Nobody can say Roadbuster isn't well-armed.
Disclaimer #1: This is my second Roadbuster. First one snapped off its left thigh-mounted wheel when I was trying to transform it. Be careful with that.
Disclaimer #2: I know nothing about NASCAR.
That said, this is Roadbuster! He’s a NASCAR vehicle. He’s based on a real life one, so far as I know. Who it belongs to, I could really care less, but his signature is tampoed above the window on each side. There’s a foil sticker on the cardback that identifies this toy as official NASCAR merchandise. And as NASCAR merchandise, he’s got some sponsor logos on him. …well, in this toy’s case, he’s got sponsor logos from exactly two entities, Amp Energy Drinks and the National Guard. I’m fairly certain, without Googling the thing, that there’s probably a lot more sponsor logos filling up the large areas of space left blank on the source material.
While knowing zero about NASCAR, having sponsor logos on a car is cool to me. Cars can be boring, and they liven up the deco. I expect Reprolabels, once the movie comes out and we get a better look at Roadbuster, will do some Upgrade Stickers that complete his look, and I’ll buy them the heck up.
Man, I'm suddenly thirsty for energy drink!
Roadbuster is a member of the Wreckers! Roadbuster was a member of the Wreckers back in Generation 1, too, so it’s sort of neat that Roadbuster-the-green-Wrecker has continued. I expect him to last maybe two minutes in the film before gruesomely dying. Maybe that’s what’ll happen in the clip they’re showing us at BotCon. I’ll try not to get too attached to him. It’s not smart to get emotionally attached to Wreckers anyway, regardless of continuity. They’re there to die.
Short of that stupid wheel that snapped off my first Roadbuster, Roadbuster’s a pleasure to transform. He goes back and forth between robot and vehicle modes without incident, even all of the vehicle panels. The only possible snag is fitting his head’s antenna into the groove carved between his thighs, but that’s not really a big deal. (And, yeah, his head is designed to look like a stereotypical NASCAR fan, with a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a mullet. The other two Wreckers have similarly-styled heads.)
He uses this to open his cans of chew.
Roadbuster’s MechTech weapon isn’t as inane as Sentinel Prime or Bumblebee’s, but it’s certainly not as cool as Ratchet’s. But then, Ratchet’s sawblade kind of sets an unfairly high standard. Roadbuster has a gun with sawblades on the side that, with the push of a lever, becomes a chainsaw. Once you stop pressing the lever, the sawblade halves snap right back into place on the sides of the gun. Fun, but not Ratchet fun.
Another of Roadbuster’s interesting features, and one that’s shared with a few other DOTM toys, are the “hidden” 5mm peghole ports for the MechTech weapons in vehicle mode. Instead of having a big unsightly hole in the vehicle mode, that hole is filled in. When you push the weapon peg into the hole, the filled-in-area is pushed in, and when you remove the weapon, the filled-in-area comes back out again. If you look closely at the photograph of the vehicle mode, you can see the little circle-shaped indent in the middle of his “88″s.
(Let’s see if I get more comments about not caring who the car’s driver is or the English error I employ to make the point.)
Thanks for posting this review… I grew up a couple of miles from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, so as ridiculous as these characters might be in the movie, the worlds of racing and transforming robo-cars colliding makes me very happy. I think this is the first time that’s happened since Wheeljack, (the Group 5 Stratos was the Secretariat of rally cars) so… hooray! Hopefully it happens more often.
Did you miss the Alternators/Binaltech boat? They had Smokescreen as not one, not two, but FOUR versions of Subaru’s WRC Impreza (two model years, one of each number they had competing), and over the years they’ve had plenty of homages to various other race cars, did you know the pre-transformers toy of Wheeljack also came in Marlboro Cigarette liveries?
I don’t think I said anywhere this was the first time a Transformer has been a sponsor-logoed race car.
I think A.T.A.R.O. was replying to TC Internet.
My gf picked him up for me yesterday. Maybe one of my All-Time favorites.
The driver of the 88 is Dale Earnhardt Jr. Probably the most popular driver in NASCAR, but also just average driver.
No, he doesn’t use the saw to open cans of chew. He uses it to open cans of whupass.
I think that’ll be a pretty common break. First time I TFed Roadbuster I didn’t even know to touch the wheels. Then I watched the demostration, one wheel I could get moved with a bit of effort, the other (the left one too!) just snapped right off. Superglued it back on, not touching them again since it’s not really necessary to move them at all.
