Dave's RoadBots Rant

     1:32 Celica
     1:32 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX

     Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Alt/RoadBot2

     Well, I tried preordering these from a new (to me) place, but they ended
up having trouble with their HappyWell supply, and six months after the
original planned ship date I cancelled and ordered 'em from BBTS.com.  The
Lancer was a floor model that had been tested to battery death, but only cost
me five bucks.  :)  I can always shuffle the batteries.  I also ordered a
1:18 RoadBot from the new place, now that I've cancelled the never-to-come-in
preorder, I should have that soon.
     Anyway, I wrote my own techspecs and bio notes back in February 2007, in
the setting described in my first RoadBots review
(http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Alt/RoadBot1).  Heck, I used the Celica in
a bit of fanfic (http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Fanfic/RushHour). 


CAPSULES

     1:32 Celica: Decent robot mode, good transformation, very good vehicle
mode, can actually carry all his accessories in robot mode.  Favorite 1:32
RoadBot so far, recommended.  $9.99 at BBTS.com.
     1:32 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX: Unstable and somewhat ugly vehicle
mode, moderately interesting transformation, okay robot mode.  Suffers a lot
from being too ambitious a design for HappyWell's quality control.  Very
mildly recommended, and only if you can get it cheap.  $4.99 at BBTS.com
(clearanced).


RANTS

     Packaging: Same as in the first pair.  No company logos (i.e. Toyota's
nested ovals, Mitsubishi's namesake thre diamonds) on either box.  I just
noticed there's a little deliberate tab on the blister to make it easier to
pull it off the tray.


ROADBOT: Seablade
Class: 32
Faction: TAG
Altmode: Toyota Celica 
Birthplace: Tahara, Japan
Motto: "I'll leave the other 30% of the planet to guys afraid to get their
     feet wet."

     SEABLADE is a testbed for advanced environmental adaptation
technologies, specifically those involving underwater environments.  While
the exponential generators at the heart of all ROADBOTS can operate in the
absence of air, other systems are a little more finicky, especially compared
to Cybertronians.  SEABLADE is capable of functioning at depths of 100 meters
with no impairment, and has been officially tested to depths of 250 meters at
this point successfully.  His current theoretical maximum is 500 meters, but
unknown to his handlers, he has gone as far as 600 meters deep on his own.
     Miniature impellors concealed within his body allow him complete freedom
of movement underwater, and he can reach a maximum speed of 30 m/s in either
mode while there, with the doors and rear hatch of his vehicle mode acting as
rudders/fins in robot mode.  On the surface in automobile mode with pontoons
deployed, he can reach 50 m/s.  His road speed maxes out at only 80 m/s (176
mph), but he's not optimized for that mode of transport.
     He has a fairly standard plasma lance with a pistol grip and minor
modifications allowing it to function in a limited capacity underwater, but
his primary weapon in melee situations in the ocean is a tungsten carbide
cutlass.  He's also known to use an electrified trident.  His pressure-rated
frame is also tough enough to let him engage in fisticuffs with much larger
ROADBOTS and come out on top.

STR 8  INT 6  SPD 6  END 8  RNK 5  COUR 8  FRB 5  SKL 6  Avg 6.5

     Robot Mode: 5.5" (13.5cm) tall at the head (which gives me a sort of
Breastforce member vibe, like Jargua), a little taller at the door-wings
(depending on how you pose them).  The door-wings are on pretty flexible
joints, but look best positioned as if Seablade's head were between regular
car doors.  Mostly blue plastic, with some black internal bits, black pelvis,
black toes.  The elbow joints, hip joints and wing struts are silvery gray
(the same softer plastic used in the trident).  The upper arms, fists and
thighs are painted really solidly plastic, to the point I initially thought
they were silver plastic.  There's also silver on the face, crest and shins,
with metallic red visor.  He has a somewhat hollow hood-chest.  Car-mode
paint details covered below.
     The head turns stiffly, the waist does not.  The shoulders are swivels,
but there's a transformation joint that lets the arms shrug backwards.  The
elbows are double hinges that allow bending 180 degrees.  The hips are
swivels at a V-style angle, and then a secondary joint letting the legs swing
out to the sides...a sort of not-quite-universal joint.  Swinging the leg
forward also moves it out, making stable standing poses hard.  Knees are
hinges, and the toes move on transformation joints, but aren't very stable
except fully deployed.
     The elbows are stiff enough to let him hold up his weapons, even the
plasma torch. 

