Human Alliance Barricade

Discussion in 'Transformers Feedback & Reviews' started by clonemanager, Jan 4, 2010.

  1. clonemanager

    clonemanager Hunter

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2007
    Posts:
    3,809
    News Credits:
    25
    Trophy Points:
    307
    Likes:
    +767
  2. Rodr-Evil

    Rodr-Evil Anubicron TFW2005 Supporter

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2004
    Posts:
    3,783
    Trophy Points:
    342
    Location:
    Old Khem
    Likes:
    +985
    He can open his mouth?
     
  3. blumpy2000

    blumpy2000 PENGUINS CAN'T FLY!!!

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2009
    Posts:
    1,655
    Trophy Points:
    126
    Likes:
    +0
    It would appear so. Could be the angles, but in some pics it looks open and some it looks closed.
     
  4. Ra88

    Ra88 Dutchman!

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2004
    Posts:
    10,283
    News Credits:
    26
    Trophy Points:
    362
    Likes:
    +2,279
    Yeah, it can open and close. All HA figures have their own little head-gimmick.
     
  5. Lord Of Tetris

    Lord Of Tetris Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2002
    Posts:
    4,487
    Trophy Points:
    312
    Likes:
    +1,601
    Is that an unaltered toy? I've seen photos of HA Barricade on this forum, and they do NOT look like that. I really think that review has either been heavily color-corrected, or is showing off a repainted figure.
     
  6. ElekTriC

    ElekTriC Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2007
    Posts:
    6,854
    News Credits:
    8
    Trophy Points:
    337
    Likes:
    +7,748
    should say custom in the title.. because it has more paint. frenzy's eyes are blue instead of red
     
  7. Ra88

    Ra88 Dutchman!

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2004
    Posts:
    10,283
    News Credits:
    26
    Trophy Points:
    362
    Likes:
    +2,279
    Yeah, it was repainted. Silver weathering, and Frenzy was painted silver with blue eyes.
     
  8. rob_charb

    rob_charb Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2007
    Posts:
    6,020
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    337
    Likes:
    +4,741
    So I got this neat figure for my birthday Saturday and here are my impressions:

    Alt Mode

    The Mustang looks really great. The panel lines aren't too bad, with the most obvious of them being the two pieces that make up the middle of the hood. The wheels have decent clearance on surfaces and roll quite well. The interior is somewhat lacking, with Barricade's head horns sticking out of the dash slightly. There are some molded instruments in the dash and the steering wheel can be turned. The chairs have molded details, as well as two small pegs near the headrest, which come into play later. The windows are clear plastic, as are the covers over the headlights. The lightbar on the roof is made of red and blue transclucent plastic.

    Overall, the vehicle mode is really nice looking, with lots of great touches. The only that looks a little off, in my opinion, is the vanity plate. While cute and worthy of a chuckle, it looks really out of place on a police car. Aside from that, it's a really good looking vehicle. Flipping it over reveals a fair amount of robot kibble underneath, the legs can be seen through the rear windshield and the feet stick out under the rear bumper, similar to Alliance Bumblebee's.

    Transformation is quite simple and very similar to the Deluxe Barricade. The sides pull out to make the arms, the legs unfold from the rear half of the car and the hood seperates to make the torso. Some differences between the Deluxe and Alliance molds are the roof now folds up to make the forearms and the rear half of the car is much, much easier to transform, both to robot and alt mode. Also, the middle of the hood now has two bits that swing out to make the wings beside Barricade's head, while the doors remain one solid piece on each arm. When rotating the feet, the little black spurs on the front pop up and retract automatically.

    Robot Mode

    Despite the similarities in transformation with the Deluxe, the robot mode for the Alliance is a huge a improvement. It has much better balance and articulation. The arms feature a swivel mount just above the elbow joint, which allows for much better poseability. The legs are sturdier and hold poses much better. The hips are somewhat odd though, as the swivel cut is at an angle, not straight, which means moving the legs forwards and backwards moves the legs out to the sides at the same time. The grill in the front can lift up to reveal a compartment for Frenzy to tuck away into when manning the chest guns, which flip up from under the front bumper. The car bumper can then be split and rotated down to the sides to allow for more space to put Frenzy. Bending the right arm at the elbow allows you to rotate the door and seat section up so that it's level with the shoulder, allowing Frenzy to sit on Barricade's shoulder. Attached to the wheel above the shoulder on a rotating swivel is a flip-up cannon/rocket launcher that Frenzy can then man.

