Strafe
(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 Mindwipe. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Revenge of the Fallen Mindwipe here.)
Strafe is a light (very
light) homage to the G1 Technobot of the same name, but this is really
only apparent regarding some of his colors and his personality described
in his bio. Strafe's main color is a fairly straightforward gray, but that
hardly means his scheme's boring-- Strafe here has a LOT of paint apps,
as well as different colors of plastic. With the exception of a large portion
of the center top of his vehicle mode being gray, there isn't any large
part of him that's the same color. Red and white are his main secondary
colors, and both contrast excellently with the gray-- particularly the
red. He also has a fair amount of orange, in terms of paint apps that help
to break up large sections of gray as well as in terms of transparent plastic,
which looks quite nice when it has light shining through it. He also has
silver paint apps on his wings, which go well with the red, and, in a bit
of a creative twist, make the wings look like they're slivers of a (very)
large Autobot insignia. Normally, this would be brilliant, in my opinion--
however, what with the whole point of this "Reveal the Shield" subline
being that their allegiances are NOT incredibly apparent, it seems a bit
silly in this subline. (Speaking of the "Reveal the Shield" gimmick, the
Autobot allegiance rub symbol for Strafe is on his right shoulder in robot
mode-- rubbing it reveals, of course, that he's an Autobot.) Along with
a bit of black and blue, it all makes for a pretty original scheme, if
a bit on the loud side. Normally I'd like such a color scheme, but there's
just one huge, major problem-- this is a stealth bomber. Complete
with the half-Autobot insignias on the wings, the yellow, the red, and
the white, this has to be the most UNstealthy color scheme for this vehicle
mode I've ever seen, and very ill-fitting.
No mold changes have
been made to Autobot Alliance Strafe.
Autobot Alliance Strafe
has a color scheme that-- by itself-- is pretty original and eye-catching
while also being a light homage to the G1 character. However, it doesn't
fit a stealth bomber in the least, and the funky color scheme just doesn't
suit the movie-stylized mold at all. I'd recommend RotF Mindwipe way over
this version because of that, even though no matter what version you get,
you're getting a fantastic mold.
Review by Beastbot