I love the new HAB line. I've always loved the idea of Human Alliance where little human figures can interact with robots, i.e. driving vehicles, manning weapons, no matter how crappy the human dudes look. Because this has a vague G.I.Joe/TF crossover vibe to it--posable little human sodiers and transformable vehicles,WIN for me. Plus within the HA line, scale will always be right.

The HAB figures are smaller but packed with creative design--Hasbro has a rigid cost scheme, so at a cheaper price point designers have to make the most out of every part/joint where possible. Becasue they now have a third weapon mode(just for the sake of throwing in the MechTech idea imo), for figures of this small size it is understandable that at least one mode is bound to suffer a little from being a triplechanger. The inclusion of the c-clip system is another brilliant touch, adding in so much more playablility. Whsh they'd done it with all the regular MechTech figures.
There's some ovbious design flaws as well e.g.Thunderhead's hands, but overall I think the figures are all well worth the money you're paying for. They are selling at 15 at kmart now, considering the price differences between Deluxes and HABs (both around $10) in the U.S. compared to what they ask for Deluxes here, pretty sweet deal if you ask me!)

Onto Sandstorm himself. Easily my fave of the first wave.

Vehicle mode:


Love the compact little dune buggy. From the design to the color scheme, and the human companion, all looks somehow very G.I.Joe-ish to me. Kinda reminds me of a vehicle that Dusty or Tunnel rat love to drive (forgot the name of course....) And the human dude vaguely reminds of Duke. The frame of the cockpit is compatable with c-clip weapons--a very thoughtful design.

Bot mode:


Awesome headsculpt. Great articulation. The ankle is a ball joint in a rotating ball socket, which I believe is the first ever used on a Transformer. He even has a waist joint. So you can put him in some sweet poses.







MechTech weapon mode:
Forgot to take pics, but I don't think this mode is all tha bad. Clearly not the best weapon mode (Whirl from the second wave has the best imo), but I think it works well sitting on my voyager Prime's trailer hitch. I love how they use the tailpipes as guns for this mode through a slightly different arm configuration.

Overall it's a lovely little figure. Solid deisgn in bot and vehicle mode. Great articulation. Definitely worths the money if you're willing to fork out over 20 bucks for a Deluxe!