I finally got the third and final Powerdasher I needed to complete the trio. I've been hunting for him, on and off, for a few years now, but the toys seem to fall into one of two categories. Either he's fairly cheap because the chrome wear is awful, or he's in really good shape but he's also extremely expensive. The chrome wear also tends to be super obnoxious and ugly on this toy, because they chose yellow plastic to vaccum mmetalize, so the chrome wear is really obvious and noticeable.

The one I finally got was like thirty bucks. It's not dead mint, but there's only a little bit of vac-metal wearing off the backs of the arms, and the fronts look really good, so he'll display well. To get one that's in perfect condition I would have to spend like $175 or more, and if I'm going to shell out that much money, it had better be for Roadbuster or Vroom or somebody. Not this little guy.

So, as I've said before, Hasbro marketed the Powerdashers as robots that were in a constant state of evolution, explaining why you might get one of three different robot styles. The mail-order forms pictured the jet Powerdasher, but you would actually get one of the three, seemingly at random. I'm not sure why they did it that way and didn't just let you choose the style you wanted, like with the Omnibots. Regardless, my childhood experience was that the jet Powerdasher was the most common, and I didn't know many kids who ended up with the drill tank or the race car.

The Diaclone version of this toy had a blue body with red legs, but the color scheme was switched to black and red for the Transformers version. I think that Hasbro wanted to change up the colors for any toys that Takara had previously sold as part of Diakron in the USA, to differentiate what had already been on the market in America. (I don't think it's a coincidence that Trailbreaker, Sunstreaker, and Ironhide were also part of the Diakron toy line, and all three of those guys also got new color schemes for the Transformers line.)

During Diaclone, this toy was only called Sky Dasher, but during Diakron he was assigned the name Cromar. I suppose it could be a reference to his chrome finish, but it's still kind of a silly name, and I dislike it. That's the name Hasbro gave the Siege update for the character in 2019.

The toy I got is stamped "TAKARA MACAU" with the manufacturer and country of origin, with no Hasbro markings in evidence. But, he's got a black body and an Autobot symbol, so this is definitely the Hasbro version.

So, the jet mode is comparatively tiny, such as it is, measuring about 3.25" in length and enjoying a 3.75" wingspan. He has a pull-back motor and two rubberized tires in the rear, with two more plastic wheels in the front, allowing him to be propelled across flat surfaces. The seat on the top is made for a Diaclone pilot to fit snugly upon it, but the Transformers version omitted the pilot entirely.

There's a very specific early 1980's Japanese robot aesthetic that this toy strongly embodies. It would fit right in with the early Tonka GoBots, which in the beginning had a lot more fantasy vehicles than Transformers did. It's a cool design, but it's hard to look at the nosecone and not see it as a pair of robot fists stuck together. They could have called him Skypunch and it would have been a perfect name for him.

Transformation is fairly simplistic. The red rocket thrusters unfold to become the robot legs, with the tips of the chrome wings hiding inside the lower legs. The nosecone splits in half, with each half swinging around and to the side to become the robot arms. The robot head is thus revealed, having been hidden inside the jet nose.

As a robot, the jet Powerdasher stands at four inches tall. He would be what we consider Core-class today. In this form, he's got a black body with chrome arms and upper legs, and a red head and lower legs. His Autobot symbol is in the center of his chest, where the Diaclone cockpit ends up. He has basically no useful articulation, as the arms can only swing out to the sides, and the hips and knees can also only move outwards to either side. He can do jumping jacks, and that's about it.

The robot configuration is odd in that he has no discernible toes to speak of. His feet are the ends of the rocket thrusters, and they're more or less perfectly round. He stands up just fine, because he's very lightweight. Also, the robot face, rather infamously, is a factory-applied sticker. For some reason, the decision was made to give him a sculpted red nose, and there's a hole in the face sticker so that it can protrude. But, the shiny silver face sticker contrasted with the bright red nose makes him look a bit like a robot clown. The bright yellow eyes and smirking mouth don't help much. He reminds me of the silly GoBots Ro-Gun made by Arco Industries, which had a similar face sticker. It's honestly one of the goofiest faces on any official Transformers toy. The face was so abstract in nature that I've even heard reports of the sticker being applied upside-down at the factory!

The jet Powerdasher comes with no weapons, so while he might have been a fun novelty robot toy back in 1984, in some ways he doesn't quite fit the narrative of being part of a race of intergalactic warriors in a battle for survival.

The auction I won also came with a copy of one of the Hasbro mail-order catalogs, and it's the first mail-order form I've seen from which you could order Transformers toys or G.I. Joe toys, and you could send in either Robot Points or Flag Points clipped from Transformers or G.I. Joe packaging to order either type of toy. They didn't make you choose. I find that interesting for some reason.

Well, I guess it was worth playing the long game, since I managed to get this guy for a decent price, which means I might still be able to go after a few other things on my want list this month. He's not a pretty boy, by any stretch of the imagination, but my other two Powerdashers have been all lonely sitting there on the 1984 shelf all by themselves, so they will be delighted to have their brother-in-arms join them finally.

Zob (waited around all day for RGIS to count my toy department, and they finally did it while I was on my lunch break)