Here we have Stockade in his vehicle mode, which is meant to be a more generic take on the Cadillac Escalade seen in the part where Sam, aka the jerk, dented a hot chick's car before the steering wheel went all face hugger on her. While not 1:1 with the altmode, Stockade follows a trope of older movie figures where the altmode aims to match what it's based off of with as much approximation as possible. That includes a healthy dose of paint apps on the vents near the front end and the rail bars on the top. I also appreciate that the windshield, which would normally be red for Decepticons, is at least tinted in an appropriate color for the altmode without showing too much of the robot junk inside. Sure, he has a line running down the middle, but his proportions are so spot on, he's gorgeous!
The sides showcase a specific detail that would denote this character as NOT the Allspark mutation with the steering wheel freak, that being the Sector Seven markings you'd find in their black SUVs. That being said, those vehicles that Sector Seven used were GMC Yukon, making this more like an amalgamation of three early Bayverse elements: the on-screen prop, an in-universe organization, and an off-screen character.
For an alt mode size comparison, here he is with Age of the Primes Alchemist Prime. While nearly 2 decades separate the lines they were each from, they're both comparable sizes given they're both Deluxe Class figures. By the way, stay tuned for a review on the soon-to-be Maccadam.
Transformation is not as involved as other Movie figures at the time, and even compared to modern Movieverse figures we're getting in the Studio Series line. Given how this was around the time Hasbro worked on the Cybertron and Classics lines, it only makes sense that there would be a mix between having a reasonably intricate level of engineering and maintaining the live-action aesthetic in terms of getting down the segmented details. Though he has less in common with the average movie Transformer, Stockade still fits in with the others if you either think of him as a less aggressive Decepticon OR an Autobot as we'll discuss later down the line. His proportions are more on the gorilla side, which makes sense for a bruiser type of Decepticon who would probably give Ironhide a run for his money. While the color palette of light gray, greenish dark grey, and black seems common for toys that were fairly monochromatic at the time, Hasbro added baby blue highlights on these figures to simulate them powered by the Allspark. While having them cast in clear plastic would have helped make the concept work better in the long run, I honestly think this is a better way of handling a subline's theming than something like the AOE line's Silver Knight crap that was all just flat gray Optimus Prime repaints. The only thing I find odd would be the windshield halves on the forearms jutting out, as well as how I wish his legs were painted silver. Still, how often do you see a transformation on an SUV where the front becomes the legs?
Head sculpt feels more Autobot-like than Decepticon, though once again this was from a time when Hasbro were finding their footing in making Bayverse toys properly, and it has a bit of an Autobot vibe from the Cybertron line...that once again could work for a certain repaint as we will cover after I cover his articulation. With his extending arms on display, Stockade has.swicels at the neck and waist, ball joints at the shoulders and hips, and hinges for the elbows, knees, feet, and even fingers! He lacks bicep rotation, but I will be more forgiving on him than I am with figures like MPM Starscream, Legacy Pointblank, and Studio Series BBM Shockwave because he was not only from an era of figures that hadn't fully kept it's articulation fully consistent between characters and size classes, but it was also made at a much cheaper price tag that Deluxes used to go for than the nearly $30 some stores are charging them for. That and mainline Transformers not tied to the CHUG stuff used to be so much better than what we get for any new TV show or movie.
His sole repaint, Gears, reflects on what I was talking about about with the character looking more like an Autobot than a Decepticon, and the fact that we have a surprisingly fitting repaint for a figure like Stockade, who otherwise lacks the general recognition you'd get from the on-screen robots, makes this even better in some ways than Stockade. Sure, he isn't colored exactly like G1 Gears, but this design still beats the Gobot looking ass design G1, and I'll easily take a silver SUV than some Playskool looking ass truck, too. Fun fact: he was featured in a trilogy of novels known as Transformers: Classified, which included Switching Gears, Battle Mountain, and Satellite of Doom. Funny enough, the first and third titles are taken from a G1 episode and an old book that came with a micro-cassette.
For a robot mode size comparison, here he is next to Legacy Evolution Orion Pax from the Humble Origins set. The Siege Hound mold was fairly short compared to other Autobots, so that already makes Stockade a short king compared to his fellow wave mates and every other Deluxe from the 2007 movie.
And if you're surprised by how short he looks when put next to the Siege Hound mold, here we have him next to AOTP Excellion. Yes, that figure is recent, but if you recall my review on it from last year's Legacy United Hot Shot, he was slightly taller than the original mold we had 2 decades ago. This whole "varying heights for certain characters in a size class" thing was done back then at times, though at least the figures still had better plastic distribution and less BS than what Hasbro does today.
That being said, he will not scale that well with your Ironhide figures if you're going with the usual Voyager selection. It might make sense for this to be Gears given he was a Minibot...
...but if you remember the Transformers Titan magazine sold only in the UK, then you'd realize the impact from Stockade having a size bump to make him not just equal to Ironhide but also villain in the alternate timeline where the Decepticons won the Battle of Mission City, Megatron ruled the Earth after killing Optimus Prime and Sam Witwicky, the Autobots attempt to make a resistance, and Stockade goes after Megatron with a goal in resurrecting Cybertron. From his Nucleon addiction to overpowering everyone who stood against him (except Megatron), all that mostly has to do with my reason for buying this character. Sure, someone like Thew may see him as a stock character nobody cares about (unlike G1 Ironhide, who was stuck with an inferior altmode), but how different were the likes of some non-Sunbow characters, really? Stockade is honestly comparable to Bludgeon or Razorbeast, where they may not be on-screen characters found in a movie or TV show, yet seeing them in comic tie-ins with roles that elevate them to a whole new level makes them honestly more interesting than some of the typical fan favorites we'd see and especially the self-inserts and quirky quippers of IDW. He should be fairly affordable in the aftermarket, just be sure he isn't missing his chest panel or windshield halves among other parts.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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