The Energon Pub

Tuned Agent wrote:This Blitzwing just leaves me wondering why it had to be a leader class. I mean, I know why (parts count), but... why? What was achieved? The alt modes aren't any less compromised than previous voyager versions (they're arguably more so), and having to use faux parts (where other versions didn't) is something that usually accompanies a smaller budget, not a bigger one. It really feels like some weird things were prioritized in designing this toy, like have the jet cockpit stick out of the tank for slavish G1 accuracy, and stuff like using the leader budget to build a better triple-changer was pushed aside.

I'm guessing because they already had the voyager slots already filled out due to having a lot more contenders, they had to make a choice of who to bum pinto the leader price point

Triggerdick Megatron wrote:I like this Blitzwing but it should be marketed as a voyager. But then again he is a triple changer. Maybe it will have some accessories and weapons like Siege Astrotrain did?

I think everything included was shown in the review, if you watched it. A gun, a sword and 2 accessories that look like bastardized PoTP hands for which there's no real explanation, unless they really belong to someone else. Couldn't even call them hands, they come with 2 thumbs and none of the fingers are articulated.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Triggerdick Megatron wrote:I like this Blitzwing but it should be marketed as a voyager. But then again he is a triple changer. Maybe it will have some accessories and weapons like Siege Astrotrain did?

I think everything included was shown in the review, if you watched it. A gun, a sword and 2 accessories that look like bastardized PoTP hands for which there's no real explanation, unless they really belong to someone else. Couldn't even call them hands, they come with 2 thumbs and none of the fingers are articulated.

They kind of look like they would fit menasor, maybe they're extra parts for him

Definitely gonna get this. I don't have a Blitzwing other than the G1 guy, so this will be perfect for me.

I like how PVP accidentally stole someone elses' accessories (the hands) when he swiped this. Those have got to go with someone else, unless Hasbro is doing a BAF or a combiner or something. If he comes with those hands "just because" then I think I would have preferred the Animated head switching gimmick.

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:Definitely gonna get this. I don't have a Blitzwing other than the G1 guy, so this will be perfect for me.

I like how PVP accidentally stole someone elses' accessories (the hands) when he swiped this. Those have got to go with someone else, unless Hasbro is doing a BAF or a combiner or something. If he comes with those hands "just because" then I think I would have preferred the Animated head switching gimmick.

Every figure has an energon accessory, so he comes with something, whether we like it or not

william-james88 wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:an accessory that's really meant for another character... being packaged with a different one, because that one has the budget or just provides the opportunity. It's happened before.

For that example, I was once told that Optimus came with that gun since he held onto it after he used it to blast Leanard Nimoy's head off and that's the gun we see him use at the begining of AOE when he emerged from the shed. Never went to check if that's indeed the same shotgun.

Everyone who says he uses the fusion shotgun in AoE is wrong, the toy is playing tricks on their minds or something. The gun he has when he busts out of the shed - and, in fact, up until he gets his knight gear on - is his own tri-barrel BFG from DotM.

I don't really have a dog in this fight...but I have to say, my initial thoughts are that the robot mode looks really good...and the tank mode isn't too bad either.

But that MiG-25 mode...what the flying brick is going on underneath!?!? I know Blitzwing's jet modes in the past have always been...blocky, chunky...to put it nicely. But this...it's terrible.

Dr. Gellar v.2 wrote:I don't really have a dog in this fight...but I have to say, my initial thoughts are that the robot mode looks really good...and the tank mode isn't too bad either.

But that MiG-25 mode...what the flying brick is going on underneath!?!? I know Blitzwing's jet modes in the past have always been...blocky,chunky...to put it nicely. But this...it's terrible.

What's going on is they pulled a TR Mindwipe with the jet mode wings, and the consequence of that is that he went from being a jet with a tank stuck to its underside... to a jet with a tank stuck to its underside and half another tank stuck to that tank.

Alas. I was hoping for the TFA face changing gimmick. Ah well. And the ability to curl the fingers on those gauntlet accessories would have made a world of difference...

Even being able to fold all the fingers inward to fill the hollowness of each accessory would have been better.

I loved the robot mode, I really liked the tank mode, but the jet mode is a real disappointment for me - I may or may not have said something to the TV thinking PvP could hear me when he said something like "it's a really solid jet mode"...apart from a third of the figure sitting underneath, you lunatic?! All that stuff left on the bottom was a real letdown to see.

