I had not one, but two packages from BBTS on my porch this afternoon! (The other one was He-Man action figures which we won't talk about much here, except to say that I'm buying Filmation cartoon versions of characters I already own. They suckered me good! Sigh.)

It's worth mentioning that this may have technically been a very late 2023 release, but I've never seen him at retail anywhere yet, and Big Bad Toy Store didn't start shipping until recently.

So, I am officially now in favor of Hasbro producing as many of the on-screen Junkion characters as they care to. Historically, I have honestly ignored pretty much all the Junkions except for Wreck-Gar (he's the only one who got a toy in 1986, therefore the only one who was important) but in recent years I've really come to appreciate the designs of the others, and I get actively *excited* when they produce an official toy of these poor, oft-maligned background characters.

So, there were actually three Junkions to receive full and complete character models. Wreck-Gar was one, and the characters who have since been named Junkheap and Scrapheap are the other two. The rest of the Junkions were treated as generic characters who were variations on a theme, with modular arm or leg designs that were largely interchangeable, to allow the animators to create a convincing army of generic Junkions. With Junkheap and Scrapheap being fully-realized characters, they were used in the Marvel UK comic book to some degree, and also appeared as "Junkion 1" and "Junkion 2" within the pages of Wreck-Gar's TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE profile.

Within The Transformers: the Movie itself, Scrapheap holds the distinction of being the Junkion warrior who wrapped a chain around Springer in helicopter mode, terminating his flight and forcing him into melee combat with Wreck-Gar. At least two Junkions sharing Scrapheap's design appear in the film, as he rode upon a vehicle-mode Junkion who was identical in appearance to himself.

So, the toy itself is nearly seven inches tall, and is a heavily retooled version of Studio Series Wreck-Gar. While the transformation and engineering remain largely the same, almost every aspect of the robot mode has been cosmetically redesigned. The robot toes, upper legs and hips, pelvis and saddlebags, upper arms, and arm spikes remain the same, but everything else is different. His color mapping is also radically different from Wreck-Gar. He's still the color of rusted metal, but he's an even mix of yellow and brown with grey, and a red helmet, rather than the orange and tan colors that Wreck-Gar tends to sport.

All the characters designed for The Transformers: the Movie had an original Floro Dery design, as well as an alterate design after some clean-up that was used for most on-screen animation. The two versions of Scrapheap aren't hugely different from each other... they're mostly a difference in proportion and style, not the actual design itself. But, you can tell Scrapheap's toy was created after careful research of his scant animated scenes in The Transformers: the Movie, and not just attempting to copy his character model. He's authentic and accurate in a way that honestly surprises me, given his relative lack of importance. His knee spikes should be painted red, and the headlight on his forehead should have a red lens with grey metal framing it, but that's just about the only detail that jumps out at me as being inaccurate.

He comes with a cool-looking laser gun that's part of his Floro Dery character design, but which he doesn't carry in the finished animation at any point. His two motorcycle wheels can mount to his forearm as a shield and to his leg, though he doesn't wear a wheel on his leg the way Wreck-Gar tends to. You could put the other wheel aside, or mount it to his other forearm, as an alternative.

Transforming him is essentially the same as Wreck-Gar, with the biggest difference being that he's got a gun to attach to his motorcycle mode. One conceit of his robot design is that his chest "really" forms the front of the motorcycle mode and that his robot head "really" gets bigger to form the motorcycle windscreen. Wreck-Gar had an extra windshield for vehicle mode that replaced the tiny one on his head, making this size-changing ability a reality. Scrapheap has an extra piece to make his robot chest "grow" for vehicle mode, but he uses the same tiny head-mounted cockpit window for vehicle mode as well. The motorcycle mode is a fantasy vehicle, so it doesn't need to conform to any real-life proportions, but the windscreen still seems way too small in vehicle mode.

Vehicle mode uses the same wheel pieces as Wreck-Gar and the same fuel tank and seat assembly (including the saddlebags, which Scrapheap's character design doesn't actually have), but the vast majority of him is new parts. One conceit of his animated design is that his arms appear to form the exhaust pipes. Even though this isn't the way the toy transforms, they still added some sculpted exhaust pipes to the insides of the robot legs, which reverse orientation for vehicle mode so that they're still in the right spot for bike mode. It's honestly a really successful rejiggering of an existing design.

I ordered this guy back in October 2023 for $35.99 through Big Bad Toy Store, so it took a while for them to fulfil the order. I'm thinking I might possibly need one more, so he can ride himself in vehicle mode, as one does. But, I love that this guy exists, and I love that Hasbro isn't afraid to start celebrating some truly obscure characters. During G1, Wreck-Gar was a Junkion leader with no actual Junkions to lead, and I'm so glad that oversight has been remedied!

Zob (also posting this to Reddit for archival purposes)