Here is Dead End in his vehicle mode, a Porsche 928-esque alternate mode with a decent amount of sculpted details and good proportions to the actual car. The red plastic used doesn't look too bad, and I am happy to see we have a handful of paint apps for the headlights, wheels, and stripe, the latter being toy-accurate yet making him feel complete (it's even given a subtle sculpt to make it easier to apply). The black for the front bumper weirdly reminds me of a neckbeard, and if the rest of the front was painted, it'd make a weirdly British face. The black for the windows is glossy, which helps its contrast with the rest of the car's more matte finish on the reddish plastic.
The back of the vehicle mode looks a little weird due to it having the legs of the robot mode sort of present from the bottom, but the rest of the proportions and side profile work well. I do not like how the back portion of the alternate mode, specifically, the parts that become the feet, do not tab in that well, especially when both legs are combined together.
The twin guns he has are pretty solid thanks to the paint apps and the unique design they have from both Dragstrip and Wildrider, even if they're once again black and purple like with Dragstrip.
For a vehicle mode comparison, here he is next to his Combiner Wars counterpart; I'll be honest and say that I prefer the look of the CW version, just because there is a bit of a badass look to his alternate mode, from the bigger wheels to the sleeker design; I know the Legacy version is cartoon-accurate and all, but Combiner Wars is definitely cooler in terms of looks, even if the elbows have the broken-up part in the middle of the doors.
And for a group shot in vehicle mode, here he is with fellow Stunticons Motormaster, Dragstrip, and Wildrider. All four of these characters have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, though I feel like Dead End's alternate mode might be the weakest, just because it doesn't look as cool or sleek as the others. It's not a bad alternate mode, but it can be a little more generic.
Transformation is sort of like the Combiner Wars version in terms of how the steps work; the front becomes the backpack, the arms are made from the sides of the doors, and while the legs may not open the same way or transform with a waist swivel, they function in a similar manner nonetheless. In actuality, it uses the same type of engineering found in Dragstrip without making him a heavy retool, as the transformation scheme is almost identical between the two different robot designs. The robot mode definitely feels like a blockier version of the CW design! The upper body looks pretty cool, what with the color break up between the torso and arms, in addition to the nice use of silver and black to make him look more complete than had it not been there. The legs, on the other hand, suffer quite a bit due to the thigh-shin balance ratio being slightly thrown off on top of the feet looking almost nonexistent. I also do not like how unpainted the lower legs look. Maybe some gold on the rectangles would help a bit.
Head sculpt is pretty much Dead End's, with the typical black helmet and visor+mouthplate combo found on some lesser-known Decepticons that aren't close to Soundwave's popularity. The purple is metallic yet the orange is glossy, but they help add an extra bit of color. His articulation is the same as Dragstrip's, with a neck swivel, shoulders that move front and back, in and out, bicep swivels, elbow bends, waist swivel, hips that move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle pivots.
For a robot mode size comparison, he is shorter than his Combiner Wars counterpart and has the closest resemblance to him among the other Stunticons in both CW and Legacy. I mean, Dragstrip looked pointer in CW, Breakdown's proportions aren't wonky in Legacy yet comes at the cost of being a mold mate of Wildrider, and Wildrider either had the unrelated Offroad or a reuse of Dead End! And then there's Motormaster. But that being said, I think I like the overall look of CW Dead End more just because he felt better proportioned and cooler than his Legacy counterpart if I'm being honest. Hell, his legs might be better proportioned, though they both have tiny feet.
And for another group shot with his teammates, he's about equal in height with the other Deluxes and obviously shorter than Motormaster. I know Breakdown's going to be a reuse of Wildrider, so following what PvP said, the top half of Dead End is as good as Motormaster and Dragstrip while the lower half is about the same as Breakrider.
The figure splits in half similarly to Dragstrip, and much like him, he can only become an arm (a left arm, so no Scramble City abilities, sorry). As an arm, he's got the same results as Dragstrip: connecting onto the skeleton frame for Menasor and becoming the left arm while keeping the articulation intact. Overall, Dead End is an okay figure that feels like the middle point of the Stunticon quality. As the fourth and last new mold of the team, he's pretty much necessary to complete Menasor but is otherwise lacking on his own in a way similar to the other Wave 3 Deluxes.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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