Transformers: Legacy Diaclone Universe Clampdown is Something That Exists

And now for an article that got pushed back a wee bit... Actually from before TFNation.

The 2003 eHobby Collectors Edition Clampdown Toy

I'm not really sure if the concept of an "exclusive" actually means much any more, assuming it meant much in the first place. Because, in so far as the UK market at least, any transformer with a limited release has this habit of turning up discounted in odd places six months later. It's not immediately clear why this is the case. Stock Liquidation may be involved. Speaking from personal experience, Hasbro is to retail distribution what the sudden downpour is to the English Summer, but they've been trying harder of late with Hasbro Pulse. And yet, we continue to see the supposedly Smyths or Amazon or whatever exclusives from online sources and even meatspace retailers. This brings us to Clampdown of the Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection. What he is perhaps more interesting who he is. He's very much the same story as Burn Out, in that he's a tribute to Diaclone, the Japanese forerunner to Transformers. In this case, he's inspired by the toy that would become Red Alert, the Autobot Security Officer and walking advertisement for therapy. Existing largely as a repaint opportunity, and as exclusive tribute to an exclusive, Clampdown is not much of a character, even by the standards of such things. While Burn Out had the advantage of being a female-coded minivan, Clampdown is a dude that changes into a not-Lamborghini, and there's really no shortage of such blokes. Part of the reason for that is Hasbro's extremely aggressive reuse of the Siege Sideswipe mould, and while I've touched on that before, Clampdown is a good opportunity to talk about it some more.

The 2019 Siege Sideswipe toy

The Siege Sideswipe toy was a fairly conservative reimagining of the character, one that claimed to have an alien vehicle mode, but really didn't. While my Gaslands work has made me more inclined to notice the nuances of these matters, the alt mode was closer to cyberpunk or the modern hypercar than something off-world. This was reinforced by his mouldmate Red Alert, whom had retained his fire service decals and a light-bar/siren. One thing to point out here is that the mould featured numerous weapons that we're only selectively being issued. Sideswipe got a modular missile launcher like his shoulder mounted one, but if he wanted a sidearm he'd need to for a battlemaster or use the missile as a pistol. Red Alert meanwhile got the aforementioned light bar and a more conventional gun, but that also had a 5mm port, so you could make a "fire axe" from the two accessories. The mould would then see ten and counting releases, most of these falling under the banner of exclusives or Generations Selects. The Netflix tie-ins left the accessories as they were, focusing on paintwork, but the Selects releases put both gun and launcher in the box. Then Earthrise happened, proceeding redo every big name that Siege did, not even two full years after, and often in hard to find two-packs. The Sideswipe mould avoided this dignity, but only briefly. Like many others, the design was changed to have a more conventional and nostalgic altmode, and became an exclusive release during Kingdom. Time progressed, as time is inclined to when you're not looking, and the mould turned up in the Speedia subline, giving us Clampdown. Kinda. He was reportedly short-packed, subsequently reissued, and yet still only seen in finite numbers up until the point where Hasbro was offering surplus stock on eBay for a tenner. If you wanted to make a case file on Hasbro and it's ability to find it's collective bum with both hands, you could do worse than starting with Clampdown

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So, let’s start by talking about the vehicle mode. Its a police style, Lamborghini-inspired-but-legally-distinct sports car. The specific details are based of Japanese police cars, although the tiny-tiny text says “Cybertron”, which is the local term for “Autobot”. Its general shape is also meant to match Sunstreaker, whom is characterised as Sideswipe’s brother and has the same altmode. Its predominately done in white, and the colour matching isn’t bad at all. The shoulder assemblies on this mould usually end up in black, breaking up the deco around the door area, but Clampdown is the first to cast them in white, greatly improving the look. The criticisms I’m inclined to make here is that sides are bit messy with panel gaps, and the “police” deco kinda draws attention to those gaps. I know that’s a shallow criticism to make, but there’s at least 10 of these, so little flaws like that become more noticeable. Otherwise it looks good, I might even touch up that chip on the roof. Functionally, the car is obviously much like its numerous kin, although we do see some subtle differences between this mould and the Siege original. While more noteworthy in robot mode, the peg for blast effects is missing, and the missile now lacks its handle. That’s better for looks I suppose, but if you’re gonna take the handle off the missile, why not use that plastic to fill in the gaps? 

 

 

Transforming Clampdown revealed to extent to which the Siege mould was changed, and TBH its obvious from the moment you flip him over. All the vehicle bits either cast or painted in white are new. The wheels, light-bar, the weapons in black, and, as near as I can figure, everything not explicitly part of the robot mode is unchanged. This is what’s known in fandom circles as “reshelling”, that is to say that the nature of the vehicle mode is an outer-shell, which can be replaced without changing the nature of the robot form. While not extreme, or as literal as some, I do find myself wondering which version actually came first. On the positive side, Clampdown features a very clean and fun transformation. On the downside, they didn’t take the opportunity to do something about the panels in the knee area, so they locked in. All versions of the mould seem to have this, and its not actually a problem, but it does take the shine off.

With the robot mode, we come to the fundamental strengths of the basic design and where Clampdown does his best to separate himself from Red Alert. This toy drastically reduces the amount of red versus the inspiration, replacing it with grey. Red remains on the missile, and the waist area, with the latter drawing attention to an unwelcome gap that could have been fixed during the retooling. Generally though, its pretty nice. The white and grey look works, with touches of blue and black stop that it from becoming boring. Nice blue eyes too. Its far from an ugly deco, and its being applied to what is a fundamentally solid robot mode. The Sideswipe mould was a wave 1 entry in Siege, which introduced a new standard in articulation and 5mm-based weaponry. While other toys would inevitably do this better, Hound was arguably the best of wave 1 for example, the robot mode Clampdown inherits is a pleasing all-rounder that benefits from an increased accessory count. You want a gun? He’s got a gun. It can also be a fire-axe, or use the missile as a pick, or possibly an orky tankhammer. The launcher is fine by itself too, it just looks like a grenade launcher, or possibly it stores the explosives within the tube. AND THEN we can start talking about weaponizers and such.

 

My point? Only that Clampdown is something that exists. I don’t think he’s good enough to call a must-have, but if you see one of these in the wild, I think you’ll have a good time. If not in these colours, then definitely in a scheme you like, just make sure all the extras are there.