Thoughts of the Surge: Blokees Transformers Rise of the Beasts 6-in-1 review

It's time to catch up with some of the very first Blokees we got back in 2023/4. While many would be fascinated by the plethora of G1 characters in buildable/chibi forms, not to mention a healthy dose of One characters getting more rep than the flop's own toyline, live-action characters did begin the line with a good selection of characters to check out. It was more of a test line back when Hasbro started doing more of these licensing things at a wider scale than they ever did. What used to be niche collector things like statues and Jada cars turned into a more affordable alternative to those expensive, super deformed figures and the Threezero Transformers. Blokees taps into the later category (the lategory), and they manage to be much better figures than I ever anticipated. Even though I reviewed the main Bayverse versions of Optimus Prime (twice) and Megatron, I have wanted to get the ROTB cast since I loved the movie, and I wanted to get some merch out of the characters after the snoozefest that was the Bumblebee movie. Let's see if these figures are worth going back to now that they have been released at your local Walmarts.

Here we have Optimus Prime in-hand, and he already looks fairly stylized compared to the other builds I covered earlier. See, for anyone wondering, the proportions are a little more on the child-side compared to the pretty spot-on physique of the classic Bayverse trilogy design; this Optimus has smaller shoulders and upper body, while the lower legs and forearms are more on the Mega Man side of chunkitude. Even the head sculpt is fairly larger on this figure, which is noticeable here than on the later 2007 body as we'll get to. That doesn't really make the figure bad, per se, but it should be worth mentioning that this was one of the more experimental figures Blokees came out with first when they were finding their ground. Thankfully, I have grown more accustomed to the BBM design thanks to those ROTB touches that make him feel somewhat closer to a younger Bayverse Prime rather than trying too hard to be Geewun-Beewun-ish, but with the oversaturation of chibified G1 Primes out there, I wouldn't have picked this up if I wasn't super into ROTB.

All figures come with the same, unpainted pieces with a faction symbol with the Autobot insignia on one side and the Decepticon insignia on the other; it's nonsensical to include this on everyone, given the double-sided nature, but apart from the scrapped Transit, there are absolutely no Decepticons in the movie whatsoever. It would have made more sense if they each had a dedicated faction piece with some paint applied. That way, not everyone would be stuck with this piece (especially given one character is a Maximal and the other a Terrorcon).

What makes Blokees special, apart from the novelty of assembling them like model kits, is the poseability they possess! Optimus Prime uses ball joints at the neck, shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles, while the elbows and knees use the double-peg and hinge joint combo to ensure rotation is possible in lieu of normal thigh and bicep rotation. Even the waist is on a swivel, and unlike the Bayverse faction leader duo, most ROTB Blokees have a double ball joint system so they can work similarly to the rotator cuffs on McFarlane DC Multiverse figures, only easier on the eyes because they're robots instead of humans/humanlike beings wearing costumes. Not only that, but he comes with a honking arm cannon that somehow makes the Mega Man allegations more apparent! It's even bigger than the one that came with the Studio Series version, and I bet you could modify it to be compatible with that figure. As for the best things Blokees do, shaking or lightly tapping them results in their eyes and sometimes chests lighting up, with the chest windows conveniently opening to reveal a the LED as if it was a spark chamber. Not a Matrix, for anyone really wanting to distance this movie from the main Bayverse films, you wishful thinking bastard, you! I kind of wish he had the blade and axe as well as an alternate face without a mouthplate. I also wish the effect parts weren't left in smokey black since they would pop easily had they been red or blue. On the flip side, all figures come with personalized stickers to represent the characters they come with.

For a size comparison, here he is with his eventual 2007 form (if we're referring to the in-universe timeline, not the real-world release date). You can see the size bump that Classic Class later got when we transitioned from the first wave to the era of figures our more recent Prime joined, namely the TF One characters and their similarly taller builds. If I'm honest, the shade of blue for ROTB Optimus Prime does make the light-up eyes bleed through the rest of the plastic, whereas they look more natural on the navy blue of the taller figure. As a result, it looks more like his entire head is glowing. I'm going to guess this is a result of them experimenting with their features at the time.

Up next, we have Optimus Primal. The Maximal Leader is mostly gunmetal, and while many would complain that he's rather monochromatic, it is accurate to the movie, and it does still fit well with this character design (even if he could work well in his classic 90s colors). In fact, I'm surprised only Threezero did Primal in his Beast Wars deco, and nobody else took advantage of that. Regardless, this figure still captures the influence of the Beast Wars design pretty well, though it does have a few hints of Beast Machines with the vague arm design, somewhat simpler torso design, and general proportions (even if they're stylized somewhat). While the body frame isn't as wide as Primal's design looks, he still doesn't look as chibified as Optimus Prime.

