Of course, a yellow Tracks is not a Tracks at all (Tiger Tracks, perhaps?), so I stubbornly waited for the proper, blue version. Was it worth the wait?
Vehicle Mode:
Much as I loved the 1974 Corvette Stingray that was the alternate mode of G1 tracks, there's something a little bland about the Z06 used here for BT Tracks, particularly in comparison to the Stingray that later became Sideswipe's vehicle mode in Revenge of the Fallen. Gone are the sleek, sexy curves of the older car, to be replaced by a (comparatively) squared-off back end, a shortened, simplified front end, side details that seem to owe something to Ferrari, and a roof section that strikes me as quite ugly somehow. Of course, it's probably unfair to compare the Z06 to any Stingray in the first place, as it's more a development of the C4 from the 1980s. The circular tail lights of that older vehicle remain, but its subtly concave rear has been flattened out. This vehicle is certainly not an example of Chevrolet taking any aesthetic risks - this is a fairly generic-looking sports car, and it's a real shame Binaltech happened when it did, as Corvettes since have been vastly more impressive. Not least the car used for Crosshairs in Age of Extinction, which was called a C7 Stingray, but appears to have later developed into the 2016 Z06.
Since I waited for the later, blue version of BT Tracks, the package included a large, bisected flame sticker to apply to the front bonnet... which I have thusfar resisted applying . Not so much because I don't feel it adds anything crucial to the essential Tracks-ness of the vehicle mode, more because I'm not sure how well I'd apply it and, thereby, how long it would actually last... Plus, the bonnet on this version is painted die-cast metal, and I'd rather not risk damaging the paint job any more than the model's mere existence in this mortal plane already does. I haven't spent a great deal of time transforming him, but quickly notices scuffs and chips in the paint, particularly around the edges of the bonnet.
There are big warning signs on this model, in that there are remarkably few transformation seams. OK, there's the huge split down the centre of the bonnet and front bumper, and a less apparent counterpart through the back end of the vehicle... but, other than that, it's pretty much the doors, the front half of the rear wheel wells and the windscreen/roof sections... So it's obvious that robot mode is going to feature giant chunks of vehicle shell hanging off at various points. There's also the awkward fact that the bonnet is cut in half, with only a set of small tabs at the windscreen end to keep it together as it's opened... And, naturally, they don't work especially well.
On the upside, the usual Binaltech features are present - the robot's gun disguised as the car's engine snugly tucked away under the bonnet between sculpted panels of engine detail, sculpted and painted brake details inside the wheels, steering on the front wheels, detailed interior including painted seatbacks (though nothing of particular note on the dashboard, and a pair of rather obvious missiles secreted in the doorframes). The doors open wide and fairly smoothly (albeit with a bit of odd wobble due to the ball joints), the Corvette logos - front and rear - are fully painted, the hubcaps and exhaust pipes are chrome (though the latter weren't even sculpted with openings) and all the lights are painted translucent plastic, so they look pretty authentic. On the minus side, this is one of those models which has no headlights, since the concealed lights are just sculpted into the bonnet, rather than being separately articulated to deploy.
One of G1 Tracks' more interesting features was the ability to transform his vehicle form into a 'flight mode'. While this feature was carried over to the Masterpiece mold (as can be seen on the Road Rage version), the Binaltech model doesn't. Since both vehicles were fully licensed, I'd have to guess that Chevrolet weren't fully on-board with the idea of their cars as TransFormers until after the Michael Bay movies opened their eyes to the potential profits...
Lastly, for a line touted as being heavy on the die-cast metal, there's very little on Tracks' vehicle shell - from the windscreen/doors on back, everything is plastic.
Robot Mode:
I have to say that, based on the appearance of Tracks' robot mode, I'm honestly not surprised a lot of car manufacturers were reluctant to grant licenses for Hasbro/Takara to produce toys based on their vehicles. I gather their main concern was that the act of transformation too closely resembled either 'exploding' or 'crumpling', neither effect being something these corporations were keen to have associated with their products. Tracks doesn't look like a car wreck, but he's certainly not one of the tidiest TransFormers figures out there, with the front of the car hanging off his calves, the doors hanging off behind this thighs, the roof of the car hanging off his back (nothing new or unusual, granted), the back of the car sticking out of his shoulders... and a fake car roof/windscreen on his chest because they clearly felt they needed something - other than the head sculpt - to connect this figure with his G1 incarnation. Honestly, there's very little actual robot in between the bits of car hanging off.
Of course, Tracks was one of those Autobots who preferred his vehicle mode to his robot mode... so perhaps the clumsiness of his appearance is an in-story thing to ensure that trait remains part of his character... Or perhaps I'm overthinking the design.
I think that if only something different could have been done with the car doors, this figure would have looked vastly better... and I'm sure I've seem some folks swing them onto the robot's back, beneath the car's roof, but could never get it to work myself. As he is, there's just too much sticking out of his lower half, given the tiny feet and expansive shoulder mass.
Tracks' robot mode features very little sculpted detail - by and large, it look as though what's on show is fully armour-plated - though the waist, being the central section of the car's underside, features parts of the chromed exhaust pipes, while the upper part of the torso is covered with a poor excuse for a representation of G1 Tracks' car roof/windscreen torso, with a hinged flap in the top to allow the robot's head to pass through it for transformation. The upper arms, groin, knees and shins feature small applications of red paint onto the simple sculpted details, with silver paint appearing on the groin, toes, and the entire knee hinge. The thighs are quite basic and boxy, but the lower legs have been sculpted into a shape resembling the human calf, with a bulge at the back just below the knee tapering back in to a smaller ankle and a tiny, boxy foot. The effect of this is pretty much lost due to the car panels hanging off, effectively giving each leg a cape.
