He actually has ALL his accessories this time. This is not a full review but to mainly go over differences compared to earlier versions of the mold. We own Earthrise Prowl for comparison. Barricade is a redeco of Earthrise Smokescreen. He has Smokescreen's chest / front car piece and head, which are different than the other Datsuns. In Siege, all 4 of the Praxians came with 2 of the 3 available accessory sets. For Smokescreen and Bluestreak, they did fine without the siren lights. For Barricade and Prowl, the former was missing his blaster and the latter was missing shoulder cannons. Earthrise Prowl ended up missing the shoulder cannons again. However, the new Barricade has all 3 sets. His new deco is primarily black and lavender, with very little purple this time around. Some may think he doesn't look as exciting as his Siege counterpart, which has clear purple windows. Unlike Siege Barricade, he is more appropriately colored with black parts this time except for his shoulders. I thought they looked terrible in pics, but in real life, I'm actually OK with the lavender shoulders and don't plan on replacing / painting them over. There is quite a bit of black paint on him as well as dark matte gunmetal paint on the hood. The hood paint, however, is already prone to scuffing. Be careful about rubbing his head against the hood panel for the head. His head is also painted in matte black. The blaster has a gold deco to match the Netflix show; the main peg is not painted but the side pegs are. As with other versions of the blaster, when removing from ports, only apply pressure to the back end of the blaster (grab the side pegs) but NOT the tip of the blaster to avoid breakage. The almost laughable inner leg covers do stay on better compared to Prowl. Bot mode: This is the front view. The hood panel for the head doesn't plug in all the way unlike Prowl. Rear view: As with the Siege figure, there's no good way to hide the empty lower legs. Barricade also gets a transparent plastic siren unlike the opaque paint on Prowl. Bot mode comparison: Prowl, Galactic Odyssey Barricade, Siege Barricade (major modding work done). The ER Datsun mold added much needed bulk to bot mode. Alt mode: Unlike Prowl, the torso panels don't hide as well. Alt mode remains extremely compact and thus able to fit in ER Prime's trailer. Rear view of alt mode: All the tabs and panels were finally put into place once the doors were closed. Alt mode comparison: Prowl, Galactic Odyssey Barricade, Siege Barricade (custom blaster). In this view, it's easier to see the paint scuff on the head panel part of the hood. Conclusion: The decision for getting Barricade depends on how much you like his deco and if you want to get Punch / Counterpunch. Deco tastes are a personal decision. We like Barricade's deco again the best this round. He finally comes with all 3 sets of accessories. His paint may scuff, so be careful. If you don't like the Datsun mold in general, then do not buy. If you like the Datsun mold and this deco, then it's an easier decision. We're happy with this one. Granted, purple windows and black shoulders would have brought it over the top for us.
Wish he still had a unique head, but besides that I'm totally fine with my decision to wait for a potential earth mode version. Looks fantastic!
Seems fine, but unnecessary. I didn't love the proportions on the Siege mold for Prowl/Bluestreak/Smokescreen but I think they work better for Barricade. Gives off a brutish appearance. Not sure this set offers anything I find myself really wanting.
Ok, better pinpointed the source of the head panel paint scuffs. I thought it was from bumping against the head during transformation, but it's from the upper chest molding. The panel has to rest against a thin line of support plastic. This is what's causing the linear scuffs. Also going to update the car pics later. I didn't realize until now that I didn't transform the head panel into the right position completely. Standalone Barricade release would have been much better, especially if you don't like the new P/CP deco.
God if only this guy were a little bigger. He's one of the few characters I wouldn't mind bolstering my Classics S1-Movie collection with, but he'll just look slightly too dinky compared to my Universe Datsuns.
Oi, that stinks and not the easiest metallic shade to match either. It's not really gold. More like copper or bronze?
As someone who really likes the ER datsun mold, loves Barricade in general, and got a good copy in the QC department, I'm really happy with this guy. The deco looks great and is actually pretty covert in vehicle mode. Kind of a shame he didn't get a unique head though. Smokescreen's face is just more friendly than I'd like for Barry, so I took matters into my own hands and swapped the Siege noggin on there. Definitely looks more like the head of a guy who would demand to know if you are, in fact, Ladies Man Two One Seven.
No on both counts. Unlike the Siege Prowl head, which (for me) popped right onto the ER body after applying some heat, the Siege Barricade head required some shaving to fit. I sanded the ball joint and a bit of the sculpted detail at the base of the neck to make the head sit comfortably, and then put some superglue on the ball joint to to offset the unevenness. Now that it's on there though, it moves just fine at the transformation works perfectly. In short, it's a slightly tricky headswap but the toy is still fully functional.
I'm starting to regret not getting this. I figured it would be an easy pass since I had 3 copies of the Earthrise Datsun mold already, and I also have the previous P/CP release. But he looks good...
Let me start by saying that I've never been a fan of the Autobot cars or their toy designs over the years. Especially the Datsun Brothers. They've always been too boring and vanilla for me. As for the toy designs of the Autobot cars over various different toy lines over the decades, the transformations have always struck me in hand as clunky and unenjoyable. So when I got Galactic Odyssey Barricade, I expected to be completely and totally underwhelmed. Even though he's a completely different character than the Autobot Cars, he shares all of his design queues with them. Boy was I wrong. I find it pleasantly surprising that I'm thoroughly enjoying this figure. I seriously like it alot. The paint scheme and the overall look of the design in both modes is top notch. Due to the transformation, the articulation in robot mode is about as good as you can get in a Transformers figure. And as for the transformation, it's fun and smooth. The leg transformation is a work of wizardry. Pure magic how the legs collapse in on themselves. In car mode, he's just gorgeous. The design is beautiful. The black police car is menacing. I always loved the idea of a Deception being desguised as a police car. Exude trust and then when the victim is least expecting it, do a complete 180 on them. This car rolls on all four wheels better than any vehicle Transformer that I've ever owned. The only complaint I have is the matte paint on the car hood. That paint scratches if you look at it funny. It scratches at the slightest touch. I had to remove the matte paint on the hood flap that covers the hole that the head fits through in robot mode because the matte paint was taking an absolute beating. (I'll add a pic to this post later) Overall, I'll declare that I'm wowed by this figure. I can't put it down. Edit: Cleaned the matte paint off the center flap on the hood because it was taking a beating during transformation. I think it looks pretty good. I like the color contrast better:
Any tips on getting the back half and spoiler together and looking flush? When I combine the feet/legs in robot mode it's not a problem, but in vehicle mode the spoiler halves leave a gap. Do i need to mod something?
Somebody find a way to prevent scuffing on this guy's hood? I like both robot and alt mode but getting between them freaks me out no matter how careful I try to be.
