Death's Head
16-08-11, 08:21 AM
Red Alert has got a suprising amount of recognition over the last ten years or so. When Takara began their reissue programme over a decade ago, he was granted a reissue (no doubt due to being one of the early toys whose mould hadn't been lost or destroyed) and had subsequent homage figures in the Universe, Armada and Binaltech: Asterisk lines. Not bad for a character that barely made an impact and was relegated to the odd crowd scene. He's always been one of those toys that everyone knew existed, but never owned. Like Trailbreaker.
And so we come to the Generations (nee Classics) version of the character. I'd like to think that it was a concious effort on the part of Hasbro to give Red Alert an outing in this line. It's probably far more likely that it was an easy way to squeeze out some more money out of a mould that's already had three previous uses as Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Punch/Counterpunch. The toy is basically Sideswipe with Classics Prowl's lightbar slapped on the top and a more interesting colour scheme. Rather than retool the roof, Red Alert - like Classics Sideswipe -comes with the Turbo Tunning style engine intake that's more at home on Sunstreaker. Whilst this covers up the holes in the roof, it does bring home once again how simplistic recolours are the order of the day at Hasbro. Although there's an inkling of care and attention present, its often undermined by such cost cutting antics where a mould designed for one figure -and clearly bears design and sculpt elements attuned to a specific character - is just given a slap of paint and thrown out as someone else (hello HFTD Banzaitron, Universe Darkwing, Universe Treadshot, RTS Fallback...etc etc ad nauseum). Mind you, the original Red Alert followed Takara's amusing pattern of getting their money's worth out of a mould by slapping a light bar on any old car and passing it off as an emergency service vehicle (Just think about how implausible it is for Ratchet to be an ambulance - it's basically a Bedford Rascal pretending to be an ambulance. Is he only called to the scene when dwarves have been injured?).
So it is that Red Alert is a more jazzy looking version of Sideswipe. Frankly, I've always found Red Alert a more exciting and interesting looking toy next to Sideswipe. I mean, look at him! He's a flashy sports car...that somehow is used by the Fire Department! As a disguise, it's utterly useless (unless this is what Monaco's Fire Department swan around in), but it just looks amazing. Nice crisp whites mixing with red stripes. The wheels have had some money spent on them and been given a splash of silver paint (two fingers to you, RTS Jazz!) and the rear lamps and grill at the front have also been given rendered in black, making him look like a quality product. Shame about the comedy numberplate. It says Alert! Tee hee aren't we such wags? No! You're a bunch of irritating fanboys slapping nonsense like this on a toy! We know who it is! The stylised 'Fire Rescue' logo is doesn't help any claims of realism, and on the bonnet, the too clever shadow and strike through of red across the lettering just makes the logo look like a blurry mess.
Transforming Red Alert follows the same pattern as Clasiscs Sunstreaker and Sideswipe (and Punch/Counterpunch). It's one of the more impressive sequences on modern Transformers, full of really nicely executed twists and turns and that lovely bit where you twizzle the roof around and the head pops out. Genius. Only the legs remain a bit of a disappointment. Yes, the legs do the clever twisting out and around, but you've got the rear headlamps clumsly hanging around the knee. The rear halves of the car also create some very hollow and flimsy looking lower legs, not helped by the inside leg looking like there's nothing there between the knee and ankle - it's just a gap. It's the only area of the mould that I'm really not happy with, given how tight and solid the upper torso looks.
The robot mode is overall, a great effort. Lots of colours - grey, red, black, white and red - make Red Alert stand out and - like RTS Tracks - he looks fantastic. The headsculpt is good, and the stoic expression suitable to the Autobots' resident security director. As with all modern Transformers, he has joints and articulation in spades so he can do all manner of cool poses and what have you. I like how there's been an attempt to make use of the engine intake by clamping it around the hand gun - which, I must add before I forget, does the one thing it never did on my Classics Sunstreaker ; stay in place on the chasis in vehicle mode. It ends up making the gun look a bit bulky and weird, but on a robot that's a flashy sports car decked out as a fire engine, who cares?
