Electric Train and Battle Set
From Transformers Wiki
The Electric Train and Battle Set is an HO-scale model train set manufactured by Tyco in 1985. The set includes a locomotive with a "Search Mode", a gondola with coal/"Proton Laser Cannon", a box car/"Weapon Center", and a caboose/"Hawkfighter", all in a matching silver paint scheme with a red stripe. The set additionally includes a number of static Autobot and Decepticon figurines, the buildings for a power plant, track, a plastic layout mat, and a power pack.
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Fiction
Renegade Rhetoric
In Jasper, Nevada, Nemesis Prime stole the D-5 supertrain. A local nurse reported the theft, allowing Wheeljack and the other Autobot Spy Changers to intercept the train. Hoist and Wheeljack were diverted by Crash Test, who knocked a building onto two cats, allowing Frenzy to escape with the train.
When next the Autobots caught up to the Decepticons, they had mastered the D-5's abilities. The locomotive's Search Mode enabled the Decepticons to locate the Autobots, allowing the Hawkfighter and the Proton Laser Canon to be brought to bear. Prowl was able to activate the train's Red Mode, a self-destruct protocol. Transformers: Renegade Rhetoric
Commercial appearances
When Decepticons teleported in to attack a command post and power station, Autobot defenders fought back with the aid of their secret weapon, a "speeding Transformers train" controlled by you. Electric Train Set commercial
History
In the 1980s, toymaker Tyco was having a bad time, financially. Interest in their prior biggest-selling products, electric train sets and slot cars, had been waning as action figures became the hot new trend in play, and their attempt to create a building-brick line to compete with LEGO fared poorly. Thus they turned to licensing some of the hottest IPs for 80s boys at the time in the hopes of shoring up sales.
They ultimately released five licensed HO-scale electric train sets, based on Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., The A-Team, and Rambo. And due to obvious financial concerns, a lot of parts are shared among them, well beyond the obvious standard circular tracks. The Transformers set is the most unique of the lot, only sharing two components with the M.A.S.K. set (which was seemingly produced later, given its comparative rarity), while all but the Rambo set had at best a part or two found only in that set (at least as far as the licensed range goes, it's very possible many of the add-on parts came from other Tyco products to save even more dosh). In fact, the Joe, A-Team and Rambo sets all have the same play-mat design, the only thing that changed was the color of the ground. (The M.A.S.K. set oddly didn't get a play mat.)
Early runs of the Transformers train often contain parts from the other sets, including (though not limited to) carriages, vinyl maps, soldiers, and even decals. This suggests that all of the licensed sets were being assembled on the same production line. The Transformers train set does still hold some value to train collectors, however, largely because it was only produced for three years; a short time for a train set, but a pretty long time for a Transformers toy!
Toys
- The Transformers Electric Train and Battle Set (1985)
- Accessories: Play mat, multi-part oval track, power pack, 4-part "power station", 24 "Autobot/Decepticon Warrior" figurines
- This set is a huge fully-functional HO-scale (1:87 scale, the most popular scale for model trains) electronic train. It comes with a 4½-foot by 3½-foot "action mat", depicting a "desert power station" with a gravel ring to place the assembled track on, a large concrete area with parking lot (for HO-scaled cars of course), roads, an air strip, and a dam separating a large mountaintop lake from the river below. (As implied above, this was a totally unique design for this set.) Finishing the set up is a four-piece cardboard "power station", consisting of a large open concrete structure with two smokestacks (meant to go on the same block where the parking spaces are), and a "DESERT POWER STATION" generator building with two power line towers; the generator and towers could be connected with string "wires". It's less clear where these are supposed to go, but given the space within the rails and the length of the strings, one of the towers definitely needs to go outside the rail. Hook up the power pack to the rails, put the four-piece train on, and whir away to your heart's content.
