Preface
Before starting this review, let me state a couple things: the figure I am reviewing is the Korean KO of Minerva, not her actual toy (differences between the KO and the original will be said in detail in the review) and after I took the last photos for this review, Minerva's arm came off. Luckily, it was a simple matter of disassembling the arm and screwing it back on, so my prized Transformer possession is completely fixed. (I am aware that my prized Transformer is a KO)
About the cHARACTER/Toy
The character of Minerva debuted in the Japan-only Transformers anime Transformers: Super-God Masterforce, where she was the only female member of the Autobot Headmaster Juniors. Unlike Western Transformers fiction, where Headmasters were composed of a Transformer and their Nebulan partners (e.g. Chromedome and his partner Stylor), in Japanese Transformers fiction, the Headmasters, as they appeared in the series Transformers: The Headmasters, were small robots that combined with larger non-living bodies called Transtectors with the name of the character being their name when combined with their Transtector. (e.g. Chromedome is the combined form of the small robot and the Transtector, the small robot by itself is named Chrome) In Super-God Masterforce, the concept of Headmasters continued with the Headmaster Juniors. Unlike the Headmasters in the previous series, the Juniors were instead human beings bonded to Transtectors and became their heads through undefined Transformer magic. There were six Headmaster Juniors in all, three Autobots (Minerva, Shuta, and Cab) and three Decepticons (Cancer, Wilder, and Bullhorn). In the fiction, all six Transtectors were created by Chromedome and sent to Earth, but three of them were stolen by the Decepticons. The toys for the Headmaster Juniors were the same as the smaller Headmasters released outside of Japan in 1988. Minerva, Shuta, and Cab were released as Nightbeat, Hosehead, and Siren in the Western world (with Minerva and Shuta being the only Juniors to have significant deco differences from the toys they share their mold with) and Cancer, Wilder, and Bullhorn were released as Squeezeplay, Fangry, and Horri-bull. Vehicle ModeMinerva's Transtector is officially referred to as an ambulance, but as a repaint of Nightbeat, it's really just a Porsche 959 with a rescue color scheme. The differences between Minerva and Nightbeat, as far as color goes, in vehicle mode are simple: what's white on Minerva is yellow on Nightbeat, what's red is yellow, Minerva's windows are blue (black on the KO) and Nightbeat's are silver, and Minerva has stickers on her rear and red crosses on her hood and sides of her vehicle, whereas Nightbeat simply has red flames on the sides of him. One thing that must be stated before continuing is that Minerva was the first female Transformer to get a toy. (Although a retcon would make the character Freezon a female, retroactively making her the second female Transformer to get a toy, but still the first female Autobot to get one) On her vehicle mode, Minerva features three ports, one on her roof and two on her hood. In the roof port, one can place her large Shock Gun; and in the two on her hood, one can place her two Shock Blasters. While I personally think she looks silly with guns mounted on her vehicle, it does provide a place to store them, at least. Before I continue, I should point out the differences in the vehicle mode on the bootleg VS the real one. Luckily, there aren't that many, as the only differences are black windows on the KO vs blue ones on the real and the Shock Blasters on the KO are missing their side handles. (Which will result in a small, but key, difference in her looks in robot mode) Continuing on, if you open up her roof (the hinge is actually cleverly disguised as a lightbar), you will find Minerva sitting in a white seat (on Nightbeat, the seat is blue). Unlike the Headmasters released in 1987, the 1988 Headmasters are much simpler figures. Namely, they lack poseable arms like the previous years figures, so their only articulation is in their legs; they also lack the ability to flip a plate to cover their robot mode face, so they always have it visible on their back. Minerva (in her armor) is composed of two parts: her legs and the rest of her. Her legs are black plastic and the rest of her is red plastic. The only difference between the KO and the real figure as far as the human component is that the KO is missing the yellow paint meant to represent her visor, no major differences there. In regards to show accuracy, her vehicle mode is very accurate to her screen appearance, which is to be expected, since all it has to be is a car. As far as play value you get in vehicle mode, there's really not much, but she's a car. Minerva rolls pretty well and you can mount her weapons and pretend she's blasting enemies (although why a medic would be blasting enemies is the real question) Minerva's vehicle mode measures about 6 inches long and the Minerva figure itself is a bit over 1 inch tall. Robot mode
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