Blokees Transformers Dark of the Moon Megatron & Bumblebee review

The best Transformers movie of all time gets the spotlight once again, this time with the Blokees line straying away from the blind bags of G1 minis and giving two of DOTM's stars some needed Classic Class sets. Bumblebee has had one for ROTB and Megatron in his 2007 form, but I'll always welcome more variations of these two. After all, what better way to celebrate this masterpiece than to have some additional characters from said masterpiece while we wait for DOTM Sentinel Prime to make his way. So get your pseudo-wedding rings and trans warp pillars ready, because these two will take the review spotlight. Also, expect me to compare the Yolopark version of this design, also in a scale similar to the Classic Class.

Here we have Bumblebee fully assembled and very accurate to his DOTM model. Something that the average transforming figure doesn't really get right would be the bulkier proportions found on this version of Bee; the shoulders are larger here than on usual versions of the character, and the rib section is more pronounced this time with the silver pieces on the deformed car front, making him somewhat reminiscent of his TFP counterpart on that front. As a result, the bot mode feels more dynamic than the prior versions of the character, which, at least in MV1 and ROTF, were a bit leaner in comparison. I also like that the shade of yellow is closer to what was on-screen instead of the brighter yellow associated with G1 Bumblebee. The doors on the back are more angled and closer together, which is always a bonus, and I also appreciate that the wheels aren't entirely obscuring them like on most transforming toys. Most of the time, the upper body is too broad to accommodate Deluxe engineering limitations, meaning the arms are farther from the body at times or the wings are closer to where they'd be on a G1 toy. Only the 2007 Deluxe, the MPM, and Studio Series versions based on the Camaro Concept design got that right, though the third example still has the wheels sticking out a bit more than normal (aka past the shoulders). The only thing I would change is adding some paint to make the Chevy logo stand out better, but beyond that, Blokees does the Bayverse designs some real justice in this scale.

As for Megatron, we once again run into a similar problem with the Yolopark version where the body is barely colored to match the CG model. Granted, the beats the weird green on the competing counterpart, but this feels more like a prototype with no real color break up. As usual, the sculpt looks great, and I love the asymmetrical arms, with one hand closer to a normal humanoid look and the other with a claw-like design that leaves me wondering: is this a tease for an updated ROTB Scourge from Blokees? So while the colors are not as ill-fitting as the green on Yolopark and the sculpt is still great, he could really go for some proper rust paint apps or a wash to make the sculpt pop better.

Articulation is mostly the same for both, but with a few differences. Both have ball joints for the necks, shoulders, wrists, waists, hips, and ankles, in addition to double jointed knees, but while Bumblebee uses the standard elbow/bicep joints, Megatron only has elbow joints with no real method of rotation. Bee also has double joints for the shoulders so they can shrug or raise better, which helps given how big the shoulder cannons are. Megatron does have a thumb joint to help keep his rifle in place, while his claw is at 4 points. Bee has alternate splayed open hands as well as an arm cannon that can split in half and go over the ball joint where the right hand used to be. Both have the same base that came with Jetwing Prime and matching flames to their colors.

Bumblebee has shoulder cannons that peg into the small rings between each shoulder and his head, though the small size makes it hard to do without disassembling him. Also, one of the rings has cracked though nothing is really broken yet, so be careful with your copy. Still, the inclusion of these missile racks is a rarity on Bumblebees like this, especially given how the Battle Ops version was the one closest to the film both in design and where they come from. And he also has the battle mask that straight up looks even better when you can see the eyes peering from behind. Wish he had a tiny Autobot insignia on the forehead but there's so much we can do. Also, you can barely tell, but the headlights are also glowing but barely given the distribution of the light in the torso versus where the pecs are placed.

Here he is next to his ROTB counterpart, showcasing a size bump and an evolution of sorts to his design. It makes me want to see the other versions of Bumblebee in the first two movies as well as AOE and TLK, even the designs he had in the Bumblebee movie. If we can get a beehive in Studio Series scale, then we can get one here.

Speaking of Studio Series, here we have him with the DOTM retool. I appreciate that we can have mostly consistent versions of Bee from the main Bayverse trilogy with the same base mold, but the Blokees version not only looks better as a benefit from not needing to transform, but he also fits in great with normal Studio Series figures!

