Hey, its TFNation weekend! Have a Transformer review.
The 2002 Transformers Armada Red Alert toy.
While this isn't the first toy I’ve got for the new iteration of Generations, its the first one I feel like talking about. Although, I have kinda talked about this guy before. Last year, I did an article on Cannonball, a character I was convinced was fated to be Red Alert due to the repaint connection. The fact that Red Alert appears as a new mould voyager is a bit of a surprise, and makes Cannonball more special in retrospect. I understand why he's a voyager, its so he can better match the assorted Armada revamps we've had in Legacy. As to why he's in Age of the Primes? Well, because Generations continues to be a grabbag of often weak theme, and I suspect he got held up along the way. And they don’t even acknowledge the Armada connection on the box. Odd.
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The truck mode seems a bit boring at first, and I was ready to breeze past it as "good enough" until I considered it more closely. The back-end and hubcaps go unpainted, but there is a lot of paint where you would mostly look. Its front bumper/hood area receives a lot of attention as a focal point in both modes, the flanks aren't bad either, and the translucent red is used is well. In terms of play value, there's the welcome presence of pinned wheels for good rolling, an assortment of 5mm ports, and the flip-out gun gimmick from the original toy appears, if as a mainly decorative thing. Something I hadn't realised prior to having the toy in person, is that not only do the gunhands store easily, they also have 3mm peg functions so they can attach by the lightbar. There’s also a decorative mini-con post. So, more going on than I thought, it rolls well, and it looks good on the assumption you don't flip it over or stare at the arse end. But, you do you. The transformation meanwhile apes the original with a lot of big panels and unexpectedly stiff joints. Spoiler alert: this is the only aspect of the toy I dislike. Things are generally too tight and stiff, but its not bad.
The generally good truck mode is followed by a solid robot mode. Red Alert has the face of Robocop, the body plan of a classical carformer, a gunarm, and legs that go for miles. Its a distinctive look for what amounts to a supporting character. There is a favouring of the animation model, notably featuring a different shade of blue for the kneecaps, but omitting the brass/gold from the inside of the arm joints. I suppose someone could third-party that, but I find it to be a fairly skippable detail. In other news, we see a light piped visor, it has been a while. The looks are very much on point. Functionally, he has 4 accessories in total, plus a significant presence of 5mm ports, with both the flip out gun and the gunhands using that system. The position of one port on the chest makes me wonder if there's new a Longarm mould which was cut for the price point, but this toy would shine with a weaponizer or similar. Articulation meanwhile is Legacy standard, so generally good, but this is where those stiff joints and vehicle kibble interfere. Its knees like to lock in the standing position for transformation purposes, and if you want to use the waist joint you have to unplug the backpack. Its nothing you can't work around though, as its otherwise very comprehensive, he does have a wrist swivel for his one good hand for example. Definitely a robot that ticks all the boxes...
Red Alert is not the first character I think of when I come to think of Armada. He's probably not in the first ten either. He's a bit dull if I'm honest. As a toy, this looked to be maybe a bit dull too. It is cut from exactly the same cloth as the other Armada remakes, with the same design principles as applied to what was probably the most conventual toy of Armada wave 1, i.e the one that was a truckformer with a hood-chest. Priority is given to screen accuracy and articulation at the cost of mini-con functions. So while there is that element of faint disappointment again, a sense that Hasbro is missing the point, there is a compelling argument in this toy’s favour. It is simply good at what its choosing to do. If this is the last Armada remake we get for a while, its gone out on a high.
Although, that Flatline repaint does look rather nice...
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