Refreshingly, Tracks is one of the few Binaltech figures to come with multiple weapons. Not only does his engine turn into the new version of his trademark Black Light Gun, but he has his trademark missile launchers, and his forearms feature integrated double-barrelled guns of some form. It seems odd that Tracks should be so heavily tooled up when every other Binaltech figure got short-changed in the weapons department. The Third Party accessories market basically got kickstarted by Binaltech, with the Binaltech Arming sets of shoulder launchers and (bizarrely) swords for the likes of Smokescreen, Streak and Meister. The forearm mounted, retractible cannons aren't even a reference to something the original G1 figure had and, given their inelegant execution here, I don't understand why they were even included. I gather they were spring-loaded on the prototype, but on the final model they must be manually deployed via a small slider on each side.
The missile launchers, rather than being separate parts that peg into another separate part, are integrated into the figure such that a couple of small car panels can be oriented over Tracks' shoulders, and can then be angled left and right as well as up and down, though the white launchers themselves are sadly not spring-loaded and are a little gappy on their inner faces. The handgun, meanwhile, is a bit on the ugly side. Its own transformation is a case of flipping the two 'arms' forward, then simply installing it in Tracks' hand - it's not dissimilar to Sideswipe/Dead End's gun in terms of simplicity, but would certainly have benefitted by the chrome that was applied to the Viper engine gun - all we have here is grey plastic with red and black paint on the upper surface. There's not a great deal of sculpted detail either, just some pipework down the centre section, but it seems to represent the Corvette's engine reasonably well.
The head sculpt is not one of my favourites as it's based more on the animation model than the original toy, who featured a battlemasked face. For what it is, it's pretty good, and certainly better than it first appeared based on the early photos that turned up online. My concern was that the head looked very flat. That may have been some effect of the photography or the use of a grey prototype, as the real thing is a good size and well-proportioned. The crest and the protrusions either side of the face are nicely done... but I have to say that the whole thing is ruined for me by the bright red paint over the face, particularly as the coverage isn't great and there are white lines around Tracks' blue eyes, and the recessed areas - either side of the jawline but inside the helmet - are unpainted, leaving the whole thing looking like and unfinished knockoff. It may have been better with a darker shade of red, or a metallic red, maybe a black wash to bring out the sculpted detail of the helmet... but the better option in my opinion would have been making the head sculpt more like the original toy, as the bright red humaniod face looks daft.
I'll preface this by saying that transforming Tracks was a contributing factor in my decision not to buy BT11 Battle Ravage. It's not a pleasant experience, the legs - particularly the way they have to be finnagled around the windscreen while simultaneously compressing them via a most uncooperative (not to say ugly-looking) double-jointed knee - are an especially bad part of the overall experience that could have been handled far better. By comparison, the rear of the vehicle is simplicity itself, the only difficult part being remembering the orientation required by the forearms to fit them into the car shell, considering the elbow is a ball joint with a hinge just above allowing it to swing side-to-side for transformation. The whole 'fake windscreen/roof on the chest' aspect feels completely redundant and pointless. In so many ways, they would have been better off following the pattern of the G1 toy, and it's a huge shame that it took more than ten years for the Masterpiece figure to turn up doing just that, only for it to be underwheming for other reasons.
Given how clumsy transformation is, it's not surprise that Tracks articulation is... lacklustre. The head is on the standard shallow-fitted ball joint offering not much more than the standard 360° rotation, the shoulders offer a decent range - certainly more than is required for transformation, and surprisingly not inclined to clash with the missile launchers. However, the bicep section doesn't really clip into place an so is inclined to move separately from the shoulder, but at least doesn't swing loosely or sag. The hinge just above the elbow ball joint isn't especially usefuly for posing, but then neither is the ball joint - it gives about 90° bend due to being mounted at the back of the arm, but the casing for the wrist cannons tends to clash with the bicep in any other movement. There's no waist articulation, likely due to how little robot there actually is at that point in the figure, and, while the groin features a couple of hinged sections to allow a greater range of movement for the ball-jointed thighs, they don't make a huge amount of difference. The knees are theoretically double-jointed, but very stiff, and the presence of car shell hanging over the calves means they don't have a great deal of range regardless of whether or not both joints are actually used. There's actually a notch in the back of the thigh which suggests the vehicle panel is intended to nestle in there, and doing so leaves them sticking out at a strange angle, though it greatly affect the knee joint. The ankles, meanwhile, can twist from side to side due to transformation, but are otherwise a bit useless - even in the most basic pose, Tracks ends up standing on their edges rather than their soles. The feet are also surprisingly small compared to just about any other figure, even with the heel spurs.
As mentioned above, I decided not to buy Binaltech Battle Ravage as the paint scuffing/chipping on this was bad enough that I didn't fancy my chances with a glossy black version. I did, however, receive the Alternators version as a gift, and the fully plastic construction does make things a bit simpler, if a flimsier. Tracks is not a fun or particularly dynamic figure, its transformation is ugly and poorly-planned, with the sort of large panels I wouldn't have expected to see based on previous figures. Having the entire bonnet hanging off Sideswipe/Dead End's backside was bad enough, but the large chunks of die cast attached to the lower leg via weird, hinged arms looks hideous, and that's exacerbated by having the doors hanging off right above them, attached to the windscreen on his backside via similarly awkward arms. It doesn't look like Tracks, and really does a disservice to the character and the licensed vehicle... I'd be interested to know how many compromises were forced on the figure's designers to ensure Chevrolet signed off on the model, or whether it was simply rushed through once the license was obtained.
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