Here is Megatron with his 2007 self. Weird how we skipped over the ROTF version, though maybe it's due to the 15th anniversary of DOTM, and who knows if Blokees will do anymore Champion Class dudes who are not from TFOne. I don't know if the silver is fully painted or molded in that color, but you can see the effort one has from trying to pop on a shelf better than the other. Imagine if the colors on the DOTM version were used on the 2007 body. It sure wouldn't look as nice, even with the price tag.

Here he is next to his Yolopark counterpart. The timing between these two seems a lot closer than expected, and I don't know if there was any embargo either company had to respect. Anywho, the colors on the Yolopark version are worse in some ways, and the silver doesn't help make the olive green look any more tolerable. That being said, both would look better if we had a needed wash for the two, and maybe some silver for parts of the gray used on Blokees Megs. Yolopark does win by including a place to store his rifle and bicep rotation, but neither have a cloak.

Overall, while Bumblebee is a slam dunk like prior Classic Class figures, Megatron looks more like a prototype in comparison. Still, for what you're paying, you can do much worse. At the very least, these two still cost around what Deluxes used to be worth, and while I can be harsher on a $20 Blokees than I would a $10 AMK Mini, you still get more value and quality than the price hiking at Hasbro. Now that's a fairer comparison than using 3P figures and average Deluxes (though comparing KOs of MPMs to the Leaders we have today makes more sense). I still recommend them, but be ready to improve your Megatron...again.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Bumblebee)

⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Megatron)

Transformers Generations Thrilling 30 Metroplex review

Titan Class figures have been a thing for over a decade, which is a crazy thing to even realize, considering how much has changed for the Generations line since 2013. Say what you will about the Thrilling 30 subline, but one can't deny how monumental something like a Transformer measuring over 2 feet would be, hype wise. Before then, the last time we had a toy that tall was with Fortress Maximus from the 1987 wave of Generation One, and most toys since then have been only a few inches taller than Leader Class figures. Not even the hideous Supreme Cheetor could be as tall as the giant Headmaster! With the 30th anniversary of the franchise being a massive event, and arguably one that felt larger than the 40th anniversary, what better way to celebrate than to start the Class of the Titans with he who heeds the call of the last Prime? By the way, for anyone wondering: while this figure resembles the FOC design, it is mostly meant to be G1 but modernized with heavy detailing and the like. Anyways, let's get to the review!

Before we begin, why don't we take a look at the Legends figure that came with this giant? This is Scamper, a 6-wheeled car that'd no doubt have a bit of a Cybertronian Batmobile/KITT look to it. Though notably small, we have a decent level of detailing for the windows and what will be the shins of the robot mode. The wheels generally roll fine, though the front two are on an axle like on Hot Wheels cars, while the rear four are each snap-on pegs. The figure has one sticker used out of the whole set, that being the Autobot insignia. With how small and negligent it is, on top of the toy already having a few paint apps, would it have hurt Hasbro to give him a tampograph?

The gun can be pegged on the roof, which is expected for any carformer with a gun. It does add a bit of color for anyone believing it's a little too bright.

For an altmode comparison, here he is next to WFC Trilogy duo Six-Gun from Siege and Slammer from Kingdom. I'm surprised that we didn't get an Earthrise Slammer retooled heavily from the repeatedly reused Siege Sideswipe. As a result of being a Legends figure with no new updates since then, he is the odd bot out amongst the Metroplex partner trio. 

Transformation is pretty simple: the backs of the legs straighten out, and the crotch joins them, so we can tab the chest down and straighten the arms (with the wheels facing the back). The robot mode is very close to Sideswipe's, from the back becoming part of the legs to the front being a flat hood chest, so the insignia faces forward. Even the back kibble is close to the usual design we see with Swipe, albeit lifted up higher along with the shoulders, resulting in his head sinking down a bit more than normal. The wider forearms and the hollowed lower legs (from the back) stem from the design limitations of a Legends figure, though it is forgivable for the size class given, I know Dr Lockdown would make his cock drown if I bash a tiny toy. Still, he may be named Scamper, but he has the look of a bouncer, especially with those shades and the black of the altmode. 

