Review: #62
Name: Bludgeon
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Revenge of the Fallen - N.E.S.T. Global Alliance
Year of Release: 2009
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 6)
Variations: repainted into AA/HFTD Banzaitron and remolded into Botcon 2012 Gigatron/Overlord
TANK MODE:
Bludgeon here transforms into a Type 90 tank and the proportions are actually spot on. He features a turret with a green and white barrel, two side guns and a small grey gun on top, so he's pretty well armed.
The turret has a rare feature, it can rotate 360 degrees, but it cannot lift up. What's more, he has partial rubber treads, 'partial' because only the front and back bits of each tread is rubber, while the middle section is plastic.
The biggest hindrance to Bludgeon in this mode would be the assortment of mismatched colours. I mean, if they were consistent then it wouldn't be much of a problem. We have here, bright orange, mixed with a realistic dull green, but there are spots of grey everywhere, and it is the grey that really ruins the look. The tread wheels are also different colours, we have black (the right colour), grey and orange, wha?!?
The mini gun on top can rotate 360 degrees as well, but it is made of soft rubber, as is the grey portion of the barrel. There aren't many transformation seams and no major gaps anywhere, this is a well formed and solid tank.
Play value is decent, as expected, there are small plastic wheels on the bottom for rolling. However, if you look at the underside, pretty much all of Bludgeon's robot is on the sides, with a hollow gap in the middle, personally, that feels a bit cheaty.
Not many problems here, but probably, over time, the rubber will deteriorate. The rotating turret is a nice touch and there are many sculpted details, if only there weren't so many colour clashes.
TRANSFORMATION:
Simple, even for a voyager. It's not to the standard of a deluxe, but there are a few deluxes with a more complex transformation than Bludgeon. It doesn't convey the innovative or ingenious feel of cleverer transformation schemes, but it works I guess. The hips are a bit tricky to get into place the first time, and confusing, while everything else pretty much unfolds from the tank. Going either way isn't much of a difference, and you can do it within five mins tops. All in all, fairly dull and uninspiring, but I don't know where the problem lies in.
ROBOT MODE:
Whoa, the skeleton samurai motif really comes out here. Front the proportions to the samurai 'armor', and then from this skull face to the bone limbs, the theme is very clear cut here. The mess of colours in tank mode works a lot better here.
The smaller blade is stored in the turret in tank mode, and in robot mode, it opens up into a sort of back sheath. It's not very useful, but it's infinitely better than the turret just remaining a turret, at least now, it's doing something. Granted, the MechTech gearing is pretty cool, but not as impressive as the automorph feature from the first Movie toys.
Obviously, as you can tell from the pictures, he wields two swords. The long one looks wicked, and the grip is made from the turret. However, both are made from soft rubber which means... yup, they will warp. However, there is a need for them to be made of soft plastic, since they'll be too thin and brittle if made from hard plastic and will snap easily.
The two swords can be slotted into sheaths on his left hip armour. While it's okay, they stick out a lot into the back, and doesn't look great from the side.
The sheath on his back is still accessible for the small knife. The rubber treads on his shoulder gets in the way somewhat when moving his arms. What's cool is that you can plug the small knife with the big sword to create a huge double ended blade.
I've seen many complaints about his head, but I think it's just fun. Sure it's a bit plain and cartoony, but there are a heck of a lot of detail sculpted into it. He seems to have been designed for lightpiping, but his eyes are solid plastic. However, you can see sculpted eyes in the skull eye sockets.
Poseability is good, the feet can be better (and speaking about it, they can be formed better too), and for a sword wielding bot, wrist swivels would be nice (he doesn't have one), but there are a lot of joints for his arms which kinda makes up for it.
I think Bludgeon has a good robot mode (I personally like and enjoyed Mindwipe more), and he looks good with ROTF Lockdown and Mindwipe. They kinda have a theme amongst them (I guess ugly would be one).
OVERALL:
Bludgeon is a solid toy, I do think he was hyped up a bit. He's not the excellent figure that you might have expected, but very decent and a great toy (especially compared to some of the DOTM stuff we have been getting). I mean, how many more other skeleton samurai Transformers can you find? He is unique and works very well, recommended.
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