Review: #54
Brand: Transformers
Line: Dark of the Moon
Year of Release: 2011
Note: I am only borrowing this toy, hence I probably can't remember every single detail of the figure
Name: Leadfoot
Allegiance: Autobot
Size Class: Human Alliance (Target Exclusive)
Variations: there is a Japanese version without all the sponsor logos and apparently an International version where it lacks the Target logo on the hood
VEHICLE MODE:
Leadfoot transforms into a NASCAR Chevy Impala with various sponsor logos all over the car. I'm going to cut to the chase, this is a good vehicle mode, looks excellent, and if you're going to get Leadfoot, it should be for this mode.
Since he's a race car, he lacks tail lights. He does have these two ugly bronze coloured circles at the back, these are MechTech ports for the robot mode. Due to the different colour, they do stick out a lot and ruin the look.
He has a huge Chevy logo at the back, and also the sponsor "Energizer", to be honest, Leadfoot lacks in a lot of sculpted detail, so it feels weird. Not that it makes Leadfoot any worse, its just different (and I doubt the real vehicle has many sculpted details anyway). He also sports a silver spoiler.
He has the numbers '42' on both sides, an Autobot logo, "TUMS", "COTTONELIE", a Target logo and another logo I can't make out and can't remember. Leadfoot rolls very well.
Of course, you can't miss the huge Target logo on the hood, it's pretty much the defining feature of Leadfoot.
Particularly on the hood, there's a lot of panel lines that can be somewhat hard to get flush with the rest of the vehicle.
The entire back end of the car is a solid shell, with a lot of empty space, it feels it's a bit cheaty since the rest of the vehicle has bits packed to the brim.
Being a Human Alliance figure, he features opening doors.
If you look inside, there's a sparsely detailed interior, two seats and a steering wheel, that's it.
Obviously, you can fit the human driver inside.
The windows and 'glass' are a transparent smoky plastic that makes it hard to see through.
Leadfoot is appropriately sized, about Voyager (which is what it should be, since they're priced as Voyager).
A really nice vehicle mode, and it's the non-weaponized version (something which I prefer) so it looks excellent and realistic. One of the best Human Alliance vehicles since he doesn't have any robot kibble sticking out anywhere.
TRANSFORMATION:
This is where Leadfoot falls down flat on it's face (and he does it very easily in robot mode actually), with a disgusting transformation scheme. It is not elegant, and it feels like a mess with panels everywhere that you need to rearrange. There are just way too many joints, and going back into vehicle is a nightmare, trying to realign everything. I did not even attempt to go back into vehicle mode (someone else did it, and they spent ages). I don't think it's a frustrating transformation, just annoying, and could have been done a lot better. Nothing is complex about it, it just feels that the concept was a bad one from the start, and it ruined the finished product. I think it'll be best if you settled down for one mode and leave it at that. I definitely did not enjoy this one.
SERGEANT DETOUR:
Let's go a little bit out of our way here and focus on the human partner. Seriously though, they've done it, they've given us a massively generic character. Granted, there aren't many human characters in the movie that would fit, but it just feels lacking compared to all the movie related characters we got in the ROTF Human Alliance line.
He has wrist rotation, which I was really surprised at, but just your standard human figure, too generic in my reckoning.
ROBOT MODE:
This is where you're going to either like this figure, or hate it (just like the ROTF Twins actually), as the design is very peculiar. Some might say that the toy was always going to be bad since the design was bad (and I agree, they went way over the top in some of the designs in the last two movies).
As it is, the standout of this design is the 'beer gut'. In stock photos, I thought they pulled it off quite well, now that I have the figure in hand, I'll have to retract that. This is honestly, a visually flawed robot mode. You can tell from just looking at the back (above picture), there is a lot of gaps everywhere.
I think, the biggest problem would be that his 'beer gut' situates too far away from his body. If it was closer, it would have worked a lot better, and looked much more like it was intended. As it is, you get this thing, where there's a head popping out of nowhere, and two spindly shoulders that does not do the aesthetics any favours.
This is further compounded by the fact that he wears a sizable chunk of the car (roof and back) on his back. It's kinda ironic that he has half the car on his front and back.
Then there's the articulation. He has the joints, but the kibble, particularly the doors, hinder a lot of the arm movement. The heel spurs are small, making Leadfoot keel over very easily, even in a neutral position.
Due to the shellform-y nature of the figure, most of the sponsor markings are gone. The only ones left are the '42' on each side of the doors, and the greatest placement of the Target logo you can get, on his chest. It's like, while he's fighting in the war, Leadfoot wants the enemy to shoot him by providing a bulls eye for them to aim at.
Leadfoot is decently sized, even though he's supposed to be stubby, he is pretty tall.
