Transformers Legacy Blitzwing review

Blitzwing has been frequently shown in numerous iterations of the Transformers multiverse, from G1's different variants to Animated and making his cinematic debut in Bumblebee as a Decepticon that dies early on (that nobody batted an eye over because of course). G1 Blitzwing's gotten different versions of his own toys apart from the original, mainly the Thrilling 30 with the numerous flaws that upset fans to the Titans Return version that was meant to come out but we got Megatron first. Legacy, much like the War for Cybertron trilogy, is set to make the most out of the G1 cast by making their toys much more refined without using gimmicks that are line-wide, but will that mean Legacy's take on the triple changer gets to be the definitive version of the character? Well, I'm not PrimeVsPrime so I won't automatically go "THIS IS THE BEST VERSION EVER" so let's take a look at this guy.

Here is Blitzwing in his tank mode, being a much more traditional design that's found with the character. The color scheme is the standard deep desert sand beige primary color choice with purple to break up the monotony. The proportions work well for the most part, and I do like how there is a good amount of sculptwork on it in spite of the quantity being slightly smaller than before. Some might find the turret a little undersized compared to the rest of the tank, but that's likely because of the integration of the jet mode. However, there is one thing many brought up numerous times that needs to be mentioned, and that is the phallic front section where the exposed jet cockpit remains! I know that's a bit of an homage to the G1 toy and the cartoon to an extent, but it looks pretty stupid on there without being able to fold away properly. If it were at least able to be shifted halfway into the rest of the tank, it'd still look bad but not to this extent.

The turret can rotate while the barrel can hinge up and down. The weapon storage itself is standard for the line, with the guns on the sides and the sword slapped on top. The guns can be pegged onto the other 5mm ports of the sides, but the purple ones stress the rims for some reason. The big missile pods are the one thing people don't like about this toy considering how nevermind the figure's prices are much higher than normal for a figure half the size of Leader Class figures 10-15 years ago; these pieces are the bane of any fan's existence apparently! Honestly, they look fine here. The red is appreciative since it breaks up the color and also it being in clear plastic makes it work better than had it been opaque.

 

For a vehicle mode size comparison, he definitely looks oversized next to Blitzwing. It was inevitable, let's be real. While the train mode comes with a tender to extend the length of the trail mode in addition to tons of guns, Blitzwing utilizes the weapons that he comes with to justify the Leader Class price point. I think our spaceman wins in this front by an extension.

Transformation into the jet mode is pretty cool, with the way you fold a sand beige tank into a purple jet, and I really like how the wings unfold from the legs. And always, the tank mode hides in the bottom and kind of ruins the otherwise nice-looking jet mode. It's got such a dynamic presence from the top, especially one that fits the bruiser look Blitzwing possesses. I love the silver added on the vertical tailfins and the nosecone, both of which compliment the jet along with the other silver accents and any yellow paint apps. Once again, the vehicle mode has something from another mode that compromises it from a certain area, including the tank kibble that sticks out like a sore thumb.

The weapon storage for this mode is about what you'd expect, though the missile pods become the hand gauntlets rather early to make clunky, chunky extensions to the back. The guns work as null-rays in this case while the sword is under the turret.

And for another vehicle mode size comparison, we have him next to Astrotrain, who utilizes his tender as a launch pad/treaded crawler vehicle albeit without the ability to remain flat properly. These two vehicles scale a little better than the original, but no by much. I think both characters have a few issues with handling the Leader Class pricepoint in this mode.

Transformation into the robot mode is pretty robust, from the way the tank parts fold away while consisting of the faux wings to the turret filling in the back, and from the wings keeping the legs from becoming hollow to the panels of the robot filling in the gaps. And yep, the resulting robot mode is very G1 accurate. It's a blocky but still refined take on the G1 design, and it does the job pretty well. I like the silver thighs going along with the paint apps on his torso and midriff, but I can't say that this figure is visually interesting considering how it feels reminiscent of some Earthrise toys that go for the G1 look but not doing too much that's considered interesting. Granted, he's better than someone like Hoist or Snapdragon, but I'd say it does the job alright.

Head sculpt is the norm for a character like him. A blocky yellow head with a red visor and a silver face underneath it. As for the articulation, the head is on a ball joint, shoulders can move front and back if you move the shoulder flaps up, in and out, bicep swivels, elbow bends, wrist swivels, a waist swivel, hips that move front and back (also with skirt panels) as well as in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle pivots. 

The weapons he comes with are the standard for someone like him. His sword is nicely painted and does look cool but the blade is made out of PVC for some reason despite other swords in the past being made out of ABS. The guns are standard for the line and may or may not utilize the blast effect pieces.

