This is just a 1986 Hasbro "Pipes", right? Nothing special here, right? Look closer. This is the IGA Mexican Transformers release of Pipes with a slight difference, it's a Huffer mould toy painted to look like Pipes. IGA are famous for recolouring old moulds to look like new characters instead of actually re-tooling moulds. This would have come out in Mexico around 1987 apparently as a store exclusive, yet it was exported to many European countries in limited quantities as well. Often referred to as "Puffer", an amalgamation of "Pipes" and "Huffer", this is the story of one of the first mysterious minibot variants...

Now this isn't the only blue Huffer out there that is supposed to be Pipes, there's a European one and further Mexican Puffers as well. They'll be pictured together later. The main distinguishing factors between Pipes and Huffer in vehicle mode are the stacks and the grill. Pipes' grill juts out a lot more and his stacks are cylindrical all the way to the top. Colour-wise, this Mexican Puffer, as with many Mexican TFs, has metalflake sparkly blue coloured plastic on the body. The sparkly plastic and chrome work together very well, making for a very attractive minibot. As mentioned before, it's difficult to find Mexican minibots in unworn shape, so this was a great opportunity to showcase this popular variant.

The chrome stacks add a lovely visual touch to this toy, and they contrast better with the sparkly blue than they do with the orange of a regular Huffer. I've always felt that Huffer's robot mode had a slightly sinister look to it, but with this variant even the vehicle mode has a very dark and opaque feel to it. In my opinion this toy is one of few variations that actually manage to improve upon the appearance of the original in all respects, and maybe that's what makes it so popular.

This mould did of course start life as a Takara Microman toy, the Microchange MC-04 Car 07 American Truck. It was available only in the recogniseable orange and blue scheme used later by the Transformers Huffer. Above you can see that the Mexican TF still maintains the 'M'-shaped feature of the Microman moulding on the side of the cab.

A very compact and well-proportioned vehicle mode and an excellent colour scheme sets this release up nicely, and the robot mode delivers no less of a visual impact.

The robot mode on this Puffer really is quite a sight to behold. The colour contrast seems so perfect and everything appears to work so well. Now whereas Pipes had a mostly blue torso with white highlights, this Puffer has a white torso with blue highlights and the same coloured eyes as Pipes, red. The transformation for Pipes and Huffer is also different. In fact there are so many significant differences between this toy and a US TF Pipes that I think it would be so easy to consider this blue/white Puffer as having a completely separate identity.

I personally feel he looks better than a regular Huffer or a regular Pipes. Again, I feel that adds to the popularity of this variation, but he does look a little evil with those red eyes and the partially-shadowed head.

As I mentioned at the start, this is not the only 'Puffer'. There was another significant Puffer variation that was sold in Mexico, the all-blue version seen here:

You can see that the outer sparkly blue shell is pretty much the same for both of these Mexican Puffers. The all-blue version has silver eyes which makes me believe that the torso section is straight off a Mexican Huffer which would also have been sparkly blue. There are also minute moulding differences between the two on the torso section. There may also be other variants with slightly different coloured minor parts, but the significant differences are shown in the pictures above. Conversely, the vehicle mode of the all blue Puffer is almost indistinguishable from the white/blue Mexican Puffer as they both use the same dark sparkly blue plastic. You'd have to look behind the wheels to see some of the torso colour, which in the case of the latter Mex Puffer would also be sparkly blue:

The copyright for the Mexican Puffers are not blocked, but there are plenty of other distinguishing factors for that not to be an identification issue, like the off-centre printing of the Autobot logo on the factory sticker on the cab.

What makes things slightly confusing is the fact that there is also a European release of a Huffer in Pipes colours, the Euro "Puffer". The European Puffer is a good deal more common than either of the Mexican variations, yet it is still considered a very rare toy.

There are a number of things that you will notice instantly about this European Puffer. The blue plastic used is much lighter than the Mexican versions and it is not of the sparkly metalflake variety. The general colour scheme is obviously much closer to the white/blue of the first Mexican Puffer shown in this article, complete with red eyes. These Euro Puffers should have rubsigns on the cab, and you can see in the above specimen where it used to be.

Having been released in mainland European countries such as France and Holland, it appears to come on a Euro-style quad-lingual G1 card. In addition to that, a very strange feature of this Euro Puffer is that it has no copyright whatsoever:

Here are some pictures of the Euro Puffer alongside the all-blue Mexican Puffer where the colour difference truly stands out:

And the above two Puffers alongside the almost-forgotten standard US Pipes:

Last but not least, the Mexican blue/white Puffer alongside a US TF Huffer and a Kabaya Huffer:

Affectionately named "Puffer" by fans just as "Bumblejumper" was so named, this particular group of variant minibots obviously hold a special place in the hearts of many a collector. An extraordinarily striking appearance which makes it stand out amongst a group of minibots, and not because of a mix of outrageously clashing colours. In fact the reasoning behind his colours is very logical and he's the perfect missing link between Huffer and Pipes, while all the time creating and maintaining a distinct and special personality of his own. The all-blue Mexican version has proved to be the rarest of the three so far, making it an extremely rare item in its own right. As beautiful as it is, I don't think it approaches the spectacular appearance of the white and blue variants, with the sparkly blue of the Mexican white/blue Puffer making that particular one my favourite of the three.

Who said a minibot couldn't be mighty?

Many gracious thanks to Daniel 'Devvi' Vink, who first brought this awesome variant to the attention of the fandom years ago, and has kindly made his comparison picture of Pipes and the Puffers available to TF-1. Also many thanks to Lulu-berlu.com for the use of the carded Euro Puffer image.

All the best
Maz