Gobots Night Ranger

Friendly robot motorcycle Night Ranger (not to be confused with the 80's rock band)

I'll go ahead and point out that Night Ranger is one of the most ubiquitous Gobots out there. You can pick him up for dirt cheap, and (to be quite honest) you get what you pay for.



The alternate mode is a blue Harley Davidson Electra-Glide motorcycle. (note that there are white and red variants of this figure out there.) It's fairly well-executed, with die cast engine details on the side and handlebars. The tires are plastic, by the way, and unfortunately not rubber as the pictures would lead to believe. In the place of a clear windscreen, there's a gold sticker with "Night Ranger' broadly printed on it.



I got lucky in that the front wheel & windscreen on my figure are fairly tight, as I've heard that these joints becoming loose is not uncommon. This results in the motorcycle mode not holding together very well. Mine, however, is pretty nice.



Night Ranger has a very interesting and fun transformation, with the seat becoming the arms and the back half of the motorcycle forming the legs. The robot mode looks pretty good, too. He wears his sunglasses at night 8-)

However, there's quite a few problems with this toy. The leg joints work loose very easily, resulting in a figure that's very difficult to balance. This is a shame, as there is articulation in the knees & hips. It's all lost, though, as they have to be posed just so in order for the figure to stand. The tabs that hold the lower legs (motorcycle halves) on are pretty brittle. One of mine is broken. The leg still stays on, mostly, but it's really floppy and falls off occasionally (sounds like a personal problem, eh??)

I really like Night Ranger. He has a decent robot mode, and vehicle mode, and a very clever transformation, but he's made so cheaply that unless you get one in near-mint condition, he'll just make you sad.

Rating: 3/5