Red Alert

Height: 12.5cm to top of head in Robot Mode; 5cm to top of body, 13cm front-to-back in Vehicle Mode.

Articulation: 11 joints in Robot Mode: swivel neck; 2 joints in each arm- ball-jointed shoulder, hinged elbow; 3 joints in each leg- hinged waist/hip joint, swivel hip, hinged knee. Various other joints associated with other modes.

Accessories: Claw and Hammer attachments for left arm, Cyber Planet Key (Earth Planet).

Colors: Molded white, dark blue, black, transparent red, and transparent blue. Painted blue, white, gold, gunmetal, silver and chrome silver (Cyber Planet Key).

Release Data: Released August 2005 with an MSRP of $9.99. Still widely available as of this writing (September 23rd, 2005)

Gallery: 10 images.

Author: RAC

The Figure

Another returning character, Red Alert hails from Transformers: Armada, having been absent for Energon. Like Landmine Red Alert's gotten shorter, but he bears a much greater resemblence to the previous toy than Landmine does- he's undeniably meant to be the same character.

Vehicle Mode

He's still an ambulance, though I have my doubts as to whether an SUV would have enough space for paramedics and their patient in the back. Still, with no internal details like seats or a steering wheel present, and given the fact that the TF line is allergic to scale in general, he could be huge, for all I know. (Take a look at Hot Shot's driver seat sometime and estimate for yourself how large he would really be.)

As a Vehicle, Red Alert looks good and rolls well. The very top of his head peeks out of the roof of the car, but due to the shape and the visor it looks pretty unobtrusive. Another thing worth noting is that Red Alert's Vehicle Mode makes for an excellent disguise due to an interesting design choice: there are no Autobot emblems visible. The only one on his entire body is on his torso, and the red windshield makes it vanish completely.

Paint and Detailing

Red Alert's deco is very nice, with well-placed blue stripes and gold accents to break up the solid sections of white and blue. (Incidentally, I really like the darker shade of blue they used for Cybertron Red Alert. The Armada figure always seemed just a half-shade too bright to me.) There are a few spots, most notably on his hood, where the paint looks as though it should cover the edges, but doesn't. If you look at him from an angle, you can see some white peeking out from under the blue stripes, and it looks a bit odd.

Some of the clear red parts are partially painted white to match the white plastic- it works better here than it does on other toys that try to match paint to plastic, but you can still tell where one ends and the other begins when you examine him closely. It's a minor gripe at the very best.

Vehicle Mode gets 8/10

Sculpt and Deco gets 8/10

Robot Mode

As I mentioned above, Red Alert looks a lot more like himself than Landmine does. Er, you know what I mean. His lower legs have gotten a good bit bulkier due to his new transformation, but I think I like the new proportions a bit more- his legs always looked too skinny and too close together in Armada.

His legs are quite broad and interestingly constructed, consisting of both the front and back halves of the ambulance. They lock together nicely and make pretty sturdy legs, but his hip articulation suffers from the unusual design. His hips are swivel joints mounted on hinges- both hinge and swivel have decent range, but they don't do the same job as a ball-joint, unfortunately. As always, it doesn't matter too much, as the ankles only allow for slight front-to-back adjustments in foot position. The knee is decent, getting nearly a 90-degree bend- that kind of surprised me given the design.

In pictures, I thought the red headphone-like bits on the side of his head looked a bit odd, but in person they're not bad. They also serve as the light-piping conduit for his red visor, as opposed to the clear-plastic panel on the back of the head that's typical to TFs. The car doors on his shoulders are well-placed, and make for good shields. His shoulders are ball-jointed, and do pretty well- the hinges the doors are mounted on allow you to do a decent enough job of getting them out of his way.

However, his transformation seems to have required his elbows to be placed up in his armpit somewhere. Seriously, Red's upper arms are good and short. As before, he has a hand on the right and a laser-welder on the left. It's an attractive Robot Mode, and there are definitely some nice touches, but Landmine's articulation is superior.

Robot Mode gets 7/10

Accessories

-Claw and Hammer Attachments for Left Arm

There's a secret compartment in the front of each of Red Alert's legs- pull the windshield forward to reveal a Claw on his right and a Hammer head on his left. The Claw makes for a very long left arm and, effectively, a new elbow using the swivel just above the welder- it's in the perfect position for the modified length of the arm. Half of the claw is hinged, and can open and close easily. It can pretty much hold on to Cybertron-standard weapons pegs, but not as solidly as I'd really like.

The Hammer is more interesting, even though it does less. While I'm sure that, like the Claw, it's mostly intended to help Red Alert in his duties as the Autobots' medic, I think it makes for a pretty neat and distinctive weapon. The attachments are superior to yet another missile launcher, for sure- always nice to see some unique accessories, and I sincerely doubt I'll see another TF with a hammer anytime soon.

-Cyber Planet Key

Like Landmine, Red Alert comes with an Earth Planet Key. I'm not sure why, since he was assigned to the Speed Planet along with Hot Shot. But, he doesn't seem like a speed-oriented character, and he's also more recognizeable as a modern-day vehicle than Hot Shot, so Earth Planet works pretty well here.

Compared to Landmine, Red Alert's CPK function is pretty minor: plug the key in, and his rear Vehicle Mode windows pop open to reveal a couple small guns. In Vehicle Mode they look pretty decent, in Robot Mode they practically disappear on his shoulders. It's not spectacular, but I'd have to classify it as a good use of the CPK because the guns compensate for Red Alert's complete lack of long-range weaponry otherwise. It's not an Attack Mode, but it does round out his capabilities.

One nice thing to note- the Cyber Planet Key locks into the slot, and does so without triggering the guns. It's not really important, but I like to store all a toy's parts on the actual toy when I can.

Accessories get 8/10

Closing Remarks:

Red Alert is a good version of a returning character. In fact, I prefer him to the Armada version. He's good looking and his accessories are pretty nifty. His articulation is a bit below average, though, and his Cyber Planet Key feature is sensible, but not all that impressive.

I paid MSRP for Red Alert, and I'm happy with him. If you liked the character, or the idea of an Autobot wielding a big hammer appeals to you, he's probably worth your time and money. He's Very Good.

-RAC 9/23/2005