C-370 Sixliner

C-370 SIXLINER

Here is a review of the Micromaster Combiner "Sixliner", designated C-370 by Takara in Japan. I made some detailed scans of the original C-370 Sixliner from the Battlestars Return Of Convoy and noticed a load of differences between it and the reissue.

Box back:

Techspec:

Insert:

Parts:

Stickersheet:

Instructions:

I haven't actually got the reissue so I will be referencing Rik Ruff's fantastic review and pictures of the reissue Sixliner here

The first thing to notice is that the original has a stickersheet whereas the reissue has the details printed/tampographed onto the toys.

The leader "Diego":

The reissue has some yellow/gold detailing on the side of the train which the original does not, and there are no corresponding stickers for that detailing on the original's sheet. So even with stickers applied, the original will still have a very bland black look to it compared to the reissue. Also Rik notes that the reissue has a copyright stamping on it, but the original Diego has no copyright on it anywhere. One other thing to note is the Autobot sticker on the front of the reissue Diego in train mode. The original instructions do not indicate any sticker to be applied there, but the stickersheet has 6 small Autobot insignia stickers which have not been assigned a number on the sheet. I guess it was originally left up to the owner to decide where those went...

Now "Spark":

A few differences here too. The original has a yellow face whereas the reissue has a silver face. The reissue has an extra blue line running along the side of the train at the bottom, and also has the front lights painted yellow. The original has no coloured paint there. Even when all of Spark's stickers are applied on the original, there are no stickers for the side windows so they remain white whereas the reissue has them painted black. Finally, the reissue has a copyright on it, the original does not.

"Alan":

The reissue has more white detailing on the arms than the original, which is pretty clear in Rik and my pics of the train mode. Also, the two small windows on the side of the locomotive are black on the reissue, but the original has no corresponding stickers for those windows, so even after full application they will remain orange. Again, reissue has copyrights on it, original does not.

"Leif":

Differences again here. The reissue has more green detailing on the arms whereas the original has mostly grey on the arms. The green on the bottom of the reissue toy runs to the end of the locomotive too as you can see from Rik's pic. The same thing applies here with the side windows, reissue has them black but even after sticker application, the original has those as white. As with Spark, the front lights are painted yellow on the reissue but remain unpainted on the original. One thing that was surprising, the original has two black stickers that are placed on the roof of the train at the back, but the reissue has no black printed on that section. Those stickers are Numbers 22 and 23 on the stickersheet. Reissue has copyright, original does not.

"Joe":

This is a strange one. The original's robot head is almost exactly the same as the reissue's, but the 'ears' are top-half blue and bottom-half white. The reissue has almost all blue ears. The original has a sticker that goes on the very front of the loco, on the black plastic section. The reissue however has no details printed on the toy there. The reissue has the small side windows at the front end of the locomotive painted black whereas the original has no stickers for that section, therefore after full application they are still white. The reissue has the non-rolling wheels on the side of the train (arms) painted grey but the original is just white in that section. Like "Leif", the original has two black stickers for the roof of the train at the rear where the reissue has no painted details. This is No. 24 on the stickersheet. Same copyright rule applies here. With the last two members, you can see it's not all in favour of the reissue seeing as how the original has some extra features/details the reissue does not.

"Night":

As with "Joe", the arms/train sides are painted grey on the reissue but the original has just unpainted blue plastic there. The side windows on the reissue are black but the original has no stickers for that section so they remain blue. The Autobot symbol seen on the side of the reissue is not shown in the original's instructions, but since the extra Autobot insignias are there on the stickersheet, one could have been intended for that spot originally. Another strange thing is that the original's face is all yellow, but the reissue just has a yellow eyeband and the rest of the face is silver. Same story with the copyrights as before.
So where IS the copyright on the original? On the bottom of both footpads is where :)

Here is the original's combined mode:

As you can see, without the stickers applied he looks a little plain compared to the reissue and its printed details. One main difference is that the original had an all silver face, but the reissue has blue eyes. A nice touch. Here is a close-up of the original's head to compare with Rik's close up of the reissue's head on his page:

I haven't scanned in the Military Combined Vehicle modes as I doubt they would come out well in scans, although it should be noted that in Rik's review, he has used "Spark" for the Gripper Probe mode whereas on the back of the original's box you may notice that "Joe" is used for that mode, and having attempted to assemble the mode with both members, I have found Joe to be much more suited and I felt it fit much better with those particular combining pieces. Having said that though, the Instructions for the original show the Gripper Probe being made using "Alan", so I guess it's a free-for-all.

Well, those are all the differences I can see without actually having the reissue in my possession to compare with the vintage Sixliner.

The Sixliner toy deserves praise. It's a design that makes the most out of the rather simple concept of Micromasters. The Trains are fun individually and the combined mode is well proportioned, colourful and I personally love TFs with rotating heads and articulated necks.

The original is presented maginificently, WAY better than the reissue. The whole giftset look, the stunning boxart and catalog, the styro layout etc. However, as far as the toys themselves go, I think I'd vote for the reissue. The reissue has more details printed compared to a fully stickers-applied original, and it looks much the better and less plain for it. No sticker wear to worry about either. Although I do know that some collectors prefer the whole plain unused look of some G1 pieces with a nice shiny minty stickersheet enclosed. As for quality, I found the original to contain some loose fittings, places where connections could and should have been more snug and secure. Rik says the following about the reissue:

"Connections are snug/sturdy, colors are decent, and overall gets a thumbs up!"

So I guess Takara did some work on this mould since its early 90s first release.

Ideally you'd take a reissue and place it in the original's box to get the best of both worlds I guess...With the low price and high accessibilty of the recent reissuing of Sixliner, you really have no excuse for missing out on this piece.

All the best
Maz