Backfire
(Autobot Alliance)
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Revenge of the Fallen Knock Out. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Revenge of the Fallen Knock Out here.)
Backfire may be the fourth
release of this mold, but at least it's got a color scheme that's significantly
different from any previous incarnation of this toy. White serves as the
primary color, with dark red and black being the main contrast colors--
and both of them doing a fairly good job of it. All of the colors are broken
up quite well, with no one color "dominating" any part of Backfire too
much, so he looks pretty nice in both modes. Granted, the color scheme
isn't the most original overall-- it's been used on a lot of rescue vehicles--
but being on a sleek motorcycle design like this makes it stand out at
least a little bit more, since Backfire is most definitely not a rescue-type
of vehicle. The black and red lines across the middle of his robot mode
leg-plates are also a bit of a neat design, though I wish they went across
more of the figure in vehicle mode. The oddly copperish-silver used for
the headlights and the dark blue robot mode optics are also both good choices
and contrast quite well with their surrounding colors. My favorite color
choice for this mode, though, has got to be the dark gunmetal gray used
for some of the robot mode parts like the upper legs and parts of the shoulders.
It's not QUITE black, although it provides roughly the same amount of contrast--
this coloration has a rather metallic look to it (despite the fact that
it's plastic, not paint), and is just generally a really nice shade of
color. SO glad they used this color of gray compared to the blah light
milky gray that's used on far too many TFs these days.
No mold changes have
been made to Backfire.
Autobot Alliance Backfire's
mold has been a little overused at this point, but it's still got a good
color scheme, particularly for an Autobot. All of the colors mesh together
quite well, and all are good shades of their respective colors. I still
like the original incarnation of this mold-- Knock Out-- a little more,
but this is the second-best paint job this toy has gotten, in my opinion.
Review by Beastbot