds, if you can get
it to cooperate, into a six-sided prism with an opening on the bottom so
you can slide it over your Mirage figure. It's silly, and due to the
nature of the flexible see-through plastic, it's just about impossible
to get it to resemble a cube with flat edges and sides. But it's a fun
idea, I suppose.

The version the auto-scout that comes with this set is different in
design than the Keith's Fantasy Club version. This one is scaled just
slightly smaller in cassette mode, so it does fit (tightly) inside the
G1 Soundwave toy, as well as (loosely) inside the Masterpiece Soundwave
toy. The styling of the tape mode is nice, and this is the first
cassette toy ever, official or otherwise, that I've seen which actually
has the visible magnetic strip of tape on the bottom. This toy has
colors that are more correct to the G1 animation. It's a violet shade
of purple, where the KFC version is more blue-ish.

On this version, the rear wheels are formed from the bottom of the tape,
which are aligned sideways and have to swing ninety degrees during
transformation. The grasper claw is articulated at the base,
mid-section, and the "wrist" of the claw, but the claw itself does not
open. It does come with a few translucent orange korlonium crystals
that you can stick inside the claw. It rolls freely on three
gear-shaped wheels. It's a somewhat simpler version than the Keith's
Fantasy Club toy. If that one is the Masterpiece version of the
auto-scout, this one might be the vintage G1 version. Or, I guess,
that's probably how I'll end up displaying it.

So I guess I was conflating the iGear auto-scout with the TFC
auto-scout, which means there's actually a THIRD unofficial version of
the auto-scout out there. I don't see any on eBay right now... not that
I need yet another one!


Zob (not that that's ever stopped me before)

[GoBackaTron]

Post by Zobovor
But, I recognize that this is a very old set (it was released in 2009),
and I deserve any sort of mockery or derision I get for having the
temerity to talk about this set so late in the game.

Wow 2009 to now is 15 years. I remember discovering A.T.T. in December
of 1999 which was 15 years after 1984. I felt like there was no point in
posting anything because everything G1 had already been talked about. I
was late to the party and all the good topics had been exhausted by
better smarter people and there was no point in participating...so late
in the game.