Here is the Build Team in their vehicle modes. As a group, many would probably twitch their eyes and pull their hair out as they look at construction vehicles that aren't green and purple, but as someone who's seen numerous other iterations of the Transformers franchise, I'm not bothered by the lack of a cement mixer or a shovel loader, plus they would return in Revenge of the Fallen with a few new guys or reimaginings here and there. Easily beats constant Geewun rehashing, but we'll touch up on a certain redeco in a moment.
Here we have Wedge up close. This orange bulldozer is already off to a good start thanks to the respectable levels of detailing that keep the toy's surface area from being entirely flat, and it helps that there is a bit of color breakup thanks to the gray and black paint apps present on the body of the vehicle, especially the tank treads. The head of the super robot mode is visible in the cockpit, but at least it's not the face that is peering through the windshield.
One thing I should mention is that the altmode still looks fine without the weapon, even if it appears to be missing the pistons when you look up close.
Transformation is very simple, but I love how cool the sequence is thanks to the front of the altmode splitting in half, as well as the legs being made up by the altmode's "nose", complete with knee pads of some sorts. The arms are made up from the tank treads, which is pretty common for some construction vehicle Transformers, but he does have the fists molded inside. They are thankfully painted, even on this Hasbro version (also included are additional paint apps to break up the orange. The robot mode is much quite a short-looking bot thanks to how compact the altmode seems; as we'll get to, the vehicle was pretty comparable in scale to the rest of the team. Here, he looks a little too short to be a team leader. I guess the proportions could be to blame if you look at hor stumpy the thighs are next to the rest of the legs, especially the way they're almost obscured. One issue I really hate is the fact that the back of the legs are super hollow, especially with the lack of heels to keep him standing. Wedge is still a well-designed figure otherwise, but I can't say that there could be room for improvement here and there for a HasLab release.
His head sculpt is pretty well-sculpted for a 2000s toy, giving him the usual youthful Japanese super robot flare that isn't super obvious, making him feel like a traditional Transformer compared to the later 2/3rds of Japanese G1 and Beast Wars sequels. His articulation consists of a neck swivel, bal joints at the shoulders, elbows, and hips, while there is a swivel above the knee joint and the usual knee joints. His gun is easily held on his hand, and it's not too shabby for what they're going for with a weapon made up from the altmode. On his own, he's pretty neat despite his shortcomings, literally with his height and the way he could use some heels.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Up next, we have Hightower AND Heavy Load, While their base components may look similar if you remove the canopies and their altmode-related pieces, Takara did a trick similar to G1 Bumblebee and Cliffjumper where these similar-looking toys are not retools of each other. On top of simply using the same engineering and nothing else beyond that, no parts are reused between figures. I like that Hightower has a decent set of paint apps for the headlights as well as the stripes, on top of the silver that is more prominent than the others; that being said, I do wish that the reds would match each other better than they currently do. His hook has a bit of plastic molded within it, making it a bit unusual for aesthetics. Heavy Load, on the other hand, is your usual yellow dump truck with a canopy in the center this time around, not like what we normally see with the Long Hauls of past franchises being on the left side of the alt mode. The color break up is more noticeable on the front of the alt mode, likely thanks to the blue headlights or the use of more surface area.
The gimmick features they feature include an attack mode that is on a pretty neat set of hinges that make it look more mechanical than it normally would be, while Heavy Load can indeed dump his, well, heavy load. I should mention that the canopy on Hightower stores his pistol. He even has stabilizers in front of his front wheels!
One thing that I should also mention is that Hightower's transformation requires partsforming, as the crane unit, and by extension, the robot head, are not integrated with the rest of the robot mode. It's a miracle a majority of eBay listings have the toy intact.
The transformation is the same for both figures, the shoulders are made from 2/3rds of the altmode, the legs extend and the feet and forearms can be straightened. The robot modes for this kind of design is appropriately bulky, especially considering how many would see him as a no-nonsense tough guy that is quite common with construction workers for the most part. The waist, thighs, and forearms are much smaller than the rest of the body, so I guess he skipped certain workout days. I mean, his feet are huge by comparison!
As for Heavy Load's robot mode, it carries the same strengths and weaknesses that we already got from Hightower. At the very least, the toy doesn't require partsforming, meaning you can leave the dump bed in place during transformation; his head instead is within the canopy of the vehicle mode. I will admit that the way it juts out from the chest makes him even more awkward than the way Hightower normally looked. Also, his back kibble totallymakes it look like a weird cape, but the gradiant effect and Autobot insignia are kind of neat.
Their head sculpts are basically the duality of botkind, with Hightower almost looking like a Power Ranger thanks to the black visor and the frowny mouth, while Heavy Load has red shades and a shit-eating grin with even a bit of a pre-Derrick J Wyatt chin. I think he even has what looks like ear muffs sculpted on the sides, which is almost common for construction workers working in a loud environment.
Their articulation is practically the same, with neck swivels, ball-jointed shoulders that only move front and back but don't work in and out due to the way they're sculpted, and bopth elbows and hips that are on ball joints with much better range. The knees are on hinges, and the feet can be hinged up if needed for a walking pose. Hightower's got both a massive rifle from the crane and a teeny-tiny pistol perfect for last resorts; Heavy Load, on the other hand, has a claw weapon made up from the dump bed, meaning that he is also a bit of a partsformer.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for both
And finally, we have Grimlock, who is the first iteration of the character to not be a gray dinosaur! You know, I always wondered if RID15 Grimlock being green and not having a role similar to his G1 counterpart was intentionally an homage to this guy, even if he is a Dinobot in that RID and not in this RID. As an excavator, this alt mode rolls okay on his little wheels, and the base can rotate for people to scoop up anything with the three-point articulated shovel arm. Alternatively, you can give him an attack claw that is spring-loaded but doesn't have button to make it a proper gimmick.
