With Gobots tailing off, Tonka hit on that old toyline standby to save money - recolours! First in line were the leaders, who'd been on the shelves for two years, and were shoved into Tonka's patented Make Things Colourful™ machine.

They joined the line in late 1985, theoretically replacing the plain grey version in the range - though in practice, they ended up being sold alongside a fair bit. Indeed, the blue version just ended up being bunged on the same card as the original in Europe… My pet theory is that unsold recoloured Leader-1 figures were shipped over to Europe, and Bandai didn't bother updating the card.

Leader-1's new clothes came too late to get on the telly, or in anything else, with even the shameless Tonka commercial that was the Official Gobots Magazine stuck with the original colours. As with the rest of Tonka's modifications, this one didn't get to Japan.

This is one of those schemes I don't like, and I'm not really sure why. After all, one of my biggest complaints about the original version is that it's boring, an unmemorable little grey jet. What would I prefer? God only knows (chrome might have worked).

Not this, though - the majority of Leader-1 is now a deep blue… While that's nicer than grey, it's still pretty dull. Thankfully, Tonka haven't relied on just the blue, and we have a pretty arbitrary rectangle of white behind the cockpit. Well, to be fair, it isn't arbitrary, it's the robot mode chest. But it serves no logical purpose on the jet mode. Factor in the comical stickers, and the overall impression is of an aircraft that's escaped from a circus. The realism is sacrificed, and unlike some of the better recolours (such as Crasher or Twin Spin) we don't get anything tasty in return.

However, it must be said this version doesn't discolour quite so easily (the white is painted diecast), and if anything the plastic quality is actually better than the original - the undercarriage and wings don't seem as pliable. It's a bit odd that the quality feels so good, and yet it looks so much like a knockoff that'd be found in a discount store with a name like Robot Machine Fighter on the card…

The colours hold up a lot better in robot mode. The white parts have a purpose, at least. He's still not great - and he still really doesn't look like Leader-1. The character might be a bit of a paper tiger, but at least the original toy did manage a sort of stoic dignity.

This makeover isn't really the answer to the figure's problems. In fact, having the head a different colour to the plates on his shoulders, and indeed the rest of the chest, really emphasises how tiny the head piece actually is. It still lacks character, only this time it doesn't even look like the lazy two-dimensional heroic cipher seen on TV.

The casting itself is still distinctly average, with the limbs oversized, those long shoulder connectors and the dodgy feet layout.