Dave's TF Combiners Rant Barricade (D5) Bruticus Maximus Updated 3/16/05 with all limbs. The official name of this group is the Destruction Team, hence the D numbers. I still think of them as Neo-Combaticons. CAPSULES Barricade: Okay vehicle mode, decent robot mode (hampered by huge backpack), solid torso mode, good transformations. Recommended. $9.87 at Wal-Mart. Bruticus Maximus: Garish in a G2 sort of way (but less so than you might initially think), but the hands and feet actually look more or less like hands and feet. A hinge inside Barricade results in a tendency for slouching. All in all, though, still probably the best of the three. RANTS DECEPTICON: BARRICADE Combiner Code: D5 Altmode: Missile Truck Name Previously Used For: Micromaster Race Track Patrol Combiner Component: Torso Quote: Not revealed Bio note not yet posted. STR 9 INT 8 SPD 8 END 10 RNK 8 COUR 9 FRB 10 SKL 9 Avg 8.875 Packaging: Pretty much the same as for Steamhammer and Storm Jet, but this one finally came with the volume 3 comic/catalog. (Plus the same Lazer Tag poster thing that's been in a lot of recent TFs.) Ironically, the catalog side only covers up to the last toys prior to the Neo-Combiners, the Maximuses themselves aren't included. There's no creator credits on the comic side, but the use of "Hh" suggests either Furman or someone trying to sound like Furman. :) And the story is similar to Furman's Energon story in the Summer Special 04, as well (Mirage, Slugslinger and Sharkticon try to invade an Autobot installation, get beat on). Three twist-ties hold the vehicle mode into the bubble, no rubber bands. Vehicle Mode: It's a 5" (13cm) long missile truck of some variety, which may even be a hybrid of several military vehicles in terms of design. Vaguely reminiscent of the G2 Decepticon Mindset (comic-only character, got eaten by the Swarm a few pages after his intro), although Mindset is green and gray, not the blue and gray color scheme Barricade has. Most of the chassis is a lightish gray, with blue paint on the front end, and the missile launchers being mostly blue with some gray and some light yellow-green paint. The 8 wheels (front two pairs slightly larger than the rear two pairs, but all small) are black with dark gold rims. The various transformation joints and struts are black. The driver's compartment windows are clear blue plastic. There are a pair of Decepticon symbols tampographed onto the missile boxes, plus a larger one on the underside of the front end (not really intended to be visible in this mode). The spark crystal is at the front in a manner similar to Snowcat's, but the crystal is upside-down in this mode. In the center of the hood is a metallic blue empty combiner cog, that looks almost gray against the more saturated blue of the hood. There's no faction symbol inside it, in keeping with the pattern seen in later pressings of the Neo-Aerialbots and Neo-Constructicons. The wheels roll freely, and the missile box is on a turret mount that lets it turn around 360 degrees as well as elevating to straight up or depressing to about 25 degrees above horizontal. The base of the turret tends to pop loose and start transformation if you're not careful, though. There's a Mini-Con hardpoint on either side of the missile box, almost coaxial with the elevation joint. About a centimeter ahead of each hardpoint is a 5mm peghole. So you can connect Energon weapons to either side of the missile box regardless of whether they connect via peg or via hole. No other weapon connection points in this mode...not that any of the Number Fives come with weapon accessories. Unfortunately, this mode has a significant flaw. From the side, the middle third is all open gridwork and the robot head just sitting there like a weird bodiless passenger. A secondary flaw is that the rear section, in order to make the waist joint more stable in robot and torso modes, is a bit empty. It looks like they left off part of the vehicle mode. [Later corrections: I've been told that the vehicle mode is close to the ASTROS AV-LMU Rocket Launcher, and that I was incorrect to call it a missile truck, since it fires rockets (unguided), not missiles (guided). Also, the Leia Buns on the head could be meant to make the head pass as a winch in vehicle mode, but I think it still looks way too head-like.] Transformation to Robot Mode: As with the Micromaster Flak, the missile box folds down to become the legs, but there's considerably more to it than Flak gets. :) The front 40% of the vehicle mode becomes a huge backpack, and the arms twist around fairly intuitively. I suspect that there may be a trick to getting the backpack to hook up more solidly and elegantly than I've managed so far, but I haven't found the trick yet. When transforming back to vehicle mode, you can leave the hardpoint and peghole on the shoulders facing outwards, but they're meant to link together to give the vehicle mode more stability. Several of the black folding flaps require significant force. Robot Mode: 5.5" (14cm) tall, with a backpack that sticks out 2" (5cm) past the back of his shoulders. Fortunately, he has heel spurs that keep this from being a huge problem, although it does look kinda stupid. Sadly, all the joints holding the backpack on are pinned hinges, and removing the screws that hold the whole thing to the body also makes the arms fall off. There's a lot more black in this mode, with the lower arms and upper legs being black plastic. Plus, the yellow-green paint shows up more here, being one the forehead, chinguard, shoulders, upper thighs and toes. There's a little bit of red on each shoulder, and the faceplate is painted in the same pale blue metallic paint used for the combiner cog. The big Decepticon symbol on the underside of the front of the vehicle is now on the backpack, facing the "right" direction. The spark crystal is rightside-up, but facing backwards. The four small rear wheels flank the abdomen, the second pair of large wheels splits to be on the elbows, and the front pair of large wheels is on the backpack. The hardpoints are now on the kneecaps, with the 5mm pegholes below them. The right shoulder has a 5mm peghole on the front, and the left shoulder has a hardpoint. The fists are standard 5mm holes, and he can grab his knees. Let me emphasize that. Barricade can attach his fists to his knees. And stay standing while he does this. This may not be a USEFUL thing, but it's certainly amusing. The head deserves some special attention. First