During a year like 2024 when it's slim pickin's as far as good G1 updates go, it's nice to finally be able to sink my teeth into a new product release that I can get really excited about. There haven't been many of them this year!

Originally released in 1986, Sandstorm was an Autobot Triple Changer who was eventually introduced in season three's episode "Fight or Flee," in which he was the leader of a wayward colony of Autobot pacifists. (This means he's one of the few Leader-class toys who is actually a leader!) He's not a character who is addressed by Hasbro frequently, and this is arguably the first update in the last 38 years that was specifically designed to resemble the character. The last one was a Springer redeco, released in the Generations line in 2013, so it's been quite a while!

This toy is being marketed as "G1 Triple Changer Sandstorm," likely to differentiate him from the G2 Sandstorm toy we got from Generations Selects, as well as the Beast Wars Sandstorm redeco.

The roll cage is on the backer card next to him, and he has three accessories (two guns and the helicopter tail rotor) that are wrapped in tissue. There are no assembly instructions for attaching the rotor, so I think this was a last-minute decision, similar to the chest on Gears, to prevent consumers from stealing the piece at the retail level. He comes with a black rifle that very strongly resembles the gun for the G1 toy, and a smaller grey gun that's modeled after the weapon he carried in "Fight or Flee," which can fit in his other hand or mounts on the side of his arm. He can carry the cage in robot mode using the peg that's connected to it with a piece of black string. I guess it could be a capture cage for very small Decepticons or Titan Masters or Paradron dissidents.

Robot mode is six inches tall at the head, with the rotor assembly bringing the total height to 7.25" overall. He's shaped mostly like the cartoon model, but with lots of surface detail inspired by the consumer-applied stickers from the G1 toy (like the details on the chest and the front of the lower legs). The outlines of his upper arms are a darker orange, which is a callback to the way he's colored in the G1 cartoon (on the G1 toy, the upper arms were hollow, and the forearms got stuffed into them during transformation).

Rather infamously, the toy also wears the slotted mask of the G1 toy, which is a departure from the recent G1 updates to play it very close to the vest and try very hard to capture the cartoon look. I believe Mark Maher has gone on record in saying that he gave the toy the mask because he thought it "looked cool." However, we know that Hasbro often designs alternate head sculpts for toys from their inception, and there aren't too many other characters Sandstorm could be repurposed as. So, it seems very likely we'll get a second release down the road at some point with the cartoon face. The guys at Hasbro are already aware that fans want to see it, and they were being kind of coy about it in the livestream. They probably want us all to buy the inferior version first, and then we'll all buy the toy a second time when the cartoon version comes out!

The heel struts for the robot feet are particularly large, and the stock photography that puts him in extra dynamic poses, only highlights the problem. He is pretty top-heavy, admittedly, but they seriously don't need to be as long as they are. Ironically, he looks better just standing at attention, with his legs fairly close together. This was a problem with the stock photography for Gears, too... he looks much better just standing there with his legs parallel to each other, rather than the weird poses he was photographed in, with his ankle tilts at such an extreme angle that it made his legs look awful.

Transformation to dune buggy mode is more or less the same as G1, in broad strokes, with a lot of extra nuances. The legs actually slide like the G1 toy did, which is something I definitely wasn't expecting. Instead of the robot head rotating to become the engine, there's this complicated hinge assembly that the head disappears into. The tip of the tail rotor splits in half to form a tiny little spoiler, which is a nice touch.

Dune buggy mode is about seven inches in length and about 2.5" tall at the cockpit. There are now yellow headlights on the robot toes, which is a nice touch. The capture cage dismantles into a panel that can store on the undercarriage of dune buggy mode, and a roll cage that can mount on the top of the vehicle. This nicely replicates the contention of the cartoon design, which had both a standard cockpit (which the animators probably didn't realize was a driver's canopy if they were looking at an unstickered toy) and then a second, more prominent roll cage. The grey gun can mount to the underside of one of the arms, while the black rifle can mount to the roof. So far, all accessories can be attached in all modes, which is nice.

