Review: #739
Name: Blackout
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Masterpiece
Year of Release: 2022
Size Class: Masterpiece
Mold Status: new
HELICOPTER MODE:
Based upon his appearance in the first movie, Blackout transforms into a MH-53 Pave Low helicopter.
It's a licensed helicopter and looks absolutely fantastic, he is truly befitting of the Masterpiece moniker.
Perhaps the attention to detail is no better expressed than the underside, where the designer even bothered to have panels covering all the robot pieces, so it's smooth and uncluttered.
Blackout is also massive, he's much much bigger than a Leader sized figure. He's around the size of a Commander but much more complex. He is impressive to hold in your hands.
There are plenty of great detail here, from the subtle sculpting to the various text on the body, it's faithfully recreated here.
He comes with a pair of guns, which can plug underneath each side.
There are also three flip down landing gear, and they all roll.
A slight divergence, and that is Blackout comes with a mini Scorponok.
The main body of Scorponok unpainted die-cast metal, while everything else is painted with a nice metallic sheen, it's quite impressive.
Scorponok can't transform (although he never had a robot mode anyway in the film), but he is well articulated, with some joints for his tail and arms. It's still quite limited but much better than one would expect.
Scorponok is a fantastic little bonus figure, and something much more intricate and detailed than one would expect from an accessory.
The way that Scorponok interacts with Blackout in helicopter mode is that the back has a flip-down panel that Scorponok can peg to, and store inside.
Perhaps the other impressive feature is that the robot's rotor blade weapon, which is a separate piece, actually forms part of the main rotor. It's amazingly clever and intuitive, and it's these little touches that befit the Masterpiece moniker.
The helicopter mode is perfect in pretty much everyway. There are no flaws here, Blackout is truly a Masterpiece.
TRANSFORMATION:
Being such a big and expensive figure, as well as the focus on high accuracy, Blackout is extremely complex to transform, whether that it to robot mode, or from robot mode. You'll probably need the instructions as there are a bunch of panels that fold away. Despite its complexity, it's fun and there are no frustrating steps. On a high level, the sides form the arms, while the bulk of the fuselage forms the legs. Everything else collapses as a backpack.
ROBOT MODE:
If you thought helicopter mode was impressive, then robot mode will impress you even more. He is extremely detailed here and looks amazing, even more so than the Leader figure from a few years back.
Of course, his most iconic element is the cape formed from the robot blades, and looks awesome here. It's a clever and neat use of something that was always destined to be kibble.
The head sculpt is amazing as you'd expect, although he lacks the opening mouth gimmick that most of the MPM line had.
He carries a fair bit as his backpack, but since they are all panels compressed together and most of them locks, it doesn't protrude out.
As one would expect, there is a fantastic amount of detail here. All the sculpting is intricate, and Blackout is wonderfully painted.
His feet are painted die-cast, to help keep him more stable, given most of the mass is on the upper body. Each of his fingers are individually articulated.
In terms of size, he is a behemoth here, towering over Leader classed figures. He stands head to head pretty much with the other big MPM figures Starscream and Megatron.
Scorponok appears tiny next to Blackout, which is in scale with how he was portrayed in the film. There is also a spot for him to peg in on the back.
Blackout comes with a bunch of weapons, the rotor blade weapon, two guns, and two fire effects.
The first gimmick here is that he has a flip out chest gun, and the fire effect can attach to the end of it, although it makes it a bit too cartoony.
The guns can peg onto either of his forearms.
Again, the fire effects can attach to the end of those guns.
Whereas with the robot blade weapon, it pegs onto the underside of his hand, which isn't entirely accurate to the film, which is somewhat bizarre considering how accurate everything else it.
It's still workable and still looks wickedly awesome.
As one would expect, he has plenty of articulation. He has joints for his head, shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, fingers, waist, hips, knees and ankles.
However, given most of the mass is in the upper body, he can be a bit unwieldy to pose, all that kibble doesn't help either, but his sheer presence helps to overcome that.
The robot mode is pretty much near perfection. There are some slight issues given how big and heavy he is, but that's something that couldn't really be avoided.
OVERALL:
Blackout is one of the best Masterpiece toys in the line. He is not cheap, but he is worth it. He's huge, he has a complex transformation, and he is well painted. Everything is executed very nicely and is one of the best toys in any line, period.
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