Animated Lockdown (Deluxe)

My Review:

Robot Mode: First thing one notices about Lockdown in robot mode is that he''s freakishly tall for a Deluxe-class figure. He is actually taller than some Voyager-class figures. The reason is that the entire length of his vehicle mode goes into his legs, which then extend a bit further, too. Of course this causes him to be rather slim, especially in the upper body, but his looks don''t suffer from that. Quite the opposite.

Lockdown looks scary, there is no way around that. He has an almost demonic quality to him. The spikes on his body, the monstrous head, the hook on his arms, all that adds to his scary air. As such the figure captures the character from the Animated series quite well. As weapons Lockdown carries a hook and the EMP generator he stole from Ratchet, both of which are fastened to a kind of gauntlet that he can put on his forearm.

Speaking of arms, Lockdown''s two major flaws are both found there. Number one is his shoulder joints, which are a bit awkward to move and could have used some more mass, I guess. Not a big thing, though. Then there are his hands. Not only are they on the fragile side, they also don''t flip out properly. Lockdown can''t get his hands any straighter than about 45 degrees in regards to his forearm. Which is strange, especially since I don''t think it would have been that hard to make the hand flip out straight. So bottom line: A great-looking, scary, freakishly-tall robot mode with some hand-issues.

Alternate Mode: Lockdown transforms from a scary-looking robot into a very scary-looking monster of a car. It looks like the Batmobile possessed by a demon. Most of it is black and it''s covered with spikes. The big motor block, really the stolen EMP weapon, sits on top and gives the whole thing the air of a speed demon. Blood-red windows complete the look.

The vehicle mode only has two tiny flaws I can think of. One, you can see Lockdown''s head (at least the lower half of it) through the windshield. The other being that you can''t flip out the barrels of the EMP blaster here, because it needs to sit on Lockdown''s arm in order for the spring mechanism to work. Two minor flaws, barely worth mentioning, not taking anything away from an otherwise great vehicle mode.

Remarks: During the days of the Marvel UK comics writer Simon Furman introduced Death''s Head, the cyborg bounty hunter ("freelance peacekeeping agent, yes?") who hunted the likes of Rodimus Prime, Galvatron, Shockwave, and even went up against Unicron himself before vanishing from the Transformers universe and heading over into the Marvel Superheroes dimension. There was never a toy of Death''s Head (who wasn''t really a Transformer anyway, seeing as he couldn''t transform) and he hasn''t been seen in the Transformers multiverse since.

Now we have Lockdown, though, who bears a lot of similarity to Death''s Head both in looks and in demeanor. He''s a bounty hunter (though he doesn''t mind being called it), he has interchangable hands, he has spikes on his body, the list goes on. Lockdown''s creators had Death''s Head in mind, I''m certain of it. Lockdown was a pretty scary character in his own right, though. His penchant for basically dissecting his victims to get their special weapons and abilities is probably the stuff of nightmares for many Transformers.

As a figure Lockdown looks pretty good, but he does have some drawbacks. His hands are a bit of a problem and I would have asked for some better shoulder joints as well. Otherwise, though, a very nice, scary-looking figure. Recommended to all Animated fans.

Rating: B+

And for a second opinion the review by Tobias H:

Prelude: Lockdown is a very shady character, even for a Decepticon. In Transformers Animated he described himself as a kind of bounty hunter, who improves his own body by stealing parts from his victims and adding them to his own systems. Best example is the EMP weapon, which he stole from Ratchet.

Lockdown is a new charater, a Transformer that hasn’t been seen in any previous series to my knowledge. So here is my review about this extraordinarily sadistic Decepticon.

Robot Mode: Lockdown is amazingly tall for a Deluxe class figure. He towers over Voyager-class figures like Starscream and Megatron by several centimetres. His limbs are very slim and spindly, giving him a hard-to-describe, shady figure.

Despite his somewhat odd shape Lockdown is a very posable Transformer. He can pull off just about any pose you can think of, even as his proportions give him a rather alien look doing it. Which is a plus as far as I’m concerned.

His strange look is augmented by his colouring. Lockdown’s colour scheme is composed mainly of black and green. Added to that are several silver and grey highlights. So all in all the colours, just like the character, are very dark.

Lockdown’s high level of detail is also worth mentioning. First and foremost there is his beautifully sculpted head, which kind of reminds me of a bulldog. The figure is also sprinkled with numerous little bumps and spikes, which fits seamlessly into Lockdown’s overall look and are augmented by his colours.

Lockdown also has a very interesting gimmick. The figure is armed with the previously mentioned EMP weapon, which he stole from Ratchet. The EMP is sitting on a “hook”, which can replace Lockdown’s hand and looks very good doing it.

In the end all of the above should add up to a very good robot mode for Lockdown. Unfortunately there is a proverbial ‘hook’ to him, as the figure has a rather serious flaw. Said flaw being his hands, but I’ll go into that further down.

Alternate Mode: Lockdown’s alternate mode is a car. But it’s not a usual car by any means, shape or form. Lockdown transforms into what is undoubtedly the most demonic-looking car I’ve yet to see among the Transformers alternate modes. The front portion seems to hug the ground closely and the red headlights are positively sparking with evilness.

The dark black and green colour scheme works very well here, too, and augments Lockdown’s scary exterior. And just like with the robot mode the car is liberally covered in little spikes and studs. To make it short, Lockdown’s vehicle mode looks dangerous. I’m not sure it’s everyone’s cup of tea, but I really like it a lot.

A small thing drawback here, too, though, as you can see Lockdown’s robot head through the red windshield of the car. There are no extras or gimmicks here, but he doesn’t need them. In closing I’d like to mention that Lockdown’s vehicle mode strongly reminds me of the G1 Stunticons, the combiner team that featured the first car modes for Decepticons.

Conclusion: Before coming to the actual conclusion I want to once again thank ebay seller Silentmaster27, thanks to whom I got no less than two versions of Lockdown. The first one had a defect, which really shoved Lockdown’s only flaw into my face. So once again: Thanks.

Lockdown is a great Transformer. Dark and strange looking, the toy manages to capture the look of its animated counterpart very well. Both in robot and in vehicle mode he displays shapes I’ve never seen among Transformers before. The word ‘villain’ is practically written across his forehead. Added to that is superb posability, which seems to be standard for the Animated figures.

He also features a very nicely designed gimmick, a weapon that is integrated into the transformation of the figure. I always like that. So what should keep me from giving this figure a straight A? The answer is: the hands.

When I unpacked my first Lockdown and transformed him, one of his hands came off. The little grey piece of plastic had broken off and couldn’t easily be repaired. Very irritating, no doubt. At first I thought that my version of the figure had suffered a mishap, maybe it fell down or something before it was packaged. Stuff like that happens, unfortunately. After reading a few reports on the ‘net, though, and doing a few “experiments”, it became evident that it wasn’t a singular occurrence.

Lockdown’s hands are his weak points. They are very fragile and break pretty easily. Especially the transformation puts them at risk. A design flaw like that really shouldn’t happen these days, especially not in a toy. I can see a lot of children getting upset when their new toy breaks at first play.

Which forces me, with a heavy heart, to seriously lower Lockdown’s final rating. It should be noted, though, that at the time of this review a new repaint of Lockdown has already been announced, where this flaw is supposed to be fixed.

Rating: In total Lockdown gets a B from me.

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