Post by Gane on May 12, 2010 13:30:39 GMT 8
Human Alliance Barricade
The Review
Human Alliance Barricade has the typical Human Alliance packaging. Which when you get tired of playing with it, you can just pop it back in, as long as you've kept the twist ties and use the packaging as display base.
Human Alliance Barricade is almost as big as Human Alliance Bumblebee. One thing you'll notice right away is that this guy is almost as heavy as Human Alliance Bee (at least 20 grams lighter).
Detail wise, Barricade has lots of details both in bot and alt modes, which would look really cool after paint mods. One thing that really seem out of place is the thin "police lights" (sorry don't know what's it called) which according to a review I read should have been twice (or 1 1/2) as thick, I'd yet to check the movie for comparison though.
What really surprises me is, all of his parts snap and locks in place in his Alt Mode so you don't really have some parts popping out of place or having a hard time figuring out why this and that don't fit right. Everything is snug in place, so all four wheels touch the ground. The best thing about Human Alliance Barricade is with the black and white body, most of the gaps from transformation are almost hidden from sight, if you have Human Alliance Bumblebee you know what I mean.
Unlike Human Alliance Bumblebee (whose head pops out a lot specially if you're a beginner and you haven't gotten the best trick to transform him), Sideswipe (whose always giving me a hard time with his arms until I got the best trick to transform him) and Skids (whose legs are a tight fit in alt mode and doors that pop open), Barricade is so straight forward that so far I haven't seen a problem in transforming him. Why? Because unlike the first three Human Alliance bots which almost makes the manual useless, Barricade doesn't require studying to tranform him back and forth; you'll always get it right. He's practically similar in a way with the deluxe version.
In bot mode, the only limitations I could see is on his crotch joint, because it is somehow designed to let the figure stand and trasform properly and not for some extreme posability. His right hand is the spinning blade/wheel combo so you only have one hand with posable fingers like Human Alliance Bumblebee.
Good thing however is that the front bumper halves are not "spring loaded" like that of Human Alliance Bumblebee's, you can adjust it's angle by adjusting the undercarriage cannons' position.
His lower jaw is fixed in the neck so moving his head will give you a "talking" action like that of Skids.
Frenzy
Frenzy is tall, he's taller than Sam when he's not hunched. He can sit inside Barricade "shotgun" or the driver side, although it was a snug fit and also folding him up will make him fit into Barricade's front compartment. Sadly he has no boombox alt mode. If you ever want to keep him in the compartment, do it in Barricade's bot mode so you can open the hood properly.
Conclusion
Human Alliance Barricade is almost movie accurate (never mind the toy production limitations) both in bot and alt modes. The ease in transformation and snug fit makes him a great buy. And who can resist that muscle car good looks? He's probably the most prominent bot in movie one , other than Bumblebee, that everybody went out of their way to buy the deluxe toy when they came out. I believe everytime the stocks come out, they are soon sold out in no time...
Hasbro/Takara-Tomy did good in his construction and probably corrected the problems from the first three Human Alliance toys.
Is it worth every buck? A big Yes. And I give it 4 out of 5.
Human Alliance Mudflap
The Review
Human Alliance Mudflap has the typical Human Alliance packaging. Which when you get tired of playing with it, you can just pop it back in, as long as you've kept the twist ties and use the packaging as display base. (Yes I just copy pasted... LOL)
Human Alliance Mudflap is almost as big as Human Alliance Skids. One thing you'll notice right away is that this guy is almost as heavy as Human Alliance Skids (at least 10 grams lighter).
Detail wise, you won't be disappointed. But there are parts in Human Alliance Skids that looked better and would have been nice if they had adapted the ideas properly like the red flaps on his shoulder (part of the hood), the clear lights and a clear plastic for the eyes.
Because they are twins, Human Alliance Mudflap is sharing a lot of transformation points with Human Alliance Skids like the cab/top and legs. And in alt mode, they also share the same problems like popping doors and tight fit on the legs, but my copy somehow has a gap problem behind the passenger side door where the leg and the cab separates. It's wider when the door is open but not as noticable when closed.
Unlike Human Alliance Skids, Human Alliance Mudflaps abdominal area don't reach the lock part on top of his crotch in bot mode, so you'll have to gently give the top and crotch a squeez to lock them together. I do like the way his front wheels are folded inside his torso which also hides a lot of open space like the rest of the Human Alliance toys (except for Barricade).
