TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED LOCKDOWN
(DELUXE CLASS)

Review by Matty Boy

Alternate Mode: Lockdown comes packaged in his alternate mode, which is a black, souped-up hardtop roadster, reminiscent of a vehicle from Death Race 2000. One of the really striking aspects of the car is its matte black plastic, greatly evocative of the painted-cel look of the Animated show. He is 5.5" (or 13.5cm) long, with a width of almost 3" at his rear axle. I can't imagine a better car to model your Pinewood Derby block on if you were a Cub Scout.

Lockdown's wheels have grey plastic spikes molded into the hubcaps. Although they're not really pointy, it's still a very successful portrayal of the ol' Spy Hunter spike hubs. It's a great design choice as well; even though the black wheels are just hollow plastic, they are mounted in such as way that they blend in and appear totally solid. The rear wheels and spikes are twice the size of the front wheels. The car's front bumper is a silver cowcatcher, one of the only paint apps, and it really looks great, offsetting the acid lime accents on the tops of the front fenders. In the center of the hood is an exaggerated engine intake, which, as I'll explain soon, doubles not only as Lockdown's weapon, but a conversation piece.

Lockdown has a traditional (pre-Movie) Decepticon symbol upon his roof, in gold. The roof has six spikes on its sides, painted silver, which is a nice punk-gauntlet touch. His windows are a deep red-purple translucent plastic, with circuit-like detailing around the corners; it really looks gorgeous. The roof, sideview "mirrors" and windowframes are painted on (black); they look great on mine. You can actually see Lockdown's chin under the windshield, but it's not really that noticeable, and it's upside-down. Plus, Lockdown's chin is pretty weird in the first place.

Lockdown's car mode looks great from every angle. Even his underside; it looks jumbled and weird enough that your eyes don't recognize any robot parts. His tail-lights, made of the same red-purple plastic as the roof, are circular, but his headlights are hexagonal. It flows beautifully with the angular hood, and there are even additional hexagonal accents on the sides of his front bumper. The rear spoiler is so well molded with the other parts of the car, that you won't even notice that it has the silver steamshovel accents that will become Lockdown's feet. Even though a driver or passenger in Lockdown's canopy wouldn't be able to see past the engine, this is undoubtedly one of the sickest car modes of any Transformer I've ever seen. Even if his robot mode sucked, and it doesn't, this car alone would be a worthwhile plaything or display piece. The fact that the wheels are hard plastic only conspires with the way your thumb and forefingers instinctively land on the sides of the vehicle, before finally caving in to the urge to slide it all over every possible surface, and you catch yourself making loud embarrassing NYYARRRRRR sounds.

Seriously. This toy is probably going to take home a design award or two. The car is rock-solid and the only thing I could think of that would possibly cause any kind of disappointment for a kid would be the lack of any kind of pop-out weapons. But it doesn't need any gimmicks (although it still kind of has one); the car looks smooth, and menacing. Appropriately, it appears to be an extension of the character, and it totally succeeds. Despite my misgivings, the Animated vehicles I've seen so far have had a lot of personality, on their own as vehicles. Even though this is an intrinsic concept of Transformers, it's never been as overt as this before, and it's nice to see it working.

Short version; now the Decepticons have a Deathmobile, and it is awesome. Also; he has sets of three exhaust pipes curling up from under his doors, and for what has to be the first time in Transformers history, they don't become weapons.

Transformation: I wasn't sure what kind of strength the plastics used for Animated would have, so I actually consulted the instructions to cut down the risk of breaking anything. They sent me in the right direction, but lost me about halfway through. I swear the instructions are just boondoggled.

The sides and back of the car form Lockdown's legs, and they do so in a rather impressive way. The rear fenders slide down and extend, allowing the front fenders to be flipped around and clicked into the hips of the robot (mine do so very tightly). The rear taillights and inside spoiler split open to form the feet. The car's hood has to be flipped open and removed for the moment. This exposes sun yellow paint apps that weren't visible before.

