Bludgeon

A couple nagging but ultimately minor missing elements. Totally solid Voyager and a great snuck-in update for G1 Bludgeon. Overall rating: Very Good.

Height: 17cm to top of head; 20.5 cm overall vehicle length.

Articulation: 23 total points - Swivel neck; 5 points each arm: shoulder swivel, upper arm hinge, pre-elbow swivel, double jointed elbow; 6 points each leg: universal hips, mid-thigh swivel, hinge knee, hinge ankle, mid-foot hinge.

Colors: Molded camouflage green, orange, dark brown, maroon, light grey; Painted orange, dark brown, green, camouflage green, bone-white, maroon, brown, black, red.

Accessories: Not-really-katana long sword, wakizashi.

Release Data: Released in the first assortment of 2010 Voyagers in the United States at the end of 2009 at an SRP of US$19.99

Author: ExVee

(more...)


Decepticon Bludgeon was nearly destroyed by a fight with the Metallikato master Autobot Whirl. Forced to retreat and hide, he scanned a new vehicle mode and disappeared into the Southeast Asian jungle. He is desperate to prove himself against an Autobot, however, so he has caused just enough chaos locally to attract the attention of Ironhide. Now he lies in wait for the Autobot, ready to spring his trap and destroy his victim in an instant.

The package copy continues the narrative of the movie universe Bludgeon from the Toys R Us exclusive recolor two pack from summer 2009. Apparently Whirl's attacks were not clumsy enough to be almost slow motion and allow Bludgeon victory. Maybe stuff like that only works when Furman is writing your dialogue.

In much the same way Cyclonus and Hound were unveiled at San Diego ComicCon in 2008 and became the focus of intense desire for several months thereafter until their year-end release, so it was with Bludgeon in 2009 who followed almost exactly the same pattern. Fan beloved character(s) who had gone most of the life of the brand without a real updating of any kind. I'm sure it'll happen again, so for 2010 I predict it will be Kup.

...please can't it be Kup?


Vehicle Mode

Bludgeon is based on a Japanese Type-90 Main Battle Tank. Because he's a samurai, you see. Japan.

There's not a whole lot to talk about here. As you would expect there's a great deal of molded detail all over the surface of the tank, and if you turn it over and look at the underbody, it appears someone has stowed their samurai armor down there! The only parts that move in vehicle mode are the turret which swivels on a ratcheted joint, and the small machinegun atop the turret also rotates freely. Alas there is no barrel elevation. Though to be honest I can't really remember when we last got a normalish tank vehicle mode that did have that. 2006, maybe? Heck, I'm putting way too much thought into that.

For that little touch of authenticity, parts of the tank's tracks are made from rubber, although they don't actually move. And in fact it's not authentic since tank treads are made of metal plates as rubber tracks would simply shred under the weight and stress. Anyway...

To its credit, the vehicle mode holds together rock solid, no doubt thanks to having no moving (or interesting) parts in any position of structural support. You know, it can be hard writing reviews for vehicle modes like realistic tanks and such that often lack any points of interest besides being realistic. It's times like these that I wish for the return of beast modes. Or Vehicons. One little oddity is a short length of track segments and a pair of drive wheels molded as if laying on the hull of the tank under the cannon. I'm not sure that's the recommended way to carry around spare parts. Besides a couple spots of bright, almost safety orange visible, the thing that spoils the illusion most is the treads riding a centimeter or so above the tabletop because of the tank's real wheels carrying it along.


Transformation

It actually ends up being fairly simple, but there's two confusing points initially. The place where you split the treads isn't immediately obvious. For both the front and rear sections they come apart right past the orange wheel and let go very readily when you get the right spot. Second, the arrangement of the pelvis is difficult to get until you realize the attached tank quarters have to flip all the way on their connector arms before it can all come together. After that it has a pretty intuitive progression.


Robot Mode

Hasbro has been quoted as saying Bludgeon was to be designed so that it could fit in with Universe toys as well. The degree of success may be open to debate. The most that can be said in that regard is that the movie style is less emphasized in Bludgeon than some other movie line toys. Some of the stronger influences of that style can be hand-waved. The skeletal design of the limbs can be seen as a natural extension of the Mr. Skullhead gimmick. The non-human skull-face and the vaguely birdish three-toed feet are the strongest elements present that really betray the toy's movie influences.

Bludgeon makes effective use of much of his tank bits as samurai armor. The turret on the back is the only place where there's any significant chunk of vehicle mode just sitting unused. I've half a mind to make a battle flag to stick in the cannon to increase the backpack's usefulness. There could be trouble with that, though - more later. But by and large the samurai armor is cleverly formed and doesn't impede the toy's range of motion, which just makes the design even more impressive.

Bludgeon has about the outward range in the arms you would expect for having bulky shoulder armor. Maybe a little bit more, but it's difficult to get those last couple of degrees with the rubbery section of tread hanging down along the length of the arms. The range can be helped by a transformation hinge, but you're effectively dislocating the shoulder in the process. There's a fair degree of articulation to be had otherwise. The toy takes advantage of the skeletal appearance of the upper arms to free up the range of motion. The only glaring lack in the arms is the absence of any sort of forearm or wrist swivel, which hurts poseability with the swords. This is largely a result of how the arms transform, but I can still see at least one place another swivel could have fit after the elbow. The hands are molded into a good sword grip, to make the blade angle forward slightly. The only problem is that the grip is very, very tight. Upon removing the sword from the toy's hand the first time I discovered indentations left in the grip. They seem to have been temporary, but that's small comfort when the toy deforms one of its accessories as a matter of course.