In terms of gimmicks, he has the head visor thing that was apparently on previous HA toys like Jazz and Roadbuster. You can either have him wear the visor up or down via a switch at the back of his head.
Then there's the 'Human Alliance' component. In his chest there are two flip out guns...
...and you can place the driver in the chest gap so it looks like he's operating it. Honestly, that gap is not worth this gimmick, and this is where the packaging pics make Leadfoot so much better but having the driver cover the gap. Disappointingly, this is the ONLY place of interaction with the driver, very disappointing.
Yeah, having the driver there does make Leadfoot look five times better.
Then there's Steeljaw, in Leadfoot's right arm, you can open up a panel to reveal a chain.
This chain can then plug into Steeljaw, and there's also a peg on Leadfoot's arm, so he can walk the dog.
Another gimmick involving with Steeljaw is that he can morph into a type of crossbow looking missile launcher that can attach to either of his arms via a MechTech port.
Remember the MechTech ports at the back of the car? They're now on the backpack of Leadfoot, so you can attach Steeljaw there too. In the end, a bitterly disappointing robot mode, the gap really ruined the whole figure for me.
OVERALL:
Depends on what you prefer, if you like a Transformer to have good vehicle modes, then Leadfoot's great. If your preference is the robot mode, then Leadfoot might not be for you (of course, being great in both modes would be the best). Personally, I'm not too fussed with the design of the beer gut, but it hasn't been executed well here, and the transformation to get to either mode is very frustrating, and more complex than it should be. Leadfoot is not a fun toy to play with, there are too many parts blocking the way of the robot mode, and more often than not, you'll be spending some time trying to find a pose that lets him able to stand of his own accord. Probably the weakest of Human Alliance toys from Dark of the Moon and one of the weakest overall (probably on par with Sideswipe).
Name: Steeljaw
Allegiance: Autobot
Size Class: Human Alliance (Target Exclusive)
Variations: none
ROBOTIC DOG MODE:
I'm going to cut straight to the chase here and be harsh, Steeljaw is a waste of plastic and the set would not be better or worse without him. So he's a Cyber dog, nothing more I can say about that.
The head is comically big, but I guess you can say he's fairly cute. He has what it seems to be six exhausts coming out of his back (actually the button for firing missiles). I've actually left the chain attached here, you can take it off if you prefer.
The head is detailed and there's even a mechanical tongue hanging out, which looks stupid.
I've read somewhere that he was originally intended to transform into Leadfoot's engine (with Leadfoot actually having a spot there for Steeljaw to plug in). That would have been cool and much better than what we get here, but I guess Steeljaw would have had to be tiny for that to work.
Surprisingly, he's very articulated. There's two joints in each of his legs, and his head is on a ball joint, and his jaw can even open.
MISSILE LAUNCHER MODE:
Steeljaw transforms from a dog into a thing, that is supposedly a weapon. Doesn't look good, and does not look much like a weapon. This is the reason why Steeljaw doesn't add much to the set. I didn't have the missile, and so I stole Dirge's as a substitute.
Since most of the limbs are just resting there, any touch would dislodge the shape. A disappointing weapon mode to say the least, reminds me of the PowerCore Combiner Minicons, but at least they looked semi-decent and you could tell they were supposed to be weapons.
OVERALL:
I don't like Steeljaw, period. He does not add anything to Leadfoot, and is a waste of plastic. This might be too harsh, but at least with the Skids and Mudflap sets, we got transforming figures of characters that appeared in the movie, Steeljaw is a non-movie character.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:
Unless you really dig the Nascar vehicle or Leadfoot's robot mode, steer waaaaaaay clear of this one. It's a poorly designed toy that doesn't stack up to the high standards set by previous Human Alliance toys. If you can get it on sale then he might be worth it, but at full RRP (or even more than that on the secondary market), Leadfoot's not worth it. It's not often I say this about a figure, but I was bitterly disappointed by him.
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Credits: as mentioned, the figure is not mine, but the photos and text are, and there's a few links to other sites.
If you're interested, other reviews can be found on this page.
ROBOT MODE:
This is where you're going to either like this figure, or hate it (just like the ROTF Twins actually), as the design is very peculiar. Some might say that the toy was always going to be bad since the design was bad (and I agree, they went way over the top in some of the designs in the last two movies).
As it is, the standout of this design is the 'beer gut'. In stock photos, I thought they pulled it off quite well, now that I have the figure in hand, I'll have to retract that. This is honestly, a visually flawed robot mode. You can tell from just looking at the back (above picture), there is a lot of gaps everywhere.
