Wheelie opens up a lot of questions about the life-cycle of the Transformers species.  He's a child.  A young boy.  In some stories, he has parents.  (Dead, like Batman's.)  So we gotta ask ourselves.... is this typical?  Do Transformers have childhoods?  Generally we see them be built as adults, but Wheelie is an actual diminutive preteen orphan with a slingshot because he's a rhyming Dennis the Menace.  He hangs out with ten-year-old Daniel Witwicky because, hey, they're both kids.

Were Hot Rod and Springer tiny Transformers children at one point?  Did they have parents like Wheelie did?  Is Wheelie gonna stay that size, or is he gonna grow up to be tall like they are?  (And since Bumblebee's the same size, does that mean Bumblebee was a kid, too?)

(Seriously, if I may go off on a tangent here, what we see of Transformers life cycles is insanely depicted.  In Beast Wars, Rattrap whispered to Silverbolt about Transformer strip clubs in front of Cheetor, even though Silverbolt was one year old and Cheetor was about seventy.  But Cheetor is characterized as a teenager and Silverbolt was born characterized as an adult, so.... yyyyeah.)

However, if Wheelie does get to grow up, he might look like my new toy!   At least, I sure hope this toy doesn't represent Kid Wheelie.  RTS Jazz is a pretty tall Deluxe Class figure, and Kid Wheelie should probably not be taller than Generations Springer and Classics Hot Rod.  Hell, he's taller than Classics Grimlock, and Wheelie's generally remembered for being able to ride on top of Grimlock's head like a tiny hat.

Like Springer, I was pretty content to skip this Wheelie back when he was a shortpacked Chinese exclusive.  He's pretty damn skippable for sixty bucks.  But at domestic prices, he was much more tempting.  I didn't need a larger Wheelie.  It wasn't a desire I had.  The recent-ish Legends Class toy was sufficient for me, since Wheelie is a small child.  But, well, you know me and my orange redeco fetish.  Plus, hey, COMPLETE JAZZ POWER, Dinobot Syndrome, etc.  And he has a new head and a new slingshot.  And it's a really good toy, regardless of color.  He's exclusive to Toys"R"Us, so if you find him there, you could buy worse toys.

(Man, do I not currently own an original Wheelie?)