Barricade New Mold, Good Mold Transformers The Last Knight Premier Edition Deluxe Item No.: Asst. C0887 No. C1321 Manufacturer: Hasbro Includes: Wrist blaster, pistol, nightstick Action Feature: Transforms from Robot to Police Car Retail: $19.99 Availability: April 24, 2017 Other: Nifty, different
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While most of the toys in The Last Knight seem to be real-world vehicles, Barricade has no automobile licensing information on the box. As such, I don't know what it is - but the look and feel of this toy is a heck of a lot closer to Generations, specifically Thrilling 30, than some of the other toys I've seen. It doesn't seem like it would be out of place with some of the stranger designs from the comics, as the body and limbs are generally free of the bizarre metal pasta found poking out of the bodies of most movie Transformers. It would not surprise me at all if we saw this exact toy given a new head and sold in the Generations line down the road.

The packaging is new-ish. The design is similar to what we got for Age of Extinction in terms of template and layout, but deluxe toys come in boxes rather than carded for the first time in decades for the USA. (Actually, I don't think deluxes came in boxes outside of Generation 1.) It's a grab to move toward what Hasbro does for Marvel Legends or Star Wars: The Black Series, complete with the higher price point and arguably, seemingly a little more "oomph" on the toy. There's room for more deco, of course, and I am disappointed that there's no pack-in catalog or opportunity to upsell more toys. "Also Look For" is a weak call to action. In my day, we were told to "Collect them all!" And we got a catalog in the box! And we liked it! The box is also surprisingly tall, which may mean Hasbro is contemplating selling us taller robot toys down the road like Lockdown from Animated or Revenge of the Fallen. There's room.

17 points of articulation deliver unto you a decent robot that's a bit of a departure from previous incarnations. Other than the four eyes, the head is largely unpainted save for the Decepticon symbol stamped on his brow. I was particularly taken by how he interacts with his accessories, including a jointed wrist cannon that wraps around his fist as well as weapons based on American police gear. Barricade has a pistol and a nightstick, and they can fit in his hands or hang on his hips. There's no belt, you see. It's an interesting choice to make an evil police Decepticon robot with a dark blue body and cop weapons, but they go a step further by giving him knuckle dusters that read "SERVE" and "PROTECT" backward. This is a really nifty and new detail for this kind of toy, and it's showing some real initiative of how to make these different. I also expect to hear parents denying their kids the toy if they see the detail in the stores.

At 5 1/4-inches tall, the new, more expensive deluxe toys are about as good as the old ones. There are no wacky weapons for this movie, nor are there any action features - the smoothed-out bodies and kibble are more in line with your "Classic" shelves than the folded-up and shard-tastic movie designs. You'll find some evidene of this on the figure, but in some respects the arms and legs look almost like a classic cartoon design and nothing like the chicken-legged knife-finger monkey-headed robot menace from the previous films. (What I'm saying is, the redesign really cooks.) The new head has four eyes and a bug-like face that reminds me a bit of the IDW comic version of Longtooth meets Tarantulas. (Ask your parents.)

The deco is good, but not spectacular - there's nothing here that's going to change your life, but it isn't bad either. There are white knee pads plus some gunmetal silver paint on the belly of this angel in a half shirt, but most of the paint was reserved for the car mode and that carries over here. For this reason, the more or lss bare arms and thighs aren't going to get a lot of attention with their flat sculpts and uncomplicated colors. I still dig 'em.

Transformation is something of a hassle - and looking at the official photography, Hasbro employees may agree with me. Fidgeting all the parts together took some doing, thanks in part to getting the robot arms properly positioned and tucked under the car hood chest. It's a challenge, because they do need to be just-so and the instructions seemed confusing given the non-intuitive positioning of other parts required to get everything in there. Or I'm stupid. Take your pick. The robot figure in and of itself is pretty great, but getting it to a car is a nuisance.

The new car mode looks good, and looks like the on-screen car I'm seeing in publicity photos from the sets. It has the catcher in the front, colorful lights on the grille, muted lights on the clear lightbar, and a dark, very dark blue plastic color that looks like black at first glance. The nightstick and gun remain stored in his robot thighs, now positioned under the car. His gun ring from his wrist can plug in the back window. Things mostly work together nicely, but unless I'm doing something wrong the whole arms in the car hood just don't work well for me. I'd still say you should get this figure, just because it's very unusual otherwise.

Since most stores were already charging $18-$20 for Generations deluxe-class toys, the $19.99ish price isn't much of a stretch. However if you like stretches, I noticed Kmart stores asking $22.99 while Walmarts were around $15.86. That's a significant range if you're a collector, because a couple of dollars on one figure may not break the bank but after a wave or two you're throwing money away at $23.

If I didn't know better I'd say Hasbro built this one in order to reuse it to make other non-movie characters later. Maybe Hasbro just left the car licensing stuff off by accident, but I'm not so sure. I could totally see this guy hanging out with Reveal the Shield Lugnut or Revenge of the Fallen Lockdown, both of whom made the jump to the comic pages. The distinctive bodies and heads may be a departure from the standard issue Decepticon, but not so much that they wouldn't make a good team. If you're like me and don't necessarily care about the changes in design and don't have too many Barricades, you should get this one. He's still got the "To Punish and Enslave" motto on his rear side, and yeah the spoiler is missing (and unpainted), but it's still a nifty toy and potentially a harbinger of what the future of the "deluxe" "collector" price point may be after the Titans stop returning.

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