Deluxe Insecticon Barrage

Image from www.botchthecrab.com

Well, 2014 is closing out pretty quickly, and I still have yet to fulfill my goal of finishing off the 1985 line of Transformers.  With just a couple of weeks left, I'm still short 4 figures - Barrage, Chop Shop, Downshift, and Overdrive.  Sadly, my time and purchasing power were used in other areas.  As such, I'm not entirely sure I'll make it to my stated goal.  Still, it's worth a try.

While searching for a suitable Barrage, I ran across an intriguing listing on eBay.  The seller wanted $20 less than what the average seller asks for Barrage, and he had the "Best Offer" option.  There was only a couple of things holding me back: he only had a feedback rating of 1, and when I asked him questions about the joints, he stated that he was pretty sure that they were tight, but he wouldn't transform Barrage to check because he had a habit of breaking Transformers.  Oh boy.  Nervously, I went ahead and sent him an offer for $10 cheaper than what he was asking and he accepted.  Meaning, that I got a great deal on Barrage.  The results?

Well, the results were pretty good, in my opinion.  Barrage's beetle mode, designed by the good people at Takatoku Toys, is in great shape.  The front insect limbs aren't as tight as I'd like, but they do the job. 

Here's something that I really enjoy about Barrage: his robot mode doesn't have freaking insect leg showing.  It's amazing!  Takatoku really did some ingenious stuff to get the legs completely hidden.  The insect theme is still present with the wings on the back, however.  Perhaps the only complaint that I might have would be the sword.  It looks like someone created it from a paperclip. 

I still need to do some cleaning on the figure, and add some new decals, but I think I really came out with a steal on this one.  Hopefully, I can find a Chop Shop in this fashion, but it's not likely.  Lightning usually doesn't strike twice, but I can always hold out hope.  Now, I only need to to track down three more of the 1985 figures to close out the year.  I...might be able to do that.  Maybe.