Landmine
(Cybertron)
Vehicle mode is a bulldozer.
This mode is generally pretty good, with few problems. For one thing, the
color scheme is very appropriate for a construction vehicle-- the gray,
black, brown, and gray go together very well for a rough-'n-tough vehicle
like Landmine. The "worn" silver paint app on the front of the shovel also
adds a nice touch of realism. The only color I'm not too fond of is the
red, as it clashes with the yellow a bit-- if it was a darker shade, it
probably would've worked a little better. There's also a good amount of
mold detailing on him, too, from the little exhaust pipes on top to the
ladder details molded on the side of the vehicle. A big plus with this
mode is how posable the shovel arm is-- it can move up & down at three
different points, which is quite unusual for a bulldozer transformer. There
are a few complaints I have here, though-- for one, there's virtually no
clearance between the bottom of the bulldozer and the ground-- Landmine's
robot legs form too bulky of an undercarriage. Secondly, the way the missile
launcher is placed in this mode looks really odd-- I mean really, what
kind of bulldozer has a long "tail" like that? And last but also least,
the arms for the shovel are so big they partially eclipse the windows in
this mode-- not a good sign if you're a construction worker and you can't
see what you're doing, heh...
Landmine has one of
the best robot modes a construction 'bot has ever had. It's nearly flawless--
the proportions are perfect, and the vehicle extras, such as the shovels
on the shoulders and the wheels on the back, accentuate the mode rather
than detract from it. He'a also got superb articulation to boot-- he can
move at any point you could reasonably expect on a toy of this size except
for the wrists and waist. (However, the shovels on the arms get in the
way of arm articulation a little.) He's got a great head sculpt-- it's
very well detailed, both in the mold and paint departments, and he's got
a battle-hardened but determined look on his face, which suits his character
in Cybertron to the letter. His missile launcher is of good quality, though
sadly, his Planet Key gimmick is rather lame-- you can attach his key to
each wheel on his back, turn it, and little spikes pop out of it. It LOOKS
cool, but you can't really do anything with it-- they can't reach in front
of Landmine, so he basically has to back up into someone in battle to use
them. Plus, he can't use them in his vehicle mode, since it raises the
back half of the mode higher, not to mention the spikes collapse back into
the wheel easier than I'd like.
Cyber Key gimmick aside,
Landmine is a very cool transformer, with an amazing robot mode and a good
vehicle mode. Highly recommended.
Review by Beastbot