Blitzwing: Transformers Generations

It’s definitely an exciting year for Transformers collectors indeed with the release of 2 triple changers at the same time. We have done a coverage earlier on Springer and now we will have the notorious Blitzwing in action. Notorious, yes, being a great engineered triple changer that is haunted with numerous QC or design flaws. Be expected to grind your teeth while having a love  & hate relationship with him. Read on!

(A) The Packaging
Packaging is somewhat similar to the generation Springer. However, what you will be seeing is the Decepticon version of logos and the Thrilling 30 years mastheads instead.

First impression when handling the package: he does weight heavier and you can notice that he almost fill up the height in the voyager box.

Side of the package showing a half-cut Deception insignia.

Some info on the Blitzwing with skills graph. A noticeable IDW logo here again giving cue that this Blitzwing design is very much derived from the famous comic publisher.

Here’s the Decepticon version of the Thrilling 30 masthead in close up. It’s still not yet 30 years until next year though. Wonder why the toys are being released this year instead of next?

(B) Alternate Mode
Being a triple changer, you will have Blitzwing in 2 alt modes which resemble some vaguely futuristic vehicles: a tank and a jet fighter plane.

(i) Tank Mode
Overall built is very solid. Very good color matching with light coffee blends with purple and grey. Doesn’t seem much of paint jobs here and most colors come from the plastic itself.

The turret itself can be rotated 360 degree. You can also pull the turret upwards and downwards as well.

The tank mode has an “extended” tank threads which you need to pull out during transformation. 2 pairs of small rotating wheels  located below the threads to enable movement.

The only part in tank mode that obviously gives away of its jet form is the 2 smaller wings located on top of the turret. The rests of jet mode are being concealed nicely. For first timer, you might think that this is the only alt mode he has! In all, he does give impression of a possible flying tank if we just flip the 2 wings open.

(ii) Jet Fighter Mode
Seriously, we are impressed with the ability to change from a tank to a fighter plane. How the designers concealed the jet parts in the tank mode is simply amazing. As of example, the tank threads are nowhere to be seen now and the turrets are being flipped over to become the plane’s jet exhaust.

There are 2 red painted  stripes on the wings to add in the overall color scheme. There’s finally a yellow transparent plastic being used for the cockpit section. Well, don’t get yourself excited with the cockpit as there are very minimum in detail and what you can only make out is only the seat and a bare control panel.

As you can notice here, the nose cone doesn’t really close properly. Well, that’s one of the design flaws of it partly due to the soft rubbery plastic material used. In addition, the head-piece which is being hidden under the cone itself suffers the flaw of a locking mechanism that keep the head locked in.

Here’s the turret which becomes the jet exhaust. Some people prefer to flip open the panels at the sides of the exhaust which creates another pair of afterburners for the jet.

There’s a small Deception insignia embedded just behind the cockpit. That’s the only insignia you have for this figure as both robot and jet mode is sharing the same. Sadly, you won’t get to see the same insignia in the tank mode.

(C) Robot Mode
Now off to the robot mode. The figure itself is slightly heavier and looks much more solid compared to Springer. Expect to see more paints here that constituted from the red-painted air inflow located on the chest, metallic silver shoulder plate, etc. An unusual approach taken is the painting of shiny coated grey on shoulder limbs and knees points. Though they look nicer, the thickening paint actually makes the joint more stiffer to be rotated.

Another obvious application of paint is on the casing of the head in yellow color. Again, paint creates thickness and might prone to scrapping especially in area where movement is frequent.

It has a bit of back kibble here which fortunately doesn’t contribute much to the back heaviness. It’s unavoidable as there is no other places the cannon turret can be hidden. You can always flip the turret down to have a lesser height viewpoint of him. However, that isn’t a good idea with the turret flipped down. Well, you get the idea with a big turret in between 2 thighs.

Screws, screws, screws. How much you hate them but yet they are the crucial tiny friends to hold him together. But if you examine closely, you will get to know that Springer has NO screws at all compared to Blitzwing. Don’t believe us? Check out the pictures in the Springer post. How they piece him together is by using metal pins which does enhance aesthetic much more.

Here’s a close up on the head and torso portion. There is no light piping here due to the face changing gimmicks. In addition, the face pieces are made of soft rubbery plastic similar to the nose cone. The red visor is actually painted so as the rest of the other faces. We will show more of his other faces in the gimmick section below.

We do like how the torso section is being designed with much more details and color to see, especially the application of silver metallic paint over some of the minor parts. However, more paints mean more possibilities of undesired colors defects. So be sure to check properly when you are choosing your box of Blitzwing.

Articulation Mapping

(D) Transformation
We found the transformation process of Blitzwing a bit more immersive and involving as compared to his triple changer counterpart. Well, to begin with, there’s a lot more flipping of panels and hiding of crucial parts in order to complete transformation, e.g. the flipping/hiding of the tank tread during transformation to jet mode. In all, it’s an amazingly engineered piece of toy which exhilarates. Definitely a “oooh” and “wow” expression not to be missed.

(i) Tank Mode -> Plane Mode

(ii) Plane Mode -> Robot Mode

(E) Gimmicks

(F) Comparison
Here we are with a quick comparison to something who is much closer to himself: the animated Blitzwing. From here, you can see how both of them stack up together for sizes and designs.

Both almost having the same sizes. Color of the animated version seem dull.

From the jet mode, we can clearly see the resemblance of them. And of course, animated version has the more simplified and lesser details as compared to the generation Blitzwing. The later looks astoundingly vibrant just putting side by side.

Both almost the same height in robot mode. However, the animated version has the more bulkier look, especially with the overwhelming bigger shoulder AND bigger head. Indeed.

You might notice both of them having the turrets facing upwards in robot mode. While you can flip the turrets downward to form a jet pack in animated, the generation is otherwise.

(G) The Bad

(H) Gallery of Goodies

(I) Conclusion
Honestly, we are not very sure whether is the design of Blitzwing based on the IDW comic as we don’t have the comic itself to refer to. But who cares, it is a great robot and alt mode all together that wrapped in a genius toy engineering. Well, putting aside the design flaws/QC problems that is. We pretty much like this mold more compared to Springer due to the more involving transformation of the 2 alt modes. Anyhow, it’s a triple changer and definitely worth getting them as they just only appear once in a blue moon. So, make sure you grab him with Springer as well!

My PCR for him: 8/10
What I like – Interesting transformation between modes; face changing gimmicks; solid built; color schemes and paints on minor details.
What I dislike?– The mentioned “bad” section above.

Until then, enjoy hunting and hauling!

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