The legs have a pretty neat bit of engineering. The whole concept for Bludgeon is to appear like a skeleton (robot) in samurai armor. So, Bludgeon's thighs are a very open design. Pieces of orange armor over supporting framework. These "bones" move within the armor as you rotate the lower legs, really cementing the illusion. It's a fantastic way to dress up the otherwise typical mid-thigh swivel while building up the style driving the toy.

Despite the thigh guards and tassets, Bludgeon's legs do not suffer any defeating degree of restriction. You have to take care to get some edges clear of each other but Bludgeon can assume a range of leg poses with little difficulty. Just watch about pulling the pelvis apart. The hip ratchets seem to be a good bit stronger than what's holding the crotch together. (maybe I should try rephrasing that sentence?) As with the shoulder pieces, more tread segments hang from within the thigh guards. Though if you wish these can be easily concealed within the armor just by folding the wheeled segment back against the rest of the treads. There's also an odd slot on the left thigh piece, and this other one that folds out of the panel. Curious...

The knee can bend to close to human range on a hinge ratcheted hinge - it'd be farther but for the tank panels making up the calves. In a really nice bit of visual design, the lower legs are made from a fair chunk of the tank's drive wheels, and the greaves are non-removable portions of tread. Very tidy and I think visually appealing. The only thing that looks off is that I would have had the tank side panels rest on the outside of the legs. They look like they'd be in the way on the inside as they are. The ankle jointing is really only of any practical use for transformation. There are sadly not enough joints in the foot to make any real use of it. I described the feet as birdish, and that seems to fit more than anything else I can think of right now. The relatively tiny rear toe/heel spur will actually be of little use in balancing the toy. The toy can stand well enough on a reasonably level surface, but it doesn't take much incline before it's falling on its kusazuri. The rear toe is on a hinge, but like the ankle it's really just for transformation. A peculiarity with the legs and feet is that the feet are turned inwards. It seems to be promoting a widened, turn-legged stance. Similar to the Ice Cream Truck Skids and Mudflap, the soles of the feet are on an angle, requiring a spread stance for best stability. These poses fit the samurai theme, I just don't like having it forced.

I suppose I shouldn't forget the head. The helmet is rather basic, and the crest simple. Much less ornate than the G1 toy's helmet. The skull face isn't really human looking beyond the basic shape. Really, with the red eyes set back in the head and obviously separate, mechanically detailed pieces, the skull looks like it could be a mask as part of the helmet. The head could stand some extra paint, I think. Ringing the eye pieces in black would help make the eyes look sunk back into the head, and a light paint wash would help add depth to the skull's details. The eyes especially are more than a little buggy looking as they come, filling the eye sockets with the single color. The head will turn just short of 90 degrees to either side before the sides of the helmet hit the panel behind the head and can go no farther. Unfortunately it's not far enough to get to the screws to open the head up and make, say, outlining the eyes much easier. Argh.



Accessories

-Swords

Bludgeon has two swords typical of the samurai tradition. First is the longer sword intended to be a katana but lacking the typical blade curvature because it has to slide into the cannon for storage. The sword could then be taken as a chokuto based on its straight blade, or of a style of less-curved katanas except for the flared end which is wrong for any katana near as we can figure. What we're really looking at here is a generic "samurai sword" that for reasons of storage requirements, bad research, or whatever, is more made up than it is any single style of real sword.

The entire length of the blade stores within the turret. Only the grip is visible as the forward half of the cannon's barrel. Since the sword is made of flexible plastic this can present a problem. The packaging thankfully minimizes the chances of warping in box, but through one means or another bent cannons seem to not be uncommon at this early stage. If you're buying in a real store you should give the selection a once over to find the truest cannon you can.

The second blade is the wakizashi. Traditionally this is the sidearm of the samurai and is never beyond his reach, even in places where he might not be able to carry his katana. In Bludgeon's case this is easily achieved. In vehicle mode the wakizashi stores in a fully concealed sheath within the turret. Pulling the turret open sets in motion a geared wheel that moves the blade out of its hiding place and into easy reach. It's also way cool to watch!

The wakizashi may be made of the same softer plastic as the long sword, but is not as easily deformed for as short as it is. Convenient since it's entirely hidden while packaged.

The best feature is that Bludgeon's left haidate has two slots specifically for carrying the swords at his side in robot mode. The wakizashi should be placed in the inner slot, and the katana/chokuto/whatever long sword goes in the one that can be folded away and hidden for vehicle mode. If you wanna go for most accuracy they should both be edge-up, too. In any case, this leads to the backpack trouble I mentioned before. With the swords at Bludgeon's hips the backpack must be turned to some degree off to the side. Two clicks to the toy's left takes the turret completely out of range of bending either blade. Alternately with the swords removed the turret can be rotated 180 degrees until the cannon points down for the same result. But the package pictures lie, and you can't have the cannon straight up behind the head without bending one or both swords.

Oh, and something I'm not sure if anyone has noticed so far, but the wakizashi can plug into the end of the long sword's handle for double-bladed action.


Closing Remarks

The fandom has been clamoring for a toy like this almost as long as I can remember, and I don't think anyone could ask for much better than this. They will anyway, of course. That's gratitude for you. I'll admit the toy has a few flaws, but nothing at all crippling or deal breaking. Whether it could fit with your Classics and Universe toys or if you even want it to is an individual decision. Though for my part I'd totally be behind more Pretender updates in this style. I could completely accept them with Classics toys if all (former) Pretenders shared the similar appearance.

I'm really happy with Bludgeon despite my few complaints. Even if the character update doesn't interest you, it's a totally solid Voyager and of the few movie toys I have I'd say it's easily the best. It'd be Excellent with a wrist swivel, but it's Very Good anyway.

-ExVee (Just think of an Octopunch done like this, complete with diving helmet. How can you go wrong?)