The wheels on the dune buggy are the same rubbery plastic as Beachcomber, incidentally, so take care when storing this toy. The tires will eat the paint off other toys if they touch painted surfaces for even a short period of time. I had to put my Beachcomber tires in a Zip-Loc baggie, and I'll probably end up doing the same with Sandstorm. The car mode rolls really well, but I worry about the paint-eating rubber.

What I can't get over, with regards to the dune buggy mode, is that it's not really very car-shaped. It's like the rear of the vehicle is on a completely different plane than the front half. I kept thinking I was doing something wrong and not lining up the parts the right way, but nope. It's just designed that way. I kind of think that's why the stock photography has him at such an extreme angle towards the camera, to sort of hide his weird proportions.

Transformation to helicopter mode is also very similar to G1, and in some surprising ways. The way the rear dune buggy wheels meet each other, the way the tail section flips and reverses orientation, the way the helicopter blades unfold, it was all taken from the G1 playbook. The front buggy wheels fold up in an asymmetrical manner and end up flat against the bottom of the helicopter, with smaller landing wheels supporting the rear of the craft. The rear buggy wheels still serve as the front helicopter wheels, though their rubbery quality means they tend to get caught up on bits of plastic that surround them. No Autobot symbols on the helicopter mode, which is kind of a letdown.

The finished helicopter mode is about 7.25" in length, with helicopter blades spanning around 6.25" from end to end. The robot arms just sort of sit there and hope that you don't notice them too much. In this mode, the guns can mount to either side of the chopper mode. The roll cage becomes a rescue cage in this configuration, and the winch piece can plug into the bottom of the helicopter so that the cage can be lowered to the ground while the helicopter is in the air, so he can rescue tiny Autobots, or Titan Masters, or Paradron loyalists.

I'm not sure what's going on with the stock photography on the box, but their photo of the helicopter mode shows the winch piece both attached to the undercarriage of the helicopter (which is its correct placement) as well as mounted to the robot arm, which is pretty much impossible. I honestly wonder if it's a wayward Photoshop layer or something, because there is no physical way for the winch to be attached to the toy in this manner.

The toy has its flaws, but overall I find it a more satisfying and more Geewun update for Sandstorm than the previous Generations toy. I'm sure Triple Changers are hard to get right, and it seems like the other Leader-class updates we've gotten so far (Astrotrain and Blitzwing) have been good without being phenomenal. But, they haven't been awful, so that's something, at least. Sandstorm's roll cage is arguably much cooler than Blitzwing's silly Hulk hands or Astrotrain's even more silly box thing.

It will be interesting to see what the future brings. I know there are rumors of a Leader-class Springer coming, and it's clear Octane will need an update to go along with his best pal Sandstorm. Would Hasbro actually have the courage to do a Commander-class Broadside toy? It remains to be seen!

Zob (I think I did more pre-counting when I was helping the other store get ready for inventory a while ago than I did at my own store)

So I figured out that Narkive only shows posts (at least for me) that have had at least one reply. Which is a fairly significant drawback as far as an archive goes (I can see the self-selecting logic, but still!), but this is encouraging me to comment more often even if I have little of substance to say.

Zobovor wrote:

> Originally released in 1986, Sandstorm was an Autobot Triple Changer who was eventually introduced in season three's episode "Fight or Flee," in which he was the leader of a wayward colony of Autobot pacifists. (This means he's one of the few Leader-class toys who is actually a leader!)

Is he though? I think I've seen him referenced as the leader of Paradron before, but I never got that from the episode. He seemed like a relatively independent thinker who was willing to act on his own initiative, but he didn't have any followers or even people who seemed to particularly recognise him. When he shows up again in Starscream's Ghost, he's not exactly taking responsibility for rehabilitating his people on Cybertron. Instead he's free to go pub crawling round the galaxy with his new buddy Octane.

> It will be interesting to see what the future brings. I know there are rumors of a Leader-class Springer coming, and it's clear Octane will need an update to go along with his best pal Sandstorm.

