Death's Head
10-08-11, 08:42 PM
Outside of the expensive Masterpiece series Transformers, this figure ranks up there as one of the best examples of the Transformers toyline. The figure itself is a homage to "fan-favourite" Bludgeon from the original 1980s run of the Transformers. He was originally just one of a slew of underwhelming Pretenders figures released in 1989, but Simon Furman moulded him into something much more interesting in the US comics. Firstly, as chief of the Decepticon Mayhem Attack Squad, and then as commander of the Decepticons on Cybertron, following the er, depature, of Thunderwing. As with all late G1 figures blessed by the hand of Furman, the original now fetches silly sums of money for what is largely an ugly plastic fart of a figure. So it is great to finally have a representation of the character that does him justice.
Bludgeon forms part of the N.E.S.T. assortment of Voyagers spinning out of the popular live action movie range and as such, transforms from a piece of military kit to fearsome looking robot and back. The tank is nicely detailed, but the use of soft rubbery plastics for the tank barrel is a huge mistake. I can see why this is done - it does form the robots sword and could easily be harmful for anyone dumb enough to poke their own eye out with it, but those soft plastics are easily bent out of shape - mine has a permanent gaze to the left, thanks to overzealous packaging materials. The tank is neat enough, with a good level of detail and rubber treads (which sadly cannot move), but is outwardly quite dull, but realistic, being green all over.
The transformation sequence is fairly intuitive, clever without being annoying or needlessly complicated. The only area of criticism I can find is in having to apply quite a bit of pressure popping the chest into place to reveal the head, which can have you on edge a little wondering if you're going to break the thing. The tank turret splits open to revel a holster for the smaller dagger and serves to stop the figure looking like he's got well, a massive tank turret on his back. The rather plain military green then reveals a figure comprised of a burst of orange, crimson, green and black. The Japanese warrior look is carried over from the original figure, with some inspiration also drawn from Don Figureoa's recent redesign in IDWs various comics. On close inspection, the figure is quite a grisly thing. He looks very much like an undead warrior, his emaciated form covered with armour plating which looks like its barely keeping him together - befitting his status as a warrior prone to dabbling with the occult. There's an excelelnt range of motion and articulation so Bludgeon can strike some nifty poses, and I love that there are two storage points by his left hip for his sword and dagger! The head sculpt of a mechanical skull is excellent, but could have used a black wash to bring out the detail - and some blackened eye sockets wouldn't have gone amiss, but these are minor quibbles.
A superb figure, then. A real labour of love from its designer and an impressive enough figure to appeal to aging fanboys as well as those new to the world of Transformers. It is also great to see Hasbro putting some thought and effort into this new movie-verse line, after 2007s range was padded out with a bunch of toys culled from other lines. There's a repaint of this figure available as Banzaitron the minor Action Master toy from 1990 and master of Circuit-Su!
119120
Bludgeon forms part of the N.E.S.T. assortment of Voyagers spinning out of the popular live action movie range and as such, transforms from a piece of military kit to fearsome looking robot and back. The tank is nicely detailed, but the use of soft rubbery plastics for the tank barrel is a huge mistake. I can see why this is done - it does form the robots sword and could easily be harmful for anyone dumb enough to poke their own eye out with it, but those soft plastics are easily bent out of shape - mine has a permanent gaze to the left, thanks to overzealous packaging materials. The tank is neat enough, with a good level of detail and rubber treads (which sadly cannot move), but is outwardly quite dull, but realistic, being green all over.
The transformation sequence is fairly intuitive, clever without being annoying or needlessly complicated. The only area of criticism I can find is in having to apply quite a bit of pressure popping the chest into place to reveal the head, which can have you on edge a little wondering if you're going to break the thing. The tank turret splits open to revel a holster for the smaller dagger and serves to stop the figure looking like he's got well, a massive tank turret on his back. The rather plain military green then reveals a figure comprised of a burst of orange, crimson, green and black. The Japanese warrior look is carried over from the original figure, with some inspiration also drawn from Don Figureoa's recent redesign in IDWs various comics. On close inspection, the figure is quite a grisly thing. He looks very much like an undead warrior, his emaciated form covered with armour plating which looks like its barely keeping him together - befitting his status as a warrior prone to dabbling with the occult. There's an excelelnt range of motion and articulation so Bludgeon can strike some nifty poses, and I love that there are two storage points by his left hip for his sword and dagger! The head sculpt of a mechanical skull is excellent, but could have used a black wash to bring out the detail - and some blackened eye sockets wouldn't have gone amiss, but these are minor quibbles.
A superb figure, then. A real labour of love from its designer and an impressive enough figure to appeal to aging fanboys as well as those new to the world of Transformers. It is also great to see Hasbro putting some thought and effort into this new movie-verse line, after 2007s range was padded out with a bunch of toys culled from other lines. There's a repaint of this figure available as Banzaitron the minor Action Master toy from 1990 and master of Circuit-Su!
119120