Street Action Team - Armada - Figures


Well this certainly wins the award for the most unusual alt modes ever to grace a Transformers team, I would think. A scooter, a bike, and a rocket powered skate board. Riiiiiiiight.

I'm gonna get right to the point and tell you that these guys will pack the smallest bang for your buck. While Perceptor is moderately cool, he's not devoid of flaws, and frankly the individual members don't really cut the mustard on their own for the most part.

Highwire

As we're all aware, his vehicle mode is... well, he's a bike. Honestly he reminds me of nothing so much as a tiny little pint-sized Cy-Kill (How ironic with Leader-1 being a name used in this line). Pretty similar transformation too, but obviously not the same. It's not a particularly convincing bike, but obviously that's not something that would be particularly easy to accomplish on such a small scale either. Still, a couple little details could have helped in the suspension of disbelief. Maybe a paint ap on the top of his head where a bike reflector is molded in. Make the bike seat a different color to help differentiate it more. Maybe mold and paint a reflector on the top of Perceptor's head, since it's hanging off the back side. Still, he's got novelty value at any rate.

Transformation
Transformation is ludicrously simple. Probably one of the few transformers you can get from alt mode to robot mode while doing the sound effect for the transformation from the cartoon only once.

Robot mode
Robot mode isn't all that impressive, but really how much can you expect from a TF that turns into a DIRT BIKE? Actually I've been rather fond of the little guy for his novelty value, but he does have some notable issues... For starters, the part that holds his bike seat and Perceptor's head don't really have anywhere to go very gracefully, so they just kind of jut out from his backside and lie on the wheel. Oh well, from the front he looks OK to me, but don't be expecting record levels of articulation and all. He can move his arms at the shoulders, and that's about it.

Part of the transformation process involves taking the rear wheel and bike pedal segment and splitting it in two. This makes him feel REALLY flimsy for some reason... I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that Highwire is the most prone to breakage figure we'll see of the first line.

Grindor

Far and away the best of this particular lot. Granted, the idea of a rocket powered skate board is a bit of an odd alt-mode, but it's been pulled off surprisingly well. Very cohesive in this mode, he holds together nice and tight. Only his arms actually peg together though, so if the joints ever became loose, I suppose it's possible you'd end up with a skate board that had parts of it wobbling in different directions. For a first ever attempt at such an off the wall alt-mode, it's an admirable final outcome.

Transformation
Transforming him actually can take a few extra seconds on mine, because some of the joints used to extend the legs and rotate out some stuff are pretty stiff. Pretty elementary though, split the parts that can split, and unfold the legs.

Robot mode
In robot mode, Grindor is pretty much the star of the pack. He's got real arms, real legs, plus he's got those cool little wings. Can't do much but move his arms and legs from side to side, sadly enough. Wish his face had a bit more paint on it other than just the yellow though, as there's clearly both a visor and a face plate. Highwire no longer has his entire face painted red, for instance, and he certainly looks the better for it. Oh well.

Grindor can stand up OK on a level surface, but he's got some slight balance problems. Unlike Highwire who's got that great big honkin' wheel to rest his laurels on, Grindor has very little in the way of a heel. While it LOOKS like he does, the way the feet are molded, the only part of his "heel" (Which doubles as perceptor's fists) that connects to the ground are the knuckles of Perceptor's fist. It's not like it's any trouble to stand him up, but just a slight jolt from the front will make him fall on his ass.

Sureshock

To Sureshock's credit, his scooter mode is probably the most realistic of all the Street Action Team members. It's kind of cute, despite being bright orange. It holds together nice and solid, but unfortunately you can't roll it along without holding as it'll tip over to one side.

Transformation
Transforming him is stupid simple. Pull out the legs and split the front half of the scooter, and presto, you've changed him to robot mode. Of course upon viewing his robot mode, you'll really wish you hadn't.

Robot mode
Yes, it's true. Sureshock has the worst robot mode ever. I'd say he's the BM Silverbolt of the Armada line, but in truth, BM Silverbolt is the Sureshock of Beast Machines. He's crap, plain and simple. He has no discernible legs, for starters. You just extend the seat of the scooter a little, and that's his "legs." His arms have half of the entire front end of the scooter hanging off them, and looks absolutely ridiculous He's got fists molded into his arms, but who cares? Avert your eyes, children!

To be fair, he DOES sport an impressive amount of articulation in his arms, but once again, who cares? It's impossible to get any pose out of him that doesn't look stupid beyond all belief. Just keep him in scooter mode and occasionally transform him into Perceptor's legs. Avoid the robot mode all together, it's just that god awful.

Perceptor

Kind of a shame, actually. Sureshock sacrificed everything that could possibly be considered redeeming about him in order to form the legs of Perceptor (Which is a pretty neat little bit of engineering, I might add.), but Perceptor is kind of a let down.

Don't get me wrong, it's pretty damned cool that we got a tiny little gestalt like this, and it's obvious that a lot of thought went into the way they combine. Perceptor is completely solid, all the robots connect together nice and tight. He's pretty cool to look at, kind of like a pint sized RID Sideways with some nifty complementary colors. The sad thing is that's pretty much all you can do: look at him.

It's not like I was expecting Spider Man Classic figure levels of articulation, but really the only thing he can do is move his legs and arms from side to side. Even then, his legs are hampered at the hip by his funky "skirt" or whatever you'd like to call it. You can move his arms forward a little, but the bike parts of Highwire get in the way of the rotating shoulder pieces. Perhaps the biggest letdown though is the fact that his elbows bend the wrong way. Bummer, that could have gone a long way for this figure if they'd gone in the right direction.

Overall
Maybe if you can find them on discount, or if you really think Perceptor is THAT cool

Images courtesy of TRANSFORMERS.COM.



ReviewerMike Miksch  
DateJuly 5th 2002  
Score 7 stars (7 out of 10)  
Reads5290


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