TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

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Blackjack's review: Armorhide

Name: Armorhide
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Walmart Exclusive


Up against an enemy like MEGATRON and his followers, the AUTOBOTS can't afford to be nice. To ARMORHIDE, this fight is about nothing other than total victory, and the only way he sees to achieve that is to become as much like the DECEPTICONS as possible. He knows OPTIMUS PRIME doesn't approve of his methods and he doesn't care. Once the DECEPTICONS are wiped out the historians can argue as long as they'd like about whether his way of fighting this war was right or not, but at least they'll do it in peace and safety.

Armorhide (or Armourhide for UK) is another Autobot I bought for his cheapness. I bought him as a bonus with my Elita One, I just couldn’t resist. Armorhide is, from what I gather in Wikipedia, a repaint of a toy with the same name from Transformers Cybertron.

The name Armorhide has been used a few times, namely for a Brawl remake in the Robots in Disguise series, a Mini-Con for Rhinox in Armada and the aforementioned Autobot in TF Cybertron. Armorhide is now a black, silver and yellow repaint of his original white, silver and neon blue colours, a straight improvement in my opinion.

VEHICLE MODE
Armorhide transforms into a semi-truck cab, reminiscent of Huffer. His cab is curved at the top, so the similarities increase. Painted in straight black, silver and yellow, Armorhide is now more militiastic than the original TF Cybertron neon guy.

He has six wheels, two on front and four on the back, where the cab is supposed to be. Instead of a cab, however, is a tow truck (that doubles as a non-working missile launcher in robot mode). The Cyber Key is still there, but instead of an Earth Planet one, this one is remoulded from the Decepticon Cyber Key, and still bears the indented Decepticon insignia on the back. Up front is coloured with a Sector 7 Symbol and the Allspark.

Sticking the Cyber Key in pushes down the grille, and reveals a missile rack with eight non-firing missiles. However, with the Cyber Key stuck in, Armorhide’s tow truck must be removed.

As an additional bonus however, the Cyber Key can be attached to the tow truck when not in use, so you won’t lose it.

ROBOT MODE
After a series of twists, tucks and turns, Armorhide is in robot mode. The loading bay becomes his arms, the top of the cab his legs, the face pops out of the bottom of the cab.

In this mode Armorhide is sturdy, and looks powerful… for such a tiny guy. As a Scouts Class figure, Armorhide is quite short, shorter than Elita One and Spy Shot. However, wielding his tow-ensemble gun, (which also doesn’t fire… Oh well you can’t have everything.) he looks like he could kick some Decepticon butt.

The ball joint in his neck grows loose with repeated transformation, I warn you. Inserting the Cyber Key does the same effect as before, only the grill rises up on his chest.

Armorhide is great in both modes, but I personally prefer the vehicle mode over his robot mode, as the top part is a little boxy. Besides, he looks like he can ram things in vehicle mode too.

Nothing more to say about this guy, but I would prefer him over any Real Gear Robots anytime. Oh, one last thing! Although his tech specs and the packaging indicate that he is an Autobot,there is NO, I repeat NO Autobot symbol anywhere on this guy. There isn't any symbol actually, other than the Decepticon indent in the Cyber Key. Perhaps he's a Decepticon infiltrator? Your choice.

TRANSFORMATION: 4. Easy enough. Throw the instructions away.
DURABILITY: 8. Not gonna break too easy, but watch the neck joint.
PRICE: 10. For a Scout Class, he has a gimmick, a vehicle mode, and more importantly a WEAPON!!! Buy this over the Real Gear things.
FUN: 8. Armorhide is a nice low-priced troop builder for my tiny force of Autobots.
OVERALL: 6. Like most of the Scout/Real Gear Class figures, not too great. But what can you expect from these guys? They’re cute, and at least Armorhide has a GUN!!! Bloddy hell, how many cheap Autobots do you see having a gun or any weapon of some sort?