My main gripe with Human Alliance Mudflap is the lights are painted over and not clear like Human Alliance Skids. The plastic is obviously tinted but they just couldn't have given the clear plastic a go which would have looked much better. I could make a clear version but the chemical is way too difficult to work with.
His eyes are painted as well just like Human Alliance Sideswipe, if there is a way to remove factory paint properly I would take it off...
Chromia
Chromia looks better than Arcee and has lots more detail in that tiny frame. I believe The Legends Class Arcee looks much better than the Human Alliance Skids Arcee (but it is smaller in comparison by a few millimeters)... IMHO... Chromia however will need a few glimpse at the manual before you break any of her parts, so get ready to pop some parts off... She does look better and accurate in bot mode though than Arcee...
Agent Simmons
Nice similaritiy to the real guy, unlike the previous Human Alliance figures. But you will not be able to sit him on Chromia properly like in the box pix beause his arms are too short to reach the handle bars... So he's probably not holding on the handle bars in the box pics so he could sit like that, unless the final version of the figure had some slight changes in poduction...
Conclusion
Human Alliance Mudflap is still a good buy despite the cons I mentioned. But if you already have the Deluxe version, stick with it. Of all the Human Alliance toys so far, Barricade and Sideswipe are the best... (I have my gripes over Human Alliance Bumblebee, but since he's the first in this toyline you really can't help but wonder if they could have done better if they started with a different character, but then again the toyline wouldn't be as popular as it is... I hear Human Alliance Jazz is way better than the rest of the toyline...)
Hasbro/Takara-Tomy obviously didn't correct the problems from Human Alliance Skids when they created his twin brother, instead they used the same design structure. But I suppose they will redeem themselves with Human Alliance Jazz, since the toy is already getting pre-orders before it even comes out...
Is it worth every buck? It all depends wether you want to collect the Human Alliance toyline or not. And I give it 3 out of 5.
Meet the rest of the Human Alliance... gang
I didn't notice the dirt on the counter top while taking the pictures... LOL ;D
The Review
Human Alliance Barricade has the typical Human Alliance packaging. Which when you get tired of playing with it, you can just pop it back in, as long as you've kept the twist ties and use the packaging as display base.
Human Alliance Barricade is almost as big as Human Alliance Bumblebee. One thing you'll notice right away is that this guy is almost as heavy as Human Alliance Bee (at least 20 grams lighter).
Detail wise, Barricade has lots of details both in bot and alt modes, which would look really cool after paint mods. One thing that really seem out of place is the thin "police lights" (sorry don't know what's it called) which according to a review I read should have been twice (or 1 1/2) as thick, I'd yet to check the movie for comparison though.
What really surprises me is, all of his parts snap and locks in place in his Alt Mode so you don't really have some parts popping out of place or having a hard time figuring out why this and that don't fit right. Everything is snug in place, so all four wheels touch the ground. The best thing about Human Alliance Barricade is with the black and white body, most of the gaps from transformation are almost hidden from sight, if you have Human Alliance Bumblebee you know what I mean.
Unlike Human Alliance Bumblebee (whose head pops out a lot specially if you're a beginner and you haven't gotten the best trick to transform him), Sideswipe (whose always giving me a hard time with his arms until I got the best trick to transform him) and Skids (whose legs are a tight fit in alt mode and doors that pop open), Barricade is so straight forward that so far I haven't seen a problem in transforming him. Why? Because unlike the first three Human Alliance bots which almost makes the manual useless, Barricade doesn't require studying to tranform him back and forth; you'll always get it right. He's practically similar in a way with the deluxe version.
In bot mode, the only limitations I could see is on his crotch joint, because it is somehow designed to let the figure stand and trasform properly and not for some extreme posability. His right hand is the spinning blade/wheel combo so you only have one hand with posable fingers like Human Alliance Bumblebee.
Good thing however is that the front bumper halves are not "spring loaded" like that of Human Alliance Bumblebee's, you can adjust it's angle by adjusting the undercarriage cannons' position.
His lower jaw is fixed in the neck so moving his head will give you a "talking" action like that of Skids.
