Transformers Revenge Of The Fallen Lockdown

It's been a while since I bought a new Transformer, but Lockdown finally getting a release in the UK broke me. For those unfamiliar with Lockdown, he made his debut in the Transformers: Animated line and gained a bit of a cult following, and has managed to earn a rather speedy update for this line. Go here for more about him.

The Animated toy was a bit of a disappointment, so the prospect of a hyper-detailed figure in the ROTF line was a big draw in getting this figure. The extra engineering and details looked as if they might fix the problems with the original toy.

In vehicle mode Lockdown is a stylized muscle car, complete with rubber spikes and a detachable engine on the bonnet. It's faithful to the Animated version while being realistic at the same time, and does look like something that you might find on a drag strip. It looks suitably evil too, which is nice. The only downside is that the rubber spikes are too, well, rubbery. I know that's so small children don't lose an eye but they feel a bit too soft.

He transforms fairly easily into robot mode although his arms have a tendency to pop off, which is a pain. As a robot mode he captures the the best elements of the Animated toy (the height - he's much taller than other figures in his sizee class, the hook hand etc.), yet adds to it. His legs are much more articulated and his face more detailed. The engine block detaches and re-attaches onto his arm to form a weapon, but it does look like he has just strapped an engine to his arm.

Negatives? Other than the limbs popping off, he has two problems. The first is his hook hand, which is again made of rubber. Once more it's too soft, and it bends out of shape too easily. The second is some poor QC. The paint on his pace is sloppy, which is a shame.

Despite that, Lockdown is an excellent toy. He'll be lurking on my coffee table for me to fiddle with for the forseeable future.

I'll update with a few pictures later.