Well we're getting to the end of 2021, which means another line of Transformer is about to end. Kingdom had some highlights, but overall, it was a miss for me given how most of the figures just reminded me how much better the MPs did it, albeit at a much higher price point.
As things usually go with Hasbro mainline items, there are of course one or two figures that are store exclusive in the US. Thanks to COVID and Lord only knows what else, some of those figures, as far as I know, never made it out of the US. One of these is the Target Exclusive Deluxe Road Rage.
The character of Road Rage, the Fembot based off Tracks, is a character created in 1994 by Takara for the original Diaclone toy. Can't say I've seen too much of the character outside of the MP released a few years back, and I'm both surprised and not surprised they reused the Kingdom Tracks toy, and retooled it slightly. The retooling on the MP was more extensive - here it seems like they just updated the head.
Road Rage is predominately red with minor amounts of blue/purple, white, and black. Other notable differences are the head, as mentioned above, as well as the hood decal. Her forearms are plain, most likely as a cost cutting measure, though the tooling is still there. The figure comes with the same weapons as Tracks - namely her hilariously undersized hand gun and turret above her head.
Two of the complaints I heard about the Tracks mould were the feet and both are back in force on Road Rage.
The feet, from the rear view, don't connect to the lower leg, and there are no real secure tabs holding the connecting piece in place. So basically, there's a good chance the ankles will flop all over the place if you try to pose the thing.
There's also people grumbling about the obvious cavities and the backpack, but let's face it, this was expected on a Deluxe figure. They can't all be as well designed (and high price pointed) as Studio 86 Hot Rod.
From an articulation perspective, Road Rage does fairly well. If you've played with a Deluxe class figure, then you know what to expect. Yes, the ankles are wonky, but at least they're there. You also get thigh swivel, waist, standard shoulders/knees/elbows, and head movement. It's not bad, just the back pack make Road Rage look less than elegant. Like with most mainline figures, you're not going to be getting extreme action poses, but your run of the mill stuff should be easily achievable, with the exception of anything that requires a reverse kick motion as the backpack gets in the way of the legs.
Paint and Build Quality wise, well, it's a Hasbro/Takara unified product. Which, as usual, means things aren't as bad as they used to be, but certainly aren't as good as they were when Takara did their own thing. For what it's worth, the quality of the transformations have improved ever since the amalgamation of the two. The paint work is alright, and the colour match of the backpack to the red plastic is done quite nicely. Actually, most of the paint is applied decently, with the exception of the white on her robot mode chest.
Conversion to vehicle mode is fairly straight forward, with the slight hiccup being getting the feet into position. I've always like brighter colours on my sports cars, and this one is no exception. I mean, check out the views...
... pretty slick, right?
I like the effort put into making the vehicle mode look interesting, Flame decal aside, you've also got a variety of details, panel lines, and vents (which could use some paint). I'm also thankful they didn't cut the paint apps on the rims.
Road Rage wouldn't be Tracks without a flight mode, which was never that complicated to begin with. Well, it's here, and it's really just the arms deployed and tail fins popped out.
Overall, it's really about the colours on this figure. The actual design of this figure resulted in an average-ish Deluxe sized robot figure, with the nagging issues of the ankles and the backpack.
The vehicle mode, however, is where Road Rage shines - like Side Burn from RiD 2000, you really can't get enough of the little red sports car.
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