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Transformers Toy Review Archive (older series, 1984 to date)
Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:

Civ's review of: Tracks (blue version)

Name: Tracks
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Warrior
Sub-Group: NA

Ah, Tracks. From what I gather, his G1 figure was highly loved for it's sheer cool looking factor and that it had wings to fly. Unfortunately, BT Tracks (BT-06 Blue Version) does not come with wings so that he can fly, but I'll get into that later. When I first heard that a Corvette was being made into a Transformer, excitement and expectations were high. We all wanted to see what magic Takara could wield to make the Corvette come to life. Unfortunately, Takara came up only a bit short from an awesome figure, so let's get right to it, shall we?

Vehicle Mode:
Quite simply, the vehicle mode is superb. Where do I even begin? I'll pick the exterior. As always, painstaking detail has gone into this vehicle mode. When you hold it in your hands, you know that you are holding a model (apart from the 1:24 scale). The car has steering just like the previous BT/Alternators, except this figure does not use magnets. Instead, it uses a set (2) of parallel rods in each leg to adjust the wheels. If you want the wheels to make a left turn, all you would do is simply move one of the wheels, and while one rod moves in, the other moves out. The rod being pushed out then pushes the opposing rod in the other leg. From this push, the other wheel then turns in accordance. I know this is a bit confusing, but if you get the figure, you will see what I mean. Other goodies include four rubber tires, adjustable mirrors on the doors a la BT Lambor and BT Dead End, two opening doors, a highly detailed exhaust system covered in chrome, and an opening hood of the car with detailing on the inside. As with other BT's besides Hound, Swindle, and Meister (currently), the engine becomes the gun for Tracks.

The interior is also quite good. All the usuals are there such as the detailed adjustable seats, rotatable steering wheel (though not height adjustable), the detailed dashboard, the emergency brake, and so on that you see in other BTs. The backseats don't exist because the head and arms are there. You can also see Tracks' missiles next to the car doors. Another minor but unique thing with this model is that it had a rearview mirror. I have yet to see this on any other BT at this time. So unless Grimlock has this feature, then the Corvette mold is the only one that has this.

So what's metal and what's not? Well, I'm glad you asked and if you didn't, well tough luck, you're gonna find out anyway. The following parts are metal on Tracks:
·Both door panels.
·The entire front of the car, which includes the hood, the front bumper, and the front siding.

That's it. Tracks does not possess as much metal as say Meister does.

Robot Mode:
First of all, transforming Tracks is a bit of a pain. If you thought BT Smokescreen's legs were a pain, wait until you see Tracks. You have to get the engine out of the car which is a job in itself, dislodge the front from the windshield and doors, separate the legs, extend the legs (which is also a pain), and then you finally finish the legs off. The upper body transformation isn't tough. It's a little confusing but not anywhere near as hard as BT Smokescreen's or BT Silverstreak's arms are.

For articulation, Tracks has full range of motion with his arms; however, his shoulders are a bit limited since he cannot raise them laterally at all. He does have the capability of crossing his arms though. His head is also adjustable. It can move 360 degrees in the horizontal plane; however, it can barely look up which is a real bummer. He also has some ankle articulation, which is they can spin 360-degrees and can move up and down ever so slightly. He can bend his wrists toward his body but cannot bend them outwards due to his arm-mounted guns. The wrists cannot rotate like the other BTs' wrists can. He also has the usual BT finger articulation of a moving index finger while the other three are one piece and the thumb is immobile. He has absolutely no problems holding his handgun. He has no waist articulation and is the only BT I know of without a somewhat rotatable waist.

His leg articulation is very hampered by the door hinges. They just get right in the way of any leg poses and you really have to play with the figure to avoid bumping the hood of the car into the hinge. If that's not bad enough, the legs also cannot move backwards at all. The way the figure is designed, the upper leg bumps right into the windshield/door hinge assembly, which really hampers posing capability. Tracks can move his legs forward though since he has a flapping "belt" a la Masterpiece Convoy. He does have movement in the knees but my advice is to not move the doors parallel with his lower legs as shown in the instruction. Instead, I shift them so that they're about 45-degrees relative to the ground while pointing them out or away from the main body so he can still use him arms. You get a wee bit more maneuverability that way. He can also spread his legs but is limited by the door hinges if you're looking for good poses.

As for features, if you want guns, this guy is loaded. He has two guns that can locked into position on each arm - 4 total. He has two missile launchers, which do not fire and are two solid pieces of plastic, and finally, he has his engine that transforms into his gun. The gun itself may be considered double barreled or what have you, but altogether, this guy has more guns and weapons than any other BT and would make G1 Skids jealous; therefore, he may have trouble moving around but if he nails any Decepticon, they're most assuredly dead. His missiles are adjustable and can point in any practical direction.

For all of the hardcore Tracks fans, he has no wings. I don't even see how Takara could have even put them on because his back is really busy with a collapsed roof and windshield. They're lucky they got the missiles on there so be happy with that. The whole robot mode itself is very clunky with too many parts hanging off like Big Convoy (or Universe Nemesis Prime, the wooly mammoth). If the door hinges could only be moved out of the way and the whole windshield/door hinge assembly could be allowed to flap, then the figure would be significantly better.

Transformation: 8 - Frustrating. When I say that, I'm referring to the legs. The upper body is all right, but those legs can be aggravating.
Durability: 8 - The usual paint-scratching to worry about. Other than that, there's not much to worry about with this figure
Fun: 6 - Lack of articulation really hurts this figure. He looks great, except from behind, but not much articulation; however, you can imagine some Terminatoreseque scenes where Tracks just walks through somewhere and just blows stuff up. He's most definitely a display piece, but not much play value.
Price: 7 - About $50 US on e-bay and that includes shipping and handling. Wait for the prices to go down before getting him.
Summary: 7 - Not as much fun to play with as the Impreza, Wrangler, or RX-8 molds, but definitely better than the Vipers. It's a crying shame about the leg articulation because he could have been a really good figure if he simply wasn't hindered with so much clunkiness.

 
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