The Deluxe Class packaging is getting pretty familiar now. Not much new to say here. Roadbuster comes carded in his auto mode with his MechTech weapon mounted beside him. The back panel has the Tech Specs and the bio blurb. I didn’t see it on Topspin’s but there’s a NASCAR hologram sticker on the back of the Roadbuster’s package. I’m pretty sure it was on Topspin’s card too, but I just failed to notice it. The back panel has the obligatory photos of the figure in both robot and auto mode. Hey, check out the auto mode photo that has the MechTech weapon plugged into the socket on the car’s side panel, because we’ll be coming back to that later.

Topspin’s auto mode was armored and bristling with weapons and he looked absolutely badass. Roadbuster’s auto mode doesn’t have all the cool weapons and armor and is just a straight forward race car. The paint job and sponsor logos make for a nice looking racecar, but there’s some noticeable and unsightly slop along the white paint lines. Interestingly, the peg sockets on the side panels and the roof have covers that drop down when you peg the weapon into it. It’s a cool way to hide the unsightly peg socket, but it does result in some MechTech weapon problems, which I’ll talk about in a little bit.

On the flipside, Roadbuster’s robot design is simply awesome. I adore the proportions on this guy and the way his wheels wind up on his shoulders and hips. All in all, he has a much cleaner look than his Wrecker comrade, Topspin. Instead of the bulky car pieces hanging off the shoulder, Roadbuster just has a pair of rocket launcher pods positioned over each shoulder. Much better. I also like Roadbuster’s headsculpt quite a bit. It’s a big improvement over Topspin’s failed effort at a Cyber-Mullet. The only downside here is that the grey component of Roadbuster’s torso is left unpainted, bare grey plastic and it looks pretty bland. Some paint apps or even a general wash would have really helped this figure look loads better.

So how’s Roadbuster’s MechTech? Ok, the weapon itself is pretty damn cool. Y ou get a blaster that converts into a friggin battle chainsaw. Unfortunately, my gripe with most of the MechTech weapons holds true here: You still can’t lock the weapon into its converted chainsaw mode and that just sucks. The other problem with Roadbuster’s MechTech system are the covered peg ports I mentinoed earlier. The weapon pegs into the roof just fine, but the peg ports on the side panels will only grant access when the figure is in robot mode. Not only does this really limit the versatility of the MechTech weapon, but it makes the artwork on the package deliberately misleading.

No doubt, Roadbuster has a few stumbling points, but nothing to ruin the figure for me. In fact, this guy is one of my favorite Deluxe Class robots to come out of the movie lines. The snafu with the MechTech ports on the side of the car is what bugs me the most. Sure, these little inconsistencies will occasionally happen when going from production to final piece, but understanding that doesn’t make me any happier about it. I would absolutely love to see a non-NASCAR repaint of this figure, or even get to see it turn up later as a Decepticon.