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Here are some of my views and pictures on Transformers Prime: Deluxe Dead End.
I got my shipment of Wave 4 from Kapow Toys in the UK. http://kapowtoys.co.uk/

Dead End is a repaint of Wheeljack with a new head so I won't bother going into articulation or transformation as it's well documented.
The package shows why he is the way he is and why not to spend too much time around Dark Energon.



The alt mode is exactly the same as Wheeljack with only colour changes. He has 1 green Decepticon logo on the right side which is more than Jackie got.

I've seen and made enough jokes about his paint scheme since it was announced. I kinda feel a Hasbro designer took a picture home and said to his kids, "colour this in and I will make it a real figure!" As with most of the line it's not too bad in person.
Like the Shadow Bumblebee the main colour isn't black but more charcoal/dark grey. It's a nice shade. The orange is nice too, not bright at all. The problem I think is the yellow. The 3 shades are too much together. If they left it black and orange it would have been much better.
The yellow on the roof isn't as vibrant as it's a different plastic I think.

The wheel rims and "lights" are a neon green shade. Another colour they didn't need to go with. The windscreen is transparent light green. This allows you to see his neon green chest through it. That's my other main problem I feel. Unlike Wheeljack which had a darker tint and a black chest this sticks out as odd and distracting for me.
It's a shame they didn't just make him mainly black and orange as it would have been a big improvement.

As for the robot mode. Pretty much what was white on Wheeljack is now yellow. He has orange shoulders and a green chest. Some of the dark grey areas are now black. The insides of his legs are now orange too.
He comes with the same Laser Swords but now in black handles and neon green blades.


So the biggest difference is the head. Great big gaping mouth with green plastic to light up with the light piping. The eyes are also green. It's ok and from the sides looks really good. Front on I'm left wishing it was filled in with inner robot mouth workings or something. It all falls back to the Dark Energon idea. Without that this could have been a great new repaint.


I believe this figure is saved from being a bad repaint because the Wheeljack mold is a good one with a lot going for it. That and Dead End is a Decepticon and gets away with it. If this was an Autobot repaint I don't think I would have been so generous.
I do recommend getting it when you see it to add to the army. I have already started doing some repainting/tweaking to the areas I don't like to improve on it. Maybe we will even see a new Dr Wu head for it. Who knows.

Seibertron.com member Azrail has posted a pictorial review of Transformers Prime Deluxe Dead End, a Decepticon repaint/remold of Deluxe Wheeljack. Check out his images and review below:

Here are some of my views and pictures on Transformers Prime: Deluxe Dead End.
I got my shipment of Wave 4 from Kapow Toys in the UK. http://kapowtoys.co.uk/

Dead End is a repaint of Wheeljack with a new head so I won't bother going into articulation or transformation as it's well documented.
The package shows why he is the way he is and why not to spend too much time around Dark Energon.





The alt mode is exactly the same as Wheeljack with only colour changes. He has 1 green Decepticon logo on the right side which is more than Jackie got.


I've seen and made enough jokes about his paint scheme since it was announced. I kinda feel a Hasbro designer took a picture home and said to his kids, "colour this in and I will make it a real figure!" As with most of the line it's not too bad in person.
Like the Shadow Bumblebee the main colour isn't black but more charcoal/dark grey. It's a nice shade. The orange is nice too, not bright at all. The problem I think is the yellow. The 3 shades are too much together. If they left it black and orange it would have been much better.
The yellow on the roof isn't as vibrant as it's a different plastic I think.

The wheel rims and "lights" are a neon green shade. Another colour they didn't need to go with. The windscreen is transparent light green. This allows you to see his neon green chest through it. That's my other main problem I feel. Unlike Wheeljack which had a darker tint and a black chest this sticks out as odd and distracting for me.
It's a shame they didn't just make him mainly black and orange as it would have been a big improvement.


As for the robot mode. Pretty much what was white on Wheeljack is now yellow. He has orange shoulders and a green chest. Some of the dark grey areas are now black. The insides of his legs are now orange too.
He comes with the same Laser Swords but now in black handles and neon green blades.



So the biggest difference is the head. Great big gaping mouth with green plastic to light up with the light piping. The eyes are also green. It's ok and from the sides looks really good. Front on I'm left wishing it was filled in with inner robot mouth workings or something. It all falls back to the Dark Energon idea. Without that this could have been a great new repaint.



I believe this figure is saved from being a bad repaint because the Wheeljack mold is a good one with a lot going for it. That and Dead End is a Decepticon and gets away with it. If this was an Autobot repaint I don't think I would have been so generous.
I do recommend getting it when you see it to add to the army. I have already started doing some repainting/tweaking to the areas I don't like to improve on it. Maybe we will even see a new Dr Wu head for it. Who knows.

gotta say, it's one of my favourite Transformers toys in ages. Not just of repaints, but just plain favourite. I skipped the Wheeljack version, because I knew this one was coming, and it looks so awesome! Yes, it's incredibly hideous, but that's part of it's charm. I can practially hear the 90s rave music coming from his in-car stereo. The head is nice and spooky, the light piping works brilliantly, and the colours clash in a very pleasing way. The "black" isn't really back though, it's a definite sparkly dark grey. Very nice. There is black on there too though, as well as a few shades of orange and if you count the windscreen, 2 shades of neon green too.