And now we can put the gauntlets on his hands. The purple combined with the clear red makes a nice combination in contrast to the aforementioned comments on me saying it wouldn't look good if the red was opaque. The hands themselves remind me of Hellboy! Butt the funny thing is that people HATE these pieces because never mind that the figure is the most G1 accurate version of the character ever made; those accessories ruin the value of the toy and there will never ever be a good G1 Blitzwing!!!! Honestly, this helps make an otherwise uninteresting character feel a little more interesting since these can go well with making him look like he can use finger lasers or brute force amplified with these gauntlets. I don't think they truly justify the Leader price point, but if you hate them, PUT THEM AWAY! Anyways, let's compare him to his previous iterations. The Thrilling 30 version may have the most stylized look, from the Seeker cockpit to the rounded design as it takes elements of his Animated incarnation, but he immensely suffered from numerous quality control issues with the shoulders and the face-changing gimmick. Titans Return Blitzwing is pretty clunky and may not have the best front section for a tank mode, but I'll give him credit for being otherwise complete. I know people would not want to qualify the toy because it was a Headmaster, but he otherwise manages to be great enough to keep on a CHUG shelf if you don't want Legacy Blitzwing. Hell, one thing both of these characters have compared to the Legacy version is that they are both taller than this guy AND cost less! I know inflation has been a thing, but it makes you wonder what Hasbro is trying to aim for.

For a robot mode size comparison with Astrotrain, which utilizes the tender as a backpiece as well as a combined cannon and slippers. These two have numerous flaws in terms of how they aim to use the Leader Class price point compared to other characters like Galvatron, Ultra Magnus, and even Doubledealer in spite of that guy's flaws. Of the two, Astrotrain is probably the better Leader Class Triple Changer out of the two offerings we have here, especially considering how he manages to have better-engineered vehicle modes while making the most out of the accessories he has. Blitzwing's vehicle modes each have a glaring issue and his accessories don't feel like they're enough to make him worthy of the price point. Then there's the discount Astrotrain got that made him even more valuable for the affordability. We don't know if Blitzwing will be discounted since that's pretty inconsistent with the WFC trilogy these days. But overall, I'd only recommend Blitzwing if you're a super fan of G1, if you never got a version of him, or if you are completing the Legacy line. There are things I like about him, but I can't say he's 100% perfect considering how some stuff pulls him back.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers Legacy Velocitron Speedia 500 Scourge review

Last review, I mentioned that two Legacy figures in Wave 1 were NOT purchased for specific reasons. Firstly, with Arcee, it was because I didn't like the design as Arcee and preferred it to be used on different characters. And now for Laser Prime, it was because I already got Earthrise Optimus Prime as the default G1 Optimus Prime, but more importantly, Scourge was a figure I always wanted in my collection. He wears the Laser mold much better and is one of the best parts of RID 2001. In fact, I wanted to diversify the collection with a figure like him, so RID 2001 got more attention than G2 in this instance. I'm pretty sure I'll have a hard time finding the original toy, and I always wanted to get the RTS Deluxe mold back then, but now, I can have a version of Scourge that is worth owning. So much like Thew going for MP-10B Black Convoy, I chose the black repaint of the toy and we'll be covering it today!

Here is Scourge in his vehicle mode. It's the same truck style he had back in 2001 (and by extension, 1995 with Laser Optimus Prime). The details are more refined for this guy than they normally are on the old toy, and the color layout is mostly the same as we've seen back in the early 2000s. It's a pretty good intermediate state between G1 Optimus Prime's truck mode and the designs associated with the Movie and Prime incarnations of the character. The pink of the figure is actually from the Takara version of the original Black Convoy, though it will be a bit of an issue as we'll get to in the robot mode. Amusingly, you can see a little bit of the pink seeping through on the 5mm port behind the bumper. The teal on the windows looks pretty good, though the decals are a little different than what we've seen before. Tell you the truth, it's a little inaccurate, but it does work well with the design of the toy. I'd rather it have that than reuse the flames of Laser Prime for the sake of being more Scourge and less Optimus.

The overall design itself is not too shabby, though like with Earthrise Optimus Prime (from which the hips, thighs, the front of his lower legs (except for the shin vents), and feet are borrowed from), the legs aren't as stable as with Siege Optimus due to a lack of pegs that keep it straight. Thankfully, there are tabs on the doors to mitigate that, but the thighs being exposed next to the gas tanks don't do much. It was ugly on Earthrise Prime, and it's ugly here. Also much like Laser Prime, his tires are hollowed out, but at least they're new compared to the reused Studio Series tires.