Of course another creative thing to do would have it posed in a pitbox on a jack for a tire change. One guy with the gas can, one guy using the jack, one guy with the spare tire, one with the power wrench, the driver taking a drink…
FTR, if you’re interested, it’s Dale Earnhardt, jr’s car. And, yes, there are quite a few sponsor logos missing.
The average NASCAR car has almost as many sponsor logos on it than there are bumper stickers on the average Volvo in Berkeley.
For your edification: #88 is Dale Earnhardt Jr.
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/4788/2010nscs88car.jpg
As for the other color possibilities, Cup drivers who also drive Impalas this year include:
#24 Jeff Gordon (DuPont, flame paint job)
#29 Kevin Harvick (Mr. Goodwrench, black paint)
#48 Jimmie Johnson (Lowe’s, blue paint)
#5 Mark Martin (Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, yellow/blue paint–alternatively GoDaddy.com with green/black paint)
#42 Juan Pablo Montoya (Target, red paint w/white bullseye)
#14 Tony Stewart (Office Depot, red/silver paint)
The #48 and #42 are also getting toys for DOTM.
I do wish the primary color on Roadbuster was white, painted green. It’d make it really really easy to dye him and then apply third-party stickers to make another car (and let’s face it, the difference between the Impala and Fusion in NASCAR is just stickers, so I could give my wife a Carl Edwards Transformer.)
The “hidden” pegholes were one of the features I thought was the coolest about this line- maybe I’m easily impressed, but anything that improves the versilimitude of the vehicle modes is fine by me (still kicking myself for not buying any Alternators).
The Nascar Transformers appeared in the Daytona 500 this year. It was rather neat to see them on the track. Michael Bay was one of the grand marshals and got to say the Gentlemen Start Your Engines thing.
There’s 3 Transformers Nascars in all: Dale Jr (#88) , Jimmy Johnson (#48), and Juan Pablo Montoya (#42).
A couple years ago Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman raced in cars that had the autobot and decepticon logos on the hoods. It just proved to me what I’ve known all along. Jeff Gordon is a Decepticon.
I live practically right next to Charlotte Lowe’s Charlotte Motor Speedway (which is not actually in Charlotte), and I actually worked in a merchandise trailer selling Dale Jr. stuff a few summers, back when he drove #8. I have no actual interest in NASCAR though (had to fake it when some customer or other felt chatty), so I basically forgot all about it until I got Roadbuster and realized he has the same hologram sticker as the stuff I was selling then, and then I thought “wait a minute…”
I know for sure that Roadbuster will die in the movie. How do I know?
Movie 1: the first of the toys I bought was Jazz
fate: ripped in half by Megatron in the final battle.
Movie 2: first toy I bought was Sideways
fate: cut in half by Sideswipe in the first 10 minutes.
Movie 3: first toy I get is Roadbuster.
the guy is a goner.
I vote for the English error, since I also do not care for this Nascar thingie.
To more easily get his head between his legs (um…), just briefly unpeg and slightly spread his ankles as you fit the legs down around his antennae and fit them back together just as you slot them into place under the trunk. Easy-peasy.
Also there are Sprint logos on the doors too. Teeny, but present.
I was about to mention those Sprint logos too. But now I wonder if that’s an official sponsor of the car, or if it’s like the “Sprint Cup” race or somesuch. The whole logo includes NASCAR in with Sprint and some way-too-tiny-to-read-without-a-magnifying-glass text that reads (something) Cup (Something). (Doesn’t know anything about NASCAR).
yes, it says sprint cup series
it’s the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series logo. Which used to be the Nextel Cup and before that the Winston Cup.
I love roadbusters mechtech. If only because it moves like Animated Lockdowns arm conversion chainsaw. Its gorgeous.
Ya know, it’s funny that I didn’t collect TFs back in the day (I had two that were given to me and I hated ‘em ’cause I didn’t understand them; one of them was Iron Hide, so maybe you can understand). Yet, sometmes I find myself disappointed ’cause I looked at the old figure. Most of the time every new figure is way better, but I found myself enamored with the old Roadbuster. That looked like a good toy even for the old days! Most of ‘em look immoble and boring, but Roadbuster looked awesome! I actually wouldn’t mind tracking one of those down today.
