Welcome to the first Destron/Decepticon release of the Takara Transformers Binaltech line, BT-05 "Dead End" featuring Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, and my goodness what a welcome it is. This is a remould of the earlier BT-02 "Lambor (Sideswipe)" Binaltech release which was a red open-top Dodge Viper SRT-10, and a Cybertron (Autobot).

Dead End was of course originally one of the five Stunticons in the G1 line of Decepticons back in 1986. Back then the toy was a Porsche 928 with go-faster competition stripes, so this new incarnation is somewhat in the same vein. Above you can see pictures of the front and back of the Japanese Binaltech Dead End's box. The box is produced in the same format as previous BTs with photographic representations of the toy evident on front and back. As with the others, the toy has been produced on a 1:24 scale. The choice of colours for this piece make it an immediate eye-catcher and gasp-bringer. Beautiful packaging and a simply breathtaking vehicle mode make for fantastic first impressions of this toy in his revealing outer and inner packaging. Also, it's pretty heavy too.

The sides of the box provide a little more of a preview of the toy itself through circular cellophane windows, building anticipation nicely for when you actually break it out. The sides of the box also show Dead End's function to be that of a soldier. On opening the outer flap, I was greeted with yet more impressive presentational artwork and since this was my first Binaltech toy, I was loving every minute of it. The name/function bar retains pretty much most of the original G1 colour and layout scheme which is a nice touch. At every step I get the impression that a lot of thought has gone into the production of this line.

Having opened the toy up, I spent quite some time getting through all the packaging before actually getting to the toy itself. Clear plastic casing, twisty-ties, numerous strands of clear tape, sheets of clear plastic between the wheels and rear end, you name it. No big deal, it was more than worth the wait. The Binaltech release comes with a nice already-assembled display stand that I'm sure more people would utilise if they had the display space.

When Dead End was first announced and the first pictures appeared on the Internet, I wasn't a collector any more and wasn't too involved in the fandom, but I still took a step back and exclaimed at how beautiful this toy's vehicle mode was. Simply stunning and extremely fitting. Many of my non-collector friends who have no interest in Transformers have even expressed an interest in owning this release, such is its aesthetic appeal.

An absolutely fantastic contrast of colours; black, silver and orange/red. The colour scheme is such that every little detail and feature stands out. Everything from the silver side-exhausts, the Viper text on the sides, the silver wheels, the red windshield, the Viper logo on the bonnet and the essential silver competition stripes. Due to the fact that this is a Japanese Binaltech toy as opposed to a US Alternators toy, the die cast legs, hood and doors add tremendous heft and weight to Dead End. It looks so damn good like this you just cannot bring yourself to transform it, and I'm not going to just yet...

Two further cracking views of this toy in vehicle mode. In reality, the various lights and windshield on Dead End are more orange than they appear in the photographs. Clearly emblazoned on his rear license plate is his name and Decepticon faction symbol. Dead End looks seriously evil and seriously fast, and no I'm still not going to transform him. More vehicle mode eye-candy coming up:

The doors do indeed open in vehicle mode, as does the hood. Contrary to what I have heard about some Alternators versions of this toy, the hood closes and fits in snugly with the rest of the car's front section. Further contrary to what I've heard said about some of the Alternators release Dead Ends, the steering wheel feels good and not at all flimsy. It rotates and recedes fine. At this point I was beginning to worry about the whereabouts of his engine/gun. I had just recently bought an Alternators Smokescreen and was pretty sure the weapon was on the car when I opened it. One look under the display stand showed that the weapon had been packed seperately in a small baggie attached to the main baggie containg the instruction booklet, opinion card and awesome collector's card. More on the paperwork later, but here's some shots of Dead End still in vehicle mode with the doors and hood opened:

The shiny chrome engine looks fantastic and clips into place via two small pegs towards the front. The wing mirrors are reflective but it's not as if you can see your own reflection in it very well. It's still a nice touch and Dead End is extremely convincing and faithful in vehicle mode. Before I move onto the figure mode, I'm going to cover the cool paperwork included with this release.

Here's a scan of the front of the instruction booklet:

The back of the booklet has the robot mode pictured side-on in a similar dim-lit style. Now this is a very cool booklet including full transformation instructions, info on the history of the Dodge Viper car, a character bio for Dead End and some nifty art and photographs:

If you look at the vehicle mode picture labelled as "Rear Body", you will notice that where the toy says "Dead End" on the rear license plate, that text is not there on the booklet photo, and that same text-less photo has been used on the box back and collector's card as well. Maybe they originally intended only to have the Decepticon insignia there, then changed their minds. Towards the back of the booklet there are a couple of pages detailing the "Story of Binaltech", "System Description" and some information on Dodge and the Viper. The following scan is from the System Description. I just love the artwork.

All those things you've noticed about Dead End's robot mode? I'll come on to those later. Here is the excellent collector's card, one of the classiest features of the Japanese Transformers toy line throughout the years:

The card front features some very impressive toy-accurate artwork. One of the things I love about this toyline is that unlike a large proportion of G1, you CAN actually pose the toy in a similar fashion to the way it is depicted in the accompanying artwork.