Transforming him is a weird mix of G1 with the tread legs and new engineering that is present in the way the arms work. His overall robot mode looks so awkward compared to his teammates, between how ugly the lower legs look from the front with those exposed sliding joints, the arms being asymmetrical and almost like dinosauw claws, and a shovel over his head working almost like a Scorponok type ot tail. It's certainly unique compared to the rest of his teammates being more like normla robots by comparison, though I can't help but feel this guy was always going to be seen as the odd-one out no matter what given his alt mode requiting a little bit mode creativity beyond just doing what Scavenger did in G1.
His head sculpt is lime green, he has an orange visor, and the mouth looks a bit oversaturated due to how weid the photo settings got with post-editing sorry about that. I think if you color it a certain way, you can almost make him look a bit like G1 Scorponok, especially since he has the visor and similar design. His articulation consists of a neck swivel, shoulders that only swivel front and back, ball-joints combined with hinges where the green components of the alt mode connect to result in awkward elbow articulation, limited hip articulation that isn't that effective beyond swiveling front and back, ball-jointed knees, and sorta kinda foot articulation due to transformation. Honestly, he isn't a terrible toy, but it isn't one I'd recommend you get on your own. Also, this is the Takara one because he has fewer paint apps than the Hasbro one.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Here is the whole team standing together, with Wedge being front and center on top of being the best, Heavy Load and Hightower being in the middle-back and simultaniously being second best, and Grimlock is in the far back as the weakest of the set. They're still a great team regardless, especially seeing them contrast Team Bullet Train in the cartoon. So it's time for the Build Team to build up a Landfill!
As far as the combination sequence is concerned, the main configuration has Grimlock serve as the robot arms with the back portion not having any proper tabs for their parts to lock into, while Heacy Load and Hightower become fairly symmetrical legs. Wedge makes up for his size by becoming a pretty cool front section reminiscent of the usual Megazord design philosophy. Landfill continues the same trend that 3/4ths of the Build Team have regarding the proportions with the thighs being practically nonexistent from the front, but look at his little birdy arms! They're no thicker than a cigarette; I could smoke them little arms! Also, the claws remind me of the Player 2 green Pac-Man from the 1996 Arrangement rendition of the original arcade. So it's not the most proportionate combiner ever, but I have to admit that the creativity is still appreciative as someone who likes seeing HasTak designers come up with new ideas instead of rinse and repeating the usual trend of Geewun elements. And at the very least, he is pretty stable.
Landfill's head sculpt is essentially a beefed up version of Wedge's, with the slight asymmetry on the helmet design, the almost Optimus-like traits, and the forehead grille being visible. There appears to be light-piping but it doesn't seem to work, though. His articulation consists of a neck swivel, shoulder rotation, ball jointed elbows, and leg articulation that isn't that great. You can swivel the legs, but they barely move front and back, they could move in and out, and the knees sort of bend. In other words, he has the needed joints, but they're not easy to access. The unique interlocking mechanism shows how awkward the joints are going to be when posing the figure, but this does segway us into the main point of Landfill: the ability to switch between different arms (with a unique leg mode to boot).
Hightower or Heavy Load can also become sets of arms when they're arranged at the top, with Grimllock now serving as a leg. While either of the former two members work much better as legs, Grimlock sucks as a leg due to how he still features a same level of disproportion when stacked next to either usual legbot. At least the clawws can serve as somewhat of a stable foot. And hey, I do like the ability to switch modes for a guy like this regardless. This could mean that you'd able to use more than one mold if you want either equally bulky arms and legs by excluding Grimlock, or having thinner limbs if you exclude both Hightower and Heavy Load.
As far as the repaints are concerned, everyone got to be real-world yellow construction vehicles without any CAT markings in this Universe 2003 4-pack of the Build Team. I could imagine this almost being from what it'd be like if the Build Team decided to have a more uniform deco for some reason, but Heavy Load, already being yellow, ends up looking worse than his original counterpart with the missing paint apps in favor of a dirtier alt mode. Shrug.
For a Decepticon-themed recolor, we have Ultra Devastator, now with the four members being split into 2 sets each for fans who want to imagine what it'd be like if they turned evil. Grimlock became Scavenger, Wedge became Bonecrusher, Heavy Load became Long Haul, and Hightower became...well, not Hook because the trademark wasn't retained at the time. Oh well, Hightower is a cooler name anyhow. This was one of two toys for a character named Devastator, the other being a Micromaster combiner repainted from Takara's Operation Combination line.
For a size comparison, Landfill isn't that much bigger than a Voyager Class Transformer of the current era. In fact, I think he'd be the same size with a Cybertron or 2007 Movie Voyager if you think about it. I did like getting this set at a relatively decent price for each member, but I would like to see a Commander Class take on this guy, or even a HasLab iteration if we're going to retain the same fun gimmicks of this original toy with updated engineering that doesn't hold back its true potential for posing. Even still, I recommend you get this set if found for cheap, either the original colors or Devastator. The Yellow repaint is average if I'm honest.
Overall ranking: 🌟🌟🌟 and a half out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