     Accessories: He comes with a trident, a sword, a shield, and a light-up
gun with two tips (arc welder and blade).  Also, the trunk acts as a shield.
It's possible to have him hold sword and gun with both shields in place, and
the trident slung over his back.  The small triangle blade from the light-up
weapon pegs onto the bottom of the car.  If you attach the trunk shield to
its vehicle mode connector point, you can use the spare forearm hole to peg
this triangle blade on, making this the only 1:32 figure so far who can carry
all his gear somehow in robot mode.
     Trident: 5.25" (13.5cm) long and made from a single piece of flexible
silvery gray plastic.  The tines are broad blades reminiscent of (but not
identical to) the Blue Devil's original trident.  There's a double lightning
bolt motif at the point where the tines emerge.  The shaft has a chain
pattern on it, and has the "standard" 5mm by 3.7mm cross-section.
     Sword: An oriental scimitar with a dragonhead hilt.  3.5" (9cm) long and
made of black plastic with a gold-painted (but not chrome) blade.  Standard
hilt cross-section.  Very nice weapon.
     Shield: Silver chromed kite-shaped shield with various abstract patterns
and vents.  It connects via a non-standardized flattened-hexagon-cross-
section peg that only works on Seablade's forearms.  The long direction goes
along the direction of the forearm.
     Trunk shield: Same flattened-hex peg, holds on a little loosely.
     Light-Up Gun: Black body with silver paint accents and chrome silver
button, colorless clear blades.  The standard cross-section handle is on the
side rather than the base, making this a gun rather than a sword.  The
default clear attachment is a sort of pincer shape that reminds me of an arc
welder.  The secondary attachment is more of a triangular blade.

     Transformation: Nice and tight.  The arms come together across the
midsection and then push in to create the underside with very little obvious
robotness left over.  Otherwise bog-standard "hood is the chest, legs fold
into the rear third, hood on back, doors as wings" transformation.  The rear
bumper pieces rotate down as kneecaps in a sort of Alternators-ish trick.
     If you follow the instructions, you get a somewhat more nonstandard use
of the wing doors, though.  And the trunk hatch can be left on when going
back to robot mode to give a sort of "duster" look.

     Vehicle Mode: 5.25" (13cm) long, the body is made from a metalflake
medium blue plastic with strong UV glow.  The wheel hubs are silver chromed
plastic, and the tires are rubberized charcoal gray plastic.  The front
grille, windows and moonroof are painted gloss black, and there's a few other
black-painted details here and there.  The headlights, side mirrors, tailpipe
and much of the undercarriage are painted silver.  The taillights and third
brakelight are red, while the front turn signals are orange.  A silver Toyota
logo is printed at the front of the hood.  Yellow and white wave/blade
details are printed on the hood and doors.  The rear license plate is painted
white with "TOYOTA" and the Toyota logo printed on it in black.
     The rear hatch and doors all open, although there's no realistic car
detailing inside as with an Alternator.  The hood also opens, and has engine
molding inside, with some black paint.  The wheels roll freely, but the front
wheels do not turn.

     Overall: The weird hips are about my only problem with this toy, which
is now my favorite of the Class 32 RoadBots.  Get this one if you can find it
for a reasonable price (Say, $15 or less including shipping).


ROADBOT: Skyscythe
Class: 32
Faction: DM
Altmode: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
Birthplace: Yekaterinburg, Russia
Motto: "Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends!"

     While he considers himself the consumnate showman, everyone else thinks
of SKYSCYTHE as a simple showOFF.  The flamboyant ROADBOT is notable as the
only one to have ever defected more than once, although after he defected
back to Diamond Motors, TAG stopped accepting him when he tried to change
sides after that.  Everyone just accepts that he wants to be the center of
attention, and that he went through a phase where he felt he could get the
most attention by switching sides.
     SKYSCYTHE is notable among ROADBOTS for one other thing, his jump
systems.  While true antigravity flight is not yet technologically feasible
with ROADBOT technology, a combination of capacitor-driven antigrav pulses
and powerful rocket motors lets SKYSCYTHE make boosted leaps that carry him
up to a kilometer at a time.
     Armed with a standard plasma lance, he also carries a special scythe
weapon that contains its own antigravity generators.  While equipped with his
scythe, he can hover for up to thirty seconds, or negate the weight of a
target up to his own size for an equal amount of time.  The weapon can also
be thrown up to 200 meters and return on its own.  He also carries a
refractory shield capable of blocking plasma or laser attacks, and he makes
sure it's always polished to a high sheen for maximum dazzle.  When longer
ranged strikes are called for, his 20mm gyro-stabilized cannon comes into
play.  The optional twin flamethrowers that can mount on the rifle give him a
little extra collateral damage potential when he really wants to bring the
house down.  As a desperation move, SKYSCYTHE can unleash a swarm of up to 40
micromissiles from launchers over his shoulders, a move he usually saves to
cover an escape.

