Review: #628
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Generations - War for Cybertron: Siege
Year of Release: 2019
Size Class: Micromaster (Wave 2)
Mold Status: Red Heat is a retool of Topshot and Stakeout is a new mold
RESCUE PATROL:
The Rescue Patrol Micromaster pack comes with two figures, Red Head and Stakeout.
These are small figures and sold at the Legion price point. However, they do seem to be priced a tad bit too high for what you get.
RED HEAT (VEHICLE MODE):
The first figure is Red Heat, who transforms into a fire truck.
For such a small figure, the vehicle mode is actually not too bad, and there are no exposed robot parts.
Above is a comparison against Legion Barricade, and you can see that Red Heat is noticeably smaller than it.
The ladder sits on a 5mm peg so it can rotate, and there are two hinges to allow it to lift up and down.
Considering the size, this is a solid vehicle mode.
RED HEAT (TRANSFORMATION):
As you can expect, Red Heat has a simple transformation. The front of the vehicle unfolds to form the feet, while the sides lift out and fold down as the arms. Flip him over to reveal the head and torso that had been underneath the truck all this time and you're done.
RED HEAT (ROBOT MODE):
The robot mode is less flattering as there are some issues that prevent it from being stable. At first glance, he looks pretty decent.
From the back, you can see the gigantic heel spurs to help with the ladder that remains on his back. Unfortunately, the heel spurs don't lock into place and continues to fold into the lower legs, rendering it fairly useless.
The head is small but still packs quite a bit of sculpting and paint. It can actually turn from side to side if your fingers manage to reach underneath that piece of kibble.
The other issue stems from being so small and while he has balljointed hips, they love to pop off. Coupled with the difficulty in keeping him balanced and upright, and it can be frustrating. At least you can unfold the ladder to act as a third leg if required.
His articulation includes a head swivel, hinged arms, balljointed hips and hinged knees. However, Red Heat can't really utilize all those joints to its full potential.
STAKEOUT (VEHICLE MODE):
Stakeout on the other hand transforms into a police vehicle, although "POLICE" is instead written in Cybertronian.
It's a sad thing to note that one of the highlights is how all the windows are painted, but it does prevent it from being too dark.
Naturally, it is around 70% of the size of a Legion figure. The only play value here are the rolling wheels.
This is a pretty good vehicle mode.
STAKEOUT (TRANSFORMATION):
The back unfolds to form the legs, while the hood folds back to reveal the head. Then the sides extend out to form the arms.
STAKEOUT (ROBOT MODE):
Stakeout's robot mode is much better than Red Heat's even if only for the fact that it can stand with ease. That said, the hips do like to pop out from time to time.
He has the hood folded on his back and it does stick out, although it doesn't cause any issues with balance.
The head sculpt is great once again, and it has a swivel.
As you can see, Stakeout is much smaller than a Legion figure.
Articulation is decent and Stakeout can actually pull off some semi-decent poses with it. He has balljointed shoulders, hips and knees.
The addition of blue works well with the black and white. Stakeout is definitely the stronger figure of the set.
WEAPON MODE:
One of the gimmicks of the Micromaster packs are that the two figures can combine into a weapon. Granted, it's not a great looking weapon but it is additional play value without compromising the individual figures too much.
For the Rescue Patrol set, you pretty much smash the two vehicle modes together to form a big gun, and there are two posts at the bottom of Stakeout's feet to act as the barrels. Due to the size, it's best held by Voyager figures or larger.
OVERALL:
The set is okay. Red Heat is weak and has too many issues in robot mode to forgive, while Stakeout is strong and shows off what can be achieved at such a small size. The packs are pricey though for what you get.
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