As someone else said: thank you PVP for saving me some money!

Also I'm inclined to think the hands are for a combiner rather than Blitzwing (I need to rewatch the original cartoon as I'm honestly unfamiliar with the character outside of Animated), some kind of BAF-type deal. Which will be frustrating for some collectors if that's the case.

Tuned Agent wrote:This Blitzwing just leaves me wondering why it had to be a leader class. I mean, I know why (parts count), but... why? What was achieved? The alt modes aren't any less compromised than previous voyager versions (they're arguably more so), and having to use faux parts (where other versions didn't) is something that usually accompanies a smaller budget, not a bigger one. It really feels like some weird things were prioritized in designing this toy, like have the jet cockpit stick out of the tank for slavish G1 accuracy, and stuff like using the leader budget to build a better triple-changer was pushed aside.

The budget was used for slavish G1 accuracy. I know it's counterintuitive at first, but the use of faux parts is actually something that accompanies larger budget figures these days. The G1 MPs are filled with them and they make the complexity higher, not lower. For instance, MP Hound has fake wheels. Because of that, extra complexity has to be taken to ensure that the real wheels are not seen in robot mode. The latest MP Bumblebee also has a fake back and Optimus has a fake grill. This Blitzwing, for better or worse, really seems to be using the Takara engineering MP mentality that it must be G1 at all cost, and faux parts will be worked in if needed to give that G1 look. So you end up with a figure far more complex than it should be, eating up the budget, resulting in a higher priced figure (just like the MPs are all much higher priced than toys of similar height). This Blitzwing is a mini MP in literally every way.

Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:Definitely gonna get this. I don't have a Blitzwing other than the G1 guy, so this will be perfect for me.

I like how PVP accidentally stole someone elses' accessories (the hands) when he swiped this. Those have got to go with someone else, unless Hasbro is doing a BAF or a combiner or something. If he comes with those hands "just because" then I think I would have preferred the Animated head switching gimmick.

Those accessories are confirmed by other leakers to come with Blitzwing.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote: The gun he has when he busts out of the shed - and, in fact, up until he gets his knight gear on - is his own tri-barrel BFG from DotM.

Thanks!

Also, anyone know why the plane wings have yellow on them? I looked up cartoon images and they are just purple.

Would have helped bring less attention to the kibble in the legs.

And specifically he's the MP-44 garbagefire sort instead of the MP-12 sort. And it's a really sodding stupid design mentality, because so much of the cartoon detail - or LACK of detail - they're ruining the toys by mimicking... is a dumbed-down-so-it's-cheap-n-easy-to-draw interpretation of something on the G1 toy that wasn't fake.

I get the critiques…
I really do.

But in the grand scheme.
This is still a really good figure.

The gauntlets weren't executed very well

The figure looks overall to be pretty solid, I just don't really like the headsculpt. I think I'll stick with my t30 blitzwing w/upgrade kit. Unless there ends up being a kit for this blitzwing that incorporates the 3 faces in a way that doesn't suck

william-james88 wrote:Also, anyone know why the plane wings have yellow on them? I looked up cartoon images and they are just purple.

Would have helped bring less attention to the kibble in the legs.

Simplified version of toy decals. I guess maybe they had room left in the paint budget and decided to use it to keep the wings from being completely monochromatic.

They must have been overly-rigid about cartoon proportions or something to have pulled the TR Mindwipe with the jet wings... They could have gotten a much better and still super-GEEWUN-looking Blitzwing if they'd handled the backpack similarly to the TR Blitzwing toy or even the G1 figure...

EDITED TO REMOVE OVERLY BITTER REMARK.

I need to go do something cleansing, work more on my Fort Max and Scorponok add-ons...

I like the looks of Terror Claws Blitzwing here, at least in bot mode. Tank mode is passable while the jet mode is going to need some imagination. I agree with those that say these hands look like they are or were intended to go with something else, though maybe as an alternative, like hands for Menasor for some reason? Definitely see the Energon series homage, though they don't look exactly like anything from that line, maybe a little like the helicopter weapons?

Emerje

My personal guess is there's some sort of combo thing going on with the energon weapons.

Of course, it would help if we got some pics of voyagers other than Bulkhead already.

Overcracker wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Having seen a review of Dragstrip that's the retail release version, I think there will be some tab on the arm segment of Menasor that triggers the catch on Dragstrip separating the halves. There's no way to press the release on Dragstrip without the use of a spudger or some similar tool.

Indeed. There's probably going to be a tab on Meansor's arm to engage the split and maybe activate something on the arm itself, like releasing the hands from the forearm or something, and extending the arm to enable the elbow. Some form of Automorph if you will.

Otherwise, Dragstrip makes no sense since part of him needs to end up on Menasor's shoulder piece and there's no way to activate the button otherwise.

This sounds really cool and something I'd want, so I KNOW it won't happen.

this does make me wonder though, if they were to make a MP Blitzwing , does that mean it would also have that cockpit in the front of the tank?

william-james88 wrote:this does make me wonder though, if they were to make a MP Blitzwing , does that mean it would also have that cockpit in the front of the tank?

Both the G1 toy and cartoon depiction had it, so, as stupid as it looks, it would.

I'm not into faux parts. Maybe on some of the Beast Wars guys but even then, I still prefer real alt-mode parts transforming into real robot parts. That's the appeal of Transformers to me. Seeing where a car door ends up in robot mode is fun. Legacy Iguanus tail becoming the motorbike seat is awesome. G1 Optimus Prime's front cab becoming a chest/torso is awesome. And so on. I'd rather have not exactly accurate toys that did their best to achieve a character model than a toy that went so far to be "cartoon" accurate that it had to use fake parts. The cartoon model should be modified to represent the Transformers toy, not the other way around. Both should compliment each other, but at the end of the day, I'm not a fan of fake parts.

Seibertron wrote:I'm not into faux parts. Maybe on some of the Beast Wars guys but even then, I still prefer real alt-mode parts transforming into real robot parts. That's the appeal of Transformers to me. Seeing where a car door ends up in robot mode is fun. Legacy Iguanus tail becoming the motorbike seat is awesome. G1 Optimus Prime's front cab becoming a chest/torso is awesome. And so on. I'd rather have not exactly accurate toys that did their best to achieve a character model than a toy that went so far to be "cartoon" accurate that it had to use fake parts. The cartoon model should be modified to represent the Transformers toy, not the other way around. Both should compliment each other, but at the end of the day, I'm not a fan of fake parts.

This is about how I feel. And I can't help but find it especially stupid when update toys (MP-44 school "masterpieces" being big offenders here) make ROTF Leader Optimus look like a 1-step... for the sake of imitating things that, on the cartoon, were simplifications (or stylizations, or misinterpretations!) of the source toy. It tends to hurt stability and durability, and it takes away from the feel that you're transforming that classic character.

At first look I was a bit disappointed by the figure... then after watching the video I was more ok with it.

The negatives - price, stupid gloves (which I have a feeling will be some sort of combination thing like that did with the core class weapons becoming a sword), faux parts, giant front cockpit in the tank mode. Scale - I feel both astro train and blitzing should be larger bots - leader if not commander scale for astrotrain.

The good - great robot mode, nice proportions, paint apps, solid and the transformation seems fun

Think he's a bit better than astro train as he's cleaner in robot mode and astro train had that unforgivable uncovered shuttle part.


I now hope they give us a new sandstorm to go with these guys - he's relatively simple to get right, the g1 toy was probably the best of the 6 triple changers as all modes were pretty good. Then a new broadside... Octane can wait, the TR one was pretty good.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:
... it doesn't seem to poke out significantly past the treads like we're seeing in this.

Look at the shadows. It does stick out considerably past the treads.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Also, I just realized this makes the faux-canopy even stupider because the cartoon shows the canopy being on the underside - what's up top in the cartoon model looks more like just markings (even if it was the canopy on the G1 toy)! So the faux-canopy is actually less accurate. Good f***ing job!

*sarcastic clapping*

Yeah, I'm not understanding the faux-canopy either. It's clearly the same piece as in jet mode, so it's not faux parts as the other poster said. But I don't get why they created a second canopy on the other side of the actual canopy.

I REALLY dig that Blitzwing! He looks great! I admit the giant gun hand confuse me (I mean, why?) but I can simply not use em, right?

~ Grim