Real Gear Robots High Score 100

The question of scale is one that comes up with almost every TransFormers toyline, and it's only relatively recently that Hasbro have even attempted to make their toys vaguely consistent within a given franchise. Even in Studio Series, there are discrepancies in the size of the robots due to the consistent scaling of the vehicle mode, and abject failures where two robots of approximately the same size class somehow transform into vehicles of entirely different scales.

What hope, then, for the 2007 toyline that styled itself a contemporary reworking of Takara Tomy's Micro Change concept, with items of present-day tech transforming into dinky robots within the bounds of a single size class..?

Well, obviously it had to go wrong to one degree or another and, while it's easy enough to make a pocket-sized toy out of pocket-sized tech, the same doesn't quite hold true for some of the other bits of hardware chosen for the toyline... And High Score 100 is one such example.

 

Device Mode:
I have to say, first of all, that I was - and remain - very impressed with the overall look and authenticity of High Score 100 in his game controller alternate mode. While I don't think it resembles any specific controller, it captures their essence perfectly and, aside from the transformation seams, looks perfectly authetic...

 

Or he would, if he weren't about half the size of any controller from a real-life console. Plus, I don't think wireless controllers (except for the somewhat unreliable kind, with Infra Red transmission) were particularly common back in the mid-late 2000s, so the absence of a cable is a touch jarring.

What we have here, specifically, is a six-button controller (four on the upper face, plus two shoulder buttons) with a standard D-pad, twin analogue sticks and 'ergonomic grips' on the handles. Between the two sticks are smaller, unmarked, sculpted buttons, likely representing Start, Select and a toggle for switching between Analogue and Digital control. Between the D-pad and the four main buttons is a slider switch which is actually involved in the toy's transformation, but which may represent some sort of autofire speed control. The grips on the outer faces of the handles are painted and glossy despite their texture, but the ones on the inner faces are the same matte grey plastic as the buttons and sticks. The shoulder buttons and the smaller, sculpted buttons between the analogue sticks are painted with a dark, metallic green which, in this mode, really feels like a waste of the paint budget.

 

Some of the seams are more apparent than others but the only thing that really gives away that this is a robot in disguise is the view of the underside, where the robot's limbs are easily discernible, and his head is barely disguised, tucked into his collar with a small flap covering the gap right on the front of the controller. Still, given the size, I think the designers did an excellent job with this... And perhaps Hasbro should have considered a larger size class to create a life-size controller with a few more features.

 

My only real complaint about this toy - in terms of its 'fun factor' - is that the D-pad and buttons are all immobile, despite being separate pieces of grey plastic poking through the off-white frame. I actually opened up these parts to see if there was anything about their construction that would have prevented (perhaps spring-loaded) movement of these parts, and couldn't see anything critical... Had this toy been released over the last couple of years, I can imagine some enterprising person with a 3D printer creating alternate parts to fix this. On the upside, the two analogue sticks are attached to the controller via ball joints, which grants them all the range (and similar precision movement) one would expect from such a controller... All they're lacking is some means of automatically recentring them when they're not being used. They are, perhaps, a little too tight but, given the choice, I'd prefer that to them being too loose.

Robot Mode:

I'm sure there's some irony to a videogame controller that transforms into what can only be described as a robotic ape wearing American Football armour... and it's a real shame this never got a Donkey Kong-inspired repaint that emphasised this aspect of his appearance. The only other use of this mold, as the Decepticon Twitcher F451 (a truly prescient name if ever there was one, given the popularity these days of livestreaming videogames via a service called 'Twitch'!) used two mismatched shades of green, seemingly in reference to the multicoloured controllers available for consoles like the N64 and Gamecube, but without the colourful buttons.

So, this chunky monkey may look comparatively bland, being largely off-white and grey, but the shoulder buttons - which have become literal buttons-over-the-shoulders - add a flash of the metallic green, with further applications appearing on the lower parts of the chest armour and dotted along the rims of the upper arm bulk. I quite like the way his hands - basic though they are - have implied thumbs thanks to the way the feet connect to his arms in device mode, but I'm a little puzzled at the way what could have been a 3mm or 5mm grip in his hands has been filled up with a screw, even though the forearms are glued together. It's worth noting that the trend toward hollow parts was very much in evidence even back in 2007, with the feet and lower legs being pretty cavernous. The latter aren't particularly noticeable, but the feet end up looking like dustpans on the end of his legs.

