General Information:
Release Year: September 2007
Retailer: General release (Wal-Mart, Target, Toys 'R' Us etc.)
Price: $9.99 (Depending on retailer)
Accessories: None
Skill Level: 2

Images:

• On Card (Front)
• On Card (Back)
• Robot Mode
• Robot Mode (Side)
• Robot Mode (Back)
• Robot Mode (Close up)
• Robot Mode (Detail view of arm)
• Robot Mode (Posed)
• Vehicle Mode
• Vehicle Mode (Side)
• Vehicle Mode (Back)
• Vehicle Mode (Front)
• Vehicle Mode (Angle)

Tech Specs:
BARRICADE serves as a spy for MEGATRON, sneaking in among the enemy and learning as much as he can before destroying every trace he was ever there with his powerful lasers. He uses his whirling Blade Shield to carve through even the toughest materials. It's the perfect tool for breaking into secure buildings or carving through armored data cases.

Fast Action Battlers are the successors to the 1-2-3 Transformers and Playskool Transformers, they are larger figures developed for younger kids to play with. The Fast Action Battlers generally feature simplified transformations and action features are combined with sculpting similar to mainline figures.

Barricade appears early on in the Transformers movie and gets quite a bit of screen time before other Decepticons such as Bonecrusher and Starscream even made an appearance. This plus his very distinctive vehicle mode made him one of the most popular and memorable characters to come out of the film. It's only fitting that he would get the Fast Action Battler treatment sooner or later.

Robot Mode:
Barricade has an odd body shape to begin with thanks to his extra long arms and his oddly shaped legs that angle forward at the knees only to angle back at the ankles (as if he is set in a permanent crouch). However, if you exaggerate any features, he suddenly looks even more funky and that's the result of getting the Fast Action Battler treatment. This leads to his upper body bearing most of the bulk of his body. His head is huge compared to the rest of his body. His chest is very wide and his arms are really long, coming down almost to his knees. This gives him a very powerful appearance and there was no attempt made to make his face "cutesy". Instead, his head sculpt is one of the best of the Fast Action Battler line - with minute levels of detail down to the small horizontal V shaped pieces on his eyes and the teeth in his mouth. From the sides, it looks like his arms are just made from the sides of the vehicle, but look on the other side and you'll find quite a bit of detail. His right arm has a nicely sculpted, multi-layer take on his claw hands. On his right arm he has a lot of tech detail on his inner arm. Instead of being a mirror image of his right arm, this arm contains the figures' action feature. Swing the front half forward and his blade weapon spins at the end with blades extending outward, similar to the weapon he used against Bumblebee in the film. The inside of the blade weapon is sculpted like the side of one of his wheels, adding a nice touch to a fun weapon. There is a pole on the back of his left arm with a small tab. Push it down and the blade weapon spins.

Barricade's lower body has a lot of detail as well. His waist has layers of detail including pistons and circles. His legs have the armored layer look of so many of the movie characters. Though the legs are basically made from two different sections, each one has so much detail it gives the impression there are more.

Aside from his blade weapon, you can turn Barricade at the waist and let go for a swiping action. Combined with his blade weapon, it really makes him look like one powerful melee fighter. Barricade has six points of articulation. I'm not counting the waist since he can't lock into a position with his waist turned. This is just enough articulation to allow you to pose the figure but not make it a statue at the same time.

Barricade is mostly cast in black, grey and light grey plastic. The black of course makes up the police car parts while the grey makes up his robot parts such as the waist, legs and inner arms. Silver, metallic blue, red and gold paint are used for detailing. A majority of the robot mode color is found in the head, which is painted mostly silver with red eyes and gold around the mouth area. I am quite surprised by the detail level of this paint job on the head, especially with the tiny red eyeballs painted and the gold mouth. This is the level of detail I expect from a mainline figure, but not a more "kid friendly" figure such as this. The metallic blue is used on vertical lines on his legs.

Transformation to Vehicle Mode:

1. Swing the robot head forward.
2. Connect the two legs together and swing them back.
3. Swing each arm back and push them in.

Vehicle Mode:
The aesthetic of the Fast Action Battler vehicle modes comes somewhere between the mainline toys and the cutesy Cyber Slammers vehicles. Barricade's vehicle mode definitely fits this description. The overall shape of the vehicle is just squat enough that you notice a difference between it and the longer deluxe figure (proportionally speaking). However, it still has all the crucial features of the Saleen Mustang it is based on. The front has the trademark grille and headlight structure. The hood has vents on either side and along the top of his cabin section are the sirens. The back has a raised spoiler and even the wheels are sculpted like the real life vehicle's wheels.

Most of the figure in this form winds up being black plastic so it's the color details that make the figure. The headlights are painted in silver, with the side lights painted orange. The familiar Decepticon "police shield" can be found right in front of each door on the sides, done in purple, black and silver. The doors are painted white with the silver words "Police" on them. The siren is painted red, white and blue (form left to right) and behind that are the numbers "643" in large white letters. Along the spoiler is the word "Police" in silver. On the back the rear lights are painted red with the license plate area painted grey. The notable exception on this figures' details is the phrase "To punish and enslave" which is absent from the sections above the rear wheels. This was also absent on his Cyber Slammer counterpart, an understandable omission considering the age range this figure is targeted at (although let's face it, the same kids probably own the deluxe figure which does have that feature).

Final Thoughts:
Barricade is a perfectly done Fast Action Batter. He has the right aesthetic but he manages to still look evil thanks to his weapon and head sculpt. The color work on this is above my expectations as well. Highly recommended.