Blackout arrived on my doorstep today so I thought I'd tackle my first review. I'm a little late on joining the pre-release Animated club, but better late than never. Forgive my amateurish photos, but I hope you enjoy. Here is Blackout's alt mode. It does a pretty good job hiding the robot kibble. The arms are hidden with the side gattling gun panels, and the only other part visible is the waist piece, which hides underneath. To start of the transformation the tail rotor snaps off what becomes Blackout's knee caps. Next the bottoms of the feet seperate from the joint behind the rotor. Then the legs rotate down off of the calves and seperate. The toe pieces rotate out as well. The waist piece swings on its hinge to line up on the underside of the helicopter with tabs to connect. When the waist snaps into Blackout's torso, the rotors spring into the down position. The arms rotate down and the gattling gun panels are rotated 180 degrees. The front of the helicopter seperates on the center seam. The pieces fold back on hinges and lock into a peg to form Blackout's wide upper stance. At this point the arms are rotated out away from the side of the upper torso on hinges to finish off the shoulders. Finally, the little missle wings which are next to the rotor assembly are positioned to his back, fold out Blackout's hands and positon the rotor blades. Here is a shot of blades folded up on his back. The tail rotor can be attached to either hand and shoots the rotor disk quite far. I haven't figured out yet if the tail rotor stores on his back when not in use. This picture of Blackout with Lugnut shows a size comparison. Articulation: Head is stationary. Shoulders can rotate almost completely around until they are stopped by the back kibble. However they don't move out laterally very far due to the design of the shoulders. Biceps fully rotate. Elbow bends but do not rotate. Hands fold due to transformation but don't rotate, however the two fingers are articulated, and the thumb is stationary. The waist turns 360 degrees. Thighs move through a good range forward and backward as well as laterally. Knees turn 360 degrees and bend. Toes fold due to transformation but don't have any side pivoting. Overall the figure has a few faults which are very minor, the scale is on the small side, which was expected, and some of the articulation could have been a bit better. However, like most of the other Animated toys, the toy sculpt has so much personality, it makes up for any minor flaws. I am certainly happy to have picked him up early. I can't wait to pick up what's left for the Animated line. It has certainally cemented itself as my favorite Transformers line.
I'm liking Brimley-Bot a lot so far, and congrats on picking up a toy at what could be several months ahead of release.
Very glad to see a Feedback thread pop up on this guy. Can't wait to get him. Probably my most wanted of the remaining Animated figures.
I love his 'copter mode. He's got weapons jutting out everywhere. Since he was barely on the show, I don't think his size will bother me. I'll probably eventually get him. I just hope the final releases have painted mustaches...
great review, thanks! it looks great.. theyve done a much better job with this guy than movie blackout definitely picking this guy up next year
I too am surprised on how similair he is to lugnuts transformation (even down to removing his tail section to form a weapon) but thats not going to stop me from getting him. he's just too cool looking! And i think when he hits shelves you are going to see laot of people customize this so his alt mode looks like he did in the show. Cool toy, and thanks for sharing Rhion! Randy!
