General Information:
Retailer: Europe, New Zealand, Australia
Price: Approximately $8-10 in US funds
Accessories: Guns x 2
Europe was always an interesting place to be for Transformers toys, especially from the late eighties to the late nineties. It often received redecos and special packs of toys that you couldn't find anywhere else. The Generation 2 era was no different. While we called our toys "Generation 2", Europe released toys in that era, but just kept the plain monicker "Transformers" without any other sub-titles. It would be valid to consider them "Generation One" figures or they can fit in the nebulous era created by fans known as "Generation 1.5". They are placed in this category mostly out of chronological release order, but feel free to slot them wherever you are most comfortable.
It was during this time frame that Hasbro's European division decided to dig into past molds from Japan to bolster their Transformers line. Among the molds selected for this were members of the Destron team known as the "Breastforce". The name, though a bit silly for english speaking folks actually referred to the ability of these Transformers to separate their chest armor to form a weapon or beast. Even better, this team could form a giant robot known as LioKaiser. To this day, he is one of the most expensive and sought out Japanese exclusive Transformers out there, making these guys even more special.
Given new decos, new parts, stripped of parts and repackaged, four of the six Breastforce members became the Rescue Force - a team of Autobots! However, none of the Rescue Force team members were given individual names, so for the purposes of these reviews they will be called by their Breastforce equivalent names.
Interesting note: all the Rescue Force toys came in two versions. One set had silver weapons and the other had red weapons.
Vehicle Mode:
Jaguar's vehicle mode is a dune buggy - but a well armed one. On top of the typical body frame are two lasers. The front portion has a line spool sculpted into it and the rear tires are larger than the front. Detail wise, things are rather standard for the time. The top section with the weapons is the most
detailed, with lots of lines and raised parts for tech and vent details.
Instead of Breastforce Jaguar's black and light gray colors, Rescue Force Jaguar is mostly dark blue. The weapons are silver and his windows are light blue. Stickers make ups ome detail here as well. On the front and sides are yellow and black angled line details. The sticker on the hood has an Autobot symbol at the center.
The guns are the pieces which have been changed from this toy's original release. The Breastforce Jaguar came with two pieces which represented two missiles each. They didn't fire or anything, they just snapped into the section above the driver's area. The same clip mechanism was used here for these guns, but what's neat is you can also connect these guns to the sides using the pegs there. Breastforce Jaguar's weapons will attach to the clips in the middle, giving you a more heavily armed Rescue Force member.
The new guns are really nice sculptes. Lots of tech detail including tubes leading from the bottom to the middle of the gun make them quite different for the time when a lot of weapons were quick throw away pieces with average detail.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Detach the guns.
- Swing the top section of the vehicle (where the guns attach) back and straighten them out.
- Flip the vehicle over.
- Swing the hood of the vehicle back.
- Raise the arms and attach each gun to a fist.
Robot Mode:
Jaguar's robot mode is the same sculpt as his Breastforce predecessor, so he still has some features that betray his origin as a Breastforce member. Paramount among these design points is the head sculpt. Each Breastforce member has an animal feature on their head design, and in this case Jaguar has what looks like a jaguar's mouth wide open as his helmet. The face is a standard "visor eyes and mouth" Transformers face.
The main body is rather blocky, and unfortunately is not a good case study for posable Transformers pre-Beast Wars. His arms can move up and down, and you can bend his legs at the hips and knees due to the transformation scheme, but he can't really strike many dynamic poses.
The main robot body from the head down to the lower legs is white (as opposed to the light gray on Breastforce Jaguar). The face is painted gold (a carry over from the Breastforce version) but the stickers included with the toy are new designs including more alternating yellow and black angled lines on the legs and an Autobot symbol on the
center of the chest.
For those curious, you can take his guns and attach them to the pegs by his feet by using the holes on the sides of each gun end. Also, if you own the Breastforce Jaguar, you will be able to attach the "Jagubreast" chest armor to Rescue Force Jaguar. He can also use Jagubreast in his gun mode.
There is a slight mold change to the toy. The original Breastforce Jaguar had the copyright information "© Takara 1989 Japan" stamped on the back of his legs. While the location of this stamp is still there, the information was changed to "© 1991 Hasbro Inc. © Takara 1989 Made in China".
Final Thoughts:
Rescue Force Jaguar is not one of those toys you get because you want this amazingly designed, highly posable, ultra-action feature-packed toy. It is very representative of a lot of G1 toys and it has an interesting place in Transformers history. It is a fun toy and you can enjoy it by itself, though I always personally thought Hasbro should have just released all six Breastforce members and included the parts for them to form a giant robot. Recommended (keeping everything I just wrote in mind).
Update (June 21, 2022): At least one fan has pointed out the original Destron character's name was not "Jaguar" but instead Jallguar / Jaruga / Jarugar (ジャルガー). Keep in mind, this figure technically doesn't even have a name so whatever you call him, it's a placeholder name.