Generations Red Alert will no doubt thrill old-schoolers and be lapped up by Classics enthusiasts, but he makes a good purchase whatever your bent. He's way more interesting than either of his mould sharing brethern, thanks to that ridiculous deco. Only those crappy legs spoil an otherwise superb figure.
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And so we come to the Generations (nee Classics) version of the character. I'd like to think that it was a concious effort on the part of Hasbro to give Red Alert an outing in this line. It's probably far more likely that it was an easy way to squeeze out some more money out of a mould that's already had three previous uses as Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Punch/Counterpunch. The toy is basically Sideswipe with Classics Prowl's lightbar slapped on the top and a more interesting colour scheme. Rather than retool the roof, Red Alert - like Classics Sideswipe -comes with the Turbo Tunning style engine intake that's more at home on Sunstreaker. Whilst this covers up the holes in the roof, it does bring home once again how simplistic recolours are the order of the day at Hasbro. Although there's an inkling of care and attention present, its often undermined by such cost cutting antics where a mould designed for one figure -and clearly bears design and sculpt elements attuned to a specific character - is just given a slap of paint and thrown out as someone else (hello HFTD Banzaitron, Universe Darkwing, Universe Treadshot, RTS Fallback...etc etc ad nauseum). Mind you, the original Red Alert followed Takara's amusing pattern of getting their money's worth out of a mould by slapping a light bar on any old car and passing it off as an emergency service vehicle (Just think about how implausible it is for Ratchet to be an ambulance - it's basically a Bedford Rascal pretending to be an ambulance. Is he only called to the scene when dwarves have been injured?).
So it is that Red Alert is a more jazzy looking version of Sideswipe. Frankly, I've always found Red Alert a more exciting and interesting looking toy next to Sideswipe. I mean, look at him! He's a flashy sports car...that somehow is used by the Fire Department! As a disguise, it's utterly useless (unless this is what Monaco's Fire Department swan around in), but it just looks amazing. Nice crisp whites mixing with red stripes. The wheels have had some money spent on them and been given a splash of silver paint (two fingers to you, RTS Jazz!) and the rear lamps and grill at the front have also been given rendered in black, making him look like a quality product. Shame about the comedy numberplate. It says Alert! Tee hee aren't we such wags? No! You're a bunch of irritating fanboys slapping nonsense like this on a toy! We know who it is! The stylised 'Fire Rescue' logo is doesn't help any claims of realism, and on the bonnet, the too clever shadow and strike through of red across the lettering just makes the logo look like a blurry mess.
Transforming Red Alert follows the same pattern as Clasiscs Sunstreaker and Sideswipe (and Punch/Counterpunch). It's one of the more impressive sequences on modern Transformers, full of really nicely executed twists and turns and that lovely bit where you twizzle the roof around and the head pops out. Genius. Only the legs remain a bit of a disappointment. Yes, the legs do the clever twisting out and around, but you've got the rear headlamps clumsly hanging around the knee. The rear halves of the car also create some very hollow and flimsy looking lower legs, not helped by the inside leg looking like there's nothing there between the knee and ankle - it's just a gap. It's the only area of the mould that I'm really not happy with, given how tight and solid the upper torso looks.
The robot mode is overall, a great effort. Lots of colours - grey, red, black, white and red - make Red Alert stand out and - like RTS Tracks - he looks fantastic. The headsculpt is good, and the stoic expression suitable to the Autobots' resident security director. As with all modern Transformers, he has joints and articulation in spades so he can do all manner of cool poses and what have you. I like how there's been an attempt to make use of the engine intake by clamping it around the hand gun - which, I must add before I forget, does the one thing it never did on my Classics Sunstreaker ; stay in place on the chasis in vehicle mode. It ends up making the gun look a bit bulky and weird, but on a robot that's a flashy sports car decked out as a fire engine, who cares?
Generations Red Alert will no doubt thrill old-schoolers and be lapped up by Classics enthusiasts, but he makes a good purchase whatever your bent. He's way more interesting than either of his mould sharing brethern, thanks to that ridiculous deco. Only those crappy legs spoil an otherwise superb figure.
187188