Review - Combiner Wars Off Road
One of the latest entries in Hasbro's Combiner Wars toy line, Off Road is the newest member of the Decepticon Stunticons, that can combine to form the powerful Menasor! Is he a suitable stand in for the missing Wildrider? Let's find out!
Vehicle Mode
Off Road Converts into a rough and tumble pickup truck tuned for racing! Sporting a color scheme ripped straight from the (Temporarily) replaced Stunticon Wildrider, he looks fast and menacing in a 2 tone grey and crimson paintjob. His windows are painted over in a deep red and he has a jagged red insignia adorning his doors and side panels. There is a clean Decepticon sigil Tampographed on his hood, off center on the right side of the hood intake. A lot of the little details such as headlights and the grill are actually painted in, as well as the wheel rims. This is a good use of paint budget to diversify the look of a figure that is mostly molded in one color. There are 5mm ports above the rear wheels, and 2 5mm ports in the bed of the truck. There is also a strangely shaped tab on the back of the truck, most likely to be used for one of his many remold/retools coming up. I imagine it will be used to add a canopy for an easy aesthetic change in alt mode similar to Generations Trailcutter and Hoist.
Robot mode
Sporting some bright new colors that were nowhere to be seen in alt mode, Off Roads bot mode oozes Decepticon goodness (or is that Badness?). With a toxic green face, and striking red eyes, his face sculpt is absolutely fantastic and a real breath of fresh air from the visored, face-plated look of many figures coming out lately. He has a gorgeous 3 pronged helmet with sort of a super robot style head crest, and just a hint of the most cocky, psychotic smirk I’ve ever seen on a deluxe figure. Photos can only try to do this head sculpt justice, It is truly a mold that shines even more so in person. The head is on a ball joint allowing for a nice range of motion; a little tilt to the side can really do wonders to bring out the evil look he projects. Wildrider is gone, and I don’t think Off Road is going to be too keen on having him back. In fact, I almost wonder if Off Road isn’t responsible for his absence… His upper arms and thighs are molded in a very interesting blue/teal color that really ups the contrast and visual appeal of the figure for me. I wasn’t expecting the explosion of color and detail that Off Road’s bot mode brought to the table. He has similar leg and shoulder engineering and an almost identical chest to some of the CW Aerialbots, and you can really see where the shared engineering comes in to play. Hat’s off to Hasbro, they have created a system that allows them to turn nearly the same core robot into both a Truck and a Jet without too many sacrifices. His posability is fairly standard but probably the most basic of all the Stunticons. He has ball jointed shoulders, though the range of motion can be hindered by his shoulder armor. The armor can be snapped off as it is just mounted on nubs on the shoulders, but personally I prefer the look of his giant shoulder pads. His elbows have a mushroom peg swivel and his hands are molded in to his forearms. If anything I would prefer if he had swing out hands molded in a different color, like the other Stunticons, but at the end of the day they do what I need them to do. A standard 90 degree knee and a waist swivel finish off his articulation. His head is mounted on his combiner port, and the port can be pushed in or pulled out a notch to allow Off Road to look further up or down, like this shot of him coming down hard with his battle axe! Speaking of axes, on to the Accessories!
Accessories
Off Road comes with a purple and silver single bladed battle axe. The axe is detailed to look at home as an engine piece, or even an exhaust pipe, however it doesn't seem to have a logical home in his Vehicle Mode! The best I have found is to peg it on to his rear fender for storage. It seems like a missed opportunity not to allow it to peg underneath as an exhaust pipe. The axe is so far one of my favorite new weapons from Combiner Wars. It’s clean, well detailed and looks wicked in the hands of Off Road. My only wish is that he had some wrist swivels to really be able to pull off that perfect robotic Patrick Bateman impersonation. The axe can also be pegged on to the back of his wrist for a more condensed melee option. Off Road’s combiner weapon sports 4 blaster barrels, designed to resemble an exhaust system. Much like his Axe, there is not much utilization of this feature in Vehicle mode. The best you can do is to peg the blaster in above his rear fender, and maybe borrow another from Dragstrip for symmetry.
Off Road is a surprisingly awesome addition to the Stunticon Team. I'm quite enamoured with the amount of personality that just seeps out of this toy. I'm sure many will wait for the soon to be released “Brake-Neck” or order Takara’s Unite version of Menasor to stick with the traditional team make up but I for one actually really enjoy the variety Off Road brings to the team. Sure you can skip him and you’ll still get the mold as First Aid or any number of other remolds/retools, but you won’t get THAT AMAZING HEAD SCULPT! OK! I might be slightly infatuated with this dudes sweet noggin… but none the less he is a nice addition to a line that is growing better and better with each wave. I can’t wait to see what more comes out of Combiner Wars!
Check out the gallery below for more photos!