So I was excited to see what they would do with him for the movie…and he just ended up being a car. A racecar. Sadly, the most boring TFs to me are the plain cars. I like the classic looking ones well enough (like Downshift from Cybertron) but these brand new standard looking cars just bore me. Since the Autobots are part of the military in the movies, I was expecting some crazy awesome military vehicle for Roadbuster, loaded with weapons! Instead…they loaded a racecar with weapons.
It certainly looks like a good figure, but it feels like it could have been a lot less boring considering the character. Never had ‘em so there’s no nostalgia; I just thought it looked awesome and I’m disappointed that they just made ‘em a car. I’ll probably relent at one point ’cause he’s got a giant saw.
Roadbuster, like Jetfire, was a toy originally made for an anime series (Fang of the Sun Dougram, IIRC) which is why he has a slightly different aesthetic and is generally awesome. (Not that I don’t like the Diaclone molds, but the Deluxe Autobots and Insecticons really stand out.)
You snapped off hiw wheel? Man, even the toy Wreckers are made to die.
I love how the producers said they were getting rid of the “dorky” comedy from the last film, and then proceeded to have characters with stereotypical NASCAR fan appearances. *facepalm*
They gave movie Roadbuster G1 Topspin’s head. Just take a look at the two. This bugs me far more than any grammatical error or lack of caring indicated above.
i am surprised that you didn’t know about the Daytona 500 thing DW. look it up on youtube, they had prop cars on the track from the movie.
decent transformer, but your review and its arrogance of not caring annoyed me as a fan of NASCAR. no need to use “redneck” jokes to get the point across that you obviously know nothing. we get it, you want us to be upset and point out how you’re wrong, for some odd egotistical stunt you’re pulling.
I don’t think I used any redneck jokes. Find me a redneck joke I made?
I think claiming that the average NASCAR fan wears a baseball cap, shades and a mullet counts as a redneck joke. It’s generally understood that rednecks compose roughly 80% of NASCAR fandom.
Look, I AM NOT THE GUY WHO DESIGNED IT. I am merely pointing out the design philosophy. All three of the Wreckers are INTENTIONALLY designed to look like the stereotyptical idea of NASCAR fans. Leadfoot is FAT and has a BEARD. Remember Skids and Mudflap from Revenge of the Fallen? Gold teeth? Wigger slang? These guys are that, but with rednecks.
Don’t get all pissy at me, dude. Get pissy at Michael Bay.
Jesus HELL, NASCAR fans are touchy.
Disclaimer #2: I know nothing about NASCAR.
Fixed version…
Disclaimer #2: I know everything about NASCAR fans.
Yeah, you’re banned now.
NASCAR fans are feeling a little sensitive, lol. You guys are the only ones to start being insulting.
Seems like a pretty neat toy, regardless of what happens in the movie. I swear these reviews get me buying more toys than I regularly would.
Nascar is more boring than baseball, but now it has robots so I guess that’s something baseball can’t take from it.
You gotta admit that there was an air of arrogance and superiority when you proudly said you didn’t know about nascar, when a google of “NASCAR 88″ would show Dale Jr as the driver. You went out of your way to egg on nascar fans in your audience. When your audience is made up of a lot of people who play with toy cars, odds are some of them like real cars too.
I don’t know much about NASCAR either, but Dale Earnhardt is one of those names that exists outside of the sport as much as in it. In the same way people who don’t know basketball might still know Kobe, wrestling still knew Randy Savage, or people who don’t know golf know Tiger.
But then I think I’ve criticized you enough for this month so I’ll wait until June to comment further.
I would have said the same thing about basketball. If not caring about a favorite sport is considered arrogance, then I don’t think I’m the one with issues.
Being willfully uninformed and taking more time to flaunt that you don’t have the answer than it would take to find the answer is maybe not arrogance, but it is stupid.
keep fucking that chicken.
Maybe you just need to stop ascribing sinister motives to innocent things. Maybe, just maybe, when I say I don’t know something, I also know a dozen well-meaning people will volunteer all sorts of information at me, at length, and I was hoping to avoid that. I write a lot of blogs and I know how it goes down. Geeks like telling people information! But it would waste both their time and mine, as it’d go right in one ear and out the other. It’s not something I’m interested in.
But, no, it’s actually because I’m an arrogant dick. Sure.