Clampdown's alternate mode is a little compact car. Granted, of course he's LITTLE, he's a Legion class figure-- but it's still meant to be one of those little cars. His proportions are pretty good, and he has no robot mode extras. As far as kibble, there technically isn't any, but on the back end there is no central section, which is a minor eyesore; however, it's a thin enough sliver where unless you're looking at Clampdown from a rear view, it's not noticeable. He's got an interesting color scheme-- he's mostly a dull orangish red (for some reason it looks more red in the pics than in real life), with a fair amount of black and purple. Of course, the dull orangish red is due to his unique crabby robot mode, but the purple on the front bumper and on the spoiler contrasts extremely well against the red. The windows are painted black, and there's also black plastic on the wheels and on the front side sections. Unfortunately, these front side sections stick out like a sore thumb-- they're not orangish red like the surrounding pieces, and they don't have the paint that's on the surrounding pieces either. It looks kinda bad. Fortunately, that's about it as far as color oddities go. The front bumper is painted silver, and given the teeth-like details there, it's a "hint of what's to come". Well, more than a hint-- that literally IS Clampdown's mouth in robot mode. The two parts of the mouth are supposed to set seemlessly together in this mode, but they still stay apart a bit, which is a minor issue (on a toy this small, it doesn't stick out much). There's also white angular headlight paint apps that look really sweet, and in a rather unique twist, there's some tan "wood paneling" paint apps on the sides of this mode. A nice bit of a retro throwback, there, and not something used often (ever?) on other car Transformers. There's a few bits of mold detailing, like the vent on the hood and unpainted taillights on the back end, but otherwise he's fairly sparsely detailed in this respect, as is the case with most RID2015 toys.
    For Clampdown's robot mode, the sides form his arms, the little legs fold out from the bottom, and then the hood collapses to form the back of the robot mode while eyestalks rotate up from behind the front bumper, and voila! It's a crab-man robot mode! (Be careful with the eyestalks though, they are unfortunately a bit fragile and can crack a little where you rotate them out.) This idea is pretty darned awesome, and I love that it got a toy-- yes, even a Legion toy, though of course a larger toy would've been even better. There's little door-wings behind his body/head, but they enhance his silhouette a bit and help remind you he IS a car, after all. Other than that, there's no real extras beyond the back of the car sticking out juuuust a bit behind his back. This back section also extends down behind his legs, which is a minor bit of kibble, but it's actually beneficial-- Clampdown's legs are TINY little crab legs that come to a point. This is, of course, accurate to the show, but it means he can't stand on them, so that bit of kibble behind his legs actually helps keep Clampdown more stable. He's got large, long arms, which end in claws-- well, claws molded onto the pieces that become the rear sides of the car, anyways. This is my biggest beef with Clampdown-- he's a CRAB, you seriously couldn't give him clackin' claws?! Bah. Still, he looks pretty good overall, and the wheels on the shoulders are a nice look. Of course, the front of the car mode becomes the oversized face/main body, and largely looks the same here, though of course the grill/jaw makes more sense in this mode. I love the eyestalks, though the white paint on them and the molding makes it look like Clampdown's eyes are narrowed-- which is kinda odd if you've seen the show, since he's a total comic relief character. He's not exactly intimidating, he's cowardly. Regardless, it looks awesome and I love that whole incredibly unique look. Color-wise the black is more apparent in this mode on the legs and arms, but largely it's the same in this mode, minus the tan wood paint apps (which aren't readily visible)-- the only new paint apps in this mode are on the aforementioned eyestalks. As far as articulation, Clampdown can move at the shoulders, rotate at the wrists, and move at the hips, up-and-down slightly at the mouth, and side-to-side a bit for each eyestalk. Thus, aside from my beef with his claws being merely molded into larger pieces of plastic, he's pretty articulated for a Legion class figure.
    Clampdown is a great, incredibly unique Legion class figure-- he's got a very solid car mode with unique aspects to it like the wooden panels and the front bumper, and a VERY cool crab-bot robot mode with tiny legs, a huge face w/ articulated eyestalks, and large claw-arms. It's a real shame his claws are merely molded in and can't articulate, but that's his only substantial downside. An easy recommendation, even if you don't normally get Legion figures.
 

Review by Beastbot

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