Articulation is generally the same, but he now has his effect parts in green while the weapons he comes with are two scimitars, and they're either held individually or dual-bladed on the same hand, like with his original BW toy. He also comes with an alternate faceplate piece that makes me wonder why Optimus couldn't be maskless. Granted, the average piece of Optimus Prime merch usually has him with his faceplate deployed if we're considering merchandise for Optimus from the 2007 movie all the way up to whatever the current TV show is, because I lost track after Cyberverse ended. He also comes with splayed open hands, should he want to be in more dynamic poses while holding his dual-bladed weapon.

As for Scourge, his figure seems fairly close to the proportions of his character model, though the shoulder pads and head are closer to the Studio Series figure. Those come from the outdated concept art, but while the figure isn't entirely accurate (Yolopark would fix that), it's still fairly close to the way he's supposed to look in the movie. Scourge had a very good design overall, and with the likes of Megatron, The Fallen, Sentinel Prime, and Lockdown generally setting the bar high, I like that Scourge was able to have his own stamp, from the arm blade (that is unusually facing outward) to the left arm claw, and the chest piece being comparable to the design we see on Ratchet (oh god, don't tell anyone that Scourge was also part-Bayverse Ratchet or else the Reddit idiots will start up their stupid fan theories!)

Articulation is about the same as the others, and in addition to his fiery effect pieces and articulated claw, he comes with optional shoulder pads to give you either concept art accuracy or proper final film accuracy. They even added in the general shapes for the faction logos, which makes sense given Scourge collected the insignias of the robots he killed during his servience under Unicron.

While the mask is removable, it is seemingly not meant to be for an alternate display option; as we all know, Scourge had his Terrorcon mask kicked off so we could all see he was just himself and not an established character, to the dismay of all the Bayverse haters and their dumbass fan theories. In this case, not only does the head look bad without the mask, given that there is an open slit underneath, but the inaccurate head design overall makes it look worse with that gap in the neck and that mullet thing. The face also looks more like a weird Guy Fawkes mask from V for Vendetta if it were used as a poker face.

After going through three different factions, let's all focus on the heavily biased Autobot representation with Mirage! I'm far behind with getting the AMK Pro version, and after feeling let down by the inability to merge the best of the Studio Series and mainline Deluxes, this is the best version of the character on my shelf right now. I'm not sure if the silver on him is either molded or painted, but it looks really nice, and it helps him stand out from the gunmetal grey used on his tires and other parts of his limbs. The combination of metallic blue also adds to a more premium look that is otherwise on an inexpensive model kit. His proportions seem generally close to the movie, though the shoulder pads are probably slightly oversized on him. Otherwise, he is not far off from being one of the best figures in not just this wave, but in the entire Blokees line-up. If I were choosing one or two characters from this line, he'd be the first option. I wish the rims were painted silver to stand out from the rest of the tires, but he still looks good.

We already know what to expect with the articulation, but the effect parts on him thankfully fit well with his holograph-generating nature. They'd almost go well with half-translucent or fully translucent versions of himself that we briefly saw when he tricked the police on the Manhattan Bridge or Scourge during the final battle. He comes with an arm cannon as well as alternate hands depicting him with either a finger bent somewhat and a pair of open hands, among his options. His sticker display base still has the nonexistent battle mask head design that never made any sense, given his promo art had it, yet no one made any reference to it. To knock a few points off, while the Y-shape for the torso is cool. His head glows even more than on Optimus Prime.

The general proportions are so much better than the Studio Series version; it's embarrassing to see how Porsche's licensing restrictions have severely compromised the character design. The lack of blue, the translucent arms, the hips sticking out further from the waist, and the awful kibble management make the Deluxe figure somehow worse than the non-transforming version, and Studio Series was meant to be about movie accuracy! Sure, one transforms, and the other doesn't, but you're better off saving a few bucks and sticking with the smaller figure..

Up next, we have the ever loveable Bumblebee. Aside from the yellow circles that are on the wings being minor distractions, this is yet a really good take on his character model compared to the other versions we got in the TF toylines. His benefits of not.transforming means he can have a properly compact chest, his wings are angled properly, and his head isn't undersized. Hell, the chibi proportions on the smaller Autobots seem pretty close to the CG models which I'm more than fine with for this guy. Of note, a bit of deco is used on his stomach region, as this is due to the utilization of a torso cover that bulks up his body frame somewhat. It's a similar build to what the 2007 Optimus and Megatron builds use.

