TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

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ravimus prime's review of: RiD Railracer

Rail Racer is a gestalt made up of 3 robots: Railspike, Rapid Run and Midnight Express. Each component of Rail Racer will be reviewed separatley(spellcheck) and the their combined form at the end. I found all them together in a shop and I bought him, only really because it was cheap but Rail Racer was my first gestalt really and I am still very fond of him. Now for the review...

Name: Railspike
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Train?
"Most kind of you to surrender."

Railspike is leader of the Bullet train team. He is courteous, polite and intelligent - but don't let his gentlemanly manners fool you into thinking he's not cut out for battle. He can lock, load and fire the rocket launchers on his shoulders like any true warrior. to bring down the enemy, he uses a sonic umbrella that emits ultrasonic waves as it rotates.

Vehicle Mode:
Railspike is a train in his alt. mode. I'm not sure what train but I think he's based on a real one. Railspike is very sleek in this mode. It looks nice but you can't do much with it like this. It has silver windows, while the Takara version has unpainted clear ones. I personally think it looks better with painted windows. Railspike's weapon is stored at the rear of the train. What can I say about Railspike's alt. mode, great as far as trains go. (Railspike can be hooked up to the other train brothers using the hooks on the back of each train.)

Robot Mode:
Railspike is better in this mode. He has a chunky, solid feel to him, though he is lanky. Railspike is very tall but as he is also a train, he is skinny too. Not a bad look I must say. His weapon looks like...well, you'll see it when you get it. His weapon has a red LED in it, nice feature, as when it is posed as a sword, it looks like a lightsaber. He has huge shoulder pads, decent arms and a bulky chest, so that's all good. now for the faults... The head, oh the head. When you're transforming him, you must turn his head 180 degrees, but as you're doing this the head pops out. It's on a ball so you'd think you could pop it back into the socket... Wrong! The socket is on a spring loaded platform. The only way to get on is to put the head on backwards again and try to turn it slowly. One of the most frustrating transformers ever. It may just be mine though. So Railspike is good all in all apart from the rotation problem with his head.

Transformation: 4. Not challenging at all, it's all in the head I'm afraid.
Durability: 7. Great apart from guess what... the head, it has got to the point where on mine the head won't go on atall! Now a headless transformer doesn't look too nice does it?
Fun: 9. whole load of fun, especially for kiddies. Gets better when combined.
Price: ? Varies.
Overall: 8. Railspike is a simple transformer, only really losing points for the head. Get him if you want to make up Rail Racer. Read on to see if Rail Racer is really worth getting.


Name: Rapid Run
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Train?
"Lets battle!!!!!!"

Rapid Run is proud of being the toughest member of the Bullet Train team. He is always ready for a fight and loves a good brawl. He fires his grenade launcher to confuse the enemy with a blinding wall of smoke, so that his fellow Autobots can send in the heavy weapons. His aim is always accurate so he never has to fire more than once.

Vehicle Mode:
Alright we have another train here. Rapid Run is the shortest of the Bullet Train team in vehicle mode, with Midnight Express being the longest and Railspike in between. His train mode has a great look to it. I believe this is done through the colours mainly. Grey for most of the body, blue windows and gold highlights along the side and front. The front of the train is round, and does not come to a point like Railspike. Again, he can hook up with the other combiners that make up Rail Racer.

Robot Mode:
Lanky. This is a word that summs up Rapid Run. He has no shoulder pads, skinny legs, thin arms and he's really tall. No real problems here. Good posability. His weapon is some kind of missile launcher, which doubles as a shield. The autobot symbol on his back looks great. The only problem I have is a minor one with the chest. The front part of the train becomes his chest. It doesn't interfere with play value, it just looks a little odd. So his robot mode is great overall.

Transformation: 2. So easy. So terribly easy.
Durability: 10. Very strong and I haven't had any problems with him.
Fun: 10. A train that becomes a robot and can shoot stuff'.
Price: ? Varies.
Overall: 10. Because why not. I love him and he is just a really good, solid transformer.


Name: Midnight Express
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Train?
"Victory - let's party!"

Midnight Express is the Bullet train team's friendly, easy going junior member. He sets the mood for the team with a cheerful, fun-loving attitude that will have everyone feeling upbeat - yet when it comes to the enemy, he's tough and unrelenting. He's good in the cold: he melts snow with his heat missiles and slices icebergs down to size with his light swords.

Vehicle Mode:
A train. Again. Now Midnight Express's alt. mode is long and awkward. He is very sleek though and look's alright from overhead. He is also fairly flat. The front of the train is more like Rapid Run's in that it doesn't really come to a sharp point but it does get flatter as it comes to the front. Midnight Express is hugely flawed. The joints don't meet up and it look's like a terrible mess. The gaps are really noticable and make his alternate mode look bad. There is no justice in it. Midnight Express can hook up to Rapid Run and Railspike to make a long train as mentioned before.

Robot Mode:
Midnight Express looks laughable. Go on, look at some pictures and have a giggle yourself. He has HUGE legs. So improportionate. They are thick and long. They are there for a reason though and read on to find out what for. His feet are also terrible. One is made of the train's front end, the other, the trains end. The One made up of the front of the train is okay. The other is much bigger and completely different. His arms are in okay proportion to his main body but are look tiny compared to his legs. The arms also keep falling off everytime I move them. Attatched to his arms are wings which help his appearence a bit, but not enough I say. His main body is a bit short and boxy, not too bad though as he has a lioncloth like piece that folds out andcovers his crotch area. His head is on a little peg that is attatched at the back which makes him look a bit freaky. You'd look freaky too if you literally had a pencil neck. His weapon is a gun/ missile launcher which is nice but doesn't save him. Horrible robot mode.

Transformation: 8. Fairly complex and awkward.
Durability: 6. Arms keep falling off and joints aren't too good.
Fun: 7. Fun for kids but he frustrates me.
Price: ? Varies.
Overall: 5. Nothing really going for him. Five points for pity and some nice features.

RAIL RACER

Well you know he's an Autobot. No catchphrase or Bio. He's made up of Railspike, Rapid Run and Midnight Express, as you probably know. Okay, he has a great big detailed head. Nice visor over the face. Pointy chest which is suprisingly nice. Big arms, cool, chunky and detailed. His hands are like Optimal Optimus', with movable thumb and fingers which cannot move individually but move together to form a fist or palm ready to smack.(Railspike) Neat torso and backpack like feature on his...back.(Rapid Run) Great pair of legs on this guy aswell. (Midnight Express) So now you know why Midnight Express had to have huge legs. They are the same legs, without change, that allow Rail Racer to walk, skip and run. Nice detailing all over. One nice feature I would like to point out are his weapons. Midnight Express' and Railspike's weapons combine to form a sniper rifle like weapon, while Rapid Run's weapon becomes Rail Racer's shield. Nothing to complain about atall. Loving this gestalt.

Transformation: 9. Fairly difficult but everything works well.
Durability: 8. Midnight Express' arms ( now at the hips of Rail Racer's legs) still fall off. He also has a bit of difficulty holding his weapons.
Fun: 10. Great gestalt with great features. What's moore fun... Maybe some holiday or some social event, but that's neither here nor' there.
Price: 7. All 3 for 25-50 on ebay, I think.
Overall: 9. If you can get it, do. Not the greatest transformer but... If you like the R.I.D. line, go for this. That's all I can say.