TOY REVIEW
Name: MACH ALERT
Allegiance: Cybertron
Function: Traffic Riot Police Captain
Vehicle Mode: Lamborghini Diablo Police Car
Average Price: 1800 JPY
VEHICLE MODE
Height: 4cm
Length: 12.5cm
Width: 6cm
Mach Alert is a Laborghini Diablo, with police lights
attached to the roof of the car. Mostly white with black trim, at first,
he resembles Red Alert. However, Red Alert was a fire chief's car, and
that's where they begin to differ. Still, Mach Alert does resemble the
old Sideswipe/Red Alert design quite a bit, but it's obvious this is a
new mould. The car is bigger, and has a slight curvature in the body along
the bottom. No, that isn't a mistake. He's moulded with that curve to the
body. Both doors open, but they open out and up, and he doesn't have any
real inside details that make opening the doors seem worth it. You can
even see inner robot parts through the windshield. Then again, you could
see robot parts through Red Alert's
windshield too. Now the comparisons will end, because
aside from similar car forms, they are different toys completely. The police
lights are transparent red. Each door has a set of Kanji writing, which
might translate to "police department", but I'm not sure (It
says "Keishichou": which means 'Metropolitan Police Office," which
more or less is the same thing as "Police Department" -Goktimus).
It's a guess based on Fire Convoy's "fire department" writing, so I could
be way off on that. Points of articulation? The 4 wheels? It's a car, it
doesn't have "points of articulation". Each tyre has "TRANSFORMERS 2000"
written on it, and each is made of rubber, though a harder material than
G1 tyres.
Gimmick: He comes with 2 separate missile launchers,
each measuring 3.5cm, and resembling small jet thrusters. Each fits a clear
missile with a flame design on the end, and painted like Tankor's missile.
The launchers fire by the same pressure ball mechanism first used int he
G2 Cyberjets. But that's not the gimmick. Each launcher fits on the car.
Fit them on the police lights facing forward as cannons, or fold up the
ends of the rear spoiler, and attach them forward as cannons, or backward
as jets. He's the only one of the 3 new Cybertron cars (they're
brothers btw, with Wild Ride being the eldest and Speedbreaker being the
youngest - Goktimus) that can attach his weapon in his vehicle mode
so it fires.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Remove the launchers. Open the doors, fold the windshield
up, and fold the front section up. Fold the legs out, rotate them at the
knees, and again at the ankles. Slide the hip section in. Rotate the doors
upside down, and stand him up. Fold the windshield and hood down over his
back. Fold the exhaust pipe section out, and down over his chest. Pull
the rear sections apart. Unfold the arms, and rotate the panle on the left
arm around so it forms his shield. Fold the exhaust pipes up if you want,
but remember to fold them down when transforming him back, otherwise they'll
get caught in the arms.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 13cm
Width: 7cm, not counting the shoulder pads
Well, it falls into the new transformation technology,
all right. He wears the car in various pieces, though kibble isn't nearly
as bad as it could be, as most doesn't get in the way of a lot of poses.
Even the large shield doesn't get in the way much. The robot parts themselves
look like they were taken from Cybertron's surface. Tonnes of small pieces
moulded in, various small lines and so many details, it's almost unbelievable.
Even the transparent chest piece lends to some imagination. He has a total
of 17 joints, in the neck, inner shoulders, normal shoulders, elbows, lower
elbows, hips, knees, ankles, and upper ankles. The double-joints allow
for a lot of added poses, and the joints are all stiff enough to keep their
pose. He may be a bit back-heavy due to the car pieces on his back, but
the stiff ankle joints help.
Gimmicks: Again, it's the launchers. Place them
on his right forearm, on the shield tabs, or on his back as jets. The exhaust
pipes can also be folded forward as small laser guns.
INSIGNIA LOCATION
There's a large chrome red Autobot insignia right on his
chest.
OVERALL
Well, people wanted G1 vehicles and BW technology in one,
and they got it. Okay, so Mach Alert looks like he's wearing th ecar for
armor. Big deal. It could have been worse. Plus he's an Autobot, which
should please a lot of old fans, and people who like lots of joints should
also be happy. A solid "A+". Mach Alert is also going to be recoloured
as a blue and white US police car for an Autumn release, so get the first
editions while you can.
(pics of the recolour can be seen
here.
- Goktimus)
This review was written by Kasady
Voorhees.
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