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Series: Classics
Allegiance: Decepticon
Categories: Deluxe Triple Changer
Year: 2006
The enemy's weakness is his uncertainty.
Astrotrain thrives on panic and fear. Though he is mainly used as a transport vehicle for moving warriors and supplies, he only truly feels at home pounding Autobot warriors into scrap metal. His ionic displacer rifle can scramble Autobot sensors, causing confusion in the enemy ranks, and his huge bulk casts a terrifying shadow across a battlefield. Those Autobots who survive a fight with Astrotrain often need only hear the echoing boom of his engines in the distance to once again quake in fear.
Robot Mode: Astrotrain's robot mode unifies the best of both worlds. He looks a lot like the original Astrotrain, but avoides quite a few of the design problems the original had, such as the too-short arms and the too-large chest crest. His posability is quite good, his weapon is a fitting size (again unlike the original) and he overall just looks swell. If there is one thing I don't like it's that his facial features are almost unrecognisable amidst all the white colours. Some different colours here and there would have worked wonders. Still, a very good robot mode.
Alternate Mode: As a triple changer Astrotrain has two alternate modes. The first and by far the superior one is the space shuttle. For the most part it looks exactly like a space shuttle should. It has the two halves of the train cockpit sitting on the wings, but that doesn't really hurt the look. What bugs me a bit are the small wheels on top and on the wingtips, they do damage the look somewhat, but still, a good shuttle mode.
The second alternate mode is a train. Unlike the classic locomotive of yore you have what is suppossed to be a Japanese-style bullet train. And while I have no problem with updating the look of the train, I do have a problem with the fact that the rear part of the train looks... well, nothing like a train. It makes the train mode look tacked-on, not like a full mode in itself. You can mount the rifle on top in this mode, but it doesn't help any. By far the worst of Astrotrain's three modes.
Remarks: Astrotrain was one of the major bad guys in the original G1 cartoon and also had a role in Transformers: The Movie, where he transported the wounded Decepticons back to Cybertron, which led to Megatron becoming Galvatron. His appearances in the third season were sparse, but I'm still very glad to see a new version of the character after more than twenty years. That said, I wish they'd put some more work into the train mode. The robot and the shuttle look very nice, but the train? No, thank you. So Astrotrain goes from a straight A down to a B+. Still, recommended to every Decepticon fan out there.
Rating: B+
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