Death's Head
19-08-11, 09:02 AM
Blades, one time Protectobot now singled out for the Universe treatment, courtesy of a repaint of Cybertron Evac. Normally, I can’t stand repaints. They are generally lazy and smack of the worst aspects of capitalism that of money for old rope. They don’t always convince as a new character either, if that is the intention. Throwing Blades into the Universe category also means Hasbro can expand the Classics range so beloved of fans at minimal cost, too. It’s hard to begrudge Hasbro doing this in this instance, because, well, Blades just fits the mould like a glove (Unlike the exclusive Springer version). As a result, I found Blades difficult to resist since I saw a picture of him in Loaded magazine (of all places).
The alt mode looks sharp in the red/white colour scheme, and there’s a couple of dabs of black to help break up the monotony. There’s only the ‘Autobot Coastal Rescue’ crest on the tail that’s a little too cute for its own good (see also: Witwicky Sparkplugs, We R 84 and similar ‘hilarious’ decos splashed across other TF toys). I’m not familiar with US coastal rescue vehicles, so can only assume that this is a fair representation of the real thing, rather than a Fire & Rescue helicopter (as it looks to me). The winch is a nice bit of fun, but could have done with being a little bit longer (it only winds out to maximum of 6cm or so) and some more care could have been put into the rotor blades, as they tend to catch on the engine/missile assembly located right behind them. As a Cybertron figure, plugging in the ‘Cyber Planet Key’ will cause two missile launchers to swing forward which can launch the usual kid-safe missiles. It’s a decent feature, but would have been nice if Hasbro could have reworked the mechanism to remove the key element to make this stop looking like an obviously cheap line filling repaint.
Transforming Blades is a very satisfying process. Most of his body folds out of the mid-section of the helicopter, with the legs forming from the cockpit. The tail splits apart and fans out across his shoulders – or, as Metalhawk pointed out to me – they can be rotated to hang down his back. This makes much more sense, as not only does it look better, but it means he can make use of his rotating blade weapon whilst in robot mode.
As a robot, Blades is a nicely realised, with only his lower legs perhaps being a tad too long, but it doesn’t take anything away from his impressive robot mode. The head sculpt is lovely, and very much looks like the original Blades. I do wish a couple of splashes of black paint could have been added to his chin strap to stop him looking like Jimmy Hill though. He’s super poseable, having full 360 degree ratcheting joints at his shoulders, elbows, knees and waist. His hands are fixed at the wrist, but I don’t mind. Weapons-wise, he can use his rotors as some kind of shield/ slashing weapon, and he still has access to his winch, which I can see being used to wrench weaponry/ body parts from his opponents! He also can access those missile launchers, which can be swung over his head too.
Blades is a great toy, and lots of fun, thanks to some sensible play features and sharp design work.
248249
The alt mode looks sharp in the red/white colour scheme, and there’s a couple of dabs of black to help break up the monotony. There’s only the ‘Autobot Coastal Rescue’ crest on the tail that’s a little too cute for its own good (see also: Witwicky Sparkplugs, We R 84 and similar ‘hilarious’ decos splashed across other TF toys). I’m not familiar with US coastal rescue vehicles, so can only assume that this is a fair representation of the real thing, rather than a Fire & Rescue helicopter (as it looks to me). The winch is a nice bit of fun, but could have done with being a little bit longer (it only winds out to maximum of 6cm or so) and some more care could have been put into the rotor blades, as they tend to catch on the engine/missile assembly located right behind them. As a Cybertron figure, plugging in the ‘Cyber Planet Key’ will cause two missile launchers to swing forward which can launch the usual kid-safe missiles. It’s a decent feature, but would have been nice if Hasbro could have reworked the mechanism to remove the key element to make this stop looking like an obviously cheap line filling repaint.
Transforming Blades is a very satisfying process. Most of his body folds out of the mid-section of the helicopter, with the legs forming from the cockpit. The tail splits apart and fans out across his shoulders – or, as Metalhawk pointed out to me – they can be rotated to hang down his back. This makes much more sense, as not only does it look better, but it means he can make use of his rotating blade weapon whilst in robot mode.
As a robot, Blades is a nicely realised, with only his lower legs perhaps being a tad too long, but it doesn’t take anything away from his impressive robot mode. The head sculpt is lovely, and very much looks like the original Blades. I do wish a couple of splashes of black paint could have been added to his chin strap to stop him looking like Jimmy Hill though. He’s super poseable, having full 360 degree ratcheting joints at his shoulders, elbows, knees and waist. His hands are fixed at the wrist, but I don’t mind. Weapons-wise, he can use his rotors as some kind of shield/ slashing weapon, and he still has access to his winch, which I can see being used to wrench weaponry/ body parts from his opponents! He also can access those missile launchers, which can be swung over his head too.
Blades is a great toy, and lots of fun, thanks to some sensible play features and sharp design work.
248249