Hey, is his head like REALLY easy to pop off accidentally for anyone else?

 

I've read so many comments on previous uses of the mould about the pistols either being too small or too flat (when combined) for handheld use... and there are ports on his forearms that I thought would solve that issue. And here you did it, thank you.

I hope I find this wave overstocked on shelves.

 

I don't have any issues with my copy. Works like it should.

 

They fit in his hand just fine as well, I just thought they looked cooler on the forearm

 

Spinning off from my Smokescreen review...

Siege Barricade is a retool of Siege Prowl (a figure that got a straight repaint as Bluestreak, naturally) via a new head, Barricade would go on to be repainted as Smokescreen. I had passed on Prowl and Bluestreak from the beginning due to their low-feature alt modes, those blank canvases of their alt modes just called for something more interesting; thankfully Smokescreen and Barricade were announced.

Barricade comes with a left and right shoulder cannon weapons that combine to form a double-barreled weapon, and a repaint of Prowl's light bar accessory (cast in purple with dark gray paint in the middle and red stripes under each bar). At one point shown with more paint on the light bar and painted text on the doors (looking an awful lot like a Cybertronian "to punish and enslave"), the final version has omitted the top paint on the light bar and the smaller text, leaving only the "POLICE" in Cybertronian.

Pros:
- the added paint details to the hood and doors make this mold work very well
- intimidating Decepticon-themed deco in both modes that looks great
- G1-appropriate accessories look nice, attach to alt mode to form a murderous cop car
- very good articulation
- dark purple wheels have painted matte black hubs
- good sculpted likeness and a balance of sculpted details and sleekness
- alt mode looks good in this paint scheme
- dark purple canopy looks great, and unlike some uses of this mold, the whole thing is underpainted silver
- alt mode center matte paint stripe continues all the way to the back
- the metallic mauve plastic for the lighter gray bits is a great fit with the black plastic, the dark gray matte stripe, and purple clear bits
- brassy face paint and red eye paint are clean, look nice
- interesting transformation, and nothing feels dangerously stressed or fragile
- combined cannons weapon looks good pegged to side of forearm
- rolls cleanly
- parts aren't as hollow as most Siege figures

Neutral:
- bot mode is a little small for the line's deluxes
- mid-torso originally shown with black-painted belt, paint omitted in production
- car splitter (chin spoiler) sits slightly lower than rest of bodywork, inconsistent with cop car design, but minor and doesn't affect ground clearance
- transformation to alt mode has alignment issue that's held together by the doors, this is just tight tolerances with the front end hinge and it works fine
- alt mode hood center panel can be pushed in a tiny amount under its clip, not even half a millimeter, yet is easily pushed back into place without de-transforming via the included weapon
- unpainted taillights, can just imagine they're tinted dark
- light bar accessory has a small tab for alt mode alignment but it doesn't really do much

Cons:
- paint wear originally shown as across alt mode nose but we only get a clumsy swipe at the very front of the fenders that ends abruptly
- hood is just begging for a police-style star for his head to appear through
- facade stomach at the front, obviously empty torso from the back
- very hollow lower legs, thin upper legs
- C.O.M.B.A.T. system integration is a little weak with a foot peghole that's on each heel, and an oddly-placed side 5mm hole on each shin
- not many useful 3mm fire blast effect pegs, none in alt mode aside from weapons

Overall: B+
Barricade works really well as a G1-inspired Cybertronian Decepticon police car, his dark colors look great together, intimidating without being monochromatic. He moves well and has a nice transformation. He doesn't have as much COMBAT or fire blast integration as others in the line, but is still pretty darn slick overall.

Articulation:
- ball as swivel neck
- universal shoulder
- 5mm peg hole shoulder pad rotates from top to side
- rotation bicep
- hinged elbow
- rotation wrist
- rotation waist
- universal hip
- hinged knee
- side-tilt ankle
- hinged foot