STR 6  INT 7  SPD 8  END 5  RNK 6  COUR 7  FRB 7  SKL 6  Avg 6.5

     Robot Mode: 5" (12.5cm) tall at the head (generic Autobot helmet feel,
but with a slightly odd chevron-with-antennae crest), add about a half inch
for the windshield piece rising up behind the head.  The vehicle front doors
lie flat, outer face down, as shoulderpad wings.  The chest, head, upper arms
and all vehicle body kibble are bright yellow plastic with strong UV
response.  Pretty much all the rest (including collar area and insides of the
doors) is made from slightly metallic gunmetal gray.  Lots of black accents
and stripes all over, black fists and forehead.  The face is silver, as are
the 40 little missile tips molded into the inside of the car's windshield.
The eyes are metallic red.
     Head and waist both turn.  The shoulders are swivels, but a
transformation hinge lets the arm swing in and out.  The elbows are
restricted ball joints, but kinda loose, so the larger weapons make the arms
straighten out.  Restricted ball joint hips, no knees (just a little wiggle
room), ankles swivel on a transformation joint.

     Accessories: Big rifle that has wings, scythe, shield, light-up sword
with either spatula blade or weird crescent-ended blade.  As with Seablade,
the trunk can be used as a shield too.  Can't hold the full rifle on the same
side as either shield, nor is there really a way to stow it in robot mode.
Nor is his torso really set up to let him carry his scythe on his back.  No
storage in vehicle mode, but the trunk shield and rifle wings are integral
parts of the car.  There's a peg that's supposed to hold the spatula blade,
but it's way too loose to even pretend to hold it.
     Hm, correction.  The batteries are fine in the light-up weapon, it's
simply non-functional.  Taking it apart, I found a broken wire.  While my
dollar store soldering iron wasn't up to remelting the solder, just messing
about with tweezers to get the wires close enough for the attempt seems to
have done the trick, it works now.
     Rifle: 3.5" (9cm) long, 3.25" (8.5cm) wide with the wings attached.  The
main rifle is metallic gray plastic with a bit of black paint at the top
rear.  The wings are the car's rear doors and side trim, made from bright
yellow plastic.  They don't really stay on well, though.  The main grip is
the standard cross-section.  Additional barrels are molded into the door bits
and painted silver.
     Scythe: 4.5" (11cm) long with a 2" (5cm) blade, made of metallic
gunmetal gray plastic.  Slightly flexible, has the standard cross-section.
     Shield: Round, 1.75" (4cm) in diameter.  Made of silver chromed plastic
with gold chrome laid over the front.  A sunburst pattern with a stylized M
or W in the center.  Has a weird pegging and clipping system that only fits
on the forearm in the right orientation.
     Trunk Shield: Weird trapezoidal peg holds it on so-so.
     Plasma Torch: Somewhat shiny gray plastic with black paint accents and
chrome silver button, colorless clear blades.  The default blade is on the
short side, and ends in a crescent with the horns pointed away from the hilt.
The alternate blade comes in two pieces, a smaller spatula and a sort of
khopesh thing that wraps around the smaller spatula to make a larger one.
The parts sometimes come apart.  Sword style hilt, standard cross-section.

     Transformation: Bleh.  Depends on many panel connections pegging
together just right, and they simply don't.  With Lego-level tolerances this
might work, but while HappyWell is good quality for a knockoff artist,
they're not up to making this design work properly.  No matter how much I
squeeze it, one or more pegs always pop out as soon as I let go.  Let's give
it one last try...okay, now it's holding, barely.  But the front doors can't
be opened without everything going sprung.
     On the plus side, I like how the roof halves fold back to become calf
armor.  

     Vehicle Mode: 5.5" (14.5cm) long, the main body is mostly bright yellow
plastic with a strong UV glow, although the front license plate holder is
black plastic.  Silver chrome hubs, black rubberized plastic tires.  The
windows are gloss black painted.  Stripes along the tops of the doors, the
grilles, the windshield wiper fluid ports and most of the interior of the
engine compartment are painted matte black.  Silver headlights, taillights
and tailpipe, red turn signals, silver Mitsubishi tri-diamond logo on the
front grille and trunk (both molded).  "MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION IX" is
printed in white on the front license plate.  The rear plate is painted black
with "LANCER EVOLUTION IX" printed on it in white, and that phrase is also
printed in black on the trunk.
     In theory, the doors open, but everything will come apart if you do.
The hatch is not designed to swing open in this mode.  The hood opens to
reveal engine detailing.  Wheels spin but the front ones don't turn.   The
spoiler at back is a bit taller than I care for.

     Overall: While I don't care for the looks of the vehicle mode, there's a
lot about the robot I want to like.  The over the shoulder missile racks, the
winged cannon, the construction of the boots...but it's all more than
overshadowed by bad tolerances and quality control, and the lack of knees
doesn't help.  I'm glad I got this on clearance, since I would feel pretty
badly burned had I paid full price for this.

     Dave Van Domelen, pre-ordering the next three Class 32s, but has run out
of classic elements to name them after and will have to start reusing
elements.  :)