Revenge of the Fallen Long Haul

Robot Mode: The first thing Long Haul reminded me off in robot mode was the Incredible Hulk. He's big, green, bulky, and powerful-looking. You wouldn't like him when he's angry, but since he's mostly bitter, that's okay. Anyway, Long Haul is a very cool-looking robot with lots of sculpted details. At first glance the amount of kibble he carries around with him might seem bothersome, but it's not really a big problem. The halves of the truck front wrapping around his upper thighs don't hinder his leg posability at all and the huge amount of kibble on his back isn't in the way, either, though it does tend to come loose now and then.

Speaking of posability, Long Haul is a bit of a mixed blessing here. The legs are fully posable and even feature double knee joints, so he can either walk in a humanoid fasion or, if you want, adopt the bird-legged stance typical for so many Movie-style Transformers. The arms are another matter, though. Oh, they're very posable as well, don't get me wrong (they even have working pistons as added detail), but because of the design it can be awkward to move them in certain circumstances. Can't really explain it and it's not a big thing, but you will know what I mean when you try to pose your Long Haul's arms.

In terms of weapons Long Haul carries to flip-out swords that emerge from the big kibble on his forearms. The swords bear more than a passing resemblance to those of Optimus Prime, but they're clear plastic here. Long Haul has no dedicated ranged weapons, but it's easy to imagine the wheels on his shoulders to be cannons of some sort or for some of the sculpted details on his chest to be missile tubes, so no complaints about that.

All in all a very good, posable, and nicely sculpted robot mode. A great addition to the ranks of the Decepticons.

Alternate Mode: Long Haul transforms into a giant dump truck, the type usually seen only on big mining or excavation sites. It has a working truck bed and very nice detailing around the front of the vehicle, especially that safety railing. One thing I have to mention here, though: The railign is made of very thin plastic and you almost inevitably pull on it during the transformation, resulting in stress marks. I have to remind myself to be careful here, otherwise I fear pieces of the railing will break off sooner rather than later. Not too much more I can write here. Long Haul's vehicle mode is solid, realistic-looking, and has no real flaws.

Remarks: Long Haul was among the Constructicons who dove into the ocean to recover the remains of Megatron and brought the Decepticon leader back to life. Later in the Revenge of the Fallen movie he took part in the battle in Egypt. He did double duty, in fact, once as a part of Devastator (who was blasted apart by a human-built rail gun) and once on his own (to be blasted apart by an Air Force strike). So either way, he's probably dead. A Constructicon looking very much like Long Haul also appeared in IDWs Tales of the Fallen comic books, where he aided the Fallen in his plan to destroy the other Primes. He died there, too, being taken out by Jetfire. No wonder Long Haul is so bitter.

It's become something of a trend for Transformers toy lines to have its best figures in the Deluxe-class, but ROTF has clearly turned that trend around and put the Voyager-class first, especially when it comes to Decepticons. Long Haul is yet another example of a first-rate Voyager-class figure in the ROTF line-up and I certainly do not regret buying him. His only downsides are the somewhat awkward posability of his arms and the fact that he can't combine with the other Constructions into a truly supreme Devastator combiner robot. Apart from that, though, very nice. Fully recommended.

Rating: A-

Update 2010-02-05:
The AllSpark Insider, a monthly publication by the good folks of AllSpark.com, features a handpicked toy review in every issue. And this time it's one of mine!! Go read it, it's on page 8: AllSpark Insider

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