Revenge of the Fallen Dead End (Scout)

Prelude: First of all, many thanks to LimeWire for loaning me this little guy here (and quite a few others, more to come) for this review. And second, the final name of this toy is still not quite certain, but most sources agree that he'll be called Dead End, not Detour as I originally thought, so I changed the pics and title accordingly. And now, on with the review.

Robot Mode: An incredibly spry and bouncy-looking robot we have here. I'm not sure why, but the very first pose I put him into after I transformed him was the one used for the image map above. Arms apart, head thrown back, and laughing. Okay, he doesn't have a mouth, but you can just picture him, can't you? A really evil laugh like "BWUAH HA HA HA HA!!" I just love this little guy's look. He looks small and mean. I especially like his hands and his very nicely detailed chest. Looking great, little buddy.

In terms of posability, though, there are some minor drawbacks to Dead End. While he has balljoints and is therefor very posable, there are some limitations. Because of the way his torso is put together you can hardly bend his legs forward at the waist, limiting his ability to pose dynamically. Also, he can't turn his head, only move it up or down (and that's just because of the transformation). Apart from that, though, very posable. A bendy little guy.

All in all a great-looking robot. If they'd gotten the leg thing right he'd be pretty much perfect.

Alternate Mode: Dead End transforms into a little red sports car that for some unfortunate reason reminds me a bit of G1 Wheelie. The car looks much better, though, and is very nicely detailed for its size class. Especially the rear part, where you can see the engine. The wheels are also very finely sculpted. So all in all a great car mode.

Some words on the transformation, though: When transforming Dead End, make sure to first pull back the little plates forming the hood before reshaping the rest of the legs. Otherwise they're liable to snap off. Also, Dead End features a nice Automorph feature (called Mech Alive in Revenge of the Fallen) where you pull back the car's rear and automatically flip out the head. Nicely done.

Remarks: Dead End (the Decepticon formerly known as Detour) is among the first wave of Revenge of the Fallen Scout-class toys that have started appearing on ebay and via other sources. Thankfully fellow TF-Fan Limewire snatched one up and loaned him out in order for me to do this review. He's among the first four ROTF figures I've actually held in hand and he's a major candidate for being my favourite so far. If only they'd made the leg/hip thing work better... Still, a very nice little toy. With the movie still being months away now I don't have any idea, of course, what role (if any) Dead End will play in it, but judging him purely from a toy perspective: He's good. Real good. So you might wanna get him once he hits the stores.

Rating: B+

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