    Gimmicks-wise, aside from the line gimmicks of partner-operated weapons, Barricade has a working mouth that can open an close and the "spinning blade" hand. The spikes on the blade fold out for robot mode, and in a nice touch, can only fold one direction have stops to make sure they are folded out into the right position. The blade can spin around on a seperate bit of plastic mounted behind the car wheel. The whole assembly is attached to a spring, so when you bend the blade back and let go, it flicks forward and uses the momentum to spin the weapon. This gimmick, while novel, doesn't work very well. Sometimes the blade won't spin at all, sometimes it will spin nicely and other times the grey bits will catch on the opening they spin through. Still, it works much better than the punch gimmick on the Deluxe in that it will actually stay in place if you don't want it deployed. Which brings us to another downside of the gimmick. Barricade, like Bumblebee, has only one hand, and it's not very useful. The fingers are on a single hinge, so they can be opened and closed, but can't be made into a useful grabbing hand or fist that doens't look incredibly awkward.

    Frenzy is a truly amazing piece of engineering. For such a tiny figure, the amount of articulation is nothing short of spectacular. The shoulder can rotate a full 360 degrees and be bent outwards and inwards as far as the torso will allow. The head can bend forwards and backwards, as can the torso. The head and torso have no twisting ability, however. The legs can bend and turn at the hips and knees. The only things this figure needs to really be perfect are, like Sam (and I'm assuming Epps and Fugly), are elbows. Still, just the fact they were able cram that much articulation into such a tiny figure, when they didn't actually need to, is great. On the back of Frenzy's torso is a small block with a hole in it, which brings back to the peg on the car mode's chairs. The pegs can plug into the hole on Frenzy, firmly locking him in place. Onthe bottom of the car grill is another peg, which can also be used to lock Frenzy in place in the chest compartment.

    Overall, I'd say this a fantastic figure. My only gripes with it are the hand and lack-there-of on the left arm. The gimmicks are well done and the partner-operated weaponry is much less intrusive than on Bumblebee. In alt mode, it could almost make for a great Alternator/BT, but there's just a little too much kibble showing. A highly recommended figure with loads of detail, great articulation and poseability and loads of fun to pick up and fiddle around with.
     
  9. guard convoy

    guard convoy The Big Daddy

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2009
    Posts:
    14,203
    News Credits:
    17
    Trophy Points:
    312
    Likes:
    +429
    i got to get barricade, it is the first HA i have been flat out impressed with....and it doesn't come with a crappy human figure....lol but i must get mudflap, for simmons makes it a must, and then i need skids, for if you got mudflap you need the other
     
  10. Depthcharge

    Depthcharge Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2004
    Posts:
    2,394
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    312
    Likes:
    +598
    Ebay:
    Picked up Barricade today and let me say........... WOW!

    Now, for frame of reference I loved Binaltech/Alternators and so far have been very pleased with the HA line-up. HA Bumblebee and Skids were great and good respectively (Sideswipe gets an A for effort) and Barricade here does not disappoint. Here's my assessment.

    Frenzy: For being a tiny action figure, he looks quite good and has just enough articulation to suite me. The exact words I uttered after removing him from the package were, "Holy crap, he even stands up on his own." He is able to sit quite comfortably inside Barricade in either the driver or passenger seat so hey, +1 for actually achieving a design goal without excessive force *looking at you Sideswipe). A HUGE bonus to me is his level of interaction with Barricade. Frenzy folds up (not transforms, just kinda condenses down into a Frenzy block) and can be stored within Barricades hood just like the deluxe figure.

    Vehicle mode: Looks great. Panel lines are well hidden and/or fit snugly together and he rolls nicely with a fair amount of ground clearance. The car mode is very solid as well. As mentioned above Frenzy figure fits inside the cabin quite easily or you can store him inside the front end of the car. It's also more or less possible to utilize the chest cannon interactive feature in this mode which does a nice job of simulating the interrogation scene from the first movie.

    Transformation: The HA line has been pretty good at being complex but not frustrating and Barricade continues that trend. He's pretty kibble ridden in the arm area but manages to avoid being overly fiddly, if that makes any sense. You'll likely activate his spring loaded blade mechanism a few times by accident but its no big deal and not really annoying since its easy to reset or just leave alone once its sprung.