And then there is the tanker trailer. This thing isn't as shiny chrome as it was before, but it still looks great considering this could have been bare gray plastic instead of something presentable. There's a great level of sculpt work all throughout it, and it puts the ghastly G1 trailer of Earthrise Prime and even the Studio Series DOTM trailer. There is a stand that keeps it stable whenever Scourge isn't using it, and it's also much better than what G1 Prime had without the stabilizers.

The overall complete truck looks great, especially with the trailer's presentability being much better than on other Leader counterparts. The turn radius is also solid compared to what Earthrise Prime had to go with, though the arms do get in the way somewhat. 

There is weapon storage within not just the trailer but also on the truck itself. The shield can fold its handle away so it can peg onto the legs...

...while the sword itself goes underneath the truck. Isn't anything too imaginative, but it reminds me of how they handled the weapon storage for practically every Western Star take of Optimus Prime in AOE and TLK.

For a truck mode comparison, here he is with Optimus Prime from the Earthrise line. While I don't have Netflixis Prime nor RID 2001 Prime yet, these two make great toys all around considering how much they were able to capture what fans would want at a Leader Class price point while being Voyagers with benefits in vehicle mode at least. It's also nice to have a completely different character take up the Legacy mold since much like Thew, I already got a main G1 Prime in my collection, but I did wait for a Scourge repaint and we'll see how much it delivers on that note for the deco.

Transformation is another take on the Laser Prime design traits we've seen in the past. While the legs no longer extend and the arms are now separate from the shoulder pads (more on that), we end up with a pretty elaborate effort on making this guy feel more complex while still maintaining the spirit of the original toy. And as for the robot mode, it continues to show how altered the deco is from the original design. As it turns out, this guy is more Nemesis Prime than Scourge due to the deco artist not being too familiar with the character (for some reason) and the sprue tree not being consistent with the proper colors for Scourge & Laser Prime. That's why the color scheme is inaccurate, especially with the windows (though they are reminiscent of Reveal the Shield toy). The deco could probably benefit from having some paint applied onto the shoulder parts at least, but the rest of the deco is fairly decent even if it's inaccurate. The solid black crotch is stupid since it was already grey on the original Laser Prime. Beyond that, the design of the figure is mostly good, but we'll talk about the arms in a bit. The kibble being the truck windows is the same as always. Oh, and don't forget a panel to cover the back.

Head sculpt looks great, being much more aggressive and evil in the case of Scourge for the latter category. The pink glowing eyes are much more prominent thanks to the stronger vibrance they possess, and the teal compliments the silver nicely. It puts Earthrise and Legacy Prime to shame for not making the eyes easier to find. As for the articulation, it's mostly the same as with Earthrise Prime in the form of the head, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. The wrists are ball-jointed this time, and the biceps are higher up compared to them being the forearms like on any normal G1 Prime. The shoulders, though, are not part of the now-stationary truck nose halves. Likely because the shoulders would require being in a Hasbro budget for the current decade, we cannot have the truck halves move in unison with the rest of the arms. It sucks because the range feels limited because of it, and the measly flaps at the front don't do much. 

One thing that is nice is that the shoulders now have missile pods that haven't been done before, and similar to the Reveal the Shield mold, this guy gets himself a Matrix of Leadership taken from Laser Optimus Prime and carried over to this mold. It's mostly pink like the rest of the parts, and it opens differently compared to the standard methods G1 Primes have.

And now we have the trailer, which functions similarly to the original toy but without any of the spring-loaded features. It's not as impressive as the original one, but to its credit, it has less missing than on G1 Prime's trailer in the Earthrise line. You do have a tower turret, a claw, and storage for the sword and axe, at least. The tower can be removed from the 5mm post if you want.

And the weapons themselves are as pink as Patrick Star! The sword itself may seem a little gaudy, though it being entirely one color is accurate to the show. The axe is weird since it looks more like a paddle than a proper axe. Both weapons can be combined into a superweapon, and the turret tower can wield its dual-barrel gun if you so choose, though the former is pretty unwieldy. Both weapons require you have the tab facing away from the palm because there is a gap between the index finger and thumb. Even the Matrix stays on there, making it reminiscent of the concept art for the Aligned Star Saber (before we got the final lightsaber-esque design for Transformers Prime). 

