Cybertron Cannonball

Series: Cybertron
Allegiance: Decepticon
Categories: Deluxe
Year: 2006

A reckless pirate concerned only with where his next bit of stolen treasure is coming from. Cannonball and his crew of oil-thirsty pirates have terrorized merchant starships for centuries, returning to Cybertron only rarely to refuel and spend their ill-gotten loot on black-market Energon stars and pleasure programs. He claims loyalty to the Decepticon cause only because Megatron allows him to operate freely as long as he continues to attack only Autobot ships.

Review by guest reviewer Soundscream:

Robot Mode: The figure Cannonball is a repaint of Deluxe Red Alert and to get one thing out of the way right now: Even if you're not a fan of repaints, you might want to consider getting this figure. The robot mode is the bomb and looks exactly like you imagine a Decepticon to be. Painted mostly black, he has some gold and bronze on his arms, feet and head. Silver highlights complete his awesome look.

Just like Red Alert he can change the configuration of his arm. His lower left arm ends in a kind of laser weapon instead of a hand, where you can put up two different attachments. A grappling claw, which can open and close, and a war hammer (OH YES!). But wait, the best is yet to come: The decals. Yes, you heard right. I wouldn't have believed that decals could improve a figure this much, but they can! The stylized skeletons and the big flaming skull on his doors and roof make an already good robot mode even better.

Cannonball also features a cyberkey gimmick, two flip-out shoulder guns. Enter the cyberkey into the slot on his back and the laser guns flip out to give him additional fire power. Not a ground-breaking gimmick, but there are lots worse. One tiny little cause for complaint, though. His posability is restricted by the big doors on his shoulders and the massive legs. So Cannonball is not the guy who can do lots of dynamic poses.

Alternate Mode: Cannonball transforms into a car for his vehicle mode. The colors and decals somehow suggest a hearse, which would make him the exact opposite to Red Alert. Cannonball looks good in vehicle mode as well. His transparent purple windows fit very nicely into the black paintjob of the car. The wheels turn, of course, so rolling the car across the floor isn't a problem. The cyberkey gimmick works here as well, the rear windows flip out a bit so the laser guns can come out to play. Not much more I can write about the vehicle mode.

Conclusion: Cannonball has one of the strongest figure designs I've seen in a long time and looks very good on my shelves. So if you've got a choice between Red Alert and this guy here, my vote goes to Cannonball. Only his restricted posability lowers his final rating a bit. But a strong and clear recommendation, not just for Cybertron fans.

Rating: B+