Articulation consists of ball joints for the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. With this being made around the time the Cyberverse line (aka not the 2018 series but the toyline we had for Dark of the Moon and the last 2 years of Prime). The gun uses another 5mm port on the back, which makes me wonder what purpose it will serve when he can't even do the Takara Headmaster gimmick.

The Takara version of their Metroplex from the early 2010s was slightly different from the original Hasbro version, but the later Legends version uses an insignia tampograph and black plastic for the biceps, thighs, and wheels. I'd argue it looks even better than what we had.

And who can forget about this random little repaint? This is Scorponok as he appeared in the 2-pack with Fractyl, who is a repaint of Combiner Wars Terrorsaur. This is how he appeared in Beast Wars: Uprrising, with the story "Identity Politics" using influence from the glorious Breaking Bad (with Scorpy being Jesse Pinkman and Megatron becoming Walter White).

Need I say more about the robot mode sizes? At least the trio is complete, and hey, he can be like the Wolverine or Puck of the team, given his persistence which makes him larger than life rather than his size.

Now it's time to do some somewhat awkward photos for the city mode. Yes, with how massive he is and the overall length of his legs increasing for this segment, I had to improvise. Hopefully, he won't blend in too much with this blanket. As for the way the city mode looks, it's about as much of a robot laying down as one would expect. Thankfully, we have a few ramps and cannons to make it feel closer to a battle station. That and the cannons represent plenty of towers to give that illusion. The head is in plain sight, but at least the cannon mode sort of hides the face. The roads at least lead to different stickers around the inner walls to represent the workings and schematics of this base. And hey, we have some pillars on the left with no real purpose.

As for other play features, Scamper can man the turret on the right arm and hold onto the handles without issue. Alternatively, he can roll down the ramp from the chest connected to the inner leg, while Scamper can roll out from one of the legs. And yes, Soundwave sprayed Cybertronian graffiti over the insignia. 

Even Sixgun has some use for this as a contributor to the playset-like city mode. With the helipad made from the top half of his chest's left side, he can fulfill his role as a VTOL jet. He can just barely fit on, but it is now possible for him to rest in place. Oh, and as we're about to show, two of his gun parts can be plopped all over the figure where a 5mm port is available.

The best part is the ability to take Sixgun apart and live up to his name by turning him into additional weapons for the city mode. Slammer can also turn into a tower, something I always wanted to do for years ever since getting him as the Kingdom line ended. He makes the city mode feel slightly more complete. 

Here we have Metroplex in his wheeled aircraft carrier mode. It looks like it could also go in the sea but that's mostly reserved for Broadside. The look of this mode is comparable to a midway mode for a Megazord than an actual mode. Do keep in mind that my copy, belonging to longtime friend Ernie, has the stickers fraying from age and some have been lost, so I may need to replace them. We have two paths on the bay, one meant for landing and another for takeoff, and we have the cannons from the towers now serving another purpose for this mode. If you had two red guns, then they can fit near the runways without leaving an asymmetrical cannon on the same spot.

We also have some added firepower with another turret with dedicated seat on the left side of Metroplex, while an articulated claw can be deployed this time for repairs on certain jetformers. Love how all of the guns have handles for the turrets so Scamper can man them without the vibe of being an afterthought type of play feature.

Transformation is very close to the G1 design, but with an altmode like this where you're not really turning into something that specific, it makes sense for the most part. The resulting robot mode is a blend of his usual G1 design with some aesthetics borrowed from Fall of Cybertron. It makes sense given how the IDW comics at the time were using some influence from the games despite those being part of the Aligned Continuity. That's not to say he is truly Sunbow accurate or intended to be part of FOC, but he mostly celebrates his overall history at least in any G1-inspired media. The synched waist doesn't bother me as much, even if he could use a beryllium baloney sandwich. Or cesium salami. I wish he used a wash to make the white plastic's sculpted details stand out better, especially when we have a much larger canvas to work with compared to smaller toys. Yeah, the stickers help make the toy feel more complete, and I bet the ToyHax stickers would be even better, but imagine what magic can come from using a wash to highlight the rich level of detail.

