Unlike the other "large" Human Alliance toys, Roadbuster's vehicle mode isn't a (more or less) scaled-down replica of a real car, but rather that car (a Chevrolet Impala) in its "Stealth Force" mode-- i.e., a car with "robot bits" and weapons poking out of it. Given the source material, Roadbuster looks pretty good in this mode, all things considered-- yeah, he looks a bit more meched-up and cluttered than your typical Human Alliance vehicle, but that's sort of the point. There really aren't any "proper" robot mode bits showing through this mode at all, and the proportions look pretty decent. He's got TONS of mold detailing, with little pipes, fenders, tubes, and the like abound. Some detailing near the back even looks a jet engine (and if you press the trigger on top of this engine, it'll fire its yellow "exhaust" missile, via a traditional spring launcher)! He's also got missile racks near the sides, guns that essentially form out of his headlights, a sawblade that can rotate out from the right side, and a front rotary machine gun-- this guy's definitely not going to have a problem shooting up the bad guys in car mode, that's for sure. His missile racks and headlight-guns can also move up and down at two points each for some additional positioning. The paint detailing is also largely good, with most of the essential exposed parts painted silver or metallic gunmetal gray, while a few parts on the sides are painted white. He still has his "88" symbols, as well as NASCAR, National Guard, Sprint, Chevrolet, and Amp Energy Drink logos on him. The bottom sides-- and far too many parts of his robot mode, while I'm at it-- are that blah shade of light milky gray that's far too prevalent on TFs. Even if the money wasn't there for all the gray to be painted silver, a metallic shade of plastic would've looked much better. That said, the dark green-- along with the black and white-- are prevalent enough in this mode where it's not that big of a deal. His human partner, Sergeant Recon, looks like your average race car driver figure in a racing helmet, so nothing special about him (he can move in all the places all the other Human Alliance figurines can). Before I go onto the robot mode, though, I want to mention one thing about this car mode that bugs me. As much as I like the idea of having a "Stealth Force" mode for a Human Alliance figure like this, I wish that, at this size/price range, it had a "normal" car mode as well. I don't think that's too much to ask for for $30 U.S.-- but that's honestly not my biggest problem with it. The thing is, with just a "Stealth Force" mode and no "normal" car mode, things already look fragmented up in vehicle mode. Thus, when you're transforming the toy back from robot to vehicle, it can be a bit more difficult than you'd think to figure out exactly how everything fits together, given the lack of the usual "steamlined visual cues" that normal vehicle pieces have. It took me several times before I got the transformation of this guy down pat, even though by following the instructions nothing's particularly complex by itself.
    Roadbuster's robot mode is about as similarly cluttered as his "Stealth Force" mode, but then again that's fairly movie-accurate, so I can't fault them too much in that department. That said, oddly enough Roadbuster's chest is his weakest point in this mode-- there's portions of his chest-hood that are a bit too skinny, and many of the parts near his waist in particular are rather fiddly and don't lock/tab into place anywhere. His upper arms are pretty nice-looking, with the way the chairs curl around the shoulders to give them more mass and de-emphasize the tires there, while the missile launchers-- as is accurate to the movie-- hang off the sides. His lower arms are considerably weaker, though, merely being made up of the door panels folded over each other, and thus look a bit overly stiff and strict in their movement because of it. His hands also can't open and close like most Human Alliance figures' of this size can, though his sawblade and missile launcher can be mounted on the back of his arms. As for the legs, they're this mode's strongest aspect-- they're a bit overly panel-y, but nice and solid and well-proportioned, with not much wiggling around. Most of his vehicle mode extras are involved someone in some important aspect of his robot mode, so there isn't much outright kibble, but the little that there is-- namely his vehicle mode and front rotary gun-- fold behind his back nicely and stay out of the way of movement while attempting to make his chest & waist look a bit more massive. Roadbuster's excellent mold detailing carries over into this mode, with his head and inner chest bits being particularly intricate-- and, if you lift up his "cap", you can swap in-and-out his visor! (I think his face looks a bit odd without said visor lowered, however.) Unfortunately, aside from his face the paint detailing is all concentrated on his vehicle mode-- none of his other robot-specific parts have any paint on them. Luckily, Roadbuster's silouhette and colors are largely broken up enough in this mode where this isn't a big issue. Another of Roadbuster's weaknesses in this mode is that, for a Human Alliance figure, he doesn't really have much for his human partner to DO in this mode-- both of his seats are folded up against his shoulders so there's nowhere for Sergeant Recon to sit. Sgt. Recon can technically "man" Roadbuster's rotary gun behind his upper back by grabbing onto its handelbars, but there's only the tiniest of fold-out panels for him to stand/sit back there, so he sort of hangs off awkwardly-- and that's IF you can get him to grip those handlebars well in the first place, which is rather difficult as they're a tad too big. As for articulation, Roadbuster can move at the neck, shoulders (at three points), elbows (at two points), inwards at the wrists, and at the hips (at two points), knees (at two points), and slightly at the ankles. His lower arm articulation, as noted earlier, is a bit more restricted than average because of how he's constructed, but otherwise he has average articulation for the size class.
    Human Alliance Roadbuster is a pretty neat toy, and definitely the most involved, feature-boasting toy of the character. That said, he can be rather fidgety even for a Human Alliance toy, and a few minor parts of his robot mode (namely his chest, lower arms, and ability to incorporate human figurines) are a bit weak. Definitely recommended if you want a big, more complex version of the character; otherwise, the deluxe is probably your best bet.

Review by Beastbot

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