Seriously. When is Springer going to be properly announced? This is the only upcoming toy I care about. OK... I also rather love the idea of a cartoon faithful Octane, because Octane's great, and I kind of want to write a whole series about what he did under Shockwave's rule on Cybertron.

Velvet Glove (unlikely to buy Sandstorm unless she gets moved to write a fic about him and Octane road-tripping across the galaxy together.)

VelvetGlove wrote:

> So I figured out that Narkive only shows posts (at least for me) that have had at least one reply. Which is a fairly significant drawback as far as an archive goes (I can see the self-selecting logic, but still!), but this is encouraging me to comment more often even if I have little of substance to say.

I haven't experienced the whole business with some people not seeing messages on ATT since its very early days. Google really needs to reverse their decision and bring back Google Groups. But, they won't do that. Sigh.

>>This means he's one of the few Leader-class toys who is actually a leader!

> Is he though? I think I've seen him referenced as the leader of Paradron before, but I never got that from the episode. He seemed like a relatively independent thinker who was willing to act on his own initiative, but he didn't have any followers or even people who seemed to particularly recognise him.

It just seems self-evident to me. I've never even entertained the notion that he's *not* their leader. But, let's see. What evidence is there in the episode itself. Well, for one, after Sandstorm is zapped unconscious and one of the Paradron generic guys asks about him, Cyclonus and Scourge assure him that they'll "talk with him and help him understand us." That has always suggested to me that Sandstorm was speaking for Paradron as a whole, and that if Cyclonus and Scourge could get through to Sandstorm (either by coersion or threats or what have you) then the planet as a whole would be theirs.

Of course, I first saw the episode as a kid, and my initial impression of the episode was formed from a kid's perspective. In fact, when Sandstorm is talking about the Autobot forefathers who colonized the planet, I thought he was literally saying "our four fathers" and thought it was a reference to the Quintessons, since it seemed like there were four of the Quintesson Judges in a lot of the episodes. So, clearly the crazy ideas I come up with about this show, sometimes, are not to be trusted or taken seriously!

> Seriously. When is Springer going to be properly announced? This is the only upcoming toy I care about.

No official word yet! Not even an unofficial leak, aside from the retail listing. The entire United toy line for this year already seems to be accounted for, but we first heard about him at the same time as the Leader-class Soundwave that's coming at the tail-end of United. My guess is that he will be part of whatever follows United, perhaps as the first wave of toys in 2025.

> OK... I also rather love the idea of a cartoon faithful Octane, because Octane's great, and I kind of want to write a whole series about what he did under Shockwave's rule on Cybertron.

Octane is seriously one of my favorite Decepticon characters. He's just so charismatic and personable. And I think that on a show where so many bad guys are defined largely by their hatred for Autobots and/or humans, it's refreshing for a character like Octane to come along who gets to be pals with an Autobot and is willing to deal with humans like Abdul Fakkadi on their own level, instead of just playing the "let me steal your energy or I'll kill you" card. That card got to be pretty dog-eared after a while!

Zob (pretty sure it was in Megatron's hands at all times)

I don't think Sandstorm is _the_ leader. He comes off as a community
organizer. The Paradronians say that their world is a democracy. I think
that maybe a race of pacifist robots on a Paradise planet could exist in
a pure democracy with no real leaders.

Travoltron wrote:

> I don't think Sandstorm is _the_ leader. He comes off as a community
> organizer. The Paradronians say that their world is a democracy. I think
> that maybe a race of pacifist robots on a Paradise planet could exist in
> a pure democracy with no real leaders.

I mean, maybe? My take on that was that Sandstorm was an elected official, and that the community decided he would speak on their behalf. Not that somebody just showed up and took over, as Galvatron was trying to do.

Interesting to question what I perceived to be basic facts about this episode after all this time.

Zob (next, you people are gonna try to convince me that Ravage isn't a dog, or something crazy like that)

Sandstorm didn't seem to have the legal authority of an elected leader, and he didn't automatically command the deference of his fellow citizens. I'd say he was more of an influencer, or a KOL.

Yeah, Sandstorm was completely right about the Decepticons and the
Paradronians wouldn't listen to him until it was too late.