Windcharger (2002/2007)
A keychain version of Windcharger was released by Hasbro licensee Fun4All as part of the second wave of Transformers keychains. Though based on the original toy, this is an entirely new set of molds, with a number of small differences throughout (minor proportion differences and generally softer edges), but the most immediately obvious one is the small plastic ring added to the front bumper, which the metal key chain attaches to. This version also lacks the silver paint on his robot-mode face. The keychains came on pretty close reproductions of their original cardbacks from 1984. These were originally sold in chains like Hot Topic and video game stores, but over the course of several years, found their way even to the racks of Wal-Mart.
In 2003, Takara released all four of the keychain Minibots (Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Windcharger, and Brawn) as 7-Eleven exclusives. They came in blind-packed boxes so you don’t know which one you got until you open ‘er up, plus each one could also come in a “chase” all-black version exclusive to this release (weirdly, the black version did have silver face paint while the normal color release still didn’t!). The black deco was later repurposed as an evil clone of Windcharger.
All four keychains were re-released in 2007 under the Heroes of Cybertron banner by Basic Fun (Fun4All having gone bankrupt in 2004). Sold on new cardbacks with the Heroes look, these releases are functionally identical to the originals except for the actual chain part, which is a different style with an additional black plastic tab attached. Unlike the other three re-released keychains, 2007 Windcharger does not have a change to his company stamping, because bizarrely there is no company stamping on any iteration of the Windcharger keychain for reasons unexplained.
This version of the mold was redecoed to make the BotCon Europe 2002 exclusive Rook.
