Make like the Fatboy Slim song and “Build It Up, Tear It Down!” G1 and G2 Constructicons combine to form Devastator!

These have been my Constructicons for so long (almost 20 years since I bought them new in a Toys R Us) that I no longer recognize them as specifically the G2 Constructicons. They have simply been the Constructicons this entire time, to the point where these other guys — despite being the originals and the colour scheme you see in almost every fictional appearance — don’t seem quite right to me,

I think part of the reason it is so difficult to recognize the yellow Constructicons as G2 is the fact that construction vehicle are supposed to be yellow. One of the hallmarks of G2 is that the colour schemes are predominantly non-real-world accurate. When I hear “G2 Constructicons” I think of this.

Thanks to the awesome Arkvander over at Mostly Transformers Redux, I have some shots he provided of his recently acquired set of orange G2 Constructicons. Purportedly only released at KayBee Toys, the orange Constructicons are more of the wilder, fantastic paintjobs we’ve come to associate with G2. Like their fellow G2 release, the launchers remained neutered.

Setting aside flying front-end loaders and exceedingly armed cement mixing trucks, construction vehicles can sell toys to kids, especially in a toy line primarily aimed at boys. Therefore, just their alt modes alone could have made the Constructicons a very popular grouping of Decepticons regardless of the Generation.

As much as I might poke fun at some of the weaker robot modes in the bunch, they’re still pretty good by G1 and G2 standards.

However, ever since their first appearance — be it on toy shelves for some or in the episode “Heavy Metal War” for others — the Constructicons have been remembered and beloved for one thing: being the first ever Transformers combiner group.

“Constructicons! Merge for the kill!” were Megatron’s words in the 1986 movie as this behemoth tore into Autobot City. These guys were the only combining team until the appearance of the Decepticon Menasor and the Autobot Superion. However, they remained the only combined form made up of six members at the time. The “Scramble City” style combiners, like Defensor, that came afterwards and even most of the non-Scramble City types like Predaking were larger robots formed by only five components. It wasn’t until 1989 when the six component super robot would return.

There aren’t any notable differences between G1 Devastator and his two G2 releases, unless you count those neutered launchers for forearms.

Which I do, as it has removed Devastator’s ability to perform a good, ol’ fashioned, spring-loaded rocket punch.

Now, I have reinforced the fact that the yellow G2 Devastator is really my Devastator and will most likely remain so. This was to such a degree that after buying the recent reissue of G1 Devastator, I actually had a moment of buyers remorse, questioning my decision. Here’s where that “perfectly timed” part from my first Constructicons post comes in. Along comes two 3rd party companies vying for my attention, vying for my dollars, and giving me a real good excuse for having purchased the Encore set.

Devastator add-on kits are nothing new. CrazyDevy has been doing piece after piece to enhance your Devastator for a while now. However, buying all of their pieces individually can get quite costly. Recently Junkion Blacksmith, makers of the awesome JB-01 and JB-02, a.k.a. Headmaster Optimus and Soundwave, and a group called XTransbots both announced all-in-one add-ons to articulate the heck out of your Devastator. Comparing the pictures, I found I liked the design of the JB-07 Power of Destruction Devastator Upgrade Set by Junkion Blacksmith better. It also didn’t hurt that it was $15 cheaper and came with both cartoon and comic book accurate heads.

Another piece of cartoon accuracy that has become a mainstay of these Devastator upgrades is a replacement purple mixing drum for Mixmaster. For reasons I can’t seem to determine, this set came with not only the purple mixing drum, but also another green one? If anyone can tell me what I am supposed to do with the second green one, it would be very appreciated.

It’s a great piece that now allows me to have a more cartoon accurate, highly articulated Devastator standing next to my original, wonderful yellow G2 Devastator so I couldn’t be happier.