Toy Review - DotM Human Alliance Roadbuster

(Please post comments, photos or even a fully comprehensive review - these are just brief details to start you off)

Toy Review - Roadbuster w/ Sergeant Recon


Series - Dark of the Moon
Sub-line - Mechtech Human Alliance
Size/class - (Deluxe)
New/remould/redeco - new
Wave - 2
Released here - not yet (released US May 2011)
Approximate Retail Price - US$30
Approximate Size - 21cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Weaponised Nascar racecar
Main Features/Gimmicks - Human figurine, Missile Launcher
Main Colours - Green, white, light & dark grey.
Main Accessories - Recon figurine, missile, launcher.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/tftoys/mt35.jpg

A random bump I know, but I watched Mad Max over the weekend and have been thinking about this figure.

This is seriously a fantastic piece. I know it's been literally five years since it came out, I know it didn't even warrant getting reviewed by anyone on this forum when it was first released, and I know that aftermarket prices for it run close to $80 AUD, but to my mind even at that price it's worth it.

The vehicle mode is detailed and dangerous looking. It bristles with armament., and there's just about enough paint on it.

The transformation is involved, but makes sense. There's a lot of bang for buck here, and it's not a figure that uses fake parts. This is one of the best representations of a movie transformation that you can get in plastic. The fact that the vehicle mode is to a large extent broken up anyway by the StealthForce style helps.

The robot mode is poseable, heroically proportioned, and bristling with weaponry. Yes, the head looks a bit goofy without the visor, and the hand articulation is slightly odd. I don't really have any major complaints though.

Sgt Recon didn't even make it out of the package before it went into the rubbish bin in 2013 when I got this.

Yes, I know this is massively necro posting, but this is seriously one of my favourite figures and I can't believe there's no user reviews for it on this site!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SharkyMcShark

A random bump I know, but I watched Mad Max over the weekend and have been thinking about this figure.

This is seriously a fantastic piece. I know it's been literally five years since it came out, I know it didn't even warrant getting reviewed by anyone on this forum when it was first released, and I know that aftermarket prices for it run close to $80 AUD, but to my mind even at that price it's worth it.

The vehicle mode is detailed and dangerous looking. It bristles with armament., and there's just about enough paint on it.

The transformation is involved, but makes sense. There's a lot of bang for buck here, and it's not a figure that uses fake parts. This is one of the best representations of a movie transformation that you can get in plastic. The fact that the vehicle mode is to a large extent broken up anyway by the StealthForce style helps.

The robot mode is poseable, heroically proportioned, and bristling with weaponry. Yes, the head looks a bit goofy without the visor, and the hand articulation is slightly odd. I don't really have any major complaints though.

Sgt Recon didn't even make it out of the package before it went into the rubbish bin in 2013 when I got this.

Yes, I know this is massively necro posting, but this is seriously one of my favourite figures and I can't believe there's no user reviews for it on this site!

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I do regret never collecting these Human Alliance figures. And doubly so for those of the Wreckers, I loved those guys in DOTM. I did at least get the Roadbuster and Topspin deluxe figures.

I never understood - still don't - why Hasbro didn't choose either Weaponed-Up or Realistic alt-modes for each size-class/subline, and then stick with that across each line. Surely having a bunch of Deluxes loaded with guns and a bunch of more-realistic HA figures would have worked better than two mixed lots of Best-Out-of-Three...:confused:

HasTak were inconsistent with the other price points. Deluxe Roadbuster was unarmed, but Leadfoot and Top Spin were bristling. Legion Class Top Spin was unarmed but Leadfoot and Roadbuster were bristling (Leadfoot's the only one that's armed up in all price points).

I actually prefer the unarmed versions because they look more like robots in disguise. I doubt anyone would see a Nascar racing around with guns hanging off it in real life. I know that the armed up versions are more movie-accurate though. But the inconsistency between having them either "clean" or "armed" within each price point was weird IMO. Either do one or the other and keep the same among all three Wreckers in the same price point, e.g. have all of them be "clean" as Legion Class figures and "armed" as Deluxes etc.

I've never paid much attention to the Human Alliance line (not my thing), but I just looked at TFwiki and apparently there was never a HA Topspin toy made. :eek: That must suck for HA collectors wanting to complete the set of DotM Wreckers. :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

HasTak were inconsistent with the other price points. Deluxe Roadbuster was unarmed, but Leadfoot and Top Spin were bristling. Legion Class Top Spin was unarmed but Leadfoot and Roadbuster were bristling (Leadfoot's the only one that's armed up in all price points).

