Post by Philip Ayres on May 19, 2010 9:16:22 GMT
Bludgeon
The original Bludgeon is one of the better known late Generation 1 Transformer toys, serving a term as Decepticon leader towards the end of the comic. Yet this is only the his third remake after a Robots in Disguise version which is a repaint of Combat Hero Megatron (and not a good one at that !) followed by the first ROTF Bludgeon (itself a repaint of 2007 Movie Wreckage) who was packed with ROTF Whirl, (a repaint of 2007 Movie Evac who is in turn a remould of 2007 Movie Blackout !) This second Bludgeon is a better go at doing G1 Bludgeon than the first: it takes it's colours from G1 Bludgeon's inner robot and it's vehicle mode - a green tank - and applies them to an armoured vehicle. The problem is the mode most people associate with Bludgeon is his outer Pretender shell - an orange Samurai warrior with a skull face. How can you make a new robot out of that and give it a realistic vehicle mode that is preferably a green tank like the G1 inner robot Bludgeon ? Well this Revenge of the Fallen NEST Bludgeon has a go !
Bludgeon's vehicle mode is,like the original, a mainly green tank. It's got a rotating turret - so it's already beating many TF tanks ! - which has 24 equally spaced "stop points" where the turret naturally rests but the barrel doesn't raise and even though I know why to my mind there's really no excuse for that on a Voyager size toy. A gun - which rotates on it's mount - sits on the turret as do two sets of quad grenade launchers mounted near to the rear of the vehicle. The gun, grenade launchers and tip of the tank barrel are all grey - there's some more plastic of this colour featured in the details on the side of the treads which also gives us a glimpse at some orange plastic - also found on the front panel of the vehicle. The treads as usual on a Transformer are fixed with small wheels embedded in the front and back of the treads on each side providing motion. However the front and rear third of the treads is made from a more rubbery material. Since they're not functional there's not really any need for this: rubber perishes and I've got several older toys in my collection now missing their rubber tracks..
TF - turn the toy over. You can immediately see the chest & loin cloth from the Pretender version. Pull the rubber treads away from the tank - they're pegged onto the more solidly plastic centre third. Raise the panels on the back of the top of the tank up & back, then pull the middle third of the tank treads out to the sides so it's projecting out at 90 degrees from the rear of the tank. These will be the legs - lift the panel on the ends and fold out feet & heel spurs. Fold the loin cloth up, then rotate the black back panel on the tank back into the tank by 180 degrees. The hips will now fold inwards into this piece and lock into place. Swing the lower legs in 90 degrees so the two toes face the same way as the chest panel - note how the inside of the upper leg turns with the lower leg ! Fold the front half of the treads out to the sides to form the shoulders. Unpeg the arms from the shoulders, fold out, fold the fists out and fold the orange panels that makeup the front of the tank onto the shoulders. Push the legs up towards the body which in turn automatically reveals the head - you may need to push hard to get the robot's waist to lock into place. Fold the loin cloth down and finally fold up the ends of the hanging tank treads - the ones at the hips will hide in the leg plates.
Bludgeon's robot mode combines famous elements of the original - white skull face, brown samurai helmet, orange skull chest & loincloth - with some bayformer elements like the skeletal structural - I like my Voyagers to have slightly thicker arms than that ! However it sort of works here because of the robot's skull face. He's got plenty of articulation: Wrists bend in, elbows bend twice, bicep joint, arms swing up to the side beneath the shoulders, shoulders turn, head turns (just), hips turn and swing out to the sides, legs swivel beneath the knees, bends at the knee & ankle. There's a few hanging bits on the robot mode: tank treads off the shoulders & hips as well as the hip armour. And then he's carrying around a massive great tank turret on his back (best to pose pointing down I think).
