2007 Movie Voyager Blackout

PART ONE: HELICOPTER MODE
Blackout is very impressive visually, although not at all big; he's the smallest Voyager out of the 4 I have (Starscream, Ironhide, Ratchet & Blackout), although he is the longest.

Blackout's helicopter mode is extremely well detailed; panel lines, vents, all sorts of stuff. The "trigger" on the tail isn't very obtrusive at all; the eye just seems to slide off it (probably looking at all the OMGCOOL details elsewhere). The rotor spins very well, and has some limited movement on its own. The tail rotor spins freely.

Blackout has a small front undercarriage wheel, that flips out from under the nose.

Scorponok fits snugly in his little "cage" at the rear of the helicopter's main body; there is a small button to open the cage.
Scorponok:

Scorponok is made from 4 pieces of soft plastic (body, claws and tail). The tail appears to be spring loaded, presumably to catapult him from the cage. Doesn't seem to work very well, though. And by that I mean that it doesn't work at all.
The only real problem with Black out's alt mode is that of fit; as you can see in the pics above, the bottom section of the helicopter does not like to stay put. In fact, you may notice the rubber band holding him together. He will stay together, just not very securely.
Hopefully the final fit will be a little better.
Other than that, this is a pretty much faultless alt mode; superbly detailed and realised.

PART TWO: TRANSFORMATION
This post will be updated with photos once the camera batteries have recharged.
First of all, it's a lot easier to transform Blackout if you remove the rotor assembly first. Otherwise the blades just get in the way.
Anyways.
Blackout's transformation is, to put it bluntly, a nightmare. His "Automorph" gimmick centres around legs; move them into robot mode position, and the nose section rotates to reveal the robot chest and head. However, it's not at all intuitive; in fact, this is the only 1 of the 4 Voyagers I have that gave me headaches transforming it for the first time.
Once that's out of the way, the rest of him is pretty straightforward:
-the feet fold out of the lower legs (rear foot stabilisers are hidden behinda part of the helicopter side). The waist rotates 180 degrees.
-The arms simply fold down from the side parts of the helicopter. The entire of these side sections then pegs securely (2 pegs on each side) back into the front of the helicopter (Blackout's chest). The top of the front of the helicopter is opened out and rotated to reveal 2 sets of missile launchers.
-Scorponok's cage moves out slightly, and swings round 180 degrees. The rotor assembly is now fitted back onto the main robot; the rotor blade hub is actually in 2 pieces that rotate slightly to allow the blades to be positioned on his back.

And that's pretty much it. One curious thing to note is that the button that rotates the blades also seems to power a little port on Scorponok's cage. I can find no use for this; maybe an addon is/was planned.

PART TWO: ROBOT MODE
Blackout, although very striking, is also... rather small. The main reason for hi sheight is the rotor assembly on his back; without that he's not that much taller than an average Deluxe. However, that does not mean that he isn't an amazing looking figure.

Blackout has the following points of articulation: neck (left-right), shoulder (back-front, out to the sides), bicep swivel, elbow, wrist (up only), waist, hip, thigh swivel (above knee), knee, and ankle (sort of). A lot of the detailing from his helicopter mode carries over to his robot mode, and the result is nothing short of stunning This is a very evil looking machine of death.
Aha! Remember I mentioned the rotor hub being in 2 pieces? Here you can see it:

The result is very pleasing to the eye. Blackout will stand without having to lean on the rotor button, by the way; the large(ish) heels make that possible. He is also very posable indeed.

I know a lot of people don't like the head design, but personally I love it. Seriously; there's mean, and then there Blackout. He is overall one of the most aggressive looking Transformers we've had in years.

Conclusion:
Blackout does have his flaws; he's not that big, his Automorph gimmick is a bit confusing, and the fit of some of the parts could be better. However despite these things he is still nothing short of outstanding.

How's the transformation?

See the second post, d00d.

Blackout can combine with Deluxe Scorponok and activates Scorpy's spinning claws.

Great review, I can't wait to receive mine. Did you get a good deal on your Voyagers?

Aha! I remember now. I dont think I'll be doing that when I get Scorpy though; that'd just look way too odd.
Not too bad; you know how it goes, the price you pay for getting them early. Ratchet was easily the cheapest (by a long way; he goes for peanuts on eBay), and Ironhide was the most expensive.
However, I'm sure you'd agree that they're all worth it

I think the little peg you mentioned near Scorponok's cage that spins freely without any apparent purpose is for the larger Scorponok figure-- he's supposed to attach to Blackout, and I presume when that peg spins it links up to the larger Scorponok's claws, which rotate.

EDIT: Gah, posted too late.

Last updated November 10th
(This update: 5 new TF Universe 2.0 toy reviews, 2 more of VBBN's toy reviews)

Right... Still it makes me cringe when I see the price they're going for now on Ebay... Some stats of I what I paid for my movie toys :

-FAB Ironhide : $70 (sold it back for $30)
-FAB Prime : $125 (ouch... but it was the very first one)
-FAB Starscream : $30
-Cyber Slammer Prime : $30
-Protoform Prime (MOSC) : $40
-Deluxe Barricade : $66
-Deluxe Brawl : $31
-Deluxe Bumblebee : $26
-Voyager Starscream : $81
-Voyager Ironhide : $121 (ouch)
-Voyager Ratchet : $34
-Voyager Blackout : $95 (ouch)
-Voyager Megatron : $50

Retail, with taxes, all those toys would cost me $311.88CAN.

Now laugh hard.

Hey Draven how far do the missles launch? I hope he is tighter when he comes out, but man so far he is the best looking voyager to me. Thats one killer alt mode, I wish Starscream's alt mode was conceived in a similar fashion(blackouts got a sleeker alt mode without much kibble). Ah well. I still think deluxe starscream will be the most movie accurate.

Blackout looks pretty darn nifty and right now, is the best helicopter transformer!