Hailstorm's vehicle mode is a mobile anti-aircraft missile platform. It's a bit stubby and looks rather small for a deluxe, but it's also very compact-- mass-wise he's about average-- maybe even a little above-average-- for a deluxe in this line, despite how he may look. There is one rather obvious robot mode extra in this mode, so I'll get it out of the way right off the bat-- the robot feet hang very obviously off the front of this mode. It might not have been QUITE as noticeable if the feet weren't painted gold, but they are, so.... eh. Otherwise it's a pretty solid mode, though the missile launcher is probably a bit oversized proportionally due to safety regulations. I'm easily willing to overlook this, though, given it's part of Hailstorm's core gimmick-- he has EIGHT individually fireable missile projectiles. Yes, EVERY ONE of them can fire-- though they are push-missile launchers, not spring-loaded, alas. But it definitely gives some emphasis to his appropriate name (which is a pretty cool name anyways). The missile launcher can rotate at its base and move up-and-down vertically, so it can get into most positions you want it to. Hailstorm's also got a ton of really intricate mold detailing, with little panels and rivets and the like everywhere. His treads and front side are also impressively detailed. And what's more, most of those details are actually painted, whether it's the silver paint on his treads (the treads themselves are plastic with little wheels along the bottom for you to roll him along on) or the black paint on his windows or the white/black camo job that works quite nicely with his predominantly dark military green color scheme. Needless to say, this scheme works well with a military vehicle, and the black, red, and brown that serve as the main secondary colors all go with it quite well. The light gray is very close to the chalky white used on the camo paint, and though I'm not a huge fan of it, it's used sparingly so it's not a big deal for me.
    Hailstorm's robot mode, like his vehicle mode, is also very compact, and his rather short stature for a deluxe-- combined with his general "beefy, angry" look and bit missile pods on his shoulders-- gives him quite a bit of personality. His arms are proportionally long (on purpose), with very wide shoulders-- mostly made of his treads compressed together, which works so well for the upper arms I'm surprised it hasn't been done more often. (His elbows are a bit oddly articulated because of this part of the transformation, however.) The legs are probably the weakest part of him, being made up of parts of the front of his vehicle mode that, when separated like they are to form his legs, look a bit too "broken-up" to make his legs look solid. His knees are also too "recessed" into his legs-- it doesn't look that hot. The most impressive area is probably his chest/head, all of which is impressively detailed (both in terms of the mold and in terms of paint), with an angular (and fake) vehicle front-chest design and a similiarly angular and mean-looking robot head design. I'm also glad his missile pod transforms a bit and splits in half to sit on top of his shoulders in this mode instead of the designers just taking the easy way out and leaving the whole thing on his back-- it makes it easier for him to "aim" them at a more reasonable angle, looks great above his shoulders like they are, and look adequately different from the way they're all combined together in vehicle mode. (The downside to this, however, is that you can't rotate and move the launchers in this mode.) Hailstorm's articulation is fairly good-- he can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), hips (at three points), knees, and ankles (at an impressive three points). This allows him to be remarkably stable despite being slightly back-heavy, though there are a few points of articulation that look really odd at many angles, due to the (relative) distance between the ball joints and where'd you "expect" the movement to be-- namely at the elbows (where the ball joint is below a circular-motion pin joint) and at the head (which, due to Hailstorm's hunchbacked nature, can only look to the side while also looking downwards at the same time).
    Hailstorm is an awesome, wholly original, and very unique design for the Movie Decepticons. He's got a nice color scheme incredibly detailing, EIGHT fireable missiles... granted, he does have a few downsides, like some odd points of articulation and really feet in robot mode, but they're hardly enough to ruin the toy. An easy recommendation if you like the movie aesthetic.

Review by Beastbot

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