First time posting something like this, but then, this is a figure I've been genuinely excited for, so here I go.
Picked up Cloud Roadbuster off Ebay. This was I think one of Lena's but not through Lena as I missed those, so I pair a little closer to Retail than maybe I wanted to, but I'm not dissapointed. I'll go into that more at the end. Anyway, he arrived today, so I took pictures.
Take it from the top
I love the head sculpt on this. It's the same head as the mainstream Roadbuster noggin, but the colors work so well. As this paint scheme is supposed to be an homage to Energon RB (Ironhide in the States), the scalp is Ironhide's helmet and then the rest of the face is Ironhide's own facial color. It really doesn't look like Ironhide to me, but I love it nonetheless. And, its trapped in guns like Ironhide's is.
Now, the other unintentional homage going on that a lot of people see is Crosshairs...
It's not exactly his head, either, although he looks an awful lot like Ironhide, too. So there's that.
The visor does appear to be painted, the back of his head does have the light piping, but its a darker color than his visor and as I'm shooting this near a window, there's nada for light piping
Full Body:
If you don't have the Roadbuster mold, you're missing out. This figure has a lot of joints going a lot or directions. They're almost all hinges, he's got two in his elbows, plus elbow swivels, outward swinging hinges in his shoulders, circular swivels, plus hinges in his shoulder blades that are part of Transformaton. His feet are on compound ankle joints, his knees have plenty of bend, and his hips will go in a lot of directions. If anything, I think he may have TOO many, as I sometimes find myself with his shoulders trying to flex outward rather than bend, but that's hardly an issue. All of these hinges are on soft ratchets, so nothing's going anywhere when you pose him, but if you're like me, I don't like it when my figure clicks everytime I touch him. It's not loud, but I do hear it.
This Chest logo thoughDo you see it? This may be due to his nature as a pre-realease. I hope it doesn't spread to the mass retail. The right side of the sicker is not cut square. The whole sticker is slightly tilted, and at least makes the bottom edges look uneven too. Could I have done better? Probably not, but I think a professional did this, which is a shame. I don't normally catch onto or complain about these things, so if I can see it, there's a problem.
While we're looking at the chest, this is another attempt to homage Ironhide, with a white Autobot logo in the center and the two button lapels. Its pretty close, and taken altogether with the colors does suggest Ironhide, but I coulda done with something else instead.
The GunsBy far, one of the coolest Gimmicks of this mold is the inter-connectivity and interchangeability of the multiple guns. Good news: All pegs are tight and the spring launcher is still a hair trigger although they are a tad bit loose in the vehicle mode's top pegs. I think those are a bit more shallow than the others, and at an angle, hence a perceived looseness. But they don't flop around. Here's just a few arrangements:
And since I'm using this figure as Generations Crosshairs, he of course needs his Targetmaster buddy Pinpointer.
Because what this figure needs most is MOAR GUN
Vehicle Mode
Here's where the Ironhide homage falls apart for me:This is heavy armor truck, not picup with swivel thingy on it. I'll be honest, the deco does not scream Crosshairs in person for me like it did in photos, I think the white fenders are to blame. But it works well enough for me.
With Pinpointer:
And friend:
With Full gun suite
(Actually, I thin I like his truck mode WITHOUT the Covered-in-guns motif)
Thanks to the cross-compatibility of pegs, Pinpointer himself is able to couple into the mega rifle setups. It's not a perfect Minicon peg though, so DON'T FORCE IT. You will snap the peg in Pinpointer's port. No, I haven't learned the hard way, yet. *Knock, Knock
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In summary:
I LOVE this figure, moreso even than Roadbuster. In hand, I certainly see the Energon Ironhide homage, but I have no love for the E-Ironhide caracter, do I could care less about that. He is, and always will be Crosshairs. At least until someone does him up offically. Do I think he's worth the $90 retail? Not exactly. I paid pretty close to that with shipping.and am not dissapointed, but a better price is always welcome. Truthfully, I don't foresee him going for $35 like Cliud Shockwave, Prime, and Megatron(?) are. Of those three, Shockwave's an oddball, Prime's got enough repaints as it is, and Megatron I think is being upstaged b his Combiner Wars variant. And unlike them, there's an untapped nostalgia for Energon Ironhide, because a lot of today's true collectors got on board with the Unicron Trilogy. And I'm not the only one who also sees Crosshairs in the colors. So, if you're willing to gamble, and wait out the prices for a good clearance, good luck to you. But if you even remotely think you want the figure, for any of his three potential characters, And you can get him to your door for $65 do it. He's fun, easy to Transform, plenty posable, with a lot of potential in him. And he's covered in guns. You can't go wrong with covered in guns.