Connections:
- 3mm fire blast peg left shoulder front (hidden in alt mode)
- 3mm fire blast peg right shoulder front (hidden in alt mode)
- 3mm fire blast peg left forearm front (hidden in alt mode)
- 3mm fire blast pegs back of door-wing, 2 each (hidden in alt mode)
- 3mm fire blasts peg front and back each shoulder cannon
- 5mm peg hole top of each shoulder (each panel rotates to side) (hidden in alt mode)
- 5mm peg hole back
- 5mm peg hole side of each forearm (hidden in alt mode)
- 5mm peg hole fists (hidden in alt mode)
- 5mm peg hole outside of each shin (hidden in alt mode)
- 5mm peg hole underside of each heel (hidden in alt mode)
- 5mm peg hole top of light bar
- 5mm peg as grip of light bar
- 5mm peg hole side of each shoulder cannon
- 5mm tab each shoulder cannon

 

What I didn't realise when I bout him was that he has a gunmetal stripe going down the middle of the car, rather than being all black. It's really nice, and I don't think any of us would have knocked the figure had it not been there.

In hand, I still wish the pale purple was a bit of a bolder color, or broken up a bit. A deeper purple would have gone well with the legs as well.

I'm glad I held off on Prowl as well- it's a nice mold, but Prowl really has the worst colour scheme available for it.

 

I like the figure. Good mold that looks great in Black like this, especially with Barricade's black-police-car look.

Unfortunately

My copy not only came with a loose head (looks like the glue wasn't set right when they put it together) That holds on okay but if you try to tilt it up beyond a simple chin raise, his head bloody pops off, but also he only came with one of his blasters. Good for reenacting his G1-style art where he only has one shoulder blaster, bad for anything else.

 

I have the opposite problem- I think there is some glue on the inside that is making the head tip to one side. I tried to take the head off to see if I can sort it but it’s rammed on very hard and I’m concerned it will damage the peg if I try and force it. Anyone got any advice on this?

 

Tried some steam from a boiling kettle to see if that loosens it?

 

Are his guns purple or grey?

NICE, thanks for the pics. Are his guns purple or grey?

 

In my lighting at least, his guns, arms, upper legs, and abdomen are all lavender, which is a pale purple with a hint of grey.

 

great thank you for Checking! 

 

Mine has this same thing, I JUST removed it in exploring the situation for this reply. It was SUPER easy to get the head off and back on despite looking tough, I just de-transformed the upper body out of the way, then slowly and gently rocked the head sideways and out it came. It went back on exactly the same way, the final move being to press the head straight down to fully seat it onto the ball joint.

The issue causing the head to tilt is the ball joint molded slightly askew leaving a tiny lip, I've seen that on a lot of Transformers over the years. It's not hard to sand down, but you have to be VERY careful not to take off too much material as that would leave the head wobbly. Using a strong light source, I identified where the work needed to be - on mine, a tiny burr on the left, and the mismatched lip stuck out on the upper right and left - then used a fine sandpaper (1000-grit) with just a few gentle strokes on the trouble spots, checked and the lip and burr were gone.

 

Thanks! Will give it a go  

 

Got this guy from Amazon. I passed on Prowl, none of the reviews impressed me for whatever reason, but man, Barricade works hard for me. Love him. So much so I went ahead and ordered Smokescreen.

Love the execution on this guy, everything works for me.

 

Can anyone post a comparison pic of him with Caliburst (or Terror-Daxtyl)? I'm curious to see how well the colors look together.

 

Caliburst looks real good, the Axe, not so much. The grays don't match (Barricade is more purple hued, while Dactyl is flat gray), and the purple on Dactyl is a very plum colored. But who gets who is always up to you.

 

Got mine in the mail today! I passed on Prowl since he looked way too drab, got very excited when they revealed Barricade with his blacks and purples!


My copy was mostly fine, only problem was the head having some flash in the balljoint socket that made it impossible to turn and very easily pulled off. It kinda scared me how well it caught the balljoint once I cleaned it up, though. Seems like a decently common problem with this head?

Gave him his rightful pistol and baton from an alternate future, and a do-over with a silver paint marker to break up some of the purple. Also extended the weathering so it doesn't simply stop at the bumper, and added some streaks to his shoulders because I can picture him being the kinda bot who likes his shoulder-tackle approach.

Overall I enjoyed this toy, looks great with Hound's drum-fed rifle, sadly the extremely clean bar of soap altmode doesn't really leave much in the way for weapon ports. Kinda makes me wanna try and see if I can get a Siege Bluestreak.

The forearms and lower torso plate missing their black paint did make the middle section a sea of lilac purple, though...