Road Rage - G1 eHobby - Exclusive

I've always wanted a red Tracks. Ever since 1985, when the box art showed a red Tracks firing on Jetfire, he was put on my want list. Sadly, red Tracks never saw it's way into the US market. Fortunately, through Takara and eHobby, red tracks is now available as a new character called Road Rage. And I've finally figured out why she was firing on Jetfire all those many years ago, he probably cut her off while they were flying together.

Packaging
The box is an excellent homage to the original 1984-85 style that was used in the US. A large window shows the main toy and the artwork of the character is to the right. Instead of the art printed on the box, it's merely the tech spec card. This was done, I'm guessing, to make the boxes more universal for these eHobby exclusives as my Anime Bluestreak and Electrum Jazz have the exact same style box. The words, "It is a world transformed where things are not what they seem. It is the world of the Transformers... a world of Heroic Cybertrons and Evil Destrons!" are printed on the top, bottom and back of the box. The 1984 battle scene art is on the back as well.

Tech Specs translation courtesy of Doug Dlin

Cybertron: Road Rage
Function: Ground/Air Combatant

"Why must the road be full of idiots?"

Deeply versed in the culture and customs of organic life, she was selected as Crosscut's adviser and bodyguard in appreciation of this knowledge. Normally she's a cheerful and obliging robot, but while traveling the roads, she becomes an extremely narrow-minded and violent driver owing to a chronic instability in her navigation protocols. Transforms to high speed sports car, capable of subsonic air travel in flight mode. Equipped with twin magna-bomb launchers and a plasma discharger.

Strength: 6 Intelligence: 7 Speed: 7 Endurance: 8
Rank: 5 Courage: 9 Firepower: 8 Skill: 9

Start
Road Rage is a red Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. The rear window is painted a dark crimson to give it a nice tinted look. Flames decorate the hood with a Cybertron logo in the center of them. In a switch from the Tracks reissue, Road Rage has a large Cybertron insignia on her roof and the rub-sign has been placed on the right of her trunk. The sunroof opens slightly, not enough to place a Diaclone driver in there if you have one. Still, the white interior looks comfy if you go for that sort of thing. Her robot mode arms are slightly visible in this mode, so the disguise isn't perfect.

Attack Mode
To transform Road Rage to her droll, flying car form, pull the arms and wings down 45 degrees and then flip them out. Swing the arms forward. Attach the magnabomb launchers with the triggers facing up to the mount and place the entire assembly onto the rear of the car. Attach the plasma discharger to the peg underneath and you're done. Now, with the addition of her plasma discharger and magnabomb launchers, Road Rage is prepared for rush hour traffic. It's a rather attractive look, though it's hard to imagine she'd be able to fly with those skinny wings.

Robot Mode
Transforming to her attack mode puts her about halfway to her robot mode, so we'll start from the end of the attack mode transform. Remove the plasma discharger. Extend the front of the car out, rotate 180 degrees and flip her feet down. Using the tabs on either side of each arm, pull them forward to reveal her hands. Position the wings up at a 45-degree angle. Flip the rear car section back to reveal her robot head. Attach the plasma discharger to whichever hand you prefer. In robot mode, Road Rage looks beautiful. The red is striking and suits her well. Her articulation is rather unimpressive, but then the Diaclone molds like her weren't known for their ability for dynamic poses. She can turn at the waist, bend her elbows, and rotate her arms outward and upward at the shoulder.

Overall
All in all, Road Rage is an excellent toy considering the age of the mold itself. It's also nice that this isn't just a Tracks repaint, but a new character, which is something Hasbro could take some clues from. So, if you like the Diaclone era molds, Corvettes, or Tracks, this is the toy for you.

Reviewer	Richard C. Mistron
Date	October 21st 2003
Score	(10 out of 10)
Reads	9890