Dead End is described as being the first of the Decepticon Binaltech warriors, a result of an infiltration of key areas of EDC research and technology in order to gain access to the Binaltech project and disrupt the Autobot-EDC alliance on Earth. The scheme is one of Dr. Arkeville's and Starscream's plots against their common enemies, the EDC and the Autobots.

Now onto the figure mode. Here are a couple of pictures to give you some idea of how Dead End comes apart:

The top picture shows the insides of the legs and you might be able to see a metallic silver circle. Those are the magnets that connect the front wheels together and act as an axle, allowing the wheels to be turned in a synchronised fashion and posed. You must be careful when transforming Dead End because many of the diecast sections, especially the legs and hood, will rub together and cause paint chipping. My Dead End already has paint chips, but hey, you think I'm not going to transform this thing?

Thoroughly worth the wait. A truly striking robot mode with equally as much succesful colour contrasting as the vehicle mode. And of course there's a stonking great Decepticon insignia tampographed on his chest. I'm sure I don't need to go on about the poseabilty since the articulation of these newer TFs is well documented. But, articulation is nothing if the toy cannot strike a decent pose. Dead End does not have this problem, although he can be tricky to stabilise due to the nature of the feet and the heavy diecast sections. The grill sections on the back of the feet also limit how close you can bring his legs together to give him more of a relaxed stance. That's probably the most annoying thing for me.

The transformation requires the waist rotating, plenty of bending and folding, rotating and clicking things into place. Just awesome, not at all boring, and not too difficult. The handgun doesn't clip into place, you just have to make sure the fingers grip it well enough. The engine has an extendable section that you swing up and click into place, forming the barrel of Dead End's weapon.

I absolutely love those huge tires on his shoulders. There is a huge array of poses Dead End can assume, and thanks to his features many of them look more than just acceptable. The above stance is like a semi-idle pose, about as relaxed as Dead End can probably look in figure mode. The joints are all pretty tight and that makes posing him pretty easy. I really didn't dig his figure mode from the early pictures, but they didn't do him a shred of justice, he's absolutely awesome in the flesh, and has made me seriously consider picking up the BT-02 Sideswipe toy.

It is undeniable and impossible to ignore, Dead End has Sunstreaker's head. He is practically the same car as Sideswipe, he has Sunstreaker's exact head, and the test shots of this toy have an Autobot symbol on the chest. It's becoming widely accepted that this release was indeed intended to be the Autobot Sunstreaker, but the decision was made to change to a Decepticon, and Dead End was chosen. As a result the head was given a black helmet and gold face, reminiscent of the G1 Dead End. I cannot say I'm at all disappointed either as I don't think a yellow Viper CC would have looked this hot. Just to illustrate the head point further, here is a Diaclone Police Sunstreaker's head compared to Dead End's head:

Absolutely undeniable isn't it? Now for something completely different. Here are some silly immature captions along with more poses for Dead End's versatile figure mode:

Dead End if he were modelling Calvin Klein underwear

Dead End if he were accused of being the one who farted in a crowded room

Aye aye

Dead End in his Sumo-wrestling-I'm-so-ready-for-you pose

Quite enough of that I think. One of the cool things about this figure is that you don't necessarily have to keep to the Takara suggested configuration for his robot mode. You can bring his doors up so that they look more like wings as opposed to a cape:

Speaking of capes and wings, I have to say that his colour scheme and layout in figure mode does remind me somewhat of Batman, and if you have him as above with the doors posed as wings, then get him to grab his wing mirrors with his hands.....

That pretty much brings this review to an end. This is only the second Binaltech/Alternators toy I own, the first being Smokescreen. I have been HUGELY impressed by these two toys. Their remarkable vehicle modes and poseabilty coupled with the fact that you really can see the G1 personalities in their faces and make-up mean that this is totally 100% to me what Transformers should be about. With the inclusion of die cast parts, the G1-incorporated storylines, the sheer size of the things, the magnetic axle stuff (I don't care what anyone says, I love that stuff), the cool collector's cards and display ideas, the simple but very effective packaging, the infinite possibilities for the toyline...it's got me more excited about Transformers than I have been in an awfully long time. It brought me out of collecting retirement pretty much.

Dead End as a stand-alone figure is so much more than just a repaint of Sideswipe. He is what all black Transformers repaints should aspire to be; an improvement upon the original, a personality in its own right, and more, much more than just a paint job. This particular toy has that rare ability to draw in attention and desire from people who are not even toy collectors. Its sleek, stylish, tremendously displayable in either mode and worth hours of fun as a toy. If you're careful when you transform it, paint chipping shouldn't be a problem either. I'm very glad this did not end up as Sunstreaker, and I'm also happy with the use of Sunstreaker's head for Dead End because it doesn't look strange to me and I really think it works however opinion will be divided on that for certain. The robot mode in all honesty probably isn't as excellent as Binaltech Smokescreen, but then very few toys are. I would recommend to everyone to pick up the Binaltech version of this toy over the Alternators release. I just the feel the extra weight, the cool finish of the paint on diecast, the collector's card and extra artwork is well worth the extra pennies. This is a first class toy and it's absolutely beautiful.

I'm going to leave you with a few pictures I took of Dead End, but I haven't brightened these photos. As a result, Dead End looks as menacing, intimidating and evil as he should.

All the best
Maz

You can and SHOULD pick up your own BT 05 Dead End here