Blazemaster

Height: 13cm

Articulation: 21 total points - Ball joint neck; 3 points each arm: ball joint shoulder, ball joint elbow, swivel "thumb"; 7 points each leg: ball joint hip, upper thigh swivel, mid-thigh swivel, double hinged knee, hinge ankle, ball joint toes.

Colors: Molded white, dark blue, gold, clear blue; Painted dark blue, gold, white, red.

Accessories: N/A

Release Data: Released in late 2009 in the US at a retail price of US$11.99.

Author: ExVee

(more...)

Once upon a time, we suggested that if anyone wished to see a specific toy reviewed, they should give us a copy of it. Many years passed, with no toys being handed to us for free. Then one day I was given a toy and told to review it so that all could know the truth it held. So today's review is dedicated to (blamed upon?) HeyMickey.


Vehicle Mode

Another damn Eurocopter. I can't even tell you how sick I am of these things by now. Oh, it's a fine helicopter mode. Everything fits together well, but it's still another Eurocopter Dauphin.

The rotor can be spun by use of a gear-drive system, though it doesn't catch very well, and you're likey to only get one good spin out of it unless you let it slow down before trying again. The tail rotor is not a moving part, and actually the only other moving parts in vehicle mode are the rear landing gear.

The tampographs depicting this as a TV news helicopter are a fun different take on the roles of helicopters in Transformers, which are almost universally rescue or combat when explicitly given a specific role. That said, I'd have liked to see a little more specific detail to that effect than just paint operations. Even a swiveling turret under the nose that could be called a camera fixture would have worked.

Anyway, it's not a badly executed vehicle mode at all. The only reason I'm down on it is that there's only so many ways to do a Eurocopter and after a little while it's flat-out boring. Give me a Bell or something once in a while! Plus while I love spinny things, the geared rotor action doesn't work that great, so it kind of reinforces how little the vehicle mode can actually do besides sitting there, staring at me and lording its persistent Eurocopter Dauphin-ness all over the place. And sadly, this is the high point of the toy...


Transformation

That was an unfortunate experience. And I'm pretty sure I'm still not finished, but I can't really work out anything more to do with it. Essentially exploding into a cloud of minimally associated vehicle parts, it is a lengthy and tedious process of wrestling and massaging elements into what can only be assumed are their proper positions. While many things are tabbed and grooved, there is no logical order or process to what goes where at what point. Some parts have hinges - sometimes even multiple hinges that seem to serve no actual function in transforming the toy. The instructions offer no greater insight to this process than can be had just by looking at a photo of the robot mode, besides offering a different idea of where the tail section should sit than the packaging would suggest.

There are a precious few Transformers that can baffle me so that I'm left at several stages without any idea how to proceed. Indeed, the only one I can think of right now that might come close to such a feat is Alternator Skids, but even that pales in comparison. For a toy whose design does not depend on carefully arranging robot pieces to fit within a pre-defined alternate mode shell, this is amazingly poor transformation engineering.

And going back to the previous note, it's not actually possible to make Blazemaster look like the robot mode photo on the back of the package. I can only assume that the person assigned to photograph the toy broke it either by accident or out of irritation and the depicted robot mode is the result of pieces being glued back together. It's minor things, but still not physically possible with the toy as-sold.


Robot Mode

Once you actually get there, it doesn't look bad. Actually, if you wanted a starting point to make a Cybertronic rooster, this could work out pretty well for you. In one way of thinking, it makes some sort of sense that a flight type Transformer could take on some avian characteristics for the robot mode. But this might be going a little too far.

The upper appendages - calling them "arms" is probably a bit charitable - do bear some basic resemblance to wings. Or maybe paddles. The articulation is very basic. While the shoulder and elbow are both ball jointed, plus a riveted swivel just past the elbow, the awkward design of the shoulder and limb itself negates much of any useful sort of movement you might hope for. There are no hands of any sort, nor even a passable claw. The latter is the intention, as there's a movable digit hidden under the helicopter panels on both limbs. In a way it's more like piling an insult on to the injury this is causing; even unfolding the helicopter panels so the digit can swing around to point forward, it's entirely useless. It doesn't align with either of the vaguely digit-like projections at the end of the limbs, and so there is no grasping or other useful function. It's all a great big tease. The right wing has the rotor mechanism, which can still be used in robot mode. The instructions would oddly have you split the rotor in half for use in robot mode, but with nowhere to go with the remaining parts plus a terribly unbalanced spinning blade on the gear drive, I'm not inclined to go with that suggestion.

The legs are very chicken, so much that I can almost see how you'd portion them out as thigh and drumstick. Plus he has really birdy feet. But to be a good rooster he'd need spurs on the backs of his legs. Pity the errant digit on the wings is riveted on, or else it might be able to be put to some use down by the ankles. The articulation is pretty irrelevant. You CAN straighten the legs, but it removes some of the tiny little bit of character the toy obtains otherwise. The hip and ankle ball joints are on the weak side, so maintaining any stance may be problematic. However, Blazemaster has the distinction of inexplicably having both an upper AND mid-thigh swivel. I am so glad that his thighs can be posed completely independently from the rest of the legs!

The torso is a mess with no intentionally moving parts of its own, instead being the nexus of otherwise unassociated vehicle parts. The only thing in its favor - maybe - is that once you get everything as together as you can figure out how, it basically stays put. Though I would find an ironic humor in it if the toy were not even able to clip together well enough to retain structural integrity in robot mode.

For some odd reason, I actually rather like the head design. But being that it's basically the only part that is neither made from helicopter parts nor involved in any way with transformation, that might explain it...

Oh, and one last nail in this coffin? a fair few parts look to be made of a rather gold plastic...


Closing Remarks

I don't hesitate to note my general policy of avoidance and minor disdain of the movie toys. But Blazemaster isn't even a victim of this prejudice. There's no other way to say this except that it is a bad toy. The only part that wasn't a disaster is the vehicle mode, which besides already being overused, is almost hopelessly dull. That Hasbro has turned out two recolors of this mold troubles me more than you'd think, and I legitimately feel sorry for any kids that may have received any example of this mold at any point over the past year. Tailwhip may have been a pretty good deco, but a turd with a Hong Kong police paintjob still smells the same.

I'm pretty sure this is only the second time in SIX YEARS I've pulled this one out, which should give you an idea how big a deal it is. Blazemaster pulls our lowest possible rating of Shoot Yourself. I'm only glad that I didn't pay money for any version of this toy. I'm not sure about Evac or Tailwhip, but there may be some reassurance with Blazemaster. It's entirely possible the gold-ish plastic could deteriorate after a while and remove all Blazemasters from existence! So at least there's a silver lining, right?

-ExVee