Half-Track
w/ Major Altitude
(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 the DotM Sandstorm w/ Private Dedcliff toy. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the DotM Sandstorm w/ Private Dedcliff toy here.)
The Sandstorm mold gets
its second outing in the Dark of the Moon toyline as a moon buggy. It's
a bit questionable in places-- certainly it's bulkier in the back than
a real moon buggy-- but it's certainly a lot closer than the Wal-Mart exclusive
Comettor
attempt. Half-Track's main color of off-white is hued pretty well to
the moon's surface, and the various hues of grays and blacks on him not
only are appropriate for a lunar buggy but contrast well against the white.
What serves as a nice complementary color for the white is the rather pleasing
shade of light pale blue, and it helps make the buggy look not so monochromatic.
As far as paint apps go, there's a fair amount of silver and off-white
paint (the only paint apps I think are blatantly missing are his missile
pod details in weapon mode), and a nice NEST emblem on the right side of
his hood. What I think really stands out on Half-Track are the paint apps
on his face-- that aquamarine is an incredibly eye-catching color that
I wished was used more, and it goes excellently with both the black and
white plastic as well as the light green paint of his eyes. Really, if
I have any complaint against Half-Track's color scheme, it's that these
two colors of paint weren't used more; yeah it might've been slightly less
realistic-looking, but MAN it would've looked good and hey, it's already
repainted from a mold that's supposed to be an off-road Earth buggy anyways,
so Hasbro's obviously not THAT much of a stickler for realism on this toy.
No mold changes have
been made to Half-Track proper, but he has a new human-mold partner; Major
Altitude (love the name, heh). Major Altitude is a bit more interesting
than most other Human Alliance human figurines, in that he's not only in
an astronaut suit, but the light green visor and white stripes across his
black suit look pretty nice. He has all the standard movement points of
a Human Alliance human figurine.
Half-Track w/ Major
Altitude is a great redeco of pretty much the best mold out of the Human
Alliance deluxes, and the lunar theme certainly fits the line he was released
in. I wish his eye-catching aquamarine and light green paint was used a
bit more, but even so, if you only get one Human Alliance deluxe toy, I'd
recommend it be this one.
Review by Beastbot