Thanks. And well it was close...sorta.

 

See, that fits into something I have in my headcanon, that Onslaught basically picked his team from those that just didn't work well with others (Blast-Off almost became a Seeker, Vortex competed with Soundwave to head the espionage division of the Cons, Swindle was almost executed for selling out his commander, and Brawl was too violent) and everyone laughed at him... and this his team became the elite Decepticon division we all know. The Combaticons are basically the A Team.

 

The only part that gets me annoyed is the head. If Hasbro is lazy then use Fireflight's head, not Slingshot. It's a deal breaker for me.

 

Y'know, I thought that at first. But eventually, doing visual comparisons I realised that outside of the faceplate, Firefly's head doesn't look like Blast Off at all. Meanwhile, Slingshot's head is only a faceplate away from being the cartoon design.

So I'm holding out hope that Reprolabels or Hasbro Asia will put a faceplate for him on their customary sticker sheets.

 

Or maybe someone like fakebuster will make one on Shapeways that cna be glued on. But I have a feeling Reprolabels will be the first.

 

Detailed review coming soon, but for those hunting, here's the UPC:

 

Nemesis Slingshot!

 

I could always say that Swindle borrowed Slingshot's schematics when the rest of the team got updated

 

The controversy surrounding Blast-off has been whether or not he should have been a space shuttle or a fighter jet.



My answer is that I don't care that much. Sure, space shuttles can have military applications, but fighter jets, especially Harriers, are much more useful for supporting ground troops, which most of the Combaticons are. Blast-off's bio on the back of the included comic book mentions that Onslaught forced him to change his alt-mode to be nearer to the team when they needed to form Bruticus as justification.





Anyway, Blast-off is a straight-up repaint of Quickslinger, right down to the head. His weapon (actually Firefly's flamethrower) and hand/foot/gun are all identical to 'Slinger's, just cast in different colored plastic. I'm not gonna go into too much depth, since we've already put this mold through it's paces as Fireflight and then 'Slinger. I guess the flamethrower can be a sniper rifle if you squint a bit, since the comic book back bio describes Blast-off's function as a sniper.





Since the only real difference is the paint, let's talk about that. Blast-off's main colors are a muddy brown and purple, much like his G1 toy. There's also some annoying bright yellow thrown in to break up the brown. The problem is that the yellow doesn't fit at all and looks kinda like an eyesore. At first I thought it was done to match Swindle, but it really doesn't, since Swindle's color is more tan and subdued. Other than the yellow, which is on the kneepads and the right side of the chest, the rest of the color scheme works decently to remind you who this is supposed to be and to differentiate him from the two Aerialbots.









Straight repaint and icky yellow notwithstanding, this is probably my second favorite of the wave behind Swindle. I like airplanes a lot, so the fighter jet works for me. The transformation is pretty easy as long as you can get the legs compacted and extended properly. The joints on mine are tighter than on either of my 'Slingers or Fireflies.







As a combiner arm, he works conceptually as well as the two Aerialbot Harriers, which means, IMHO, not great but serviceable. The tail stabilizers stick up too much for him to hold any weapon that extends backwards past the wrist. We'll see how well he can hold Legends Shockwave in gun mode when I get that figure. Until I can get Onslaught, Blast-off will be serving as Galvatronus's right arm, since you can mount Cyclonus's gun on Blast-off's underwing hardpoint to simulate Galvy's arm-cannon. The mold makes an equally serviceable leg, but that's hard to mess up. I wouldn't pair him as an arm or a leg with Swindle, Brawl or any of the Stunticons besides Drag-Strip, because he's too skinny and they are too wide.





So I recommend picking up Blast-off to finish Bruticus or Galvatronus, unless you wanna wait for Tak-Tomy and see if they put out a spaceship. Maybe a third party will come out with a compatible not-Blast-off as a space ship. Until then, this figure does what it needs to and is satisfying enough for me.

 

I'll get this BlastOff and wait to see Takara's, It will be fun to have two different BlastOffs.

 

I personally like the idea of Blastoff as a jet. It was always weird that he was a space shuttle, and it just makes more sense for him to be a jet. And I'm glad it was at least brought up in the bio/mini comic.

That said, I think it's pretty stupid not to have thrown a mouth plate on him. THAT'S the part that I can't get behind. I'm really hoping for a 3rd party head for that fix.

 

Oh God... The Hasbro Australia info makes me feel ill considering just how much I dropped on these guys to get them from Robotkingdom... The Australian dollar is just so bad right now.

 

Canadian dollar is the same boat. I'm holding out hope that we see these guys at retail and that I won't have to buy from BBTS or RK.

 

Honestly? If he had a different head I wouldn't care. Assuming they're going to take care of it, TT's version will be the second UW set I will buy (first being Grand Galvatron! Love that set!). I am getting my son Bruticus for Christmas though, assuming bbts gets Onslaught in before the deadline...

 

it's pretty shocking given: A. they CLEARLY knew they'd be doing Bruticus and B. EVERYONE else in the line got AT LEAST a new head. (except poor Pipes and Not counting Smokescreen since he and Prowl always share a head) that in a team as hodge podge as the Combaticons (1 straight repaint, 1 Extensive remold, 1 moderate remold, 1 new mold that we couldn't get a new head on him. it's really a deal breaker for me.

UNLESS Takara either doesn't do a new mold for him or extensively better colors then Hasbro: Since my combiners will live in combined mode 90+% of the time, i'll probably just hold my nose and get him, since you'll never see the wrong head on him...

 

People may bitch and not like him but I LOVE it, he looks so good, joints are tighter than Quickslinger and colors really make me think Blast Off. Better than Vortex but not as good as Swindle or Brawl.

 

Instead of a space shuttle, here would be the appropriate alt mode for Blastoff:
X-37B OATV-2

 

Agreed

 

Or a made up space fighter, that looks like the Space Shuttle

 

You should.