Review #9: "Classics" Bludgeon (Revenge of the Fallen
Hunt for the Decepticons Voyager Class Bludgeon)
with Headrobots: Blood the Dark Warrior upgrade kit
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This is an interesting toy to classify. Officially, it is a toy from the live action movies. More spicifically, it is from the Hunt for the Decepticons subline of the Revenge of the Fallen toyline. (Giving him quite the mouthfull of a full name for the toy, as you can see above!)
Of course, that is "officially." Unofficially, he fits quite well on any Classics shelf as an updated version of the G1 character of Bludgeon. Bludgeon was a character who never featured in the animated series at all, and for that reason on this website I chose to put him on the "Other 'Classics' Style Transformers" page. Technically, he could have just fit in with "Post-Movie Decepticons," but I wanted to keep that for toys based on characters who were in the show. You may see me do similar things with other characters who were not in the show but were from the comics, or who were toy only characters, back in the G1 days. |
All of that out of the way, let us take a look at this toy. He's a tank. A nicely detailed tank. His turret turns 360 degrees, and the smaller gun on top of that also rotates 360 degrees. He has a nice detail in his treads in that they are in part actually made of a flexible material rather then just being hard molded plastic. Alas, they are still not functional treads. And, in fact, the middle part of them are hard plastic... but the two materials are switched between pretty seemlessly. The treads having this flexable portion really help the treads look a lot better, even if it is quite possible that my perseption here might be somewhat subconsious.
This figure does have a few Reprolabels on him. He doesn't have a dedicated sticker set of his own, but he did get a few new faction symbols put on him. He originally had plain black Decepticon logos painted on him, but these have been covered with the nicer looking silver backed purple logos.
This figure does have a few Reprolabels on him. He doesn't have a dedicated sticker set of his own, but he did get a few new faction symbols put on him. He originally had plain black Decepticon logos painted on him, but these have been covered with the nicer looking silver backed purple logos.
This figure also has a third party accessory set. This will be mostly visible when we get to robot mode. On this mode, though, to the right you can see his original tank barrel. The most obvious difference is the gray colouring. (The thrid party barrel's green is much better looking.) The original barrel also had the problem of being made of a softer plastic that warped easially. A tank with a slightly bent barrel is not a good looking thing! The new green barrel is a more firm plastic, solving that problem. The smaller gun on top of the turret and the two missle batteries are still the softer plastic, and may occasionally need slight bending back into place.
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The new swords are a vast improvement. Gone is the soft, easy to warp or bend plastic. Gone is the flat grey colour. Now we have some nice firm plastic, and very nice chromed blades.
So, let us get him into robot mode!
So, let us get him into robot mode!
Here we have Bludgeon as a robot. The original G1 Bludgeon was a Pretender, which was a transforming robot that could further hide by disguising itself in a "Pretender" shell. Autobot Pretenders tended to have shells with rather human apearances. (We'll leave it to you to decide if these were giant humans, or if the robots turned into tiny vehicles.) The Deceptions, however, disguised themselves as monsters or demons. Bludgeon took on a disguise of a skeletal samaurai warrior.
In the few Pretenders that have received updated "Classics" style figures, rather then having a little robot that slipped into a Pretender shell, the robot mode tended to take on an apearance inspired by the original toy's shell. Thus, the tank that Bludgeon was transforms into a very nice looking skeletal samaurai warrior. Both swords can be stored on Bludgeon's left hip. (He can hold them in his hands as well, of course!) And in this mode you can see the other main addition to Bludgeon from the third party upgrade set: a new head! The old head (which you can see him holding in one of the below photos) removes easy enough, just take out two screws, pop it in half, and remove it. The new head pops right on in its place, no screws required. The new head is in two pieces, the skull and the helmet. This is because the skull has two faces on opposite sides, one emulating the original toy's face and the other (with the grey lower face) inspired by the character's apearance in IDW comic books. I favour the more "G1" face. |
The new head, especially with the G1 face, looks fantastic. The original head wasn't bad, but didn't exactly scream, "skull." The new head definitely is not something I'd want to run into in a dark alley. It isn't without problems, alas. The clearence around it is very tight... to the point where there isn't room for it to rotate at all. You can cheat this a bit by removing the helmet, turning the head a bit, and squeezing the helmet back on. It works, but it could be better.