- Each section of the train has its own transformation gimmick. The locomotive engine, which is what pulls the rest of the train along, is a slightly retooled version of the engine used in most of the other licensed sets, based on the "Plymouth switcher" diesel lightweight (for a train) engine. It transforms into "Search Mode" by lifting a hinged panel on the front-left side of the engine, revealing an information screen, and raising a ball-and-socket mounted concave plank on top as a radar dish. When running, the light up front shines; no, we know the box art shows a big Autobot symbol there, but all the actual toy has is a light. This modified engine mold was used for the M.A.S.K. train set, though instead of the screen and radar, that set has a pair of repositionable double-guns. (The other three have ordinary, non-transforming-in-any-way engines.)
- The gondola car is a mainly-empty storage car. It has a removable top with a fake "coal" relief on one side, while the underside has a massive non-firing "Proton Laser Cannon". The cannon can be swiveled a full 360 degrees around at the base, plus the barrel can be raised up well past the 90-degree upright position. However, due to the cannon's sheer size, moving it too far to either side risks tipping over the hollow car it sits on unless you weight it down somehow. This portion of the train was also used wholesale by the M.A.S.K. set. It appears to be a modified version of the troop-carrying gondola car used in the G.I. Joe set, with smooth sides rather than the Joe version's "ribbed" sides (which is more realistic).
- The box car unfolds into a "Weapon Center", a long long battle station with an overhang on each side, and a spot to mount another radar array on the top. The finished result is basically identical from either side. The wide range of motion on the hinges of the outer portions of the base allow for some more positioning options. And since this whole thing is basically hollow in box car mode, it too can be used to store stuff in. This car is unique to the Transformers set.
- The caboose transforms into a "Hawkfighter", a futuristic fighter jet with a hawk-like nosecone and canopy. The wheels at the front of the caboose can fold down to allow the "hawk" mode to continue rolling on the tracks while giving it a perched or launching appearance. The cut of the stickers for the caboose only allows for them to be applied with the broad red stripe flanked by the two narrow black stripes on bottom, while the stickers for the engine bearing the "The Trans Formers More Than Meets The Eye" slogan is only right-side up if positioned with the broad red stripe on the top. This too was a piece unique to the Transformers set, though like the engine it is based on the same caboose design used in the other four sets.
- The set also includes twenty-four non-transforming "Autobot Warrior" and "Decepticon Warrior" figurines, consisting of six distinct molds in metallic silver (Autobots) and metallic blue (Decepticons). The box and 1985 Tyco catalog assert that each set was supposed to include six Autobots and eighteen Decepticons, but in practice, the sets seemed to include semi-random quantities of figures, but always heavily weighted towards Decepticon blue, making the silver ones much harder to come across today. And yes, these are unique to this set.
- This set, with its sheer number of parts, several of them made from cardboard (a material not known for its durability or longevity), can be difficult to find in complete and good condition, not helped by its original cost and just being an electronic train set keeping it out of many kids' hands. Good luck.
Notes
- The version of the Electric Train and Battle Set packaging seen in the 1985 Tyco catalog describes the "Hawkfighter" as a "Battlestar Ship", despite the catalog text using the final name. Conversely, the catalog text describes the locomotive's "Search Mode" as an "Early Warning Center".
- The package art depicts the train as using the more standard X2F "horn-hook" coupler, but the actual toy uses a simplistic semi-operating (It's not a dummy, but the knuckle is not a separate independently articulated piece) knuckle coupler unique to the licensed Tyco sets.
- At least two of the robot figurine designs are lifted from other Japanese giant robot franchises: the spindly one with the shield on its left arm (second from left in both rows) is based on the "L-Gaim" from Heavy Metal L-Gaim, while the tallest, blockiest one (second from right) is the "Irongear" from Combat Mecha Xabungle. (The original Irongear actually does transform into a big space battleship so it fits in that way at least!) It's likely the other four designs are also lifted/"adapted" from other toylines/anime, but we've yet to identify them if they are.
- In a truly unforeseen occurrence, the Electric Train and Battle Set's HO scale renders it compatible with TakaraTomy's high end MPG rendition of the Trainbots, the Transformers brand's second foray into model trains, some thirty-seven years later.
