By Loran
You know, I’m not embarrassed at all to admit that I like gimmicky characters.
When I first heard about the movie Wreckers, a big grin went across my face. The idea of taking actual stock cars and making them into characters for Dark of the Moon was cool enough, but when I heard about their robot modes I was sold. Making the NASCAR-themed Autobots look like NASCAR fans? Awesome. It’s goofy, and I like it when Transformers does goofy things with the character designs sometimes. It’s why I liked Animated so much. Sometimes it’s nice when a character’s face has actual, well, character to it.
Roadbuster here turns into Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevy Impala. And that’s awesome. Now, they went for a bit of a stylistic difference with his vehicle mode here. This figure doesn’t have any of the wacky armor and weapon enhancements like in the film. It doesn’t bother me that much, though, since I’m a sucker for crazy licensed stuff like this (though I was not much a fan of Alternators. Fancy that). It’s well detailed with all of the sponsors and even Dale Jr.’s signature.
Three ports for the “Mechtech” guns are available on Roadbuster’s vehicle mode—one on each door and one on the roof. I have to say, I rather like the Mechtech gimmick. It’s very nonintrusive, and if you don’t like it, well, don’t use it. That’s how a gimmick should be!
Roadbuster’s transformation isn’t anything too surprising for a movieverse carformer, but my god… the missiles on this guy’s back drive me INSANE. They’re packed in incredibly tight, and the only way I was able to get one of them out the first time was by taking it off the joint. The rest of the figure manages to hold together very well.
Roadbuster’s robot mode is very slim. I rather like how his rear wheels end up on his hips. I can’t remember the last time I bought a figure with those. Unfortunately, like all too many carformers over the past few years, the doors end up on his arms. Oh well. He has a bit of back kibble, but it manages to not get in the way as much as Thunderhead.
Unfortunately, all of those sponsors on his vehicle mode really ate up his paint budget, so his robot mode looks largely undetailed as a result. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll do something akin to Premiums again, but I don’t have hopes. He also has a LOT of translucent plastic for the windows, and I mean a LOT. Thankfully, the paint on those areas is as clear as it can be, and the two greens manage to match up pretty well.
His poseability is decent. Nothing bad, but nothing fantastic.
I love his head sculpt. He has a goatee, sunglasses, and a baseball cap. What more could you want? Oh, right, his AWESOME LIGHT PIPING. Unfortunately the head comes on a VERY tiny ball joint and pops off easily during transformation.
His Mechtech weapon is a chainsaw gun thing! It’s neat, but I wish it was able to stay in place. I might give this to Megatron when I get him.
His two missile pods actually house a pair of 3mm clips! As annoying as they are to transform, they certainly have their uses.
Overall, Roadbuster is everything I expected him to be: a fun deluxe with an awesome alt-mode. Yeah, having a movie-accurate alt-mode would be nice, but it’s Dale Junior’s car! You can’t not dig that. You can pick yours up at FPNYC. I’m going to be sure to be stocking up on some more soon. Maybe Topspin… Ironhide… Megatron… Shockwave…
