Toy Review - DotM Human Alliance Roadbuster

[Magnus]

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.

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.

[GoktimusPrime]

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