Rotate the waist 180 degrees, and split the rear of the car to reveal the shoulders and arms. Flip open the chest to reveal the freaking awesome head. Flip the head into position and close the chest, then rotate the forearms of the robot and flip the hands out. Yes, they only flip out so far, but I'll get to that.

Flip the gutting hook from underneath the hood and attach it to Lockdown's arm. Pop! The sides of the engine flick out to form the barrels of his weapon.

Finagle the shoulder joints into the slots on his sides, and position his shoulder pads however you like, and we're done.

For the record: I've never, ever had a Transformer that was this easy to stand up. Plunk, there you are. He stands unbelievably well for such a lithesome dude. If you get one, and he's the same as mine, you'll be as amazed about it as I am.

Robot Mode: Lockdown is an astounding 7.5" (18.5cm) tall, which has got to be a record or something for Deluxe Class. He TOWERS over fellow Deluxes like Classics Grimlock and Cybertron Downshift. He even looms over other Animated toys, like Ratchet. His basic posture is really striking and unique. The acid lime color from his front fenders shows up again on his chest and abdomen, bordered by a nice olive shade, which bears another gold Decepticon emblem. The olive really blends the harsh lime color nicely with the overall black. In fact, the green and silver highlights work together so well, I didn't even notice at first that Lockdown's biceps and knees are asymmetrical. This is meant to be indicative of Lockdown's penchant for upgrades. Spikes akin to the ones on Lockdown's roof appear on his shoulders, and on the sides of his wide, cobra-like neck. There's also a subtle red paint wash on the grooves in his forearms, which matches the taillights (now on his feet) perfectly. His left kneeguard has a highlight in the same red, and although the light piping in his head doesn't work, I can't stress enough how well the robot's color scheme gels. Lockdown is distinctive from every angle, at a distance, and in silhouette or profile.

Now on to the issue of Lockdown's hands. The conventional wisdom seems to believe the hands should extend to a degree to which they do not extend, unless you make modifications. I respectfully disagree with this. I think Lockdown's hands are the way the are on purpose, to offset the wideness of his hips. (Which I wouldn't describe as "child-bearing", as some have, by the way.) His weapon is the hood section under the engine, which reveals a hook and twin gunbarrels when you attach it to Lockdown's arm. This requires the hand to be folded back in, and otherwise the hands are merely ornamental and don't hold any kind of weapon. I really feel this is an indication that the hands were meant to be askew. Lockdown has two elbow joints on each arm, a ball-joint and one with a pin, which really ratchets up his articulation. You can't make Lockdown point directly at anything, but let's not act like that's a new trend for Transformers toys.

The hook weapon completes Lockdown's look, despite the odd yellow accents. Lockdown's head is terrific, even though the light piping in the eyes doesn't work. He can even turn his head ever so slightly, which impressed me since you can't easily discern at first glance where the head attaches to the neck. It's a nice sculpt, though it's far less detailed than Transformers tend to be. Lockdown looks imposing simply placed on a desk.

One thing that must be said about this mode: Lockdown has absolutely no kibble. You have to see it to believe it.

Poseability: Lockdown doesn't have any real knees to speak of. He makes up for it with the extra elbows, but you still can't actually pose his legs in any way, because of how they form. That said, he looks absolutely badass in his standard pose, and his arms pack a tremendous amount of his total articulation. All the ball joints on mine are tight, and only once did one of his legs slide off at the hip while transforming. (He has two points of articulation in each hip.) And it really amazes me how easy he is to stand.

Conclusion: I highly recommend Lockdown, particularly as your introduction into the new Animated line. He retails for the typical Deluxe price of $10-15, and he is well worth it. I didn't experience any quality control glitches, unless you count the issue I mentioned with the hands, which is, I believe, moot. Lockdown looks amazing in both modes, and wow is he tall for the price. He's more than a little reminiscent of a Stunticon in car mode, and in robot mode, I've never seen another like him. I also suggest purchasing Ratchet as well, but I'll have to get into why in his review. You can decide for yourself whether to "fix" Lockdown's wrists... I think they look fine the way they are. We'll see how Hasbro deals with the response when they roll out the next batch of Lockys. I'm actually curious to see if they'll change it or not.