Revenge of the Fallen Blazemaster

Review by Caked-Up:

Robot Mode: For starters, Blazemaster is odd looking, I mean really odd looking. Yet at the same time I like his look. He seems to be the textbook example of not all Transformers having to be built in a human shape. He is very bird like with his long, skinny legs and round stocky torso. It looks good, but is still just odd.

His head is sculpted well, but the paint application is backwards from the box. What is gold is blue and what is blue is gold. His chest is formed from the full separation of the helicopter’s cockpit. The nose becomes the crotch and the windows separate for the chest. Additionally, his roof panels form a collar to frame his head. His arms are comprised of the top of the helicopter split in two. They are very thick in appearance but with very little posability. They are more or less panels folded onto themselves with a white “finger” to complement the panel as a hand. Look at the picture of the front to see what I mean.

His shoulders are difficult to understand and need to be positioned correctly. The panel with the Autobot symbol must be visible from the side (plain painted panel on left arm) for the shoulder to be of any use. Putting his blades on both arms amounts to nothing but junk, however putting the whole rotor on his left arm works nicely as a shield and as a cutting blade. Hasbro tried for something new for storing/using the alt-mode blades, but didn’t fund it to work correctly. On either arm they only droop downwards because of gravity.

As stated above he has chicken legs, in fact his chicken legs have defined the term “chicken legs.” They are only a little more useful than those of Beast Machines Cheetor. His kibble is actually cool and usefully applied to counter the weight of the front, plus it doesn’t just hang behind him (Blackout and all you copy cats).

I know that I have listed a lot of negative stuff, but I actually like this guy. Hasbro really went out to find a unique way of making a deluxe helicopter alt-mode and I give them heaps of praise for it. However, his transformation was engineered strangely and his parts are very thin. Ultimately, his nose merges with his end (like Stratosphere), but they did it in a loose fashion (not like Stratosphere). Unfortunately, my figure has loose hips and a loose right arm, but that is nothing that nail polish can’t fix. This was a nice try for something new and it had moderate success at the cost of sound engineering.

Alternate Mode: Blazemaster transforms into a mostly accurate Bell 412 helicopter used for news casting. At a distance it is quite good looking, but up close you get to see the seams, and there are lots of them. During his transformation you will note that every single panel reconfigures like a puzzle, therefore you have lots of seams. The rotors spin by pushing the lever and do it very well actually. I had fun chasing my Akita around the house and didn’t have a skipped or stuttered rotation. (My dog despises helicopters.) It has a three point landing gear system that works well and rolls (unlike most Deluxes). I like his the detail in his paint job more than the new Evac coming out later this year.

Key Transformation Points:
1. His crotch points straight down.
2. His torso rotates slightly down and forward so that his head shows better.
3. Press the blue and white panels (his chest) and his hips to sort of tab the torso so it fits better. His front landing gear must be retracted for this to work. You will know you have succeeded when the wheels are just entering into a bracket seen from the underside. They don’t go all the way in.
4. The rear stabilizer wings can fold down, but you must do this before you tab the rotors over.
5. Remember that when you transform him to his vehicle mode the feet fold towards the outboard sections of the fuselage, not towards the centerline.

Conclusion: I really liked to see Hasbro try to think out of the box. They made a great attempt that works well overall, but if they had just made him a little bigger it would have worked better. I am glad that I bought him because I liked to the look of him, but he is not for everyone, especially kids looking to play with him. All in all he is a decent and interesting piece to add to my collection.

Rating: B-

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