Toy Review - STRONGARM (Legacy)

STRONGARM (Robots in Disguise 2015 Universe Strongarm)
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Legacy
Hypo-line - Evolution
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - Repaint/retool of Legacy Elita One
Wave - IV
Released here - ?? 2023
Approximate Retail Price - $40
Approximate Size - 13cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Police ute
Main Features/Gimmicks - N/A
Main Colours - white, blue, gunmetal grey, matte black
Main Accessories - service sidearm, lightbar

https://i.ibb.co/4tf1Cmz/TL-strongarm01.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/q1TF6c7/TL-strongarm02.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/LZRs8mD/TL-strongarm03.jpg

Yamada Kohki and Mark Maher have done an admirable job in retooling Elita-1 as a cartoon-like depiction of Strongarm; given the base mould that they were working with, there's not a whole lot that they could've done to make it better. Having said that, many of the drawbacks on this toy come from the fact that it is a retool of a mould that was never originally intended to be Strongarm, coupled with the complexity of trying to make it look more like the cartoon model. The biggest drawback are how the vehicle kibble that sits above the shoulders hinder movement. You can increase the range of movement a bit by deliberately mistransforming the doors to allow more space behind the shoulders for the kibble to swing back, and indeed, the toy comes packaged with the doors mistransformed like this. The new head and chest are both sculpted and painted very nicely and look spot-on with the cartoon model. The doors are meant to swing up in robot mode in an attempt to emulate Strongarm's iconic door wings, but they don't sit high (another restriction of being a retooled Elita-1). The forearms are suitably chunky enough, and the way that that lightbar can attach to the forearms is an incidental but neat nod to the cartoon model; although the cartoon model has Strongarm's lightbar split into two, with one half on each forearm. Still, no other RiD Strongarm toy has vehicle lightbars on any of the arms (they either omit it or use faux kibble), so I am appreciative that this toy can do it at all. From cartoon likeness POV, the lower legs are really too thin; but again, Yamada and Maher can only work with what they've got.

My only real gripe about this toy are the shoulders. I would've preferred to this toy to allow the shoulder kibble to swing back and out of the way, like they do on Elita 1 and Minerva. But I understand that they were aiming for cartoon likeness, so at least there is a justifiable reason for this shortcoming (although I personally would've sacrificed that for greater poseability).

This toy is currently on sale on Amazon; I got mine from JB Hi-Fi price matching Amazon's sales price. So recommended if cheap.

I decided to pick up Strongarm in The Gamesmen's clearance and am very surprised by her and have enjoyed the toy much more than I was expecting to based on reviews I have heard here and elsewhere.

The transformation is enjoyable and different enough to Elita/Minerva to have some unique character.

There are adjustable doors on the back, which I feel were supposed to reflect the way the doors hang off her back in the show model, but the hinges don't quite work to get them up high enough or out of the way of arm movement to be noticible or useful

In photos the head proportions bother me as it seems to stick out and be a bit larger and a bit more blocky than the show model, however in person this isn't as much of an issue.

I would have been disappointed paying $35-40 dollars for this, but at $25 I feel I got more than my money's worth.