Robots in Disguise: Rail Racer
Here's another case where I mangle names up between Japanese and American releases. The three
trainbots, called Team Bullet Train, were originally released in Japan as J4, J5 and J7, all who
merged to for JRX. For their US RID release they were renamed into Midnight Express,
Rail Spike and Rapid Run (respectively) all who merge into Rail Racer. While I like the new
names of the components, Rail Racer, as a name, sucks, so I'll stick with JRX, you know, in case
you get confused or something.
Midnight Express
Midnight Express is sold as the youngest of the three train dudes, so I guess young trains are born
with really long legs and small upper bodies. Ahem. Okay, but first, vehicle mode.
Vehicle mode, or train mode, I should say, is pretty neat, though a bit weird looking. Midnight
Express also boasts the longest train mode, which will make a lot of sense when you transform him.
The train mode is pretty tight, and his weapon storage is pretty decent, though the barrel of his
gun sticks out a bit.
Transformation is pretty simple, just yank his legs apart, fold out his feet and rotate his
head panel and fold up his head. Make sure you pull out his weapon's barrel first otherwise
if you do it after everything his missile will get stuck in his leg, and it's no picnic to get
the thing out of there. Also it's a bit tough getting his head out since the joint it's on is really
stiff, and the results are less than satisfying with his head sort of floating a few inches
(well, inches to scale, really more like a millimeter or two) above his body with a rod on the
back holding it up.
Robot mode, while it gives off a weird Ultra Magnus vibe (both of them have pulled their
pants up way too high), is actually pretty neat. Of course he does have insanely large legs,
but unlike with Magnus, they are very poseable, which is always a plus.
Overall, robot mode will look a bit weird at first, but after you fool around with it a bit
(and attempt to use Rapid Run's lame robot mode) you may just grow to like it a lot, because
I sure did.
So the whole package? Well, as a mega Midnight Express is pretty decent, though he would
have some serious issues if he wasn't part of a combiner team (mainly the leg thing), but
all in all he's pretty cool to have, so if you can find one for the $15 or so he costs, by all
means pick it up (I wouldn't pay any more than that though).
Rail Spike
Overall I'd have to say Rail Spike is the best of the three trains. His train mode, by far,
looks the coolest, and his robot mode is very poseable (mainly because his legs become
JRX's arms), though he suffers from lame-weapon disease.
Like I said, Rail Spike has the coolest looking train mode, with the sole exception of
his weapon storage. Instead of it storing it similar to Midnight Express or Rapid Run (who has
the best weapon storage), it's pretty much just attached to the end of the train. Sadly though,
it doesn't fit in there very well, so you either end up with it looking decent, but train mode
is not as tight as it could be, or you end up with his weapon hovering some distance from
behind the train. It's very frustrating if I say so myself.
Transformation isn't too tough, just pull out his legs, split open the top of the train and
the rest pretty much falls into place. The only really complicated bit it what to do with
JRX's head, which hangs at Rail Spike's chest via a nifty hinge joint which is really a bunch
of hinge joints all together. There are a few ways to position the head, but none are really all
that great. One way it's too high and blocks Rail Spike's line of sight, and the second way
looks a bit too low to me, but I guess it's all a matter of preference.
Robot mode is also the best looking, and the most poseable. Interestingly enough,
JRX's elbow joints and Spike's knee joints are not the same thing, so you actually have a
robot here who can bend his thighs sideways. Kinda weird looking. However, the legs are very
poseable, and allow for a variety of poses.
The arms, on the other hand, while they are poseable, aren't very strong. The double ball
joint that allows for them to fold into his shoulder pads also makes them crumble when Spike
attempts to hold his crappy weapon. You can get him to hold up for a decent amount of time
if you're careful, but for the most part he holds it at his side like it's too heavy for him
to hold up.
Ah, and his weapon. Gah! It sucks. It's a lame sword thing which is supposed to be a light
up sonic blaster or something, but it just looks awkward because of the massive battery holder.
The 'light' inside is also less than impressive as you can't even see it in a lit room, and in a
dark room it just looks weak. Maybe I need new batteries or something.
Overall, like I said, Rail Spike is the best of the three, so if you have a choice and don't
want to buy all three, pick up Rail Spike first.
Rapid Run
Rapid Run's train mode is the only one of the three that isn't white. Actually, none of his colors
match those of the other two members. While they are primarily white and blue, Rapid Run is
gray and brown with some gold accents here and there. Blech.
However, colors aside, Rapid Run has a pretty cool train mode. Of the three it probably
holds together the best, and his weapon storage kicks the butt of Rail Spike and is
definitely better than Midnight Express'. This would be because, unlike the other two, his
weapon (a shield/rocket launcher) is actually part of his train mode, and the missile simply
stores under his train mode and becomes the coupling.
Transformation is by far the most complicated of the three, and the only one I had to check
the directions for. He has some weird panel switching action going for his entire upper
body which can get very confusing, though, once you know it, it probably won't be too harsh.
Robot mode has potential, but suffers from a few flaws which really wreck the whole thing.
First off his legs lack posebility aside from the pose I have him in the the picture. You like
that pose? You'd better, because the only other one he can do is 'stand up straight and rigid
and look like a train with arms and a head'. This could have easily been fixed too with a
simple swivel joint at the hips or knees (like the other two have). I guess the designers
ran out of funds or something.
Overall, I would rate Rapid Run as the worst of the three, mainly because his lack of poseability
really annoys the hell out of me. However, taking everything into consideration, he's not really
all that bad, but I wouldn't buy him unless you already have the other two.
JRX
Now for the fun part; the combiner. Okay, transforming the components into combiner mode
is somewhat of a task, but well worth it. Midnight Express has it the easiest, just fold up
his arms under his shoulderpads and stick his head back in. His massive legs become JRX's
massive (but in better proportion) legs.
Rapid Run needs to do some more wacky panel flipping to become, essentially, the backpack
of JRX. Really, they could have made it so Midnight Express and Rapid Run were each a leg of
JRX, but I guess they really wanted him to have a jet pack. Fortunately, Midnight Express'
legs and feet are up to the task of supporting everything, so JRX doesn't fall over all the
time, though it does happen.
Rail Spike essentially splits in half up to his chest with those components becoming the
arms and shoulders of JRX. JRX's hands pop out of Spike's feet, and his has pretty poseable
hands with moving fingers (one joint) and a thumb which is neat as well.
Sticking them together isn't too tough, and the end result is one cool looking combiner.
JRX is quite poseable, and very cool looking (I already said that, didn't I?).
Overall, the three parts of JRX are pretty neat, and the final product is worth the $50
you'll have to spend on them all ($48.01 at K-Mart with tax for me). Yeesh, fifty bucks for
a Transformer. So, yes, if you have the cash to spend (or even if you don't, like me), it's
worth picking up all three for JRX who is a very cool looking combiner. He's better looking
than Build King, and holds together better than Omega Prime, and both of those are very cool
as well. Now if only the Decpticons could get a decent combiner (because Ruination is not
overly cool) we'd be set.
Also a side note, I saw the actual JRX (imported from Japan) on sale at a booth in a mall near
me for $100. You should know that the original versions were done almost completely in clear plastics
(for the windows), so they were prone to chipping since clear plastic isn't as tough as solid
plastic (plus all the paint chipped off as well). Worth $100, not in my opinion, but I guess you'll
have to pay a lot more for an import than an original, but definitely grab the US releases, they
are too cool for school (whatever that means).
