Review: #254
Name: Burn Out
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: BotCon 2015 - Souvenir Set
Year of Release: 2015
Size Class: Deluxe
Variations: repaint of Generations Skids, the original mold of which was repainted into AOE Rollbar and retooled into Generations Crosscut
BIO CARD:
Burn Out is a BotCon 2015 exclusive, being sold in a two-pack with Lift-Ticket. It comes with a bio card which contains a short bio and some stats. The artwork is okay, the proportions are a bit off and the pose is not the best.
VEHICLE MODE:
Burn Out transforms into a black sporty hatchback with red and silver detailing. It is a fantastic and striking color scheme based upon the Diaclone (pre-Transformers) version of the G1 Skids toy.
This is a good mold, the back is properly sculpted to look like a real cars rear would, and the rear lights are painted which is awesome.
He comes with two weapons which can plug onto either side (apologies, I got the weapons between Crosscut and Burn Out mixed up, Burn Out's weapons are actually a pale grey, not black like the above photo).
A quick size comparison with Generations Trailcutter, he is a bit on the shorter side, it is a compact figure.
A comparison with Crosscut, who shares the mold.
Burn Out is sold in a two-pack with Lift-Ticket and they look good together.
A good car mode, black with red is always a good choice, and the silver highlights just sweetens it that much more.
TRANSFORMATION:
Burn Out's transformation is fiddly. For some reason, the shoulder joints on this BotCon version are fairly tight, especially the left shoulder where you cannot pull it out to the same degree as the other shoulder. Otherwise, no mold changes and it is involved and interesting. The feet are nice and the way the shoulder cannons flip up is cool.
ROBOT MODE:
Burn Out's robot mode... is fantastic. The predominantly colors are still black and red, with some gold, silver and blue thrown in for good measure.
His backpack is comprised of vehicle panels which compact together nicely, the door wings emulate the original G1 toy.
There are some great paint applications to highlight the sculpting, including the individually painted missiles in his shoulder missile pods, and the blue and silver on his door wings.
The head sculpt is decent, a bit too organic for my liking. It is situated on a balljoint. The silver painted shoulder cannons are also a nice touch.
Next, a size comparison, he gains a little bit of height but is still fairly short. A lot of hollow parts means that Burn Out is light in the hand too.
Now a comparison with Crosscut, the different color scheme making the two toys feel completely different.
Lastly, a shot with Lift-Ticket and they are awesome together. On a note, wish that they didn't create a new name for this figure, Skids would have been fine and much more preferred... since the mold is so recognizable anyway.
Poseability is good, however, there are some restrictions to his shoulders and hands. The shoulders cannot really lift out to the sides all that much which is disappointing (this is after pulling the shoulders out as far as possible).
He will have balancing issues due to his feet, he needs proper heels rather than the long feet he has now. What makes Burn Out worse than other versions of the mold is that his knee joints are weaker.
As if Burn Out wasn't armed enough already, he comes with two guns (and I got the proper ones this time).
He can wield one in each hand, unfortunately, the weapons, along with his thighs and wrist-guns are unpainted grey plastic, they would have benefited from silver paint or a darker shade of plastic because you can see the light bleeding through the hollow parts.
The other option is to combine the two guns together into a longer rifle.
This works well as well but the dual wielding looks much better and more wicked.
You can get Burn Out to do some crazy poses but a better range of motion for his ankles would have make him even more versatile. As it is, he seems to have good articulation on paper but is quite limited in hand.
A good looking robot mode and possesses a superior color scheme compared to other uses of this mold.
OVERALL:
First things first, Burn Out does not come cheap, at approximately US$40, that's really expensive for a Deluxe toy. Yet, Burn Out is a really nice figure, the black and red works well, too bad he is missing his Diaclone driver which should have really been packed with this set. All in all, he is worthwhile to obtain if he tickles your fancy, otherwise, you're just as well off getting another version of this mold like Skids or Crosscut.
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