Galaxy Force Road Storm

Robot Mode: Robots transforming out of motorcycle alternate modes have all sorts of designs. Road Storm is among the crazier ones, as he basically has most of the motorbike across his shoulders, the actual robot being a small, lean affair formed mostly from the bike’s undercarriage. The design is very interesting and striking, but it comes with some problems. First of all, the big shoulder kibble restricts the movement range of the arms quite a bit. Also, Road Storm is rather top-heavy, making it somewhat hard to balance him on his tiny little feet in some poses.

In theory Road Storm has a full range of movement, though, due to balljoints, and also has a simple but effective Cyberkey / Forcechip gimmick. Entering the Cyberkey into his rucksack makes a gun spring up on his right shoulder. Straight-forward and nice. He also carries a rifle, but sadly the rifle is so long that he can only hold it in somewhat awkward poses. A shorter, more compact weapon would have fit better here.

Overall Road Storm’s robot mode is visually striking, but has a number of drawbacks that limit the play value. Not a failure, far from it, but average at best given the time.

Alternate Mode: Road Storm transforms into a motorcycle resembling a Harley Davidson touring bike. This is a beauty of a motorcycle. Everything fits together really well, there are no visible robot bits at all, and the detail work is quite well-done, too. The arms forming the engine are a thing of beauty.

Road Storm can fully utilize his Cyberkey / Forcechip gimmick in this mode, too, entering the Cyberkey into his saddle bag will make his extra gun pop up. His rifle from the robot mode makes up the exhaust pipe on the bike’s left side, while the exhaust pipe on the right side detaches as well... for no apparent reason other than allowing you to lose that part somewhere along the way, I guess. Anyway, Road Storm definitely has one of the best motorcycle alternate modes I’ve ever seen. Two thumbs up here, truly a very nice bike.

Remarks: Road Storm – or Lugnutz as he was called in the Hasbro part of the world - was among the Cybertronians who travelled to Earth in ancient times on the starship Atlantis. He ended up being imprisoned underground by Life Convoy and Autovolt for unspecified crimes until he was freed by Starscream and joined the Destrons. It wasn’t really his kind of scene, though, as he was a more laid-back kind of dude and his heart was never really in it. In the end he joined the battle against the god-like Galvatron to save the universe and ended up joining the new Space Bridge project to explore new worlds.

As a toy Roadstorm is a bit of a mixed blessing. A truly beautiful alternate mode with a robot mode that’s average at best. The design is interesting, but it does hinder the robot mode quite a bit. So bottom line: definitely an interesting toy and recommended to fans of motorcycle bots, but be aware of the limited robot mode.

Rating: B-