"techno techno techno!"

Looking forward to pics of your paint fixes.

He's basically Halloween personified. Good enough a reason for me!

Kinda wish the painted/opaque greens were more of a sickly yellow-green like the piping appears to be, if not piped instead (the swords in particular would've been awesome looking done like that). They're a bit minty as it is.

This is a great looking figure. Unlike most it seems, I think those colors come together perfectly. It could have been easy to screw up, but Hasbro made it work.

I think I am totally in love with this repaint. I almost considered selling my TFP Wheeljack instead of my Generations version just to get this guy. I am absolutely smitten by that color scheme and just how crazy cool it is.

Why are people usually so down on this paint scheme? Wasn't this supposed to be ANOTHER homage to beast wars Quickstrike? If you take that into account then this paint job and head make perfect sense. The only problem I have with this figure is the name. But really though, who cares? It's just a name, get over it and rename it. It's an awesome paint job on an awesome figure representing an awesome character. This thing is superspecialawesome.



I got stopped from posting this because another post went up. I'm glad it did because it's nice to see more people appreciate this figure and its paint job.

Alpha Weltall wrote:Wasn't this supposed to be ANOTHER homage to beast wars Quickstrike? If you take that into account then this paint job and head make perfect sense. The only problem I have with this figure is the name. But really though, who cares? It's just a name, get over it and rename it. It's an awesome paint job on an awesome figure representing an awesome character. This thing is superspecialawesome.

I had no idea this was supposed to be a classics/Prime Quickstrike. If thats the case, and now that I see the colours are quite alike, then this is an awesome version of him, as the face does remind me of Quickstrike, and his surely attitude.

Stands out like a sore thumb.

can't wait for this guy. my decepticons are seriously out numbered.

Hasbro/Takara has a vendetta against Dead End's G1 paint scheme. Burgandy with a yellow stripe on a retail release might cause an uproar I assume...

I just can't warm up to this one.

I like what they did with the face and the concept for the character. But:

• The colors are just too garish. Or, at least, there are too many different garish colors. Changing either the yellow bits or the orange bits to black would have helped. Or maybe make him predominantly black with a few of those bright green highlights scattered throughout.
• Hasbro did such a good job at making this mold Wheeljack that I think any attempt to repurpose it is just going to look like NotWheeljack.

With regard to the latter point, I think they could have better sold the concept of repainting this mold as a Decepticon by calling it Makeshift.

I really think they need to stop uing the Dead End name since it is so iconic. They should have called him Detour like they were going to with the RotF toy. That is what I am going to do.

caked-up wrote:I really think they need to stop using the Dead End name since it is so iconic. They should have called him Detour like they were going to with the RotF toy. That is what I am going to do.

Or perhaps Darksteel


Or, better yet, QuickStrike

i personally enjoy this as a repaint and a good reuse for this mold; however i believe i understand why the yellow does not work for some people.

due to the light green having a good amount of yellow in it already and then its placement side by side with a complimentary medium yellow app makes the yellow wash out, losing edge/ line definition.

if it is a QStrike homage , cool.
if not, then i chalk it up to another interesting repaint that i will still buy

I wish they would stop making Quickstrike homages and just make a new Fuzor Quickstrike. Darksteel was pretty awesome as his own character but the homage was junk. Dead End/Detour/Makeshift looks amazing as his own character (name aside), but would suffer the same fate as Darksteel too. At least in my eyes.

caked-up wrote:I wish they would stop making Quickstrike homages and just make a new Fuzor Quickstrike. Darksteel was pretty awesome as his own character but the homage was junk. Dead End/Detour/Makeshift looks amazing as his own character (name aside), but would suffer the same fate as Darksteel too. At least in my eyes.

I don't get it... how is it the fact that it is a homage make it crappy? Either you recognize and go with the homage, or you dismiss it and consider it a new character. What fate did he suffer being a homage?

I don't see Quickstrike in Dead End at all. Quickstrike was amber and teal, DE is lemon and lime. The head is nothing like any of QS's, nor is there anything cobra- or scorpion-esque to the design.

Just picked this guy up today and DAMN. So evil!
One killer Decepticon in every way. The colours are so exotic and blarring, it works so well with his cannibalistic and violent nature. The poses you can get with his head turned upwards makes him look like a screaming maniac from a nightmare. I was sort of on the fence at first with limited funds, but I'm glad I caved. If your on the fence, I highly recommend him. The head sculpt alone is enough to get him. The front holes in vehicle mode aren't nearly as annoyingly visible as they are on WJ. So glad that the only problem I had with the mould is minimized on this one.

I don't see him as Dead End, though. He is Darksteel.

MINDVVIPE wrote:Looking forward to pics of your paint fixes.

I agree, really curious to see which bits bugged you!

I'm really looking forward to finding this guy, and still unsure about keeping the original Wheeljack.

The main things I was going to change are his windscreen and maybe green chest. Plus his wheel rims. So far I've not got too far though and maybe changing my colour ideas.
Keep tinkering with something new! Lol