Head sculpt is the coolest Metroplex has ever looked, at least in official plastic form. I just wish it was painted properly without all the bare white plastic making these details appear faint. Making up for that compromise is the light and sound feature. On the bridge that houses Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Bumblebee, and Arcee as stickers, pressing it activates sound effects from Fall of Cybertron and the following voice clips: "Metroplex heeds the call of the last Prime", "Foolish Decepticons", "Target synchronizing initiated", "Target obliterated", "These Decepticons scatter like cowards", and "Till all are one". Pointing the antennae back retracts the visor, though it does look a bit weird that way. Articulation consists of swivels for the neck and wrists, ratchets for the shoulders, biceps, elbows, waist, hips, thighs, and knees, and hinges for the fingers and thumbs. Being an older Titan means he can do the horns and bird but not the peace sign or a proper thumbs up. The eyes are on a lever for looking left and right, a rare feature for Transformers as a whole, really. Sadly, it's hard to appreciate the feature because of the blinking LEDs. Not as frustrating as the legs being floppy despite using ratchet joints. I will attempt to fix that to make them secure like with later figures.

The shoulder cannons can be held in his hand if his red blaster isn't enough. By the way, all 3 weapons almost look like space frigates with all of the sculpted details to make them look less simplistic in their appearances. Huge props to the people who worked in this figure. The orange is distracting, though it is said to be for safety reasons.

The SDCC & Takara versions arguably best the original Hasbro version. The former comes with an extra cannon, toy-accurate chrome on the face and hips, and 12 minifigures representing Orion Pax, Bumblebee, Trailcutter, Hoist, Megatron, and Thundercracker, with the Autobots in red and Decepticons in purple (or gold and silver in the Asian version). The Takara version replaces some of the black plastic with white, while extra paint apps were used to reduce the number of stickers needed. No orange was used for the guns. It was reissued much later to coincide with the release of Takara's Trypticon. Oh and it looks like I missed out on a secret missile compartment on the left side.

Now for some size comparisons, starting with Fortress Maximus. It's funny how not only was the figure retooled from Metroplex, but Fort Max reclaimed his title as the tallest TF toy ever until HasLab Unicron showed up, and I'm not counting any 3P releases. Also, I prefer Metroplex overall because he still has weapons from the get go while regular Hasbro Fort Max had neither a huge cannon or the Master Sword. As for Trypticon, some complained about him being slightly shorter, but I'd rather have what we have than deal with more shrinkage (foreshadowing).

Next we have him with Omega Supreme, who is shorter than him but at least feels more stable as a toy. Plus, at least I can find the scale easier to stomach, but the prices do get higher from here. Scorponok thankfully fits better in scale with someone like him, even if he is better suited for Fort Max.

While Metroplex is unusually taller than the Ark, he at least has a comparable height to that of his Cybertron counterpart. I find it cool that we got both a classic and modern-ish version of the character. Sucks we didn't get Drill Bit to go with CybPlex, though.

The scale with Nemesis is has the same thoughts and feelings shared with the Ark, though she is at least seemingly taller thanks to the nature of her design. Sadly, Tidal Wave cost $50-75 more than what Metroplex went for if we count their regular MSRP, and with a more noticeable size decrease than what Omega Supreme had, everyone was in the right to worry. Sure, I like Tidal Wave like anyone else, but he was far from being worth the $200 price tag when he was smaller than Metroplex, had no electronics like everyone else did since Trypticon (ignoring Devastator and Predaking in addition to me not having either), and who can forget about him not having a Minicon in the form of Ramjet?

Sadly, the Titan Class price may have decreased, but so have the figures. Star Convoy may be mostly cool, but he is not worth the $150 price tag that he went for compared to the $125 that most places sold T30 Metroplex. Also, while we'll see if Titan Class Grimlock will truly be worth owning at that scale in spite of some of the issues new to him, I doubt he'd convey the value for money sense we got with the original Metroplex. Honestly, if you can still get this figure for a reasonable price and are willing to paint him up yourself, you can do worse. The best part about this set would have to be the lights and sounds; with most toys nowadays trying to appeal to the international markets and saving a fraction of a cent, I love hearing the English voice clips on this toy without having to hear any bland name or faction shout outs like with Fort Max. Metroplex isn't 100%, but he's still a satisfying toy to mess around with and display along with your other Titans and Season 3 characters.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