But the tank turret houses a couple of secrets: it carries the robot's weapons! Firstly the grey end of the tank's gun barrel pulls away bringing with it a hugely long sword - it's the length of the rest of the gun barrel plus the length of the turret which is approximately equal to the length of the tank. He can hold this in either hand which has moulded fingers but looks like he could hold most 5mm peg weapons - I've not got many to hand but he holds Smoulder's Minicon Chopster fine . In a way the sword is a tribute to one of the weapons for the inner robot on the original Bludgeon which was a gun formed from the tank's gun barrel. Next rotate the turret so the gun barrel points up. Looking at the back of the robot, you'll see that to the right of the turret there's a small raised dome. Hold onto the tank barrel while pulling the dome to the right. The turret will split in two down the middle and open up to reveal a scabbard containing a much shorter sword. You can place that in his other hand or plug it into the hole in the hilt of the original weapon to form a double bladed sword. You can sheath these in the tank turret but there's also a fold up panel on his left hip plate to accommodate one weapon together with a hole through the hip plate for the other.
After that it would seem almost rude to nitpick about the weapons. But I'm going to ! There's no gun on this robot where the original Pretender had two. Sacrificing one of the knives in exchange for a gun would have been nice. Another nice feature from the original that could have been carried over would be the ability to use the tank turret as a shield. Finally When the tank turret is stored on the robot's back the grenade launchers are level with the shoulders, but pointing down. Ok, you can imagine that they're thrusters for a jet pack but it might have been nicer if they could have rotated round on their mounts to point over the shoulders as cannons.
Overall: Decent sculpt but limited functionally tank. Robot mode is a good homage to the original overlaid on Bayformer sculpting scale.
Banzaitron
How do you repaint a toy with such a distinctive form ? Night Ops Bludgeon ? Well the soloution was to pick a similar looking robot - the Action Master Banzai-Tron who's got a Samurai theme and has never previously had a vehicle mode. Use the grey and green from the Action Master and mix in a drak green tank body and some black and you've got a decent looking repaint.
Pictures of this forthcoming toy can be found at [url=http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/transformers-movie-toys--products-30/first-image-of-decepticon-banzaitron-169605/>the 2005 Boards[/url]
The original Bludgeon is one of the better known late Generation 1 Transformer toys, serving a term as Decepticon leader towards the end of the comic. Yet this is only the his third remake after a Robots in Disguise version which is a repaint of Combat Hero Megatron (and not a good one at that !) followed by the first ROTF Bludgeon (itself a repaint of 2007 Movie Wreckage) who was packed with ROTF Whirl, (a repaint of 2007 Movie Evac who is in turn a remould of 2007 Movie Blackout !) This second Bludgeon is a better go at doing G1 Bludgeon than the first: it takes it's colours from G1 Bludgeon's inner robot and it's vehicle mode - a green tank - and applies them to an armoured vehicle. The problem is the mode most people associate with Bludgeon is his outer Pretender shell - an orange Samurai warrior with a skull face. How can you make a new robot out of that and give it a realistic vehicle mode that is preferably a green tank like the G1 inner robot Bludgeon ? Well this Revenge of the Fallen NEST Bludgeon has a go !
Bludgeon's vehicle mode is,like the original, a mainly green tank. It's got a rotating turret - so it's already beating many TF tanks ! - which has 24 equally spaced "stop points" where the turret naturally rests but the barrel doesn't raise and even though I know why to my mind there's really no excuse for that on a Voyager size toy. A gun - which rotates on it's mount - sits on the turret as do two sets of quad grenade launchers mounted near to the rear of the vehicle. The gun, grenade launchers and tip of the tank barrel are all grey - there's some more plastic of this colour featured in the details on the side of the treads which also gives us a glimpse at some orange plastic - also found on the front panel of the vehicle. The treads as usual on a Transformer are fixed with small wheels embedded in the front and back of the treads on each side providing motion. However the front and rear third of the treads is made from a more rubbery material. Since they're not functional there's not really any need for this: rubber perishes and I've got several older toys in my collection now missing their rubber tracks..
