Robots In Disguise 2015 Universe Strongarm Smaller than the Warrior original
Transformers Legacy Evolution Deluxe
Item No.: Asst. F2990 No. F7201 Manufacturer:Hasbro Includes:Blaster and light bar Action Feature:Transforms from robot to car Retail:$24.99 Availability: September 2023 Other: This Business Needs a Strongarm It's Big Talk
Another small deluxe, Robots In Disguise 2015 Universe Strongarm is an update of the Robots in Disguise Strongarm [FOTD #1,137] which came in multiple size classes, but my favorite was the Warrior-class. She was pretty big and $14.99, effectively hovering around the platonic ideal of a kid Deluxe-class figure. This one throws out size for articulation and complexity. The $15 one from 2014 was a truck that was 5 1/4-inches long, and this new one's truck mode is 4-inches long. You gain more paint and articulation, with additions like a removable lightbar and oddities like gray wheels with no black tires. Also the robot adds a nose, and more stripes. I think adult collectors will prefer the 2023 release, but I was unsurprisingly pretty happy with the one I had. In robot mode, they're basically the same height.
I initially planned not to buy this figure, but wound up rounding the wave to "good enough" and ordering it all. I wasn't super fond of the Elita-1 based on this mold due to some parts clearance issues on my sample, but the Strongarm figure I got does transform more easily and has perfectly nice paint. It's also not a perfect match for the cartoon, but it's better than any of the Strongarm toys previously sold for the US market. Ours suffered the wrath of budget cuts, but that's what happens when you have a $15 price point to hit.
Standing 5-inches tall, Robots In Disguise 2015 Universe Strongarm manages to take a cartoony cartoon and somehow make her more realistic and more cartoony. The detail around the helmet is quite impressive, with green vents, a yellow crest, and white and blue stripes around a gray (not silver) face. If she had a silver face, she'd probably fit in aesthetically with late-1980s Japanese Transformers designs. If her face was silver, other than the fact it's a lady bot, you'd probably see her as some distant pal of God Ginrai or Star Convoy. She certainly carries a retro quality despite being an update of a 2014 toy - that's some kind of weird magic.
Strongarm is a little skinnier than her inspiration, but given she was based on a body used for two very skinny Autobots, what would you expect? Some of the leg detail is lost due to them being parts from another toy, but most of her is retooled from the waist up. Her face is really something with a nice new nose, green eyes and lips, and a stunning amount of paint. They did not cut corners there, which takes some of the sting out of the $25 price tag. Articulation is pretty good, but be sure to move the shoulder pylons from their default packaging pose if you want to get any shoulder movement out of this one.
Transformation is fairly smooth but the instructions are nice - the arms don't have a lot of clearance and instructions help to not snap off anything. This one folds down real small, too.
Her truck mode is perfectly nice - you can see a faux diamond plate bed, and you can mount a blaster in it. The feet hang off the back - it doesn't look great - but they're basically boosters. I think this sort of thing is more fun on a kid's toy, so you can pretend she's got powers, but the original toy has a more cohesive backside. Still, she's good - there are steps to enter what I assume must be a giant truck, a really nice lightbar, great stripes, and 5mm ports all over the place to plug in additional gear. She really doesn't do anything special as a truck, and I find the silver tires unsettling - but at first glance, I missed this. The silver wheels are probably more important in most situations as they're the bigger part of the wheel, but for $25 I'd like some more paint.
This is a solid update given inflation, her peers, and whatnot - but it's surprising to see an update so soon after the original. As of now I don't know of any other Robots in Disguise characters coming, and if I could only pick one it would be her. After her, there are multiple awesome original Decepticon characters that could really benefit from updates and being seen by a wider audience. The secondary market prices on a lot of those figures has crept up, and I assume kids who watched the show wouldn't mind an update either - but it's not about them, it's about Strongarm. I think you're going to want this one, even if she does have a silly clear blaster and windows that are so dark they're practically opaque. I wouldn't mind seeing this mold re-reimagined as another body for an Autotrooper, either.
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