Transformers War for Cybertron Siege Prowl and Barricade: Good Cop and Bad Cop

As with tradition, whenever one of a large handful of characters gets a new toy, there are bound to be repaints of the characters that share their original look. But, every now and then, there are curveballs that for better or worse, give a version of a character never seen before. While Prowl will always have the Bluestreak and Smokescreen variants in time (in this case, locked behind more exclusives), a curveball no one saw coming was Barricade, a G1 Micromaster F1 car nobody, given Holywood star power for being one of the few Decepticons people actually recognize, given a Generations toy based on a fan concept by Transformers Artist Guido Guidi. Combined with the fact that he's the better of the two general retail releases of the mould, and 2019's been a good year for Barricade.

I'm jumping ahead here, but it should be said that even taking out Decepticon bias, Barricade is a more interesting take on the mould in terms of deco. Due to Prowl's mostly white colours, and "sparing" paint applications like the headlights, it comes off as extremely dull when compared to the striking, yet blending colours of Barricade. Most of it coming from the purple windows with the silver paint underneath it. Barricade makes more of a statement compared to other Siege toys, especially compared to Prowl. If you can only get one version of the mould, between the two, I highly recommend Barricade. As for if you should get the mould at all though, that's another question.

The mould itself is fine for a deluxe class carformer, but due to the simple nature of the robot mode, and the habit of not making things move that doesn't need to move, I can't help but feel this is a bit too basic when compared to something like the Universe 08 toy and the Masterpiece version of the Fairlady Autobot moulds (at least based on pictures). Simplicity has its merits, but just by looking at pictures, you can tell how this transformation process is going to work. There's no exciting part of the transformation, nothing interesting, nothing that encourages me to keep bouncing between the two modes. Even something like the ability to hinge the door wings up a bit would at least help with that process, and give the robot something resembling an interesting look. A part of that though comes from how repetitive this general look feels for Carformers. Back windows become the legs, the hood becomes the chest, the doors become kibble wings, and the roof becomes the back. How many characters does that describe in the 35 years of Transformers? Gear wise, neither of the two feel complete, thanks to the Fairlady mould known for having a handgun, and two shoulder guns. While Smokescreen and Bluestreak have the set, Prowl gets the handgun, and Barricade gets the two shoulder guns (that I personally prefer to plug together and use as arm blasters thanks to the C.O.M.B.A.T weapon port requirements. Especially on Prowl, this makes a forgettable looking character look even more forgettable.

While Barricade has the paint, paint can only help so much with a mould. I don't think the toy is bad, just uneventful, not very exciting, especially when compared to other Deluxe Class toys in Siege like Spinister, the Weaponizers, even other Autobot cars. While it's a great representation of the character for a cheap price, in a line full of fun and interesting transformations, this mould just seems underdone, basic, like it's a part of a combiner (but that might just be the fact that Jazz was in Power of the Primes).