Barricade’s… not very good.

For the most part, the Studio Series Transformers have all been pretty great so far. Some of them have been good and some of them have been incredible but none of them have been bad.

Until now.

I heard that the Studio Series Gamer line was a mixed bag and that Optimus was the best of the bunch while Barricade was the worst. Guess which one I ended up getting first and which one’s getting reviewed today!

Vehicle mode

Okay, Barricade actually starts off pretty strong because this car mode is pretty cool! The way the colours and shapes work together… Barricade looks like a Batmobile if that Batmobile was also a train.

One thing that’s striking about Barricade’s car mode is how big and chunky it is. This is a big Deluxe figure for the 2020s and it feels solid in your hands. There’s also almost no visible robot kibble in those mode, not even on the car’s underside!

For playability, Barricade rolls well on all his chunky Cybertronian wheels. You can also peg his gun arm on top of his car mode like a turret. Weirdly, the gun arm doesn’t have a regular 5mm peg and Barricade doesn’t have any 5mm peg-holes that I could find.

Transformation

This is probably the best thing about Barricade, his transformation is fun. It’s got just the right amount of steps to hit the sweet spot of not too complicated and not braindead simple.

So you go from a unique and well executed Cybertronian car mode to a simple but fun transformation into…

Robot mode

Barricade looks good… but he really isn’t. He looks great standing there in a static pose with his big, chunky proportions and generous detailing. The black and purple with the extra highlights of paint just scream Decepticon.

So what’s wrong with Barricade? It’s his articulation.

Barricade’s posability… it’s rough man. The joints are all there but they’re either all painfully limited or things get in the way of each other.

• His head can turn from side to side.
• His shoulders are ball-jointed.
• He has bicep swivels.
• He can bend his elbows.
• His hands are ball-jointed.
• His waist swivels.
• His hips are ball-jointed.
• He has thigh swivels.
• He can bend his knees.
• His feet can move up.

That seems like a good amount of posability… till you realise that you can barely bend Barricade’s elbows and knees, his wheel kibble gets in the way of moving his legs almost any direction and he can barely balance in most poses despite his giant feet.

Gimmicks

Barricade is a Studio Series release which means he comes with a cardboard backdrop! Which I once again, do not have.

The Gamer Series has a line-wide gimmick based on the War For Cybertron and Fall Of Cybertron games; SS Gamer Series figures can swap out one of their arms for weapons. In Barricade’s case, you can swap out his right arm for his blaster. The gun arm is on the small side but honestly looks pretty good.

Toy or collectible?

I wouldn’t call it either way but Barricade’s more “toy” at this point.

Honestly, despite his flaws, I think Barricade is pretty fun and a kid would enjoy playing with him quite a bit… but he’s a Studio Series figure which means he’s expensive. At Studio Series RRP, he is not worth it. If you can find him on discount or used, Barricade would be good buy for a kid.

Closing

I really can’t recommend Barricade because his robot mode is just… frustratingly bad. He’s not even the fun kind of jank, he’s just badly executed which is a shame because his robot mode looks good while his car mode and transformation are genuinely pretty great.

If Barricade’s posability wasn’t so bad or he was cheaper, I’d consider him a good buy but as it is, go get something else. If he ends up on clearance, Barricade’s probably a good purchase at a significant discount.