I think, the biggest problem would be that his 'beer gut' situates too far away from his body. If it was closer, it would have worked a lot better, and looked much more like it was intended. As it is, you get this thing, where there's a head popping out of nowhere, and two spindly shoulders that does not do the aesthetics any favours.
This is further compounded by the fact that he wears a sizable chunk of the car (roof and back) on his back. It's kinda ironic that he has half the car on his front and back.
Then there's the articulation. He has the joints, but the kibble, particularly the doors, hinder a lot of the arm movement. The heel spurs are small, making Leadfoot keel over very easily, even in a neutral position.
Due to the shellform-y nature of the figure, most of the sponsor markings are gone. The only ones left are the '42' on each side of the doors, and the greatest placement of the Target logo you can get, on his chest. It's like, while he's fighting in the war, Leadfoot wants the enemy to shoot him by providing a bulls eye for them to aim at.
Leadfoot is decently sized, even though he's supposed to be stubby, he is pretty tall.
In terms of gimmicks, he has the head visor thing that was apparently on previous HA toys like Jazz and Roadbuster. You can either have him wear the visor up or down via a switch at the back of his head.
Then there's the 'Human Alliance' component. In his chest there are two flip out guns...
...and you can place the driver in the chest gap so it looks like he's operating it. Honestly, that gap is not worth this gimmick, and this is where the packaging pics make Leadfoot so much better but having the driver cover the gap. Disappointingly, this is the ONLY place of interaction with the driver, very disappointing.
Yeah, having the driver there does make Leadfoot look five times better.
Then there's Steeljaw, in Leadfoot's right arm, you can open up a panel to reveal a chain.
This chain can then plug into Steeljaw, and there's also a peg on Leadfoot's arm, so he can walk the dog.
Another gimmick involving with Steeljaw is that he can morph into a type of crossbow looking missile launcher that can attach to either of his arms via a MechTech port.
Remember the MechTech ports at the back of the car? They're now on the backpack of Leadfoot, so you can attach Steeljaw there too. In the end, a bitterly disappointing robot mode, the gap really ruined the whole figure for me.
OVERALL:
Depends on what you prefer, if you like a Transformer to have good vehicle modes, then Leadfoot's great. If your preference is the robot mode, then Leadfoot might not be for you (of course, being great in both modes would be the best). Personally, I'm not too fussed with the design of the beer gut, but it hasn't been executed well here, and the transformation to get to either mode is very frustrating, and more complex than it should be. Leadfoot is not a fun toy to play with, there are too many parts blocking the way of the robot mode, and more often than not, you'll be spending some time trying to find a pose that lets him able to stand of his own accord. Probably the weakest of Human Alliance toys from Dark of the Moon and one of the weakest overall (probably on par with Sideswipe).
Name: Steeljaw
Allegiance: Autobot
Size Class: Human Alliance (Target Exclusive)
Variations: none
ROBOTIC DOG MODE:
I'm going to cut straight to the chase here and be harsh, Steeljaw is a waste of plastic and the set would not be better or worse without him. So he's a Cyber dog, nothing more I can say about that.
The head is comically big, but I guess you can say he's fairly cute. He has what it seems to be six exhausts coming out of his back (actually the button for firing missiles). I've actually left the chain attached here, you can take it off if you prefer.
The head is detailed and there's even a mechanical tongue hanging out, which looks stupid.
I've read somewhere that he was originally intended to transform into Leadfoot's engine (with Leadfoot actually having a spot there for Steeljaw to plug in). That would have been cool and much better than what we get here, but I guess Steeljaw would have had to be tiny for that to work.
Surprisingly, he's very articulated. There's two joints in each of his legs, and his head is on a ball joint, and his jaw can even open.
MISSILE LAUNCHER MODE:
Since most of the limbs are just resting there, any touch would dislodge the shape. A disappointing weapon mode to say the least, reminds me of the PowerCore Combiner Minicons, but at least they looked semi-decent and you could tell they were supposed to be weapons.
OVERALL:
I don't like Steeljaw, period. He does not add anything to Leadfoot, and is a waste of plastic. This might be too harsh, but at least with the Skids and Mudflap sets, we got transforming figures of characters that appeared in the movie, Steeljaw is a non-movie character.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:
Unless you really dig the Nascar vehicle or Leadfoot's robot mode, steer waaaaaaay clear of this one. It's a poorly designed toy that doesn't stack up to the high standards set by previous Human Alliance toys. If you can get it on sale then he might be worth it, but at full RRP (or even more than that on the secondary market), Leadfoot's not worth it. It's not often I say this about a figure, but I was bitterly disappointed by him.
------------------------------------------
Credits: as mentioned, the figure is not mine, but the photos and text are, and there's a few links to other sites.
If you're interested, other reviews can be found on this page.