General Information: Images:
Text from Hasbrotoyshop.com: Turn the tables on the good guys when you throw this warrior into the fight! Your HAILSTORM figure is dedicated to destroying any opponent any way he has to get the job done. If robot combat turns into a chase, convert your villain into missile carrier vehicle mode and "rain" his eight firing missile accessories down from the "skies"! Battle-ready robot-to-vehicle figure converts from robot mode to missile carrier vehicle mode with eight firing missile accessories -- and back again! Ages 5 and up.
Vehicle Mode: Structurally, there are some differences between this vehicle and the M270. There are chunks in the front that are much more detailed in design including a grille in the center and a raised passenger/driver section on the right side. Smaller details are found here including tubes, raised circles representing bolts and outlines where the doors and windows would be. He also has raised panels that look like they're covering underlying machinery. Hailstorm may look like just two boxes on treads, but he is really heavily detailed, more than I expected. Hailstorm is cast in five primary colors: red, green, black, grey and gold. The green and black are the most heavily featured colors, with green making up a majority of the vehicle and rocket launcher. The front section of the rocket launcher is cast in black. Smaller bits are grey such as hinges on the sides of the rocket. Gold plastic is used for the treads and small portions of the front section. Red fits into Hailstorm's most prominent section: the missile launcher. Embedded into the launcher tubes are red missiles, eight in total. This is a great blend of colors. It gives the military feel intended for the vehicle and it looks a lot like something you would see rolling into a real life battlefield. The paint details on this figure are pretty minimal, and on a military figure you don't really need to be super splashy. Paint applications are done here in black, white and silver. The black and white work together to form camo patterns on the sides of the vehicle and rocket launcher section. Black is also used on the grille in the front of the vehicle as well as Decepticon symbols on the sides. Silver is found on the sides of the treads where they are used to paint the wheels of the treads. The details are simple and basic, but they serve to enhance the already cool color scheme. Hailstorm rolls on four small wheels, two on each side of the bottom of the vehicle. The rocket launcher is able to turn side to side (but not face the back) and move up and down on a hinge. The missiles are pressure missiles, meaning you push them from the back and they come out the other end after enough pressure has built up. All eight missiles can do this and it's rare when a Transformer has so many missiles that can be launched. There's definitely some fun play value with this vehicle mode. Transformation to Robot Mode:
Robot Mode: The best example of the "warped panels" can be found on his chest, where it looks like the front grille of the vehicle has been bent at the middle. On either side of his chest, the hinges that form the shoulder joints stick out to the sides. His head design has a design that looks almost bird like. The top of the head angles out to the sides and the sides angle back while his mouth looks like a beak. Finally, his proportions are rather brutish looking. His upper body is wide and his thick arms add to the width. Then his forearms come down past his knees. With his relatively small legs, he looks like he could take any enemy down with one swipe. Add to that the missiles on his back and it's quite a visual effect! Just as the vehicle mode had cool detailing, so does the robot mode. Among my favorites are small weapons on either side of the head with three barrels, tubes and hinges connected to the upper arms and really dangerous looking claw hands that have each finger sculpted in a slightly different position. He just looks functional in a way not all Transformers do. You can imagine his pistons and parts inside the joints moving with each lift of his arm or each step he takes. It's a fantastic looking sculpt overall. The robot mode shows off more of the colors that were not heavily featured in vehicle mode. Gold and grey in particular take center stage here. The grey plastic shows up heavily on the shoulder joints and the elbow joints. The gold colors come out boldly on the upper arms, the knees and feet. The gold and silver colors bring a lot of details out such as the hinges on the fingers. Red paint is used for the eyes and the barrels on the small weapons near the head. What I enjoy most about the color scheme is how much the colors pop out of the darker plastic colors such as the green. Very well done. Hailstorm has seventeen points of articulation in this form. Each arm and leg has four points of articulation and his head can be moved as well. The articulation is a combination of ball joints (on the hips for instance) and hinges (on the elbows). One unusual point are his feet, which turn in or out at the ankle joint. His missile firing action works in this mode very well. The only minor problem is that the missiles stick out the back a lot and it looks a bit odd. It's a minor quibble to me however, but I can see others having an issue with it.
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It has been a long standing tradition for the Transformers comic book universe to introduce new characters into the canon, but until fairly recently, most of those characters did not wind up inspiring actual action figures in the Transformers toy line. One exception to this is Hailstorm. Inspired by a character in the "Generation 2" comic book named 
