Armada Race & Street Action Teams - Armada - Figures


As I'm tired and unhappy to write for too long on two reviews, then I'll write this review for the two newest mini con packs I just got as one review. I'll start off with the Race team, so let's get this over and done with-

Race team vehicle modes: Dirt Boss, Mirage(well used team now) and Downshift. Dirt Boss is a kind of SUV, a racing one, with gray colouring mostly, some yellow that's easy to see and some dark red. He has the number 7 also on his doors.
There's not a lot to really say on this mode, there's not a lot of detail, yet what there is isn't too bad for such a tiny toy. He makes me think of Micro Machines in this mode actually, it's cute, but nothing remarkable.
Downshift is a dark gray with light gray colouring, he has yellow on the back that looks like a spoiler and he has the number 3 in yellow surrounded by a pale blue border on the front and sides of this mode.
He looks streamlined, fast, not bad at all for such a tiny wee toy. Still not a lot of detail though.
Mirage is a repaint of Starscream's mini con Swindle, I'll have Starscream in the collection soon so I'll give my opinion on him when I do. Mirage is a very bright yellow, very like Hot Shot of the deluxe range, and like his other two mini con buddies in the pack, is very lacking in detail. He is also dark gray in some parts and his head is made to look like a booster at the back of the car.
I feel there's a missed chance to really show a lot of detail in these modes, while they are fun and all, it's a shame they look so plain. Pity that.

Race team robot modes: Dirtboss, after a simple transformation, still looks very plain in this mode. His head is yellow, just yellow, no other details and it would have been nice if his head have been given some detailing. He's not all that poseable really, just stands there looking like he's doing chest expansions-"One, two, three, I AM ROCKY!"-and you can't pose his arms in any other way, same with his legs and you can't turn his head. It's a little disappointing really when you see other mini cons with some nice articulation.
Downshift, easy to transform, stands, that's it, he stands. His arms can swing around, but that's all. His face looks like a Budda or something, maybe he can headbutt easily because his head looks a lot stronger than anything else about him. He has a little pale blue on his legs as well, but that's really all other than a blue face. Again, another disappointing one.
Mirage also just stands, his arms, head and legs don't have any articulation at all, only his waist turns. He has a red face though, so that's a nice contrast to his yellow body and dark gray legs. Disappointing as well.
So in both modes, they are all generally a disappointment, but wait, I'm not done yet.

Skyboom Shield: This is a little better. It's an easy combination to do and the contrasting colours are nice, if a little plain with all that yellow. I would have liked to see the colours done in blues, wild reds and maybe some green really. But I have to admit that when a larger Transformer uses the shield, it looks pretty hot. I wonder if all the large Transformers are able to hold this shield? Picture RID Prime with the Star Saber, Skyboom Shield, the Land Military tem attached to the small links on his arms and near his head and facing RID TRU exclusive Scourge in battle, nice image? I think so. I like this mode actually, looks like a plane more than a shield, suits the name because of that. So I have to say that this is the best mode of the team, and it has a lot of imagination uses for play, Scourge, it's time to kick ass! So while this team is disappointing normally, their joint mode is a fun and very useful item, worth getting just for the shield, methinks.

Street Action Team vehicle modes:
*"Please, come in, take a seat." They sit down. "You're very different for Transformers, sorry, mini cons, aren't you?" They look at each other. "Guess so."*
Now this is new, a skateboard, a BMX bike and a moped. And they transform...I like them!
Grindor is a rocket powered skateboard that I'm sure boarders would love to have for real if they existed. He's a dark blue colour with some yellow and gray to stand out more and they contrast quite nicely. The detail is in the tiny rocket boosters at the back with it looking like a custom job, cute.
Can imagine G1 Bumblebee on this-"Look at me, Spike! I'm Tony Hawk!" Prime rolls in then in vehicle mode and Bumblebee goes under the trailer, Grindor coming out a second later, Bumblebee just a yellow splat on Prime's trailer. "Prat."-I can see some uses for this mode, hmm...
Highwire is a BMX bike, very thin and really doesn't look like much. His colours are mostly light gray and black, nothing special. Yet I can see some potential in this mode, I really can, hmm...
He doesn't have much detail really and he does remind me of the evil Go-Bot leader who could turn into a motorbike, who remembers Go bots?, and you would think he's a bit rubbish. But he grows on you after having a quick play of him, really he does. Quite cute actually.
Sureshock is a moped, not what you could call a remarkable idea but he's not bad. He's a bright orange with yellow headlights, some gray for his handle bars and foot rests and a dark green for his seat. Even a little exhaust for detail's sake, he's quite cute looking and very different. Not bad if truth be said. This team takes a very different approach if you think about it, how many skateboards, BMX's and mopeds have you seen in the Transformers line?

Street Action team robot modes: Grindor is still the same colours as before, so nothing remarkable there. He has no articulation to speak of, just stands there, but I do like the little wings, cute. Nothing special, really, just plain cute. More detail than in his skateboard mode though, so that's something at least, right?
Highwire is also very plain in his robot mode, so again nothing remarkable, just plain cute. Sorry.
Sureshock is also unremarkable in his robot mode, no legs at all! So another plain, but cute one.

Preceptor combined mode: A slightly fiddly transformation later and you have what I believe is quite possibly the tinest combiner yet. Highwire acts as the head and back, Grindor as the torso and arms and Sureshock as the legs. The colours are gray, black, blue, yellow and orange, an odd contrast indeed. He looks so cute though, no way articulation to speak of, just looks nice. Not bad to be honest, could have been better, but not bad.

There, both packs reviewed. Their not remarkable or anything, but they're fair enough for adding to a collection and the Street Action team is cute, not perfect, but not too bad with their combined modes. Worth buying, if just for their combined modes and the use of Grindor as a skateboard.

ReviewerTony Neil Watt  
DateJune 25th 2003  
Score 7 stars (7 out of 10)  
Reads5633


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