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G1 Ultra Pretender Roadblock

Jan 30, '08 7:48 AM
by ThunderBreak for everyone

Category:

Other

Reviewed by Zephon

I am sooo in a G1 mood after scoring that Monstructor. I somehow managed to squeeze this in my small budget during the same pay period.

It was the year 1989. This year saw the second wave of Pretenders. The basic Pretenders were simply TF's inside a shell which was supposed to be an "action figure". The Mega Pretenders took things to a second level where the "action figure" managed to transform as well. Now at the top of the list is a Russian doll-like Ultra Pretenders. The Pretender TF is hidden inside the Pretender shell which is then also hidden inside another shell.

There were only 2 Ultra Pretenders EVER (I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing hehehe): One was an Autobot and the other was a Decepticon.

Here we have the Ultra Pretender Roadblock.
Roadblock's outermost shell is an armored ground vehicle. Scale-wise, it's about the size of an Alternator, only wider.
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The armored vehicle features guns pegged to the roof and the main gun can be swiveled up and down. Pretty well armed for a non-tracked "tank".
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Opening up the armored vehicle shell like a funny-car would reveal the second Pretender shell in humanoid form:
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Just like all other Pretender humanoid figures, Roadblock's Pretender shell has minimal practical articulation -- in fact, aside from the toes and visor, the only other movement is in the arms.
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The Pretender shell can hold the 2 guns mounted on the roof of the vehicle shell. AND *gasp* Roadblock's Pretender shell actually has elbow articulation! (Roadblock may be the only Pretender with elbow articulation -- correct me if I'm wrong).
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The humanoid Pretender shell can also transform. This one becomes some sort of flying vehicle the tech specs call "a subsonic windcruiser".
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The back of the humanoid shell opens to reveal the robot Roadblock itself. As their marketing call went during those days, "The Pretenders hide the Transformers inside!" -- and this guy has 2 shells.
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As opposed to the basic Pretenders where the shell is literally split into 2 pieces, Roadblock just slips inside the back of his shell:
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Finally we have Decepticon's Ground Forces Commander Roadblock. Height-wise, he's about the same size as a Legends-class TF:
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As with other gold plastics made during those days, Roadblock also suffers from "gold plastic syndrome" where the plastic shrinks and becomes brittle. Fitting the weapon would cause the fists to crack and break -- as with what happened to Roadblock here.

Roadblock's alt mode is a tank of sorts. He is quite small so he's more of a road bump than a road block in this form.
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If there's one area that Ultra Pretenders have over the others, it's in playability factor. Roadblock can ride inside his "subsonic windcruiser":
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Now for another cool part -- the armored vehicle has a couple of pegs at the back to accommodate Roadblock manning the big mounted cannon on top:
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All in all, you've got a massive ground attack vehicle with it's own air support unit:
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Here are some comparison pics just to size up Roadblock.

Since the humanoid Pretender shell is in black and purple, he makes a perfect partner for Skywarp. Here's Roadblock beside Classics Skywarp.
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Just to show how small Roadblock's alt mode is, here he is beside Legends-class Barricade:
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Here's a comparison pic of Roadblock and Barricade in robot mode:
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Since the robot modes are about the same size, Barricade can mount Roadblock's big guns:
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For it's amount of plastic and price point, an Ultra Pretender doesn't feature much in terms of transformation sequence. What Ultra Pretenders have is play value. The ability to mount the robot and any other of the same size on the Pretender shells can be seen as the precursor to the Action Masters line.

Roadblock can be viewed as the crossroads of TF design -- he's a Pretender....that's almost as small as a Micromaster....that's as playable as the (then) upcoming Action Masters.

If you find one at a good price like me, then get him. Right now, more than anything, Roadblock is a nostalgia piece.
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