TF - turn the toy over. You can immediately see the chest & loin cloth from the Pretender version. Pull the rubber treads away from the tank - they're pegged onto the more solidly plastic centre third. Raise the panels on the back of the top of the tank up & back, then pull the middle third of the tank treads out to the sides so it's projecting out at 90 degrees from the rear of the tank. These will be the legs - lift the panel on the ends and fold out feet & heel spurs. Fold the loin cloth up, then rotate the black back panel on the tank back into the tank by 180 degrees. The hips will now fold inwards into this piece and lock into place. Swing the lower legs in 90 degrees so the two toes face the same way as the chest panel - note how the inside of the upper leg turns with the lower leg ! Fold the front half of the treads out to the sides to form the shoulders. Unpeg the arms from the shoulders, fold out, fold the fists out and fold the orange panels that makeup the front of the tank onto the shoulders. Push the legs up towards the body which in turn automatically reveals the head - you may need to push hard to get the robot's waist to lock into place. Fold the loin cloth down and finally fold up the ends of the hanging tank treads - the ones at the hips will hide in the leg plates.
Bludgeon's robot mode combines famous elements of the original - white skull face, brown samurai helmet, orange skull chest & loincloth - with some bayformer elements like the skeletal structural - I like my Voyagers to have slightly thicker arms than that ! However it sort of works here because of the robot's skull face. He's got plenty of articulation: Wrists bend in, elbows bend twice, bicep joint, arms swing up to the side beneath the shoulders, shoulders turn, head turns (just), hips turn and swing out to the sides, legs swivel beneath the knees, bends at the knee & ankle. There's a few hanging bits on the robot mode: tank treads off the shoulders & hips as well as the hip armour. And then he's carrying around a massive great tank turret on his back (best to pose pointing down I think).
But the tank turret houses a couple of secrets: it carries the robot's weapons! Firstly the grey end of the tank's gun barrel pulls away bringing with it a hugely long sword - it's the length of the rest of the gun barrel plus the length of the turret which is approximately equal to the length of the tank. He can hold this in either hand which has moulded fingers but looks like he could hold most 5mm peg weapons - I've not got many to hand but he holds Smoulder's Minicon Chopster fine . In a way the sword is a tribute to one of the weapons for the inner robot on the original Bludgeon which was a gun formed from the tank's gun barrel. Next rotate the turret so the gun barrel points up. Looking at the back of the robot, you'll see that to the right of the turret there's a small raised dome. Hold onto the tank barrel while pulling the dome to the right. The turret will split in two down the middle and open up to reveal a scabbard containing a much shorter sword. You can place that in his other hand or plug it into the hole in the hilt of the original weapon to form a double bladed sword. You can sheath these in the tank turret but there's also a fold up panel on his left hip plate to accommodate one weapon together with a hole through the hip plate for the other.
After that it would seem almost rude to nitpick about the weapons. But I'm going to ! There's no gun on this robot where the original Pretender had two. Sacrificing one of the knives in exchange for a gun would have been nice. Another nice feature from the original that could have been carried over would be the ability to use the tank turret as a shield. Finally When the tank turret is stored on the robot's back the grenade launchers are level with the shoulders, but pointing down. Ok, you can imagine that they're thrusters for a jet pack but it might have been nicer if they could have rotated round on their mounts to point over the shoulders as cannons.
Overall: Decent sculpt but limited functionally tank. Robot mode is a good homage to the original overlaid on Bayformer sculpting scale.
Banzaitron
How do you repaint a toy with such a distinctive form ? Night Ops Bludgeon ? Well the soloution was to pick a similar looking robot - the Action Master Banzai-Tron who's got a Samurai theme and has never previously had a vehicle mode. Use the grey and green from the Action Master and mix in a drak green tank body and some black and you've got a decent looking repaint.
Pictures of this forthcoming toy can be found at [url=http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/transformers-movie-toys--products-30/first-image-of-decepticon-banzaitron-169605/>the 2005 Boards[/url]