The Energon Pub

My Happy Well ROADBOT 1:18 Toyota Land Cruiser just arrived via UPS, and I thought that I'd share my first impressions. I ordered him from Agesthreeandup.com who carries him for a mere $14.99. Delivery to my home in Philadelphia, took exactly two (nerve wracking) weeks. (Here in South Philly, mail theft is practically a sport!)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Right off the bat, I was thrilled to see how big he is. He's 10 3/4 inches at the top of his head and a full 11 inches to the top of his wings. Those wings were the second thing that caught my attention. One of them was detached and fell out of the box once he was untwist-tied. Once I popped it back in, I started breathing again. It stayed in, but it's still a bit saggier than the other one. The wings also tend to fall forward a bit and slightly imped the arm movement, and since they're attached to the same bit as his head they tend to rock forward and make his head retract in a weird "frightened turtle" sort of way.
His shoulders are nice and tight, but the pegs that attach them are not. When posing his arms they tend to pop off of their pegs and swing sideways. Again, it's nothing major- just something to get used to. His arms still stay together way better than my Alternator Jazz's who has the "pop-offs" like nobody's business.
It was about this time that I noticed how light the plastic is. The instructions claim that he's recommended for children five and up, but I wouldn't dare give him to a child younger than ten. He's just too brittle. One trip off of a table, and he would shatter into a hundred child-choking, eye poking razor-sharp pieces. Again, not a major problem for me, or I suspect the majority of collectors, but it made think about how much tougher Transformers have gotten in recent years. A lot of the new toys are really rugged. I remember breaking my G1 figures on a regular basis.

CONCLUSION
He's a bit light and flimsy, but you just can't beat the price. He's definitely the most toy I've gotten for my money since I picked up Unicron on sale for twenty bucks. I recommend him, but I also recommend caution. One fall and he's toast.




The problem wing.

The glowing sword is very cool. The "woo woo woo" sound it makes is a bit odd though.

Trick shoulder.

Bigger than my size 11!

I don't know why the back doors do this.


I was stuck trying to transform him for a few minutes until I realized that his knees hang down past his frame in sort of a weird way.

AFTERTHOUGHTS
One thing about the ROADBOTS that strikes me as odd is the total lack of any characterization in the packaging. For me a good filecard is a must. ROADBOTS don't even have names beyond their license. The closest thing that he has to a name is "LAND CRUISER 1:18". He even has "LAND CRUISER" on his lisence plate and printed on his bicept. Frankly, I find it sort of creepy.
I was motivated to buy Land Cruiser after seeing the great Grimlock custom that Menbailee made out of his. I had every intention of making my own Grimlock, but now that I have him, I'm thinking about going in a new direction. There are already plenty of Alt Autobots. It's the Decepticons who are really in need of reinforcements. I'm not sure yet if he's going to be an original character or an Alternator-style reinvention, but I'm leaning towards Beast Wars Rampage. Any thoughts?

As kitbash fodder goes this looks excelent. Where can you actually pick these up from? the lack of characterisation wont matter once its been modified,

Took me less than a week to get mine from BBTS (weird for them) but I agree on the Philly postal "misplacement" comment I live in a burb less than 2 miles from city limits and I have to get every package insured and track it twice a day. It makes a damn fine Grimlock on the shelf especially with the Masterpieces and select Alternators. Way better than the Mustang ever did (it now lives in "the box of no return!)

Redimus wrote:That looks pretty cool, does he have good posability (both in the sence that does everything move and is he easy to pose)?

His poseability is great. His joints are nice and stiff and they stay where you put them. The only real problem other than what I mentioned before is that his elbows only bend to a 45 degree angle, which is really weird considering that his transformation involves them bending 90 degrees the other way!

problem with the roadbots is thier size in comparason to the others, but even with that i have this guy on preorder:



because hes totaly getting turned into soundwave.

I just did a quick check of other Transformers I know the scale of, and the only other 1:18 scale I've discovered so dar is Beast Wars Second Scissorboy! The toy stands 12cm tall, but in the show bable he stands 2.1 meters. So if you have Beast Wars Vice Grip (same mold), he should be the same scale.

Also, Kicker and GI Joes are about 1:19 scale. Can you fit him inside? It might be a little snug.

i saw this in an ebay auction and decided to do the repaint. This is what Grimlock deserves to look like!
Now this guy is ol Grim, Binalt Grim is now camshaft.
Now I figure out what to do with camshaft!

Immortal Starscream wrote:problem with the roadbots is thier size in comparason to the others, but even with that i have this guy on preorder:



because hes totaly getting turned into soundwave.

I tell now, the little ones suck eggs! BEWARE!

I am liking the look of these Roadbots. I might consider buying a couple of the smaller/cheaper ones and putting reprolabels on them. Then I can make up tech specs for them. Maybe that little red 1/32 car can be Rapido?

I think the Roadbots are a mixed bag. The alt modes look fantastic, and the robot modes are workable, but often there are parts that just fall off.

I have the green lamborghini and it has not seen robot mode since I took him out of the package.

I have the 1:10 or whatever size yellow and black Ford GT. I like him, but he is not the best TF I ever bought.

I have the yellow HUmmer. He is rather weak, the alt mode looks good, if you can get it to fit together, but he has a hard time holding up his hammer, and the limbs look extremely thin compared to the main body. With some work he could be an awesome Brawn.

The last one I have is a blue... hmm..civic??? His robot mode reminds me of Thundercracker, so that's where he stays robot mode.

I haven't had any time to do any modifying minus some Autobot or Decepticon stickers from reprolabels.

The Land Cruiser looks great in alt mode, and the robot mode looks okay too, but I am glad that I did not buy it.

I have the orange lamborghini, and red hummer on pre-order, lots of time to think about whether I actually want them or not.

Are there extra pieces that you just have lying around when he is in robot mode or vice versa? I detest TFs that are not inclusive of all their parts in both modes.

Are there extra pieces that you just have lying around when he is in robot mode or vice versa? I detest TFs that are not inclusive of all their parts in both modes

Yeah, the clear blade of the sword is left but it fits into the trunk. One got thing about SUVs is their cargo space!

zodconvoy wrote:

Are there extra pieces that you just have lying around when he is in robot mode or vice versa? I detest TFs that are not inclusive of all their parts in both modes

Yeah, the clear blade of the sword is left but it fits into the trunk. One got thing about SUVs is their cargo space!

Actually, if you look in the instructions, the blade actually fits into the groove in the inner thighs.

Directions? I'm an American Male. What need have I for directions? I just toss it in the trunk.

Light and brittle? I've had that toy for months and it's anything but light and brittle, it's heavy and the plastic is quite flexible.

There is a threat over at Transtopia of the original from the auction as well as someone elses Grimlock bash from the SUV. They both did fantastic jobs but I think I like the second one the best. Check em' out here

The general concensis of people who own them seems to be this: Land Cruiser is the only one that doesn't suck.