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Susp's
Review: Roulette & Shadow Strikerby Daniel Suh
Every year, 3H manages to outdo themselves when it comes to exclusive toys. In 2001, they gave us Arcee and Tigatron, the first such toys to be named and based after previously existing characters. In 2002, they gave us Cyclonus, the largest exclusive toy yet. And in 2003, we have Roulette and Shadow Striker, two female characters with *significant* remoulding.
Packaging: Roulette and Shadow Striker come packaged in a large (35 cm/14" x 13.5 cm/5" x 10.5 cm/4") black box with red grid markings and the Transformers: Universe logo. The front and top of the box feature character artwork by Dan Khanna, with Shadow Striker on the left and Roulette on the right. The sides feature the same character art as well as photos of the toys in car mode. The back has photos of the other two OTFCC exclusives, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. And on the bottom are Roulette and Shadow Striker's tech specs as well as the Wreckers battle scene. As well as being sisters, Roulette and Shadow Striker are survivors of a nomadic raid against their village in which a third sister was killed. While Roulette became an ace sharpshooter with Cybertronian Law Enforcement, Shadow Striker ended up running jobs for the criminal underworld, including the icy cold villain, Cryotek.
Car
Modes: As recolours/remoulds of CR
Speedbreaker/RID Side Burn, Roulette and Shadow Striker are Dodge Vipers,
12 cm(5") long. Roulette is metallic silver with a silver and gold
chrome engine, purple racing stripes, metallic silver hubcaps, smokey translucent
windows, clear headlights, gold rearlights, and an Autobot symbol on her
roof. By contrast, Shadow Striker is black with a silver and gold chrome
engine, blue racing stripes, smokey translucent windows, clear headlights,
gold rearlights, and a Decepticon symbol on her roof. Both have the Viper
symbol on their hood and rubber tires with "T.F. Cybertron" moulded
on them. Their doors open to reveal assorted robot parts. They each come
with a metallic silver handheld weapon that's supposed to store inside their
vehicle modes, but you have to transform them part way in order to do so,
and even then the weapons don't attach well. I tend to leave them aside.
They also have gold missiles that attach to their undersides as tail pipes.
Even
more so than Sideswipe, these two ladies are, IMO, far more attractive than
the original Speedbreaker/Side
Burn toys. My only concern is that Roulette's silver paint is beginning
to flake a little along her right door. This may just be my bad luck though.
Transformation: Gah. These gals have arguably the most frustrating transformation ever. Tons of pieces flip and fold out, shift around, and then need to put back in sequence in order to transform the twin sisters back into their car modes. Suffice to say, I do NOT recommend these toys for children under age 6.
Robot
Modes: Roulette and Shadow Striker stand just over 13 cm(5.1")
tall at the head in robot mode. Roulette has a gold chest, shoulders, and
feet, black forearms, waist, and thighs, metallic purple shins, and an purple
chrome Autobot symbol sculpted on her left forearm. According to at least
one source, Glen Hallit, who is a fan of Digimon Tamers, based Roulette's
colour scheme after the character Sakuyamon. Shadow Striker has a blue and
gold chest, gold shoulders, waist, and feet, black forearms and thighs,
and a blue chrome Autobot symbol on her left forearm. It would've nice had
3H been able to have it remoulded into a Decepticon symbol, but that would've
been much too expensive.
And
speaking of remoulds, let's talk about the most distinguishing feature of
these toys: their new heads. Roulette and Shadow Striker's heads are moulded
so that they appear to be wearing helmets with antennae and large visors.
Their faces are unmistakably feminine, with high cheeks, almond-shaped eyes,
and thick lips. Roulette's head is gold with a metallic silver face, blue
eyes, and pink lips while Shadow Striker's is black with a metallic gold
face, red eyes, and pink lips. Don't count on ever seeing these heads on
any other toy in the future: Hasbro destroyed the moulds once the project
was completed.
As well as having female heads, Roulette and Shadow Striker have long, slender legs, making them appear even more feminine (apologies to Side Burn fans). Both robots are articulated at the heads, shoulders, upper arms, elbows, hips, knees, and ankles. Their rear bumpers become handheld crossbow type weapons that fire their tail pipe missiles about a meter. Their smaller weapons can be held either as pistols or twin-pronged daggers.About the only drawback to Roulette and Shadow Striker is that they possess significant amounts of car mode kibble on their arms and backs. Fortunately, it doesn't get in the way of poseability too much.
Overall, Susp Sez: While I thoroughly despise their transformations, Roulette and Shadow Striker are a great pair of toys. Their Viper modes look gorgeous, their robot modes actually look female (as opposed to say, Botcon 1998's Antagony or 1995's Nightracer), and the remoulded heads are superb. If this is the beginning of an ongoing trend, then I can't wait to see what OTFCC 2004 will have in store for us. 9/10
Susp
"Hey, fireworks!"
"Yeah. Nice. So?"
--Shadow Striker
and Roulette
