Reprolabels X-7 Upgrade set - G1 Transformers Duocon Flywheels

As much as I loved the G1 Transformers growing up as a kid, I can't help but look at some of the toys 20+ years later and realize how bland some of them are. Reprolabels has been a great source for picking up new label sheets to give your old, worn and tired looking TFs a fresh set of stickers, but they have also been churning out some nice upgrade sets that give certain figures that much needed oomph.

Flywheels has always been one of my favorite G1 toys/characters. I know that seems like an odd choice, but for a few reasons I chose to adopt that name as my internet alias...that was until Google decided to change me over to my real name for all of my associated accounts. Anyways as much as I love the toy - that is one bland and boring figure. This is where Reprolabels steps in to the rescue.

Flywheels consists of two toys...an olive green tank w/ maroon trim and a maroon fighter jet. As you can see there are virtually no stickers on the toy outside of the ones on the jet's tail fin. There is supposed to be a gray square on the jet's canopy w/ a purple Decepticon emblem, but it looked so out of place I took it off.

While there is some decent detail molded onto the toys themselves can't you see how naked they look. Aren't they just screaming for some much needed details?

When the two vehicles combine together they transform into Flywheels' robot mode. I like the gimmick of two becoming one and even the spring loaded transformation on the toy is kinda cool...1987 cool, but you know what I'm talking about. I believe the Autobots in the animated toy commercial for the Duocons thought the two vehicles were going to crash into each other and were surprised to see them transform and attack. Ironically enough that animation was one of few times Flywheels ever made it on TV. Neither Battletrap or Flywheels were ever really used in any form of Transformers media. Back to the toy. You can see most of Flywheels' stickers can be seen in robot mode. Decent enough, but he could still use some improvements.

First off the tank is a shade of olive green and not a brighter green. Photobucket's auto correct feature turned up the color way too much and it was too late for me to reverse it.

Can you notice the improvements in this group photo? See how much better both toys look with their upgraded stickers? Let's take a closer look, shall we?

The most obvious sticker here in my opinion is the added Decepticon emblem. I hate those stupid rub symbols. In addition to that Flywheels gets some artillery stickers on each side of the tank's turret and some headlights on the front edge.

On each side there are these little stickers w/ the numbers D-97 and 87. D-97 is Flywheels' Japanese number designation while 87 represents the year the toy was released.

The last two stickers for the tank can be found on the back. The most prominent are the 4 gas tanks and the little silver U shape hook just underneath the toy's spring. The other is a two part Decepticon emblem that when the jet lands on top of the tank (almost) forms a complete emblem.

The best stickers of the set are applied to the jet portion of Flywheels. That bland maroon cockpit canopy sorely needed some added detail. I also like the added silver outline Decepticon emblem. In addition to the canopy sticker there are two small stickers applied to the right and left of the cockpit area giving what appears to be some extra firepower.

Remember those tail fin stickers? They have been replaced with a much nicer looking set. Like the tank these stickers feature the D97 & 87 numbers. Also found are two Decepticon emblems on the wings and 4 small black stickers that actually fit down inside molded ridges on the jet. This small bit of black does a good job breaking up all of the maroon.

While most of the original stickers were viewable in robot mode and most of the upgraded stickers aren't, the ones that do show through make a huge difference. Now that I've got these applied I can't believe I waited so long. I don't care for all of the upgrade sets (this is only the 2nd set that I've used. I believe this set will set you back $6, but it gives a bland TF a whole new look and is worth every penny. Flywheels' Duocon cohort, Battletrap, also received an upgrade set of stickers which I'll eventually share as well.