Review: #40
Name: Crowbar
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Dark of the Moon
Year of Release: 2011
Size Class: Legion (Wave 2)
Variations: none as of this date
VEHICLE MODE:
Crowbar transforms into an unmarked version of a Carbon Motors E7 police car, he's black with silver detailing, emphasis on the black.
Surprisingly the tail lights are painted red, and there's a molded license plate. There's also an out of place silver Decepticon logo on the roof, fairly random as it's not in an obvious place in robot mode either.
Crowbar has a lot of panel breaks, a lot more than you would expect, thankfully he's black, so you don't notice it that much. All his windows are unpainted, but being that the base plastic is black and the car is black overall, I don't mind, it works here.
What I found was surprising was that they painted the each of the side mirrors to be red and blue, a really nice touch, and secures the theme of a police car. The front grill has a lot of silver paint, but after Barricade from the first movie, a police car Decepticon just doesn't have the same stun factor anymore.
Panel lines here and there, it breaks up the whole car a lot, and that's the major flaw of Crowbar.
The underside doesn't give too much away in terms of transformation. Of course, all four wheels roll.
Just like other DOTM Legions, Crowbar feels smaller than Legends in the past, he's actually a bit smaller than DOTM Bumblebee, and feels noticeably smaller than even RtS Prowl. All in all, a good vehicle mode, I really like the front design, and the painted side mirrors adds that touch of realism.
TRANSFORMATION:
A much more complex Legion classed transformation that you would expect, this is why there are so many panel lines in vehicle mode, as there's a lot of twisting and unfolding going on around here. The arms are easy, being the whole top part of the car, but the legs are interesting, and has a lot of joints (which comes in useful later on). You would have to be careful when going back into vehicle mode, Crowbar has more pegs than he needs, and I snapped a peg clean off when I tried to push his left leg into the car. Ironically, once it snapped off, that part fitted in way better, so I think my one had a manufacturing defect, the peg might be just a bit too big for the hole or skewed in angle, nevertheless, it still holds plenty well together. The transformation is annoying to start or finish due to the pieces pegging together, but I'm happy that we didn't the standard back as legs, side as arms, and front as chest transformation.
ROBOT MODE:
Crowbar's robot mode is one of the better movie Legions one yet, he looks really menacing with those bat like wing tips, long arms and long legs. The chest is the front of the car upside down, and looks great there, my favourite element by far (the two front wheels on either side of his head is a great look).
He has big flat feet, very stable to stand in a variety of poses. The arms are a touch bit too big due to it being formed by most of the car, but he gets away with it.
It is not all good news, he is extremely spindly, especially around the legs, this is the trade off you get from a design such as this... Crowbar pretty much only looks good from the front.
Not much to glean from the back. One thing to note is that you always have to put his arms in front of the legs, they have no way of sitting 'naturally' at the side due to how the shoulder ball joints are set up, this is mildly annoying. His left hand also has a 3mm hole to hold some Cyberverse weapons.
Being a "Dread", he has... dreadlocks! They flank on either side of his head, and I must say, what an ingenious place to put them, out of the way but maximum visual impact. The headsculpt is also very nice, but he has a gaping hole, which I guess is where his mouth must be. There are actually different base plastic used here, one is black, and the other is a dark gold used for the inside of his arms and his torso.
A close up of where I snapped the peg on his left leg (the 'white' circle), mildly annoying that I broke it on my first transformation.
He is tall for a Legions figure, but like I said, he is spindly and has less mass, so he feels more fragile than Prowl.
I am absolutely amazed at the leg articulation of this figure, he has a balljointed hip, BUT he has thigh swivels (required for his transformation), unbelievable, then there's the knee hinge and finally hinged feet, like I said, amazing... Compared to that, the arms are really static although they can tilt back, they can't tilt 'out' though, what's more, he also has a waist swivel... overkill, surely?!
A really rewarding robot mode, and he carries enough colours to look interesting and not like a plain lump of black plastic.
OVERALL:
A cleverly designed robot mode, just need to watch out when you're pegging him together. Otherwise, an excellent figure, and the standout in the current Legions line!
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Credit: the pictures and text are all my original work, but I've linked a few pages to TFwiki.net.
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