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Incorrect..... HA lead foot got the short end of the stick here.... So there is a "clean" car version of each if you get one from each size

The few Bayformers toys I collected revolved around the HA line (Bumblebee and Jazz) as there was some consistency with scale. Combined with Leader class Ironhide and Optimus, I had a pretty neat Bayformers lineup on my shelf.

I would have loved the full set of 3 in the Human Alliance line. I don't think I've even unpacked this guy, I have pretty much a full set of the HA toys but I've only unpacked just under half of them. I consider them to be some of the better moulds of the movie lines. even though being human alliance meant that some of them had to make concessions for humans to have a place in both modes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by UltraMarginal

I would have loved the full set of 3 in the Human Alliance line. I don't think I've even unpacked this guy, I have pretty much a full set of the HA toys but I've only unpacked just under half of them. I consider them to be some of the better moulds of the movie lines. even though being human alliance meant that some of them had to make concessions for humans to have a place in both modes.

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Jazz, Soundwave and Roadbuster are the definitive plastic versions of their characters and are excellent figures. They all hit the sweet spot of intricate/playable/accurate to source.

Barricade is also very very good though not quite on the same level as those first three.

Bumblebee is decent. He's not bad, but then he's the first release in the line so he understandably is a bit rough comparatively.

I've not had a chance to handle the rest so have no personal thoughts on Leadfoot, Skids, Mudflap or Sideswipe, though I will say I've heard less than stellar things about Sideswipe.

I'd have given good money for figures on the same level as HA Jazz/Soundwave/Roadbuster for a Human Alliance Dino, Sideways and Topspin to round out the Bayverse cars in this format.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SharkyMcShark

I'd have given good money for figures on the same level as HA Jazz/Soundwave/Roadbuster for a Human Alliance Dino, Sideways and Topspin to round out the Bayverse cars in this format.

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totally!!

I have opened skids, mudflap and sideswipe.

the first two are not bad, certainly better than their deluxe counterparts. Sideswipe is comparatively simple and a bit hard to balance with a big backpack but it's still a pretty good representation of the screen character.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SharkyMcShark

Jazz, Soundwave and Roadbuster are the definitive plastic versions of their characters and are excellent figures. They all hit the sweet spot of intricate/playable/accurate to source.

Barricade is also very very good though not quite on the same level as those first three.

Bumblebee is decent. He's not bad, but then he's the first release in the line so he understandably is a bit rough comparatively.

I've not had a chance to handle the rest so have no personal thoughts on Leadfoot, Skids, Mudflap or Sideswipe, though I will say I've heard less than stellar things about Sideswipe.

I'd have given good money for figures on the same level as HA Jazz/Soundwave/Roadbuster for a Human Alliance Dino, Sideways and Topspin to round out the Bayverse cars in this format.

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With you on Jazz and Soundwave, although the latter really needed silver paint (looks like it may get it with the upcoming anniversary releases from TakaraTOMY). I think Bumblebee is fairly good, and Sideswipe has a lovely car mode but, as previously mentioned, can be back-heavy in robot mode and needs to be balanced just so.

I understand that although Ferrari had a deal with Paramount via Michael Bay to get a 458 Italia into DotM, at the time, Ferrari had an exclusive licensing deal with Mattel, so that explained the lack of a toy Dino. I don't know about Topspin or Sideways, but it's interesting (most likely a coincidence) that neither of those two had any spoken lines that I can remember, either.

AoE had what looked like opportunities for HA toys - High Octane Bumblebee with Cade or Shane (maybe re-shelling the existing HA mould? or otherwise tweaking it for the new Camaro parts?), New Camaro Bumblebee with Tessa, Drift with Cade or Joshua Joyce, Lockdown with Attinger, and Stinger with Savoy (would've been great if Hasbro managed to get the Pagani licence - Takara managed to get it for the One-Step Changer). I wonder if the trend towards simplification in the AoE toyline had something to do with it, or maybe the HAs for DotM undersold.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Magnus

I understand that although Ferrari had a deal with Paramount via Michael Bay to get a 458 Italia into DotM, at the time, Ferrari had an exclusive licensing deal with Mattel, so that explained the lack of a toy Dino.

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I still don't understand why they couldn't have developed an approximated or generic looking vehicle mode for Dino. It worked with RotF Sideways.