The articulation is somewhat similar, but he doesn't have a double ball joint system for his shoulders, as they are instead replaced with regular ball stems that no doubt come from the same torso cover we looked at earlier. He comes with an arm cannon, though it would have been cool to give him a second cannon as well as a battle mask so we could recreate him jumping out of Stratosphere and blowing up those Dead End Minicon-looking balls that were falling into the Earth. His flame pieces are appropriately yellow, but what surprised me the most was an optional abdomen piece that includes a space for a shortened Scourge blade to recreate the stabbing scene during the museum battle where he briefly died. You could barely make out his back, but the front part of the blade, cast in clear orange plastic, goes on the slit smack dab in the middle of his wings. I should mention that while the other four figures I covered had their batteries replaced despite being kept safe from leakage or drainage with that plastic tab, this one managed to stay intact. Even with being left unsold, that doesn't do many favors, but Bee's battery still works. I would have joked that he is dead and that explains why his eyes don't work. His splayed open hands must have the yellow pieces swapped onto them if you want to display him with his fists unclenched.

Here we have him with the Studio Series version. I still like that figure fine enough, but it is nice to see the freedom that a non-transforming figure can gain when it isn't restricted to having to transform while still being reasonably accurate without going into MPM territory. Also the shade of yellow is better on the Blokees, but both are missing their forehead logos...perhaps Scourge took them?

And finally, we have Arcee, aka best version of the movie incarnation, aka best gal, aka one of the two best figures in the wave tied with Mirage. While the red parts are somewhat translucent, they at least have a metallic tint so as to make her feel more premium than the regular transforming toys. Her proportions are likely the closest to the movie if not for the size of her head, which is as big as her bosm and the suspicious cleavage line and white representing bare skin. The white and pink compliment the red and gunmetal, the arms and legs don't look too out of line with her character model, and we even get the movie accurate details like the windshield on the chest as well as the shoulder pylons and back wheels. Owing to her smaller build, she has a unique torso base that is not reused from the other 5 characters we covered.

Her articulation is slightly different than the other characters, as she uses no double ball system for her shoulders like with Bumblebee but she also has bicep rotation instead of having the rotation lie in the elbows with the same double peg & hinge joints normally found on the elbows and knees. Her effect parts are reused from Mirage, but they work fine enough. Since she has no peg holes at the bottom of her feet, a flight stand is instead utilized for her to pose in mid-jump with her arm cannons deployed. Her wheels can be swapped from her back to the lower legs so she can recreate her wheel skating scene during the Switchback Chase sequence. Only the Studio Series version go to do that.

And here we have herself with the Core Class version of her, which is closer to the concept art we briefly see on her sticker. The head design and torso detailing are major giveaways, especially with how the former on the Blokees version has that somewhat rounded and softer look on her than the more angular, segmented face from the promo art. Also, while not as noticeable as on Optimus and Mirage, the light on the eyes bleeds through the rest of the face, but at least she has a light up spark chamber above her robo cleavage. Also, that Arcee thigh stamp vaguely reminds me of the RC 1100 on the old Deluxe toy.

Overall, while they're not lined up in that specific order, I would rank these figures as the following: Optimus in 6th place for feeling too stylized and incomplete in terms of accessories, Primal in 5th place for being somewhat monochromatic, Scourge in 4th place for retaining the inaccurate head if we're going to have him the alternate shoulder pads, Bumblebee in 3rd only because he could use a battle mask but is otherwise great, Mirage in 2nd, and Arcee in 1st.

Overall, this wave may show some of its flaws as we delve into the later waves, at least the ones I got to experience (though I know the Champion Class is the best of the main Blokees offerings), it's still not a bad start to what became one of Hasbro's best license partners when it comes to Transformers figures at an affordable price range. I wish we got Wheeljack, the remaining Maximals and Terrorcons, and why not, Transit, too. As it stands, it's a 5 v 1! Oh well, I got these at discount from Walmart before Christmas came and went, so if you're lucky, the same could apply to you if there are some in stock. Most of these I got for $5, two J got for $10, and Arcee was given to me for a trade.

For anyone wondering, I don't have beast mode Primal and Nemesis Prime yet. Maybe some day, but I would trade the former for Airazor and the latter for Nightbird. It sucks Nemesis gets the arm blades and the axe that should have come with Optimus, but maybe I'll comply and get those if I feel bored and want more Blokees stuff.