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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsdE0_yM-qs

Fembots are few and far between in the Transformers universe, even more so in toy form, so when Windblade was announced, fans eagerly anticipated even just the slightest of info. With her creation being the result of fan input via poll, we've waited and waited for her release and because we helped bring her into the TF universe, the wait's been difficult. Now after all of this time we're finally getting close to seeing her in hand, but until she hits stores, reviews and more pictures will have to tide us over.

A review is what we have for you today. Seibertron message board member Optibotimus has filmed a review of Generations Deluxe Class Windblade and you can see it by clicking the embed below:



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So how easy is it to replace the head? Is it just on a balljoint that is a "standard" size? Or are there pins involved? I like the figure, but I hate the hell out of that head.

Looks like another Airachnid. Oh well, back to ignoring fan input.

She does seem a bit fidgety and appears to suffer from similar tolerance issues plaguing many Deluxes these days, but I still think that overall she looks pretty badass and I'm definitely getting her. As for those heels, assuming they're tight enough, I bet a bit of cutting can resolve the issue with them not going back far enough to give her improved stability and poseability.

Overall, pretty nice looking figure.

The one complaint I might levy is how stern the expression is. I know they were probably working from the Dark Cybertron art, but I've gotten used to Sarah Stone's art which gave Windblade a much more upbeat personality. The stoic, grim determination look doesn't really do it for me as a fan of the Windblade comic.

Am I hearing this right? This guy is reviewing the KO and wants to talk about the paint? I'd love to know if I heard that wrong because I really can't be bothered to try watching it again.
Could be an OK figure. (excuse the pun.)

Convoy wrote:Am I hearing this right? This guy is reviewing the KO and wants to talk about the paint? I'd love to know if I heard that wrong because I really can't be bothered to try watching it again.
Could be an OK figure. (excuse the pun.)

This isn't a K.O, it's the stolen Chinese Blood Money version of the figure

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Convoy wrote:Am I hearing this right? This guy is reviewing the KO and wants to talk about the paint? I'd love to know if I heard that wrong because I really can't be bothered to try watching it again.
Could be an OK figure. (excuse the pun.)

This isn't a K.O, it's the stolen Chinese Blood Money version of the figure

Many Bothans died to bring us this review.

Anyone wanna play the Optibotimus Drinking Game? Take a drink every time he says "absolutely" or "fantastic" or "absolutely fantastic"

The bot mode looks great, but the alt mode is so sloppy looking and the engineering looks meh. May have to skip this one.

Once again Hasbro takes a great idea and screws it up.

First, it's just lazy of Hasbro to have her legs resting atop of her jet mode like that. WTF! On top of that, her feet point straight up and aren't hinged so one could flip them down and under. Double WTF! Hinging her feet would've been an easy fix to that eyesore.

Second, that gap while in jet mode. Triple WTF! The solution to filling that gap when in jet mode would've also been an easy fix, but Hasbro was even lazier at solving that. Again, hinges would've been the solution. Specifically hinges down her shins, allowing the inner part of her shins to flip up and meet in the middle of that gap to conceal said gap.

And third, her arms just resting there below the wings while in jet mode... also a lazy move for Hasbro. Her arms could've been ball-jointed in such a way that they could've fit up under and inside the nosecone/cockpit part. Currently the nosecone/cockpit serves only one purpose and that's holding the landing gear. Instead of the landing gear being attached under the nosecone/cockpit, it could've been, say it with me, HINGED to one of her arms.

All this could've given her a sleeker, smoother, finished look. But instead we get this. Thanks Hasbro, you've done it again.

You're probably thinking, "But Hasbro/Takara wanted to go back to simpler transformations. To be able to transform completely in fewer steps." Well didn't they also introduce a line with that very idea in mind that was just the Legend Class figures blown up to Deluxe Class figures. And what happened to that line? A line that was taking 30 years of Transformers Toys technology BACKWARDS about 40 years. It was cancelled before it even got started, at least here in the states it was, which so many of us hardcore Transformer collectors predicted would happen. And again, I hope the ones that came up with that idea were FIRED!

Oh, and a great mold for Slipstream is the Transformers: Beast Hunters' Starscream. Slender build and even has high heels, though not sure why Starscream would've had those. Anyway, I've repainted one of that particular mold into her myself, though I did go with a darker purple and accented with gold paint. But her red lips do have a bit of a smirk to them.

wolverinetodd wrote:Once again Hasbro takes a great idea and screws it up.

It could be said that the fans have a hand in this, too. Can't blame just Hasbro and/or Takara Tomy.

wolverinetodd wrote:First, it's just lazy of Hasbro to have her legs resting atop of her jet mode like that. WTF! On top of that, her feet point straight up and aren't hinged so one could flip them down and under. Double WTF! Hinging her feet would've been an easy fix to that eyesore.

Agreed.

wolverinetodd wrote:Second, that gap while in jet mode. Triple WTF! The solution to filling that gap when in jet mode would've also been an easy fix, but Hasbro was even lazier at solving that. Again, hinges would've been the solution. Specifically hinges down her shins, allowing the inner part of her shins to flip up and meet in the middle of that gap to conceal said gap.

Perhaps the design looked good on paper, just not in plastic. Plenty of us have great ideas in mind and have it not work out in the end. What can you do? Vote with your wallet, for one. However, if we don't support this, we might see fembots disappear and this seems to be their year. I'd hate for it to be their only year.

wolverinetodd wrote:And third, her arms just resting there below the wings while in jet mode... also a lazy move for Hasbro. Her arms could've been ball-jointed in such a way that they could've fit up under and inside the nosecone/cockpit part. Currently the nosecone/cockpit serves only one purpose and that's holding the landing gear. Instead of the landing gear being attached under the nosecone/cockpit, it could've been, say it with me, HINGED to one of her arms.

Yeah, there's a difference between lazy and simplification. This one went straight to lazy. It's a shame.

wolverinetodd wrote:All this could've given her a sleeker, smoother, finished look. But instead we get this. Thanks Hasbro, you've done it again.

I still have some faith in Hasbro's abilities. Let's see how Arcee and Chromia hold up once in hand.

wolverinetodd wrote:You're probably thinking, "But Hasbro/Takara wanted to go back to simpler transformations. To be able to transform completely in fewer steps." Well didn't they also introduce a line with that very idea in mind that was just the Legend Class figures blown up to Deluxe Class figures. And what happened to that line? A line that was taking 30 years of Transformers Toys technology BACKWARDS about 40 years. It was cancelled before it even got started, at least here in the states it was, which so many of us hardcore Transformer collectors predicted would happen. And again, I hope the ones that came up with that idea were FIRED!

The upscaled Legends line wasn't canceled, it just wasn't ordered by Wal*Mart and the like. It made it to production and we'll most likely see them in Ross/TJ Maxx/Marshall's. I won't be the least bit surprised if they show up within the next few months. Also, hoping someone gets fired over making toys accessible to kids, because you know...toys are made for kids, makes you no better. In fact, it makes you worse. These are toys we're talking about! They're never worth someone's ability to take care of themselves and their family financially.

Wow! Windblade looks a bit better than I expected. And will there be another Fan Build Bot? Hasbro says that Windblade was their first Fan Built Bot character.

I apologize for missing this. Someone pointed it out and i was able to confirm it. I don't read the comics, so i wasn't necessarily looking for this. But her fans in her wings do pivot

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:So how easy is it to replace the head? Is it just on a balljoint that is a "standard" size? Or are there pins involved? I like the figure, but I hate the hell out of that head.

The base of the neck is pinned in. The upper part that swivels appears to be just a swivel joint with a mushroom joint

optibotimus wrote:

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:So how easy is it to replace the head? Is it just on a balljoint that is a "standard" size? Or are there pins involved? I like the figure, but I hate the hell out of that head.

The base of the neck is pinned in. The upper part that swivels appears to be just a swivel joint with a mushroom joint

Wow. it's like they know when people will want to switch out the heads on their figures, so they make it too difficult to. I wanted to do the same thing with GDO Cliffjumper and RID Cliffjumpers head, but nope! Different ball/socket set up.

... the one thing that baffles me more than anything else with this figure is why they designed it so the color scheme pretty much flips backwards between modes. The bot is a primarily red figure with black parts, the jet mode is primarily black, with red parts. It's not something I dislike, but it feels like her jet mode is missing color because of it.

durroth wrote:... the one thing that baffles me more than anything else with this figure is why they designed it so the color scheme pretty much flips backwards between modes. The bot is a primarily red figure with black parts, the jet mode is primarily black, with red parts. It's not something I dislike, but it feels like her jet mode is missing color because of it.

I kinda wondered the same thing at first as well until I thought about it. There's another primarily red jet with black parts in the Transformers universe already which also has VTOL type wings and they probably didn't want her to look too similar to him, particularly since they're opposite factions and all.

Hmm... Not a bad figure, it seems. Hopefully Optibotimus is right, and tolerances will be better on legitimate copies of the figure rather than on his ill gotten copy of it.

The back end is gappy, and the arms kind of just hang out on the bottom, but I suppose I've just described about half of the jet-based Transformers ever made. So while unfortunate, I'll get over it.

My only real complaint is that the front of the feet should have folded down so that they don't stick straight up on the back of the jet. They kind of still look obvious as feet.

The feet kinda bother me, but otherwise I think she looks pretty damn good! Aside from the feet poking off the top, the jet mode is cool looking (the gap in the fuselage is odd, but it is a Cybertronian design, so whatever) and the robot mode is just awesome- somehow it manages to pull off the G1 "attractive female robot with vehicle parts on her shoulders" look and still have a decent vehicle mode. Loving the headsculpt too.

If I ever spot her, she's mine.

cant wait till this character goes away

I like the way she looks... but I do not like that she seems to have stability issues. Also glad to see that her scabbard can be slapped on her hip. Didn't like the idea of her just holding the scabbard. >;oP

Who all is in Windblade's wave? It's Arcee, Chromia, Jhiaxus, and Nightbeat, and Windblade herself, correct?

Dear Optibotimus,

Thanks for another great overall review of how badly Hasbro screwed this figure up. You have saved me so much money and I cannot thank you enough!!


Windblade = EPIC FAIL


~reluctantyouth~

reluctantyouth wrote:Dear Optibotimus,

Thanks for another great overall review of how badly Hasbro screwed this figure up. You have saved me so much money and I cannot thank you enough!!


Windblade = EPIC FAIL


~reluctantyouth~

...Do you do anything but moan about Hasbro?