    Robot mode: Way better than the deluxe version in terms of looks and articulation. Like most of the HA's his articulation is a little weird in spots due to the transformation scheme but it is still very functional and you get all the basic joints that you would expect except the waist. Actually upon closer inspection it looks like the waist should be able to turn but on my figure at least the best I can get is a wiggle. Might just need to eat my spinach and try again. The spinning blade gimmick is neat enough though I'd have personally preferred a hand, but oh well. Mercifully the little blades on the tire are NOT spring loaded; it sounds like it would be a fun idea but with all compound spring gimmicks I have a feeling i would end up being more annoying and difficult to keep locked down. Tons of fun here where interaction with Frenzy is concerned. Frenzy can ride on Barricades back, in his chest, hanging out of his chest to man the chest cannons, or on either arm. Not a big fan of the arm chairs this time around as basically you're just having Barricade hold his hand behind his back so it looks a little silly. Again, my personal opinion is that the chest compartment is an amazing bonus feature.


    In closing, I'm very very happy with this figure not just because I like it better than the deluxe but because it's everything I look for in a Transformer. Great looking in both modes, complex, sturdy, and well articulated. As an added bonus, he's got gimmicks and play features that actually work without detracting from the any of the above. If you can stand to fork out the $30 for Barricade, I highly recommend you get punished and enslaved.
     
  11. Ashstar

    Ashstar Liberator of Toys

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2007
    Posts:
    442
    News Credits:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    127
    Likes:
    +5
    Yup, he definitely has waist articulation. Mine was a lil' tight at first but once you've moved them a lil' they'll loosen up nicely. :thumbs2: 
     
  12. Ace Convoy

    Ace Convoy Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2009
    Posts:
    6,866
    News Credits:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    242
    Location:
    Central Virgina
    Likes:
    +56
    Ebay:
    OK...I have decided that he is my next TF
     
  13. Sage o' G-fruit

    Sage o' G-fruit Critics gonna critique

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2008
    Posts:
    7,108
    News Credits:
    11
    Trophy Points:
    227
    Likes:
    +18
    Totally picking this up. I'm getting all the HAs if it kills me.
     
  14. AndreyOfDoom

    AndreyOfDoom maximize

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2004
    Posts:
    2,653
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    312
    Likes:
    +1,950
    Well said!!
     
  15. Gligamesh51

    Gligamesh51 @ThatGuyNeedaHam

    Joined:
    Feb 13, 2009
    Posts:
    1,694
    News Credits:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    287
    Likes:
    +706
    Jeez, this needs to hurry up and hit southern ohio! I'm SO ready to own Barricade!
     
  16. Deceptigtar

    Deceptigtar Sworn Decepticon Assassin

    Joined:
    May 24, 2006
    Posts:
    13,185
    News Credits:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    342
    Likes:
    +191
    Ebay:
    best ha so far hands down. no kibble and the seats are not even seen from the front.
    [​IMG]
     
  17. xterry

    xterry Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2009
    Posts:
    1,610
    News Credits:
    45
    Trophy Points:
    126
    Likes:
    +51
    Ebay:
    I change my mind...to have to
     
  18. Squall42080

    Squall42080 Autobot RSX Type-S

    Joined:
    Mar 5, 2003
    Posts:
    4,691
    News Credits:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    332
    Location:
    Lancaster, PA
    Likes:
    +554
    Ebay:
    Facebook:
    Twitter:
    Instagram:
    Flickr:
    YouTube (Legacy):
    I took these pics for the Cool Stuff thread in the Toy Discussion forum, but figured they could be enjoyed here as well!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  19. OMEGAPRIME1983

    OMEGAPRIME1983 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 3, 2005
    Posts:
    13,865
    News Credits:
    3
    Trophy Points:
    362
    Likes:
    +2,741
    Ebay:
    have you guys noticed that there is an extra hinge on the outside portion of his forearms that allow it to swing inward to make for a more tapered looking arm! The hinge I am talking about is right next to his elbow joint. I'm not talking about the bicep joint either. I just thought that you guys would be interested in this. I'll try to get picture tomorrow for ya's!! Cheers!
     
  20. Houndvoice

    Houndvoice Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2009
    Posts:
    1,809
    Trophy Points:
    126
    Likes:
    +1
    Thanks for the reviews and pics guys, this is now a must-buy! :drool: