Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Transformers Studio Series 86 Blurr review

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go! Gotta go faster, faster, faster, faster, faster! Movin' at speed of sound (make tracks)! Quickest hedgehog around! Got ourselves a situation, stuck in a new location, Sonic, he's on the run! Sonic, he's comin' next, So watch out... For Sonic reminding us that this is Blurr the whole time? Oh fucks shit, you're right! Anyways Blurr was a blue speedster before it was cool, especially considering how Blurr's not as popular as Sonic is. Not a bad thing since he at least showed up in other media. He was in Armada with Geewunners not recognizing him, then in Animated as part of the Elite Guard, returned in the Aligned universe as both an ally of Team Bee and the Rescue Bots, and showed up in Cyberverse for ONE episode only to die within it. Anyways, let's get to his review.


Here is Blurr in his vehicle mode, which is a futuristic car without a rooftop. It's accurate to the movie, what with the front of the design as well as the fin and the color scheme. It's sleek, blue, and definitely a sign that it contrasts quite a bit from the Autobot Cars of the past. Is it me, or does the seat in the middle make this a convertible like Arcee? It's something weird, but it does look more like a cruiser that Anakin and Obi-Wan would ride in Attack of the Clones than a futuristic car...maybe that's the point!


While not my favorite design of all time, it is good that the details and colors work well. Also, there are no tires on this guy which is kind of funny since this would make him less of a car.


The front can store the weapons underneath, which is pretty neat and refreshing that they don't have any 5mm posts ruining the design.


For a vehicle mode size comparison, here is Blurr alongside Kup (who I reviewed a while back) and Hot Rod! These three were the main Autobot Cars of the 1986 line, and it's nice to see that they scale with each other nicely. Of the three, I like Hot Rod's car mode the most thanks to it looking more believable than the Coruscant vehicle Blurr has and the weirdo truck Kup turns into.


Transformation is fairly accurate to how I expect for this guy, but what I like about this guy is how the legs, chest, and outer parts of the torso transform. It makes him less bland than he would otherwise be, and I also appreciate that his transformation ends up making him more accurate to the robot mode. He looks sleek as well as accurate to the cartoon, though the only thing that feels a little clunky being the kibble underneath the forearms. I'm sure the design has those, but it reaches up to the back of his shoulders and likely touches them, too. The back having the nose of the vehicle mode is fine by me since having it partsform would be dumb.


Head sculpt is very accurate to Blurr, and aside from having the two-toned blue helmet and the fin on the top (with the yellow trapezoid), his face is painted white and has blue light-piped eyes. Very nice. His articulation is consistent with the WFC Deluxes, but while he has wrist swivels, they're used for the transformation only. 


His weapons are the same we covered, but the white plastic is thankfully decent in quality, not as cheap as the blaster that came with Combiner Wars Air Raid. His gun is accurate to the design while he has a welding tool that he used in the Junkion planet or whatever.


And here is the first repaint of the mold so far, it's a Shattered Glass take of the guy! He's given black detailing around parts of the figure, a yellow chest window, and replaces most of the white with gray to make him more of an electric look that contrasts the speedy nature of the regular Blurr. Also new to the future is the head sculpt that depicts himself with an eyepatch as an evil Autobot.


Blurr was given an even larger retool based on his IDW design, giving him a fairly distinct front for the alt mode and a more determined head sculpt than the G1 version. This guy is so cool, it makes up for me not being able to get the SG version.


Let's compare him to his prior counterparts! They are the Titans Return/Legends figure as well as the Generations retool of Drift. The Legends version is used because its color scheme is more comparable with the color scheme being accurate compared to the Hasbro version's desaturated deco. Headmaster-gimmick-not-being-Blurr's-schtick aside, the previous figure was one of the better offerings from the line in terms of design and quality, and while the proportions were a little wonkier than with the Studio series version, this guy was the closest to the cartoon of the three Autobot Cars. The Generations figure was not only a head swap of Blurr but was also retooled to use the new gun accessories. I think the figure is so specific to Drift that it makes this design feel awkward for Blurr. At least characters like Brainstorm, Arcee, and Nautica were retooled to look distinct from Blurr in Titans Return.


And here he is with the other Autobots known for appearing in the 86 movie. I don't have Kingdom Magnus so Siege is here to stay in the pics! Inb4 people say we need a new Springer, just remove the battle damage and don't mess up the yellow paint. Blurr fits in nicely with the other Autobot allies, especially when it comes to his deco not feeling washed out and consistent with the rest of the more colorful Autobots like Hot Rod, Arcee, and Springer. Also, as much as I dislike the 86 movie, I think these guys are better developed than the Season 1 and 2 Autobots, but they pale in comparison to the more iconic groups of Autobots, whether it's the Armada gang, the MV1 and AOE 5-man groups, the Animated team, TFP's Team Prime, and the Maximals from Beast Wars/Machines. That being said, don't let my somewhat lukewarm feel of G1's characters make you think that Blurr's a crap toy; he's a solid figure in the line and one that would be great to own even if you got the Legends version. He's the definitive Blurr in my collection, and I'll happily take him in my collection.


Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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