 

A few additional paint applications - perhaps in other colours - would have improved the look of his forearms and legs, particularly considering the paucity of sculpted detail, and especially the weird split between the grey and off-white plastics of the thighs. Weirdly, there is some shallow-sculpted detail on the main torso - just a few panel lines - but it's all covered over by the shoulder panels. I'd also say the placement of his Autobot insignia is questionable - he doesn't even really need one specific to robot mode, considering there's one on his back.

The head sculpt comes across like a very simplistic attempt at a robot monkey with a slim, magenta-painted visor and grey battlemask. As robotic heads go, it's pretty cute, with ear-like details on either side of the forehead, faux-screws toward the back of the head, and a small notch in the top of the battlemask, somewhat resembling a nose. I have to say that I've always preferred this style of robot head to the more humanoid faces applied to several of the other Real Gear Robots, but this specific example is a little boring.

High Score 100 incorporates one small Automorph feature, in that the slider switch on the top of the controller alters the position of the head and the shoulder buttons as the first or last step in transformation. This makes it much easier to separate the arms and legs, both of which basically just rotate 90° round on their ball joints via channels cut into the shoulders/hips. The feet swing down and around the ankle on a combination of a pinned hinge and a ball joint, and then the final - easily overlooked - step shifts the pelvis slightly further away from the upper body on another combination of a hinge and a ball joint. It's all pretty simple and effective, with the only downside being that the flap which partially covers the head has to be pushed back manually when transforming back to device mode.

Given that most of his articulation comes from ball joints, High Score 100 is surprisingly fussy. The shoulders can rotate a full 360° easily enough, but can only swing out at a very specific angle for transformation, which means the arm has to be angled back to the point where the elbow is near enough pointing backwards. The elbows are ball joints, allowing for rotation in lieu of bicep swivel, and a bend of about 90°. His waist is also a ball joint, but effectively limited to 360° rotation due to its cutout being at the back, for transformation. The ball joints at the hips, like the shoulders, feature cut-outs for transformation, but these are perfectly aligned for articulation purposes - essentially, transforming the hips back to their device mode configuration rotates the leg out to the side in much the same way as an upper thigh rotation joint. A more traditional outward swing can also be accomplished, but the bulk at the base of the analogue sticks stops it at less than 45°. The knees can bend to 90° but, to be honest, this only makes them look untidy, because they legs already look like he's crouching when fully straight, and bending the knee just introduces a weird-looking irregular gap to the front of the leg. The ankles, being a combination of hinge and ball joint, sound like they should be great for articulation, but the reality doesn't quite live up to expectation. The socket for the ball joint offers the greatest range of movement for transformation, and very little by way of sideways tilt. They're certainly adequate for most purposes, but feel a little loose in some positions. Nevertheless, he can adopt erect poses just as easily as the more hunched over looks, and the arms have more than enough range to make them expressive. The comparatively large feet make for a good, stable base, and it's pretty easy to get him balanced in some fairly dynamic poses.

Looking back on the Real Gear Robots line from more than a decade (getting on for fifteen years) after they hit the shelves, High Score 100 is probably one of the best of the line, and certainly has one of the more traditional-looking robot modes. A more extensive paint job and a more daring colour palette would have helped - white or off-white controllers weren't exactly common back in those days (before PS5, I don't think I've seen a single one since Dreamcast) - but the design is pretty authentic and well-realised. While I really think Hasbro should have made it the size of a real console controller, they did a pretty good job at the size, and the only improvements I'd be tempted to make would be making the D-pad and all the buttons mobile.

 

I wonder whether toys like this, made now, would receive the same oversized knockoff treatment that has become common in recent years... High Score 100 in a range of colours would make for quite an interesting display.