Dirt Boss is a Deluxe Class Decepticon, available at Toys R Us for about $10, and for that price, you don't expect much. Let's see what we get. ALT MODE Dirt Boss' alt mode is a souped-up monster truck - the huge wheels definitely get this part over. He's mostly purple, with green accents on his piping and wheel supports. THOUGHTS: There's a lot of nice details. He has two large exhaust pipes in the bed of the truck, which you can imagine could speed his mode up considerably, almost making him a hot rod truck. According to Dirt Boss' bio, he's deceptively fast, and you can see him pouring on the power from these exhausts and leaving everybody in the dust. In addition, his front part, which become his legs in robot mode, can extend out in an undocumented "transformation", almost becoming claws he could use to drag rocks away. Dirt Boss' red and silver Cyber Planet Key goes into the rear bumper of the truck. Once inserted, the wheel support snap down and out, dropping Dirt Boss' body and widening his wheelbase considerably (the tires go from being under the body to outside the body). It's a simple gimmick, but appropriate for an off-road vehicle like Dirt Boss - the gimmick would give him better support in certain rocky situations. TRANSFORMATION Pretty simple. The front part of the truck pulls sideways and out to become the legs (with the front bumper pulling out to become feet supports). The read sides of the truck pull out and twist on its joints to become Dirt Boss' arms. Use the Cyber Planet Key to extend Dirt Boss' wheelbase (or just pull them out gently) and then fold back the bed of the truck. A revealed piece of the bed then folds down to reveal the head. THOUGHTS: I don't think the robot mode's nearly as cool as the vehicle mode - it seems to suffer from "car on my back" syndrome - the wheelbase on his back is overpowering, and the positioning of it limits his arm articulation (can't bend them to his back because the wheels are in the way). I also don't know if this is a part of my toy, but I notice two glitches that bother me - the head piece does not bend down flat against the shoulders of the robot mode, so it sticks up a bit - ESPECIALLY if the Cyber Planet Key is in place, because there's a small tab in the way. This seems REALLY sloppy in my opinion. Dirt Boss has surprisingly good articulation despite the limitations - the legs have both complete hip and knee articulation, with the arms being able to move and pivot at the shoulders and elbows. You can put him in a large number of poses, as long as he doesn't fall over from the weight on his back. This is most likely why he has VERY long feet - to give a better support base. In robot mode, Dirt Boss' Cyber Planet Key fits into the same slot as before. When inserted, the two exhaust pipes flip into a forward position next to Dirt Boss' head, becoming twin shoulder-cannons. It's simple but it works to give Dirt Boss some firepower - ESPECIALLY since he doesn't come with a weapon of any sort otherwise. The only problem with this was mentioned above - it causes his head to stick up slightly because of the tabs needed. FINAL THOUGHTS I like Dirt Boss, despite the criticisms above. I think he has a really neat vehicle mode for putting around (especially in battles against his listed arch-enemy, Hot Shot). His robot mode has some glitches but still has good points about it, and he has amazing articulation all things considering. If you like the vehicle mode, I would recommend this toy. FINAL GRADE: B+
The wheels dont bother me so much. He manages to look powerful regardless of them. What impresses me about the toy is two chip gimmicks working with the same slot, I think he's the only figure in the series to accomplish that. How is the clear plastic on Dirt Boss? I have Inch-Up and it's so dark you cant even see the seat molded inside the vehicle mode.
The plastic's dark - if you look hard you can see the seats inside, but only if light reflects off the seats - otherwise, it's too dark to see. Mike
I just got Dirt Boss today, I enjoyed him. however, i feel that he suffers from Meister-Shockblast - various combiner syndrome, his legs are backwards. i rotated his shins and then did the twist and twirl. i think it looks much better (hides the screws.)
Um, did you transform him correctly? The waist rotates 180° so the engine block is at the back and the grey piece is at the front. The twist and twirl isn't necessary. All you do is pull the legs down, rotate the waist, and rotate the lower legs forward. Unless, of course, you actually did get a factory error. And then nevermind.
I made that mistake originally and wondered why his legs wouldn't go straight. Rotated the waist 180 degrees and hey! The legs work right. Mike
i think mine might be a factory error then. when i twist the lower portion, the screws are revealed. and the fact that his head doesn't go down flush onto anything is annoying. when i active his CYBER PLANET KEY he's lookin up at the sky.
After the dissapointment of not being able to find Sideways or Snarl, I picked up the last of the initial deluxes I was missing: Dirtboss. Part of why I picked him up was how great I found his character to be on the show. Little did I know how cool the toy is. The bigfoot vehicle mode is alot of fun and it's just a blast to roll his wheels along your bed or pillows. The transformation is kind of fun and all the joints are nice and tight. The instructions don't really describe the leg transformation well, but if you use the pic on the back of the card you should get it right. He has one of my favorite head-sculpts. Despite the bulk on his back, he balances surprisingly well. Love how the cyber key operates not only the wheel-base, but also his flip-out shoulder guns. Any of you who have been passing up this guy should definitely grab him. He's great!
All Dirtbosses come packaged that way. Just do the Meister hip tranformation to sort that out, and all will be good. If you transform him back, you don't need to bother doing that again. I really like the guy, and his character in the 'toon really cements him. I don't think we've seen many characters with his level of blustery arrogance before, and he definitely looks the part in both modes, very aggressive. I also like the courtesy that was provided in linking his wheel mechanism to his hip articulation as well. Instead of suffering from Armada Blurr or Wheeljack's "pseudo-Powermaster" issue, transforming the hips will unlock the mechanism for you, putting the wheels in the correct spot.
Cybertron Dirtboss (but more specifically the GF Inch-up version, since there is less green, more purple) is probably my favourite transformer toy of all time. Ever. I've had the GF version since it was available for import earlier this year and my love for the toy has never left. I was upset at how many people hated this toy when he first came out, but I noticed that when these same people actually buy the toy and get to handle him, they end up loving him! He has one of the coolest alt modes ever with a neat gimmick (a 2-for-1 gimmick because of his key-activated shoulder cannons in bot mode) He is probably the most poseable figure I own and the wheels on his back keep him balanced nicely. He has one of the coolest head sculpts and his colour scheme is very G1 decepticon-ish. Anyone Transfan reading this who has yet to pick up Dirt Boss (although I dislike the Cybertron version's over-use of green and lack of detailed paint apps) should definately considering purchasing this awesome toy... one that will probably go down as being one of the most under-appreciated TFs of recent years!
Dirt Boss isn't bad..there are many other better deluxes in lines present and past but the vehicle mode is pretty cool, and the key activated gimmick definitely gets the point across that this guy was meant to go over all sorts of terrain. I like te fact there's two sepparate gimmicks for the vehicle and robot modes...but the head popping up from the spring mounted guns in robot mode bugs me something feirce. Overall I'd give it a B- since the articulation is really good.
I have to disagree with you. I started off hating him, saying I'd never buy him. Then I was convinced that he was at least kinda cool, and worth picking up. Then I saw him with Sideways in a two-pack, so I had to pick him up. Maybe my expectations were too high for an older figure (I also picked up CD Red Alert), or I'm comparing him to the other two TFs I got... but after handling him, I'm still not too impressed. He certainly isn't BAD, but he doesn't strike me with too many good things either. He's middle-of-the-line for me. Straight up C.