Frenzy
Frenzy is tall, he's taller than Sam when he's not hunched. He can sit inside Barricade "shotgun" or the driver side, although it was a snug fit and also folding him up will make him fit into Barricade's front compartment. Sadly he has no boombox alt mode. If you ever want to keep him in the compartment, do it in Barricade's bot mode so you can open the hood properly.
Conclusion
Human Alliance Barricade is almost movie accurate (never mind the toy production limitations) both in bot and alt modes. The ease in transformation and snug fit makes him a great buy. And who can resist that muscle car good looks? He's probably the most prominent bot in movie one , other than Bumblebee, that everybody went out of their way to buy the deluxe toy when they came out. I believe everytime the stocks come out, they are soon sold out in no time...
Hasbro/Takara-Tomy did good in his construction and probably corrected the problems from the first three Human Alliance toys.
Is it worth every buck? A big Yes. And I give it 4 out of 5.
Human Alliance Mudflap
The Review
Human Alliance Mudflap has the typical Human Alliance packaging. Which when you get tired of playing with it, you can just pop it back in, as long as you've kept the twist ties and use the packaging as display base. (Yes I just copy pasted... LOL)
Human Alliance Mudflap is almost as big as Human Alliance Skids. One thing you'll notice right away is that this guy is almost as heavy as Human Alliance Skids (at least 10 grams lighter).
Detail wise, you won't be disappointed. But there are parts in Human Alliance Skids that looked better and would have been nice if they had adapted the ideas properly like the red flaps on his shoulder (part of the hood), the clear lights and a clear plastic for the eyes.
Because they are twins, Human Alliance Mudflap is sharing a lot of transformation points with Human Alliance Skids like the cab/top and legs. And in alt mode, they also share the same problems like popping doors and tight fit on the legs, but my copy somehow has a gap problem behind the passenger side door where the leg and the cab separates. It's wider when the door is open but not as noticable when closed.
Unlike Human Alliance Skids, Human Alliance Mudflaps abdominal area don't reach the lock part on top of his crotch in bot mode, so you'll have to gently give the top and crotch a squeez to lock them together. I do like the way his front wheels are folded inside his torso which also hides a lot of open space like the rest of the Human Alliance toys (except for Barricade).
My main gripe with Human Alliance Mudflap is the lights are painted over and not clear like Human Alliance Skids. The plastic is obviously tinted but they just couldn't have given the clear plastic a go which would have looked much better. I could make a clear version but the chemical is way too difficult to work with.
His eyes are painted as well just like Human Alliance Sideswipe, if there is a way to remove factory paint properly I would take it off...
Chromia
Chromia looks better than Arcee and has lots more detail in that tiny frame. I believe The Legends Class Arcee looks much better than the Human Alliance Skids Arcee (but it is smaller in comparison by a few millimeters)... IMHO... Chromia however will need a few glimpse at the manual before you break any of her parts, so get ready to pop some parts off... She does look better and accurate in bot mode though than Arcee...
Agent Simmons
Nice similaritiy to the real guy, unlike the previous Human Alliance figures. But you will not be able to sit him on Chromia properly like in the box pix beause his arms are too short to reach the handle bars... So he's probably not holding on the handle bars in the box pics so he could sit like that, unless the final version of the figure had some slight changes in poduction...
Conclusion
Human Alliance Mudflap is still a good buy despite the cons I mentioned. But if you already have the Deluxe version, stick with it. Of all the Human Alliance toys so far, Barricade and Sideswipe are the best... (I have my gripes over Human Alliance Bumblebee, but since he's the first in this toyline you really can't help but wonder if they could have done better if they started with a different character, but then again the toyline wouldn't be as popular as it is... I hear Human Alliance Jazz is way better than the rest of the toyline...)
Hasbro/Takara-Tomy obviously didn't correct the problems from Human Alliance Skids when they created his twin brother, instead they used the same design structure. But I suppose they will redeem themselves with Human Alliance Jazz, since the toy is already getting pre-orders before it even comes out...
Is it worth every buck? It all depends wether you want to collect the Human Alliance toyline or not. And I give it 3 out of 5.
Meet the rest of the Human Alliance... gang
I didn't notice the dirt on the counter top while taking the pictures... LOL ;D
keeping the site active as a place to dump info for easier backtracking. 