Shortpacked! started running on January 17, 2005, and ended on January 17, 2015!  So, uh, happy anniversary or whatever, to either this website's birth or death.  Let's talk about an orange bat!

Remember Action Masters?  The Transformers who can't transform that ended Transformers forever and ever?  (transformers was honestly pretty dead before then)  Well, Action Master Soundwave came with a little transformable partner named Wingthing, and he was an orange and black bat.  A few years ago, Ratbat was redecoed in orange and black as an updated Wingthing, and this new Masterpiece Wingthing updates that toy again.  (Surprise, it's Masterpiece Ratbat in orange and black!)

Masterpiece Ratbat is one of the best Masterpiece cassettes, probably coming in a close second to MP Laserbeak/Buzzsaw.  Ravage is kinda okayish and Frenzy/Rumble is comparatively boring because it's just a boxy dude, but Ratbat is pretty darn good!  And so, you know, Wingthing benefits by also being MP Ratbat, but in different colors.  Somehow this mini-cassette-shaped thing becomes this three-dimensional robobat -- essentially, everything that's not wings triples up on itself to create a block of torso.  That includes what used to be removeable accessories on the original toy; like MP Buzzsaw/Laserbeak, those parts are now integrated into the transformation.  And it's pretty rad!

There are little grooves underneath Wingthing's feet so that you can slot him onto corresponding grooves on MP Soundwave's shoulder or forearm.  

He's also got a pink mini-cassette case, same as the other three guys he comes packaged with.

If I had a complaint, it's that his head isn't black, like the original Action Master partner.  I assume the original Ratbat redeco had an orange head instead of black because of how the plastic layouts work, but there's nothing stopping painting MP Wingthing's head black along with his black-painted torso.  I guess it was decided to mirror the Ratbat redeco version of Wingthing rather than the original Action Master toy.  Iunno.

Honestly, I bought New Soundwave just to get these two guys!  Let's talk about them.

Wingthing was Soundwave's Action Master partner.  He transformed from a bat into a concussion blaster.  (aka a folded-up bat with a gun stuck on it)  But now he's been upgraded to a Mini-Cassette!  Well, "upgraded." I'm not sure trading in a weapon form, regardless of how dippy it looks, for a mini-cassette mode is really an upgrade.  Before he was a gun, and now he transforms into a ... rectangle.  Admittedly, it's probably an upgrade in the perception of his peers.  Being "one of Soundwave's tapes" is probably an upward social move from "that gun Soundwave built that time he couldn't transform and then left to collect dust in the closet afterwards."  Now he's Ratbat's equal!  And Ratbat was a Senator!

(His bio, best I can tell from badly Google Translating it, seems to say he's not technically alive, but a sophisticated drone with a personality emulator.  Perhaps this is related to Wingthing having originally been created as an Action Master weapon.)

Enemy, meanwhile, is who I desired the most.  Enemy is awesome.  Until this toy was released last week, Enemy was a merchandise-only character.  There was this red Frenzy/Rumble head back in the Eighties that made you sound all robotty when you spoke into it, and its name was "Enemy."  You may remember it from that one birthday part you had.  The real Transformers were all sold out and thanks to one of your friends you ended up with this thing on the left.

And now, finally, Enemy has a real toy.  I couldn't be more ecstatic.  Best New Soundwave I've ever bought!

Again, my Google Translator-fu is weak, but I think Enemy's bio says that he's, SURPRISE, a jerk to everybody and everyone hates him.  Also maybe he has some sort of psychological effect on those who surround him, making them hate him more, giving him an advantage somehow?  I am not sure.  Maggie tried to translate it on her own, but the damn bio says "he's an asshole" in so many different ways it was kind of like a big soup of repetitive nonsense.

Like the rest of these Encore sets, both Enemy and Wingthing forego stickers entirely in lieu of painted detail.  I am overbearingly thankful for this, because Mini-Cassettes are the enemy (so to speak) of stickers.  One entire side of them is generally covered in stickers to make them look like cassettes, and their toys are equally covered in moving parts and seams.  And so, y'know, that means buttloads of sticker edges.  It's not a fortunate set up.  But it's all paint now, so I'm stoked!

Within the past couple days, TakaraTomy, the folks who do Transformers over in Japan, have been doing crazy, crazy things.  Crazy things that I love.  Let me list you toys that we are getting early next year:

Enemy

"Enemy" was what some Hasbro licensee called their Rumble's-head-shaped electronic voice changer back in the 80s.  It was red,  unlike Rumble or Frenzy, which was also the color of Rumble/Frenzy's toy back in pre-Transformers Microchange.  We are getting that toy in red as Enemy.

Wingthing

Wingthing was Soundwave's Action Master partner.  He transformed from a bat to a gun.  Now he's going to be a redeco of Ratbat, just like Animated Wingthing was.

Nightstalker

Nightstalker was a Micro-Cassette kitty similar to Ravage that featured only in a Marvel UK text story.  He was likely based on a contest design that a British kid submitted to the magazine.  He is now going to be a redeco of Steeljaw in Ravage colors.

Wipe-Out

Wipe-Out was Trypticon's little sycophantic buddy in one issue of the American Marvel comics.  Until now, he was a toyless character, visually based on Tailgate's toy.  He's going to be a redeco of Windcharger, who in G1 shared some tooling with Tailgate.

Stripes

Stripes was a Mini-Cassette of Blaster's that was only mentioned in an early draft of The Transformers: The Movie.  He's going to be a redeco of Ravage as a tiger.  This is absolutely as obscure as one can get, even counting the UK text story cat and the guy who was just a head.

Seriously, you guys.  Whatever it is TakaraTomy's smoking over there, I want them to keep at it.  I'm rapidly running out of hypothetical Transformers holy grails.  I really think Stripes is absolutely untoppable when it comes to obscurity.  I mean, to get more obscure than him you'd have to start referencing Transformers fanfiction.

Pardon me, geekspasming out over here.