For a comparison to Scourges of the past, we have the original, the TFCC repaint of the Reveal the Shield mold, and Takara's Legends exclusive repaint of Titans Return Optimus Prime. The original was an already good toy with a simple yet effective transformation, great amount of articulation that holds up pretty well to this day, and not having to deal with any reused parts, resulting in a level of synergy that makes it work given how it was made from the ground up; it was simply the recoloring that it had to change, and this deco is stronger all around, be it Hasbro or Takara's. The Reveal the Shield version was hard to obtain considering how convention-exclusive and collector-friendly repaints were much harder to obtain compared to the more accessible and better thought out Generations Selects repaints. While the figure was cool to have for a new take on the design, and the more aggressive look made it fit Scourge better, the proportions and Deluxe size didn't really do it justice, resulting in it feeling a bit clunky and impractical compared to the original figure. The Legends figure gives fans a better-scaled figure that looks worlds better than Optimus Prime wished he did, be it G1 or Laser deco, but the mold itself was kind of annoying to contend with given how small the truck mode is, the jet mode sucking ass, and the articulation feeling hindered thanks to the Octane design elements as this toy was practically a pretool of him. The original and Legends figures also have better decos than the current Scourge given how accurate they are to the show, while the RtS one is a little inaccurate because he has those red windows given how this was the only Laser Prime to use the proper truck windows. I'll say that it looks wrong on him.

Let's go over the other version of the mold that we got: Laser Optimus Prime was the version of the mold that I chose to skip like with Prime Arcee, but while Prime Arcee just felt like a flatter, less interesting version of her proper design, Laser Optimus Prime looks fine but I have a preference for Scourge in general with this design. I like the Movie-esque flames, though I can't deny that it is unfortunate how Optimus has a more accurate deco to his Laser toys than Scourge does with his own repaints.

For another store-exclusive reuse, this is Toxitron, leader of his own Walmart-exclusive subline. He is based on the canceled Universe repaint that fans later got to see in future toys like the Combiner Wars version and an Animated repaint in-between them. The green combined with the purple and the leaking slime from the trailer gives this guy a radioactive look oozing with personality in contrast to the traditional Optimus or the premiumish Scourge.

And here we have him next to Earthrise Optimus Prime, it's pretty cool to see these two having different designs all around since it's been pretty common to have a black repaint for an Optimus Prime. While some parts are reused from one another for the most part, I'm happy to see the torso and arms look different from each other, especially since Laser Optimus Prime's design is more than just the G1 design with new truck nose shoulders. But overall, Scourge is a mixed-to-positive experience. Some of the weapons are kind of weak, and I'm not a fan of the way the arms work for this mold, but the rest of it is pretty cool in terms of the engineering and the truck mode. The deco is something else I'm not a fan of, because it's not bad yet it is disappointing how Hasbro's deco designers are likely going to be super faithful to other toys but fuck up on Scourge's deco; the sprue kit thing I can get behind, but the lack of familiarity by one of the designers makes no sense, but that's what happens when you have Hasbro toy designers do too much G1 and forget about other incarnations! Let's hope Reprolabels can fix this. At the very least, the truck mode looks good, and some parts of the robot mode work well. I'd recommend this guy if you don't care about Laser Prime.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers Legacy Velocitron Speedia 500 Road Rocket review

If you recall the first wave of Legacy reviews, you may notice that apart from the already reviewed Hot Rod, Blaster, and Galvatron, the only other toys missing were TFP Arcee and Laser Optimus Prime. Why did I skip them? In the case of Arcee, I just didn't like the Geewunification of the character. The original design looked great, with a sleek and feminine build that is complimented with boot-like feet to make powerful kicks and spiked knees that can give some Vehicons the damage they'll have to deal with. Some will think that's like the time Tucker Carlson got upset over the Green M&M, but in this case, Hasbro practically sucked out the visual personality of a character into a flatter design meant for repaints and the like. Luckily, this figure got to be repainted into a different character, which means it'll fit them better than it does Arcee. Let's find out!

Here we have Road Rocket in her vehicle mode. It's a fairly decent take on the alternate mode that Prime Arcee is known for, albeit with the front having a more generic look to it that probably comes from it being more fitting for different repaints rather than it being altered for licensing reasons (the original design was not based on a specific altmode to begin with). The red looks nice on the vehicle mode, even if it reminds me of some of the standard red motorbikes common in Transformers. Her original G2 counterpart was a little more genericized, which probably explains why the figure was made to be in mind with Prime Arcee as well as a female reimagining of the Laser Rod come ninja courtesy of one of the TakaraTomy designers. I'll even like the blue plastic and the paint applied onto the wheels as well as the metallic blue paint. It's not a perfect alt mode, though. The thighs are exposed more than they were in the prior figures, as is the crotch plate. It's due to the figure transforming in a backward method from the way the figure normally transforms. I'll explain that in a moment, but apart from the kickstand, there is weapon storage on the back which looks okay.

