General Information:
Release Year: February 2005
Retailer: General Release (Target, Wal-Mart, Kay Bee etc.)
Price: $9.99 (Depending on retailer)
Transformation Difficulty Level: 3
Accessories: Cyber Planet Key
Images:
Each Transformer from the basic sized figure and up comes with a Cyber Planet Key. Unlike the Japanese Galaxy Force "Force Chips", these have codes printed on them that you can use on the official Transformers web site to unlock extra content. In Scattorshot's case his code was d3h7 and his unlocked material reveals the following text:
As one of the citizens of Speed Planet, Dirt Boss is known for two things, and two things only - one is being the meanest, rudest and crankiest driver on the road and the other is that he LOVES to drive, drive and oh yeah, drive some more! It's hard to believe, but like most folks on Speed Planet, Dirt Boss LOVES to stay in vehicle mode! Why walk when you can drive - but watch out! If you cross Dirt Boss on the road, watch your tail lights!!!
Dirt Boss is the US release of the Galaxy Force Inch Up figure. Check out Inch Up's review for a more detailed review of the toy's mechanics. This will review the changes made to the toy for this release.
Vehicle Mode:
The deco differences between Inch Up and Dirt Boss are subtle (except for one). The biggest difference is a Decepticon symbol tampographed on top of the vehicle. Towards the rear of the vehicle are two "L" shaped pieces that are on the robot mode's lower arms. On Inch Up these are painted purple to blend in with the rest of the vehicle. On Dirt Boss however these parts are dark grey, contrasting against the primary purple color of the vehicle.
The other major difference is in the color of the translucent plastic used. The translucent parts on Dirt Boss are a lighter shade than those on Inch Up. This is most noticable if you put the wheels against a bright surface like your computer monitor. The ones on Inch Up barely show as translucent while the ones on Dirt Boss shine through much more.
Robot Mode:
In robot mode there is one huge difference between Inch Up and Dirt Boss. If you look at the back of the robot mode, almost all the back pieces and the lower part of the section with the cannons on them are cast in bright green plastic instead of purple. The tampographed Decepticon symbol winds up on the upper body in this form. A subtle (but different) paint app can be found on the face. Whereas Inch Up's entire chin piece is painted green, only the top part of Dirt Boss' chin is painted green.
A slight mold variance has resulted in a noticable difference in the shoulder cannons. The two cannons on Inch Up are very slightly out of alignment, but barely noticable. However, on Dirt Boss they are very much out of alignment. This does not affect the functionality of the toy, it just looks a bit odd.
Final Thoughts:
Dirt Boss' deco is definitely different from Inch Up's, but he utilizes the same basic colors. It is primarily because of the green back pieces in robot mode that I find this version a bit too bright in some spots. Overall however, it retains the same functionality as the Galaxy Force version, and it is significantly cheaper. If you want this toy, I do recommend getting this version to save yourself some money.
