Bad cop.

Seriously, I am frustrated with DOTM Deluxe Barricade. He’s got his good points but the bad outweighs the good. He’s functionally superior to the original Deluxe figure but I still prefer the first Movie Deluxe Barricade.

Let me show you what I like and what I dislike about Dark Of The Moon Deluxe Barricade.

Vehicle mode

Barricade starts of strong with a great police car mode. Unlike most DOTM figures, Barricade still has a lot of paint apps. He looks just as good as his predecessor even if he is noticeably smaller.

He rolls just fine and he has the Mechtech ports that have self sealing holes. Nice. Also, he has hidden guns that can be revealed for a pseudo Stealth Force mode. The guns are small but they’re a nice bonus.

Transformation

This is where things start to fall apart. Barricade’s transformation is pretty similar to his predecessor’s. But the feet and legs are scary to get in place. It feels like Barricade’ll break every time you do it! Especially going from robot to car mode.

Robot mode

Dear Primus. The arms, legs and head taken by themselves are great. But that torso. What?! It’s like he has a chest that immediately goes straight to a crotch. Also, his head being so deep back into the hood chest makes him look even more chubby and stout. The hood chest not transforming down more is a real shame. I can see what they were trying to do here but it just makes him look wrong. And not in a good way.

As far as posability goes, Barricade is a definite step up from the 2007 Deluxe. Most noticeably, his head is on a ball joint and is pretty much unrestricted. His shoulders go in and out at two places. They rotate at the shoulder ball joint. He has a hinge elbow joint and a ball joint underneath that. His hands and fingers are hinged. He has a waist joint. He’s got ball-jointed hips and swivels at the thighs. He has double jointed knees but they’re a bit restricted by the pieces behind his legs. His feet move forward and back. Credit where credit is due, that’s a lot for a Deluxe figure.

Gimmicks

Barricade comes with a Mechtech gun. It turns from a gatling gun into a three-pronged claw. The gatling gun mode looks okay but the three-pronged claw is basically a giant back scratcher.

Toy or collectible?

At this point neither. I can’t recommend him for kids cause he feels too fragile even compared to newer figures and especially compared to the original Bay trilogy figures.

For collectors, you got a lot of better options out there at this point. DOTM Barricade just isn’t a must have figure.

Closing

DOTM Barricade is better than Movie 2007 Barricade in quite a few ways. But the body proportions just kill this figure to me. I’m usually quite positive with my reviews and I try to see the merit in all the figures I show you guys.

Barricade here does have good points and is so close to being great. But you can skip this Barricade. Go get the Studio Series Barricade or the Masterpiece Barricade instead.