Picked up Studio Series 28 Barricade by chance. I didn't even realise this was available in Singapore yet. Bought at first sight!



Upon opening it up, it looked really good. Nicely detailed and probably even better than the original one from 2007. But this guy is really small in comparison to the original one. How much Hasbro figures have shrunked since then.....

Bot mode is surprisingly very stable. Not as flimsy as the original one. The roof and hood folds nicely on the back. And the extra accessory makes the spinning weapon with rubber spikes that he can hold on either hand.

Transformation is pretty simple. Its actually very straightforward. Like the Bumblebee Studio Series, the tricky part comes with having to tab in all the panels when in alt mode so it all sits flush. Once all that is done correctly, the vehicle looks great!

Alt mode looks good. But yet again like on the MPM Barricade, Hasbro missed out the 643 on the front bumper. Why Hasbro why??? Oh and the headlights cover is a piece of black plastic instead of a clear plastic like how it is on the MPM. I think if they had used clear plastic for the headlights, it'll look even better. But not bad overall.

Oh and I did a simple stop motion of it too....

 

By the way, I forgot to mention that the push bar in alt mode is made of rubber. The sharp pointed part behind his head in robot mode is also made of rubber. Same rubber material used on the spikes of the weapon.

 

Great figure. Very posable, great small size, nice paint (except the headlights, as mentioned), and looks great with the other decepticons. It just doesn't excite me that much cause every Barricade has pretty much transformed the exact same way for over 10 years now. Not a bad thing, just makes him less exciting for me. I've sold every other Barricade I own so this guy will be my definitive Barricade from now on.

I hope he's the main villain in Bumblebee 2 hehe

 

I reckon a stop-motion transformation should be mandatory in every review from now on. Just sayin'.

 

This guy is probably my favourite of the first 2019 batch of SS. Not perfect (no thigh swivel, the backpack feels like it should rise higher on his back, and it's initially tricky to line up the internal tabs), but it's a figure where I like it more than the flaws bother me.

Plus, the tabbing at least gets easier through a combination of practise and breaking in the tabs. The main thing is where the arms tab into the thighs, it's difficult to line up parts buried fairly deeply inside the car.

 

I think the only that detracts (without having it in hand) are the light grey hands. Otherwise it looks great IMHO.

 

Thanks for the great review, one of my more anticipated figures of the year  

 

do you have tlk barricade? any chance this guy's head can fit on the tlk mold?

 

There’s no thigh swivel? Bummer man. That’s super disappointing

 

Yeah, no thigh swivel.

Also, be careful with the balljoint connecting the bonnet to the windshield. The socket is on the windshield, and hence is clear plastic.

 

Lmao i know...as i was transforming it Im thinking this guys days are seriously numbered.....

 

It feels like the kind of part which will crack, but not degrade further at least.

It is an unusual use of a balljoint though, I can't recall the last time a balljoint was used for something like this. It makes sense, after all the bonnet needs to angle flat with respect to the windshield so it can rotate over it. And they made it reasonably stiff, since there's no tab to secure it. But then it's a stiff balljoint in a clear plastic socket.

 

I painted the headlight section silver and it makes the car mode look a lot better. Might try and refine the paint to make it look more like actual headlights but for now I’m happy:

 

Makes me wonder if it would be possible to remove the solid tab & glue on a piece of clear acrylic in its place - if not add some round details to look like lights.

 

The clear ball-joint socket was cracked on mine right out of the box. Not fantastic, I'm extremely gentle with my figures so I don't think I'll break it but its not good to see at all.

Barricade is not great. I don't care too much about his size because of SS' scale emphasis but I'm still not excited by him at all. I picked him up to complete the 06 Decepticons, but his lack of articulation is pretty lame and I hate the way they didn't give you the ability to integrate his weapon into his arm. It looks darn awkward with him holding the end of it so the blade is miles away from him and the fact that all stock photos posed him in such a way that you don't notice how long the weapon is is not great.

At first I was like "I remember DOTM Barricade being way better", but then I actually went back and had a look at him. This guy's definitely an improvement, but after how much I loved Starscream and Blackout I'm a little disappointed.

 

well.. i can really feel the inflation difference.
11 to 12 years ago price wise.

SRP of such a deluxe class figure went double in that span of time.

 

Yeah that wouldn't be too hard. I'm probably just gonna paint it more to look like headlights cause that's easiest.

This screenshot from the movie I took shows that the weapon was actually quite long. I like it better that way since it looks more menacing, although I agree it would have been cool if there were a way to flip his hand in and attach it directly or something.

My parents tell me the subway used to cost 25 cents. Now it's almost $3. Stuff gets more expensive over time, especially luxury items. The figures have improved, which is the most important thing to me. If they were still as inaccurate and blocky as before I'd have a problem.

 

Im not gonna get into the whole “cheapening quality” discussion because I disagree with it but some of the decisions made with this figure I just dont understand...especially clear plastic on the ball joint that connects allof the panels in his spine?! Ridiculous. Stinks because i def see potential in the sculpt. Oh well

 

Yeah, with every other change in construction, that we still get clear ball joints generation after generation is surprising and disappointing. Maybe it's like gold plastic where they think they've got an overall stronger formula, or a simple calculation that the damage won't happen quickly enough to be a bother.

 

eugh. i really do not like this toy. i pretty much bought it to give the head to my tlk barricade custom and that's about all it's good for.

he's very shrimpy. i should be used to it by now, and admittedly the arms are long enough to almost hide it, but they still feel very thin and not really substantial in adding mass.

the rubber parts suuuck. i get why they're their, especially for the weapon, but i think the face is rubber too so even my custom will need a new head in 5 years. the fake kibble is rubber too but it has flex, which is the only reason i can even get it to fit into alt mode.

the hood is a ball joint in a clear plastic socket, which... snapped as soon as i tried to turn the joint. not really sure where their heads were when designing that. i mean, it's still functional, but... shit.

he can't hold his weapon worth jack, and even if he could it'd look... pretty dumb.

i will say, though, for an otherwise disappointing toy, the digitigrade legs do an impressive job of locking in and he's very well balanced. that's pretty impressive.



the head looks fucking great on tlk barry though, and luckily it snapped right into place.



EDIT: since he was beheaded by his more humanoid cousin, decided to try some alternate heads...