Here we have Blackout in his vehicle mode. The MH-53 Pave Low helicopter is faithfully recreated here, though it's much bluer than it should be. It may be easier to pass off the lack of lighting when it was him in the night during the SOCCENT attack, but that isn't really movie accuracy when the vehicle was grayer than this. While the design is accurate to the prop vehicle from the film, there is some wash applied throughout to give it a war-torn appearance, yet the result makes the toy appear a little dirty like some Titanium figures have. It's the opposite problem Deep Space Starscream had where he was a little too pristine. So far, we have an altmode that is accurate in terms of detailing yet has the wrong color and a not-so-great paint wash.
The back has some gimmicks to speak of: a button on the back makes the propellor spin, yet the momentum ends so quickly, and a small button underneath the tail releases Scorponok
This tiny Scorponok drone is better detailed than the original version thanks to the gold paint and the wash being more appropriate for him (even if it's still smeary). This is more Premium than the actual figure it comes with. Only the tail can slightly bend to stay compact within the cage; there is no other articulation.
Transformation is very poor for a design like this. Firstly, the backpack does very little beyond rotating the cage around and folding down. That also serves as a detachable weapon for the robot mode, meaning almost half of the vehicle mass doesn't contribute to the robot mode. Second, the legs are supposed to have the chest flip up when you swing them down, yet the Automorph gimmick barely works, and either the chest misaligns itself with the cockpit halves or the legs barely click in place. Third, the shoulder assembly is meant to swing back and lock in two tabs, but there is barely any space to do so, and you'd likely flex the inner chest to the point of developing stress marks. And all this results in a robot mode that feels like it's meant to be big yet feels so cramped in the torso area. He feels like those RPMs we got during the ROTF days where the robot mode would be claustrophobically stuffed underneath the altmode, and that tiny torso contrasts the bulky arms and legs. The arms themselves are okay, but the legs are nothing like the digitigrade ones he had in the film. All this based on the concept art, I'm sure, but that doesn't excuse the woefully impractical backpack he has. It serves as a third leg it not for the button throwing the balance or, and the upper rotor blades stick out more than the others when they should be flush. If they used the plastic of that backpack into the rest of the figure, I'm sure we could have a robot mode that better matches the proportions of the CG model. Also, the grey has a weird tint to it that is meant to distinguish this release from the regular version, but it's once again inaccurate and different for the sake of it. It's a similar issue that Animated Lugnut had given part of his altmode formed a weapon.
Articulation is alright for the time. Neck can swivel, shoulders ratchet front and back, as well as in and out on proper ratchet joints, biceps swivel, elbows bend, hips swivel front and back, hinge in and out, there are swivels above the knees, and hinged knees to boot. He kind of has waist rotation, but it's the kind that only goes one way (clockwise) due to transformation. Why it works that way is beyond me since it's not for any other gimmick beyond that. I wonder if it's easy to modify that so he can work properly. His backpack can be removed while the propellor blades can face forward, representing his weapon most notably seen near the end of the film. It's oversized compared to what he had, and while the gimmick still works in this orientation, losing that giant chunk of altmode will ruin your toy completely. Way to make things worse for this dude, 2007 Hasbro.
The original release has a slightly lighter shade of blue, but the black and light grey are still inaccurate to the movie. Same goes for the gold radome, even if it looks a bit nice. The mini-Scorponok looks worse here, but this photo demonstrates the interactivity with the Deluxe version of his pet.
The ROTF repaint, Grindor, looks nothing like the CG model's colors since they were barely different from the deco Blackout had. I mean, if the black legs on the OG were inaccurate enough already, they look like pants while the grey is Grindor's white shirt. At least Scorponok is painted black to match the Deluxe toy'a new colors.
We got two Autobot versions of the mold, with this being Evac from the Allspark Power subline. He has a deco reminiscent of the rescue helicopters used across the ocean. His head is new, as is a raft that doubles as a gun for his robot mode.
And finally, we have ROTF Whirl, who is the same toy above but blue with different white accents. He doesn't have the Shockwave-esque cyclops head, but then again, neither did the Whirl from Rescue Bots Academy, so calm your tits, IDW simps. On a side note, he came with a Bludgeon, a green repaint of Wreckage based on the inner robot form rather than the Pretender shell that the Voyager is based on.
For a size comparison, Starscream was of normal height for a Voyager back then, and he basically makes this Blackout feel more like a Deluxe than an actual Voyager. I know Blackout's slightly shorter than Screamer if we exclude that circle thing above his head, but not to this degree. I always thought the original Voyager Seeker mold would hold up less than the others because of the altmode and the over-reliance of Automorph mixed with those impractical cannon hands, but at least Starscream isn't anywhere near as frustrating as BO. As I said before, using all that plastic on our heliformer could have helped him grow in size. As it stands, this toy sucks even with the nostalgia factor. Out of all the 2007 figures I looked at so far, this one holds up poorly, and it's a shame that there were kids frustrated with Blackout compared to what else was around. The altmode looks great, articulation is decent, and the Scorponok.fogire is cool, but I'd only get him if you want to complete the 2007 cast in all of their forms. Otherwise, get the Studio Series or MPM versions instead of this.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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