Femmebots, the slang term for female Transformers, are becoming more commonplace but are still for the most part a rarity  – you can count how many get released each year without taking off your socks.  Rescue Bots has been the longest running single Transformers cartoon show in history and they have finally introduced a female Autobot into their admittedly rather small ensemble.  Quickshadow is a very cool character, coming across as a highly competent, British-sounding spy.  Being a sportscar that turns into a female robot makes Quickshadow sound like a James Bond wet dream come to life and for those of us that like to collect female Transformers sounded like a new toy to look forward to collecting.

Unfortunately what we got is perhaps one of the worst quality Transformer toys we’ve had in years.

However let’s start with a few positives.

Vehicle mode

A very sexy little sportscar.  There is some nice detailing in the grill with the little Autobot symbol and the blue highlights on the hood, doors and hubcaps certainly pep up what would otherwise be a bland colour scheme of white and grey.  Smaller than the other Rescuebots, even Blurr looks bigger.

Robot Mode

Not bad, but quite blocky.  Of course this is to be expected since it is a Rescue Bots toy.  However on the TV show all the other characters look quite blocky but Quickshadow is very lithe and agile looking so it is a shame they did not go to at least some effort to represent that here.  Also a little more detail in the face would have been nice as well, perhaps a more defined mouth or something to show she has optics behind the big eye mask.  Scale-wise she is comparable to Blurr however is smaller than all the older Rescuebots such as Energize Heatwave.

Transformation.

Here is where it being a Rescue Bot is supposed to be the big seller for young TF fans but in Quickshadows case it’s the main reason not to buy this toy.  There is only one thing you need to do to transform her, that being pull the front wheels out sideways – then everything is supposed to pop into place.  But she jams.  In fact she jams nearly every single time!  And you can’t just push the wheels back in and try again.  At first I thought my son was using her wrong.  Then I thought we just must have gotten a dud.  But a subsequent look at various ratings of the toy on Amazon and eBay has shown that this seems to be an endemic fault with the figure.  There is a little spring at the top of the car’s hood which is supposed to facilitate this transformation but the spring constantly jams and to un-jam it you have to pull the hood down so hard you are certain it is going to snap.  In fact I’m afraid to transform her again in case it does!  This is a shameful flaw – only one moving part and they f*ck it up!? Poor form Playskool & Hasbro – poor form indeed.

Worth Getting?

No.  She costs the same as the older Rescue Bot figures despite being nearly half the size and the jamming spring means that the toy is almost unusable from the get-go.  I’m glad to have another Femmebot in my collection but I would say this is a contender for the worst quality Transformer I have ever come across.

Have you got this figure?  Will you still get this figure after reading this review?  Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.