While the new head (when the helmet is included) it is taller then the old one, there is still plenty of room inside of the tank mode to acomidate it so it can be left in place when transforming. The only issue here is the tightness (or lack there of) of the helmet: it often falls off mid-transformation, often at inconvienient times where I have to partially transform it back to get the helmet back on. I could not say if this is a common problem, it is possible that I just have an extra loose helmet. However, you should be aware that this problem may be a possibility.
So the new head does have a few issues. The good outweighs the bad, however, and the figure looks much better with it then without.
While the new head (when the helmet is included) it is taller then the old one, there is still plenty of room inside of the tank mode to acomidate it so it can be left in place when transforming. The only issue here is the tightness (or lack there of) of the helmet: it often falls off mid-transformation, often at inconvienient times where I have to partially transform it back to get the helmet back on. I could not say if this is a common problem, it is possible that I just have an extra loose helmet. However, you should be aware that this problem may be a possibility.
So the new head does have a few issues. The good outweighs the bad, however, and the figure looks much better with it then without.
His posability... well, it leaves a bit to be desired for a figure of his size. If this was a Deluxe Class figure, his posability would be pretty good. But when we move up a size class to Voyager, that raises expectations a bit and this figure fails ever so slightly to deliver.
The head, even before swapping it out, could only turn left and right a bit. The shoulders can be rotated on a swivel, but some kibble can inhibit this a bit. You can cheat a bit and use a transformation joint above the shoulders and raise them a bit. There's a swivel on the arm right below the shoulders, and a double (because of transformation) hinged elbow. There is no wrist articulation at all, although again a joint meant for transformation can be used to cheat this a bit. There is no waist articulation. The legs can move in and out or forwards and backwards at the hips, there's a swivel above the knees, then a ratcheting joint at the knee that you can get a bend of slightly more then 90 degrees out of. Ankles have a swivel and a ratchet, useful for some poses but not much good for others. Overall, the posability is serviceable. It can do most jobs. But again, for the size class it could have a bit more. As simple as working in a waste joint and replacing one of the joints in each ankle with a ball joint could have done this figure wonders. Posability would have been especially useful as if you have another sword wielding Transformer, you could have awesome sword fights! Well, you can still make this work, I suppose. |
Bludgeon often finds himself with Drift as a sparing partner. This is somewhat helped by Drift's posibility which, despite his being a smaller scale, is superior to Bludgeon's... but we'll leave more detal on that for Drift's eventual review. Still, while it could be better, Bludgeon's articulation can get most jobs done.
Now we'll finish things off with additional looks at Bludgeon's sides and back (you will see that the extra bit of tank barrel that would slide over the sword's handle on robot mode plugs onto the gray gun on top of the tank turret), and then we will be back for a size comparison and my final thoughts.
Now we'll finish things off with additional looks at Bludgeon's sides and back (you will see that the extra bit of tank barrel that would slide over the sword's handle on robot mode plugs onto the gray gun on top of the tank turret), and then we will be back for a size comparison and my final thoughts.
So... I was writing this review when I realized that I'd forgotten to take a size comparison photo! What to do? Well, I guess Bludgeon and Sailor Moon decided to help me cook the tasty mac & cheese that I ate while writing the second half of it. I swear that right after I took this photo, Bludgeon used his shiny sword to slice open the packet of cheese powder. (I didn't let Sailor Moon do much... Maybe if it had been Jupiter, but I just don't trust Sailor Moon in the kitchen!)
So, Bludgeon. Technically a "Bayverse" movie figure, a continuity which has an asthetic I don't typically care for. But this figure is happily an exception to that, and one that can also fit quite well in with your Classics collection. |
The articulation isn't horrible, but it could be better. Out of the box he has an okay head and somewhat sloppy soft plastic parts, particularly annoying in the swords. This is all stuff that, objectively, might just be stuff that a nit-picky adult collector would complain about. Out of the box this would be a great toy for children to play with.
For the adult collector, if you want this figure you also want the Headrobots: Blood the Dark Warrior upgrade kit. This gives you much better swords and a head that looks a hell of a lot better. Sure, the head may be a bit fiddley, but you're an adult, you can live with that. And don't forget...
Robot sword fight!
Recomended.
Review added 30 January 2012 by Yotsuya. Please comment!
For the adult collector, if you want this figure you also want the Headrobots: Blood the Dark Warrior upgrade kit. This gives you much better swords and a head that looks a hell of a lot better. Sure, the head may be a bit fiddley, but you're an adult, you can live with that. And don't forget...
Robot sword fight!
Recomended.
Review added 30 January 2012 by Yotsuya. Please comment!