TLK Barricade *Proofed, Ganon, 8/29/2018*

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Skyquake87
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TLK Barricade *Proofed, Ganon, 8/29/2018*

Post by Skyquake87 »

Name: Barricade
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Sneaky Trickster


Bio: Barricade is apparently a complicated robot. He's considered "fractious" even by Decepticon standards, yet is willing to give Starscream the benefit of the doubt and follow where he leads, at least for the time being. Though not totally dedicated to the service of the Decepticons' current leader, he is much more cautious and reserved about expressing mutinous dissent than most. He believes that Starscream is vital in their search for Megatron and the Allspark. In many ways this makes him Starscream's closest ally in the naturally combative Decepticon ranks. Then again, it's been said that he likes to trick people into trusting him, just so he can see their reactions when they find out just how much of a bad idea it was. As such, he has disguised himself as an Earth police car in an attempt to fool the humans around him.

If his attitude toward his fellow Decepticons is inconsistent, his attitude toward the Autobots is not: kill them all. Barricade might not be as large as most of his peers, but he is every bit as deadly. He thoroughly relishes every chance in fighting the Autobots. He's smart enough to let one live if he thinks he or the Decepticons can use it to their advantage, but most of the time, they're dead before someone's even thought of a plan.
The most frustrating part about him is that he always manages to come back no matter how many times he has been brought down.


Barricade's reappearance in The Last Knight was cheering, given that the Decepticons seem to have the longevity of Mayflies in the live action universe. Although I'm pretty sure he died in Dark Of The Moon. Mind you, Galvatron reverted to Megatron after Age Of Extinction and no one cared. So, neither do I. Especially as it means Barricade gets a nice shiny new toy.

Robot mode: Since his last appearance, Barricade has been to the gym. He's a lot less skeletal and top heavy and far more stocky and beefy. I like that his overall look does mimic that of a US traffic cop. He's quite traditional looking for a movie bot, going for the timeless car hood chest, with most of the vehicle mode tucked up out of the way. There's some nice greebly details throughout and I love that new noodle he's sporting, with its four beady read eyes and tiny – but perfectly applied – Decepticon insignia. A neat and blackly comical addition are the 'serve' and 'protect' knuckledusters, something that wasn't carried over to the film, sadly. He wields a night stick and pistol, as well as an arm mounted set of I don't know what (looks like an elaborate waste paper basket to me). The new navy blue paint job is nice, broken up with some beige plastics and some thoughtful paint apps. Only the floopy wheel chunks on his arms and the whole of the roof cluttering up the back are minor points of dissatisfaction, although the roof can be removed from his back and fans quickly cottoned onto being able to use this as a makeshift riot shield, which is fun.

Alternate Mode: Barricade transforms into an approximation of the Saleen 302 Mustang, which is a nice stubby, brutal looking thing. It looks really nice – I love the front end of this thing with the bull bars, it looks mean – and rolls really well, having pinned, rather than clipped wheels. It even has painted tail lights, a rarity for Transformers toys of any iteration these days. His familiar 'to punish and enslave' moniker is present above the rear wheel arches and there's a general feeling of someone really giving some care and attention to Barricade – even the light bar looks great, with some nice texturing. His two weapons clip neatly underneath and don't get in the way and you can split the basket thing open and peg it to the rear windscreen for a decent looking attack mode. Hasbro's cheapy plain black plastic wheels also make sense here, rather than looking like some horrible cost cutting exercise.


Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation design: I'm on the fence with the transformation. I don't think there'll be many that miss the days of Revenge Of The Fallen, with everything taking half an hour to transform, but this feels like too much the other way. It's fast, but frustrating in its own way, as it relies on a lot of tabs to clip everything together, making him a shell-former. There's not much actual transforming to do, aside from the legs. Everything else is just swinging and clipping bits into place. It's fine, just not very exciting. 6/10

Durability: The hips are two large ball joints which work themselves loose very quickly and are the biggest weak spot of the thing. Other than that, everything is fairly tight and in order. I suppose if you're clipping and unclipping the roof, there's a risk of weakening the connection points or just flat out breaking it, but it's not an inherently fragile part. 8/10

Fun: Barricade is a joy and I've had hours of police brutality fun! 9/10

Aesthetics: Toning down the alien-ness of the movie bots makes them look more like traditional Transformers than I personally would like, but I can't argue that it's made Barricade worse. Quite the opposite, in fact and makes for a superior figure over older versions of the character. Loses a point for the dangly panels hanging off his arms though. 9/10

Value/Price : I paid full RRP for Barricade, and he didn't feel worth it, to be honest. But paying over £20 for a Deluxe toy rarely does. This has been mitigated by the fun I've had out of him and by him being a character I like and wanted a decent toy of, so to me, he's been just about worth it. 7/10

Overall: This really is the best toy Barricade's had over the ten years of the movie line. It's a good looking, solid figure with bags of character and the stand out toy from the first wave of movie deluxes. The only killer is Hasbro hiking up the price for all the TLK toys and marking them as 'Premier' editions. I guess it's a good way to mark these out to older children and collectors, but it still stings. Nice packaging, though. 6/10
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Pictures!
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Barricade 004 (600x800).jpg
Barricade 003 (800x600).jpg
Barricade 002 (600x800).jpg
Barricade 001 (600x800).jpg
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ganon578
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Post by ganon578 »

Proofed and ready. Nice review! I'm not a fan of the movie bots, but this one looks OK.
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