Transformation is pretty similar but not exactly like the way it's been done with the First Edition and PRID versions of Prime Arcee. While Arcee typically transforms with the vehicle mode being parallel with the robot part layout, this figure does the reverse. The arms are now made from the back of the vehicle mode instead of being tucked into the sides of the motorcycle mode, while the legs wrap around the motorcycle instead of merely being folded into the bike mode with deep knee bends. And the figure doesn't have the front of the motorcycle facing upside down. The robot mode certainly has the Geewunification of the Prime Arcee design, which may not fit that character specifically, but it fits Road Rocket fine. The more generic character trait that the G2 guy and Legacy gal were known for makes this easier to stomach than seeing this in blue and a less interesting version of an iconic interpretation of Arcee. The torso feels like a simpler version of the traditional design while the arms have new design traits added. I like the color layout we have with the figure, and while the legs themselves look mostly alright, I can't say I'm a fan of the wheel halves slapped on the sides of the lower legs. They clash with the design and make it look pretty clunky. The backpack also looks clunky, but we'll get to that in a moment.

Head sculpt is pretty solid and has a nice use of metallic blue paint for the mouthplate and nose as well as some light piping on the back like in the good old days. It's definitely a nice upgrade from the old toy and feels very refined. It also somehow has more personality than the Prime Arcee head! As for her articulation, the head is on a ball joint, shoulders move front and back, in and out, biceps swivel, elbows bend, wrists swivel, there is a ball joint for the waist, hips move front and back, in and out, thighs swivel, knees bend, and ankles pivot.

The weapons she comes with are so-so. The arm blades look slapped on compared to the way the proper arm blades work on the series. You could probably add the R.E.D ones in the slots underneath the armor, but 1) there won't be the right amount of aesthetic synergy between the simpler Legacy figure and the Prime design of the R.E.D figure, and 2) the PVC materials probably won't fit with the ABS of this figure. You can make a shield out of them with a ninja star painted on it, but again, we still have weapon problems because you can remove the front tire and split it in half to form some sort of...gun? It looks more like a drone without the linework paint apps that Arcee got, but hey there is gunmetal gray painted on the front to make it look like a goofy ahh face. It looks pretty impractical, and I'd rather Hasbro not use that as a weapon.

There is a good use for it, and that's to complete the look Road Rocket had in G2, so now she can have the tires on the back. It's much better done than on the old toy, and while you can argue it'd be great to have it be done as such without requiring you to remove it, at least it looks better like that.

As far as reuses are concerned, we ironically begin with the version of the mold that hasn't been obtained due to my preference. This is Prime Arcee. Yeah, she's not offensive as a toy, but I just don't think the Geewunification works for her. It worked with Bulkhead because he has a new, impressive altmode and a robot design that is different enough to be a G1 Bulkhead in a collection while I can still have my Prime Bulkhead stay with my Prime toys. Knock-Out's a weird in-between where he both does and doesn't wear the G1 style. This feels more like when they try to add a modern character into a Sunbow style, and it doesn't really work for her...

...but that being said, there is always a second chance at winning me over in the case of repaints, and here we have that instance with Shattered Glass Collection's Flamewar! The color scheme works much better on her than it ever did on Arcee, and I can definitely say that this is what we should have had. She even has a Battlemaster that likely raises the price of these already expensive repaints but hey, Hasbro gotta get more money.

The Road Rocket tooling saw another use, this time as part of the Toxitron Collection's line-up of canceled G2 repaints. The Laser Cycle may be a generic name, yes, but it is basically a toy intended for Jazz even though he has a figure present in a previous wave. He reminds me of the Twister popsicle that promoted a game most famously covered by Joel from Vinesauce.

For a heavier retool, this is Erial (clever spelling of Ariel) from the War Dawn 2-pack, depicting her as the pre-Elita-1 design we saw for one episode. She came with a Dion figure, who he himself was a retool of SS86 Kup like Orion Pax was.

And here she is with the original Prime Arcee design represented in the PRID figure. I'll say it again that the Legacy figure isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination; I just don't like it as Arcee. There was a great amount of personality Arcee had in the Deluxe figures from 10 years ago and the R.E.D figure does the same, but the Legacy counterpart feels flat and uninspiring by comparison. That being said, if you want to get a version of this mold, I can definitely say get it as Road Rocket or wait for Flamewar! It's a decent toy and one you can mess around with for the display options.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