Now,

I have just gotten my first HA figure, HA Jazz.

I find his alt and robot modes both very impressive, and am looking into other figures on this line. I don't think I will want to collect all of them as I feel Mudflaps and Skids, though are decent, are not worth their price tags. So I wanted to know, if anyone here have any recommendations about

Barricade
Sidewipe
BumbleBee

Are there any that rivals Jazz in execution and playability? Please let me know, I am very interested!

 

I love Barricade! He's my favorite of the line so far, but I will admit that Jazz is a better toy. I'm ok with Bumblebee, but I do think he could have been a bit better. I don't like the seats on his forearms. Skids is actually a damn fine figure as well! I wouldn't pass him up so easily if I were you. I (like most people) never found Mudflap @ retail and as a result will probably never have him in my collection, unfortunately. Sideswipe has never interested me so I have no feedback on him.

Of the ones that I own, I would place them in this order in terms of quality:
Jazz
Barricade
Skids
Bumblebee

 

Barricade is a must. His robot and alt-modes are incredible, as his articulation. He can easily be matched in quality to HA Jazz.

Bumblebee is also a pretty good HA figure, but with so many different versions of him out, there really is no hurry to get this one.

Sideswipe is okay, but he has tremendous back kibble, and he's a little difficult to stand up. Not really recommended if you want to save money.

Skids is pretty good also, but he is short. Mudflap is impossible to find, and I don't have him yet so I can't really give an opinion on him.

Hope this helps  

 

Thanks, so... Skids is worth it as well?
and yes, all the comments are helping much,

From the geist of the comments it seems like Barricade is a must get as well and that Bumble Bee should be "under consideration"? Is there something wrong with Sideswipe? Seems like I underestimated the love (or lack of) for skids... hm...

 

Honestly they're all awesome, with Sideswipe being the weakest IMO. If you get Bumblebee (which you should asap) make sure to do the leg fix where you swap the torso backwards. Makes him look a lot better and more movie accurate. Skids is way better than Sideswipe IMO.

 

I think Skids is worth it. He has just as much quality as HA Barricade and Jazz. The only thing that bothers me is his height as he is just as tall as Deluxe bumblebee. You do get a mini-Arcee though when you buy him, so it's not that bad.

 

Where do I find this "leg fix"?

 

Sideswipe is easily the least good toy, though he's not as bad as some make him out to be.

If you can still find him, get Barricade. He's much better than the deluxe mold and also suffers the least from having to have an empty cab in car mode.

BB is pretty awesome, although he's very lanky and now is somewhat redundant thanks to BB Bumblebee and Cyber Ops Bumblebee, both of which steal some of the HA mold's tricks.

Both Twins are pretty awesome. Mudflap, of course, is hard to come by, but he does have the better bike sister. Chromia benefits by being a more detailed/accurate mold and a sharper, painted color scheme. I liek Skids' colors better than Mudflap's, though, and his leg kibble doesn't get int he way as much.

 

I have three:

- Skids - Actually my favorite, I would pass him up just yet....
- Bumblebee - He's damn fine as well. Car mode r0xorz mt b0x0rz
- Sideswipe- He's pretty awesome as well. The backpack totally ruins the figure. Car is secks. He's kinda underrated, I think he's worth having.

Sadly I never saw Mudflap or was too lazy work and put down $30 for Barrikate (a decision I regret).

 

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/tutorials-how-tos/243649-human-alliance-bumblebee-leg-mod.html


It's so easy even Gears could do it. Still transforms to car after you do it also.

 

It does make his transformation significantly less easy, however, because it requires a full 180 degree waist rotation, which the toy doesn't really like all that much. It's possible to do it without parts interfering with each other, but there's a certain positioning and sequence to it to get it to work.

I personally favour them as follows:

1) Jazz
2) Skids/Mudflap (and Mudflap just a tiny bit higher than his brother, due to a few extra tiny transformation flourishes)
3) Bumblebee/Barricade
4) Sideswipe

I've liked Bumblebee less and less as the line's gone on, simply because the transformations for most of the newer ones feel more solid and "cleaner". Bumblebee's not really on "panel massage" levels of transformation, but something about him just doesn't feel as enjoyable to me. Barricade, on the flipside, gets great reviews, but I don't rank him as high because his transformation is too simple, IMO, pretty much a refined version of the original Deluxe.

I'm actually a big supporter of Skids and Mudflap as characters, as I really think they're underappreciated and misunderstood. Apart from Sam/Mikaela, they're the only characters in RotF to have any sort of character development, at any rate, and they represent a character archetype not normally seen in Transformers. So I'm very happy to have them together in the Human Alliance line, and they're great, solid figures.

Sideswipe is the worst of the line, by far. Not an absolutely terrible toy, by general standards, but the human passenger gimmick inhibits him the most, necessitating certain design decisions that wind up hampering his resemblance to his onscreen model greatly, mostly in that his character model was long, lean, and athletic. And while the HA toy shares all the right details, his proportions wind up being pretty stocky and thick by comparison.

Conversely, Jazz is the best of the line, because I feel he most accurately captures the shape and the feel of the character (like the rest of the HA line, he's still not 100% accurate to the on-screen model), and all his HA gimmicks hide away in his body seamlessly. He's also got a really clean, smooth, complex, but not difficult transformation, of which I'm always a fan.

 

I can still transform his easily, you just have to have the thigh yellow bit positioned the right way.

 

I'd go with:

Jazz
Bumblebee/Barricade
Skids/Mudflap
Sideswipe

In that order.

 

hm... I see... so if I am interested I should pick up Barricade and Bumblebee at the minimum it seems?

 

Jazz is just a gorgeous figure everyone should own.

 

The only easy pass is Sideswipe. The others are all pretty darned good, as long as you like those particular characters (probably the one thing holding most people back on Skids/Mudflap).

 

hm, actually, for me, its not the characters. I know a lot of people have issues with Mudflap and Skids, but I don't.

What I have trouble with, is the terrible reviews they received as toys (in the deluxe), so I begin to wonder how much "better" exactly is the HA versions.

Its sad on sideswipe, because tbh, he was my fav character from the movie and HA Sideswipe has such a clean alt mode too; but the idea of having the entire car being on his back is too much for me.

 

From best to worst for me:

1. Jazz
2. Bumblebee (some annoying kibble on the arms
3. Barricade (weird hips)
4. Skids (backpack)
5. Mudflap (not as tight as Skids)
6. Sideswipe (backpack of doom)

 

I would say Barricade is the next one you should look into.Aside from Jazz,Barricade is my second favorite.Bumblebee and Skids are definaterly worthy of consideration.Sideswipe was the let down of the line so far,though i do think that he is underrated as well.Yeah he has a huge backpakc and all but IMO he still merits a thought after the other figures though.

 

If I rank the toys only on execution (ignoring that some movie designs were better than others before hasbro got involved) I get this order-

1. Jazz (hands down best)

(2-4 are a tough call)
2. Skids
3. Mudflap
4. Sideswipe
5. barricade

6. Bumblebee (a lot of great details, and a lot that feel like they came off a FAB toy- I really, really hope we get a brand new, better detailed mold of him for the next movie if the line continues)

Who do I actually like best?

1. Jazz
2. Sideswipe (very limited good poses, but once you find them he's great)
3. Barricade
4. Bumblebee
5. Skids
6. Mudflap