Review: #116
Name: Blast Off
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations - Fall of Cybertron
Year of Release: 2012
Size Class: Deluxe
Variations: SDCC and JP version in game accurate colors, retail version in Generations line, retooled into Top Spin
SPACE SHUTTLE MODE:
Awesomely, Blast Off transformers into a white Cybertronian space shuttle with some purple camouflage splashed upon him. You can have the gun attached with winglets up or to the side (like the photos).
Like the other Combaticons, Blast Off is unusually light when you pick him up, all the potential places for pieces to be hollow... they are.
The rear is fairly disappointing since it's just a bunch of junk (made even worse since it's hollowed junk). There are not proper thrusters (except that circular thing on top which I'm surprised is painted silver).
Blast Off is very white, seemingly lacking a lot of color, but the paint is there, just sparsely allocated so the full effect doesn't come into play.
Blast Off is a decent size. Personally, I think this mode is fairly undefined (for some reason, I keep thinking the two windows in front look like eyes) and doesn't particularly evoke "space shuttle" to the viewer.
It's a passable space shuttle mode, but it's far from the best alternate mode among the Combaticons.
TRANSFORMATION:
Conceptually simple, but the execution can be lacking. I don't like the shoulder pieces, they are attached at awkward angles, so I usually accidentally pop them off their balljoints. It's not good for the joints if I keep doing that. There are tabs for his arms, and they feel very tight. The arms are hidden inside the engines/thrusters, and the whole front part flip down to become his torso. Again, it's quite simple and bland. Feels uninspired.
ROBOT MODE:
Out of the five Combaticons, I felt that I would like Blast Off the best, he transforms into a space shuttle, and he has a good robot design, but the question is: "does it translate well into a toy?". Well, the answer is that it sort of did.
Blast Off is solid enough on his own, but there are some things holding him back. The forearms are hollow (no reason except to cut costs) so they feel really flimsy and insubstantial. The shoulder pads also restrict movement more than you would expect.
Blast Off doesn't gain any more colours that you didn't see in shuttle mode, so he still feels very white and bland, as if he's lacking some dark color for contrast's sake.
I do like his head sculpt, and his head is on a balljoint. The eyes are painted, thus he lacks lightpiping.
Blast Off's size is what you'd expect, no bigger or smaller (just lighter). If you think about it, Blast Off have wide shoulders but very thin legs.
He has two guns for his weapons. Like the rest of the G2 Combaticons, they're unpainted so they're a block of white plastic. If only they kept with the packaging shots, in which the weapons were painted...
I don't see anywhere that seems compromised due to the combining gimmick and Blast Off balances well with his long feet. He's not going to fall over any time soon.
Articulation is decent, but again, the shoulder pads limit shoulder movement. The elbows feel fragile with the thin plastic.
A nice robot mode but not the stellar one I was looking forward to.
OVERALL:
I tried really hard to like and love Blast Off but he is just a decent figure, not a stand out one. Maybe it was a good choice that he was purple for his retail version since the white on this version just makes him so bland and colorless. The space shuttle mode is passable and the robot mode is solid. He still makes a great display piece though and looks great with the rest of the Combaticons.
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