there's the Princess Leia bun-hair effect on the head, with squat cylinders attached to either side of his helmet. Next, he has what I've seen described as a "hero face", in that it's a human-like face (instead of a sinisterly mechanical effect) in a neutral expression (rather than twisted in rage). I suppose this is to suggest that Barricade isn't a monster or an unfeeling machine, but rather a stoic strategist. Finally, while there's a screw through the lightpiping piece, removing that screw didn't just let the clear plastic slide out. Here's the joint count. Head swivels, waist ratchet swivels. Shoulders are universal hinge-and-swivel joints, with the swivel being gently ratcheting and the hinge smooth. There's upper arm swivels and hinge elbows. The hips are ratcheting universal joints, there's upper leg swivels, and the knees ratchet in 45 degree steps. The boot part does come loose when bending the legs if you're not careful, but they stay together more stably than Storm Jet's. Transformation to Torso Mode: The legs are easy, just shorten them back to vehicle mode status and rotate them 180 degrees around. Flip back the head and fold the arms up to lock to the sides, which is a tiny bit tricky, but solid when completed. Getting the backpack to become Bruticus's massive chest is a bit more tricky. The instructions aren't clear about the front wheel panels needing to fold, and getting the abdomen plates to lock requires a certain amount of massaging. In theory, you also have to fold out the horns on the sides of the head, but they weren't folded back in-package, and don't really need to be in order to fit in vehicle mode. Biggest problem of this transformation is that the head is designed to pop away from the collarbone joint if too much force is applied, and "too much" is defined pretty low. Getting it snapped back on can be a pain the first few times. Torso Mode: Well, the spark crystal is finally forward and right-side up, although the big Decepticon symbol above it faces the wrong direction now (point down towards his head), as if BruteMax needs constant reminding of his allegiances. 5.5" (14cm) tall, essentially the same height as the other Neo-Combiner torsos. The balance of blue, gray and black is pleasing, and the small amount of other colors don't jar. While he has missile launchers on his kneecaps, he also has less obvious missile racks on his huge chest, molded into the fronts of the door panels. And yes, his chest is huge. It's the front 40% of his vehicle mode. This is the Chesty Sanchez of the Neo-Combiners. In contrast to Barricade, the head is very non-hero, a mechanical monster. The powerlinx hardpoints are now at the tops of his thighs, a little awkward but not impossible to use, with the 5mm pegholes below them. There's one hardpoint and one peg on his back, and you could probably simulate an Onslaught-style over the head guns by connecting Energon weapons here. There are the usual Neo-Combiner joints for shoulders and knee connection, plus nice stiff ratchet universal joint hips. The thighs hold together pretty well. The head turns smoothly, the waist turns on a ratchet swivel. And overall, this is easily the most stable torso of the three so far, everything really locks together when you finally get it right. One interesting thing Barricade can do that the other Number Fives can't do is stand on his own as a torso. Just flip the missile launcher kneecaps back down over the leg attachment pegs. Barricade Overall: Good stability, fun transformation, nice colors. The huge backpack in robot mode and visible head in vehicle mode are all that really keep this out of the "strongly recommended" range. Bruticus Maximus: 9.75" (25cm) tall and generally very stable. A hinge inside Barricade's torso doesn't lock in place well enough to avoid some slouching issues for Bruticus Maximus (I hope you don't mind if I don't just refer to it by its initials). However, it's otherwise a paragon of solidity, with nothing popping loose or coming apart when I attach limbs. Neither type of limb is extremely wide at the top, although the helicopters make for better feet in terms of not having to stand in a Significant Kirby Pose. The canonical tank arm modes are boring, but there's a much better fan mode available (see review of the limbs). In terms of colors, this seems to be an homage to G2 Bruticus. While Barricade is a fairly sedate color scheme, the limbs are yellow, green, purple and orange. Very bright orange. Countering this, the energon weapons make for much better extremities than the other two combiners have. The helicopters' weapons become good hands, with four fingers and opposable thumb. The tanks' weapons make good feet, and better claws than most (okay, Sledge makes the best claw). Complete Bruticus Maximus: Now that I have all four limbs, here's my opinions of the completed combiner. The canonical configuration is notable because (unlike the other two Neo-Combiners) it has both limbs on the same side being the same mold, rather than a diagonal arrangement. The overall look is a lot less garish than I'd expected it to be, as Stormcloud is the only one that's really *bright* in its colors. Even Blight is fairly subdued. And while there's still a "rainbow of fruit flavors" effect generated by the combined mode, it's nowhere near the G2 Bruticus in terms of "MY EYES ARE BLEEDING!"-ness. The legs can be posed fairly close together, since Kickback is wide at the top and Blackout is wide at the bottom. (If you draw a centerline through Bruticus Maximus, Kickback crosses it by a few millimeters at the top, and Blackout by more than a centimeter at the bottom when the legs are as close together as they can get.) Neither "both of the mold as legs" modes can stand as well, although you can sort of overlap the helicopter winglets if you use Blackout and Stormcloud as legs. The helicopters aren't as stable as feet, unfortunately, so if you want to go with a top/bottom style rather than the canonical left/right split, I'd suggest making both tanks into legs and just living with the wide stance. This way he has helicopter blades on both shoulders. Mind you, tanks on top lets you take advantage of the alternate mode with elbows and upper arm swivels (as seen in the cartoon), just don't pose it dynamically lest it fall off its feet. Dave Van Domelen, annoyed that he found yet another defect with his Windrazor today (two forearms of the same side), definitely gonna grab a fresh one if he sees any.