Studio Series #65 Blitzwing

Probably the one clip from the trailer for Travis Knight's Bumblebee solo movie that got the most attention and generated the most excitement was the transformation of a jet into a red and grey Seeker-style robot that many people conjectured would be Starscream. Knight himself dashed such hopes when questioned, announcing that this robot was named 'Blitzwing' - a great nod to another G1 character, but not necessarily the most appropriate name, given that he didn't also turn into a tank. Then again, he was only on screen for about five minutes before getting blown up so, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think that's particularly significant. I mean, chances are, the name was one of several put forward by Hasbro, and no-one really put that much thought into the selection.

Given the small cast of robot characters in the movie, it's no surprise that they'd all be added to the Studio Series roster, with Bumblebee, Dropkick and Shatter each receiving two releases within the line (and even more for Bumblebee, if you include the special boxed sets). Blitzwing is the last of these, and only the second Voyager class figure from the film, the first (naturally) having been Optimus Prime - another character who probably only had about five minutes of total screen time.

With such a small role in the movie, one could be forgiven for having low expectations of the Blitzwing toy, but just being a Voyager - considering the more prominent Decepticons each became a pair of Deluxes - was a strong positive in my books... So let's take a look.

Another Public Service Announcement

Having acquired Studio Series Blitzwing this last weekend, it didn't take me long to notice something slightly adrift with the figure. No, not the lack of paintwork or the strange choices of accessory storage: a minor assembly error.

If you take a look at any of the cgi images of Blitzwing from the Bumblebee solo movie, you'll notice that the fins on his shoulders are angled backward. They're also larger and feature red paint, but let's ignore that for the moment. It appears as though the fins are angled forward on the toy so they can be folded a bit more flush with the body in vehicle mode... But they also feel a little floppy, and the sculpted detail on the shoulder doesn't seem to line up as well as it ought:

There's a distinct forward tilt at the joint, and the panel lining at the base of the fin isn't quite in line with the line on the grey shoulder mass. It's not far off, but just enough to look bad when coupled with the mismatched angling of the base of the fin with the joint socket it sits inside. The 'back' of the joint rises above the level of the socket, while the 'front' is sunk well below it.

Thankfully, the fins aren't pinned in place, so pop 'em off, swap 'em round, and you get this:

Suddenly, everything seems to line up properly - more than that, though, the fin almost clips into place in this position, and the joint is nowhere near as floppy as it was with the fins the other way round. They're still too small versus the CGI, and of course there's no red paint on either side, but it looks far better generally.

The only downside is that, in jet mode, the fins now butt up against the shoulder section's transformation hinges in jet mode, where they used to fold in behind them. It actually doesn't look too bad, though. In fact, considering how much robot junk is under the wings already, it almost looks intentional - like a part bridging between the jet's body and the supplementary engines hidden under the wings:

I'll obviously get into more detail about this figure once I have the opportunity to set up my light tent and take some better photos, but I'm genuinely more impressed with Studio Series Blitzwing than I'd expected to be, even having seen some video reviews.

Generations (30th Anniversary) Blitzwing

Triple-Changers - specifically Astrotrain and Octane - were reintroduced fairly early on in the Classics line. Sadly for them, the Deluxe class size was basically inadequate to the task. For a while, it seemed that Triple-Changers were put on the backburner as a result, before their sudden and triumphant return in the form of 'Thrilling 30' Springer.

One Triple-Changing reboot deserves another, and so came Blitzwing - more G1-oriented in most respects, but with a curious TF Animated-inspired twist...

TransFormers Animated Blitzwing

Blitzwing was one of Generation 1's Triple-Changers and, frankly not the best of them. Not that any of them were particularly good, because 80s toymaking was vastly more simplistic than it is today. Each one - Astrotrain, Blitzwing and Octane - had very limited posability and, with the possible exception of Astrotrain, had huge chunks of two alternate modes clearly visible in robot mode. While Astrotrain and Octane got the Classics 2.0/Universe upgrade treatment, Blitzwing was drafted into the Animated universe, and the results are actually very impressive.

Taking the idea of three modes and adding three distinct personalities has given the toy a lot of character and, while all three modes are limited to some degree, they work out pretty well considering the relatively small size of this Voyager Class toy.