Transformers Oddity: Armada Bubble Twist

About this time, 11 years ago, small tubes of bubble gum started appearing on shelves at Toys 'R Us stores in the United States. Produced by Cap Toys, Bubble Twist contained a stick of gum inside a tube, similar to the Push Pop candy brand. When pressed from below, the gum would push up through a grid in a twisting manner, hence the name Bubble Twist. Inside specially marked containers, the bottom of the tube contained a small PVC figure of various Transformers Armada characters.

   

Similar to the old decoys from the Generation One days, these rigid PVC figures came cast in a variety of color. Ironically enough I got the two G1 colors - red and purple. These static figures stand at about 2 inches tall. Character selection included Hot Shot, Megatron, Optimus Prime (Super Mode) and Starscream. They came in the following colors: black, blue, gray, purple and red.

        

I don't know why I like these, but I do. I guess it's partly because they remind me of the G1 decoys, or maybe it's just because it's one of those Transformers oddities. Every since I bought the two I own, I've never seen or heard anything about them since.

Just a tad smaller than the old Legends size

Transformers Micron Densetsu: Heavy Machinery Micron X-Dimension MM-09

Transformers Armada (or Micron Densetsu in Japan) ushered in a new faction of Transformers, Mini-Cons / Microns. These became highly collectible for many collectors, such as myself. Takara really capitalized on this by releasing Microns in an assortment of colors. Some of the first repaints came in the form of X-Dimension teams. Take for example the new Heavy Machinery Micron team.

The Destruction Team was never one of my favorite teams, but at least the new color scheme Takara gave the X-Dimension team was huge upgrade over their Armada versions. The Micron teams came packaged on blister cards, however I tossed the bubble in an effort to conserve space. The entire packaging was re-used from the stand Destruction Team. I'm assuming this was a cost cutting measure used by Takara as the toy images on the back of the card are of the original team.

From Left to Right: Wheel, Duster, Crush

Of these three, I only ever cared for Crush. In vehicle form the trio isn't too bad. Each of them have gears with a rubber banded wheel that when rolled, activates an action feature of sorts. Wheel's bladed wheel spins, Duster's cannons alternate back and forth moving forward; while Crush's drill spins.

These features can also be activated when attached to certain larger Unicron Trilogy era Transformers.

Wheel leaves a lot to be desired in robot mode. I don't know if it's his big bulky arms, or his wide square shaped crotch, but I just don't care for Wheel in general.

Duster looks a bit better in robot mode than Wheel.On his chest you can see the aforementioned gear and wheel that activates his pomp pomp gun feature. Duster looks more beefy and filled out.  I would think he would be more of a formidable foe in battle.

Crush is one of my favorite Microns of all time. At one time I had all but one of this mold's variants. Personally I love the big drill on his arm.  I don't often like my Transformers to have something other than a hand attached, but in this case the drill works. My only nitpick I have with this mold is the other arm. It's tinier than a T-Rex's arm! Crush also sports a cool rounded shape head...reminds me of G1 Cosmos a bit.

If you are a Mini-Con / Micron collector then I'm sure you have these guys already in your collection. They aren't super rare or expensive, yet look great in any collection.