Bulkhead showed up yesterday, got some playtime in to form some opinions. Short version: He's actually pretty cool. Not perfect, but a really neat transformation on a deluxe and a cool design that I'd love to see refined for a voyager class figure. Neat weapon design even if the gimmick has some minor issues. He comes with Part 9 of the Beast Hunters story in his manual:



Here's a bit about his Dragon Grinder weapon:



Co-sells on the box are for Ripclaw, Smokescreen, and Starscream. We've seen decent pics of the first two, but I took the best shot I could of the Starscream co-sell:



On to the figure itself!

Vehicle mode, like the others, is an armored version of his previous self, with some Roadbustery colors added, and some spikes on the front bumper.





His dragon grinder is pretty neat with some dragon-esque detailing on the top and bottom of the weapon. The gimmick seems to hang up, and taking it apart it's obvious why. The gear between the button and the actual blade has circular pegs on the top and bottom to allow it to spin, but the pegholes on the inner halves of the weapon shell that hold them are slightly oval for reasons unknown. It gives the gear a little bit of wiggle space and can get hung up at times. It's a minor annoyance, but I still have no idea why they did it that way.





The weapon can peg onto the roof or either side of the vehicle mode.





Here's a couple quick vehicle shots showing the underside and a comparison to Bumblebee:





Transformation is pretty neat for a deluxe. Flip up the doors and then flip down the rear half to form the legs:





The grey feet that form part of the roof flip down. Note: They're not misassembled here, but those bits are all ball joints and I hadn't adjusted them properly before taking the pic. They're angled on the bottom in such a way that were they reversed they wouldn't attach or fit in vehicle mode at all.



The lower part of the front bumper slides/angles down and the codpiece flips up and snaps into place:



The legs flip down on a "spine" piece to sit under the front bumper, and the front hood lifts up to reveal the head/torso, while the arms unfold from the center of the vehicle.



The upper torso flips up and snaps into the lower torso, and the front wheels fold into the sides.



The whole canopy section folds onto the back, the sides of the the hood extend out and angle upward, and the the orange piece folds down to form an armored hood/pauldrons for bot mode.







His head is now helmeted with a full mouthplate and visor, and the blue circles actually are smallish horns on the helmet, although the blue bits do make kind of a : D smiley face.



A shot of the back armor, that does kind of make him feel vaguely Brawn-ish, for those who wish to repurpose.



He can hold his weapon in his hand or it can attach to his forearms. Sadly, yes, he's got curling arms, but you could rotate and reglue his hands into place if you don't mind them being uber visible in alt mode, although to be fair they aren't exactly stealthy anyway.



Here's a quick comparison shot with deluxe beast hunters bumblebee and his previous voyager versions.



So yeah, a little small, but packed with some neat little bits. Might be great for repurposers or those just looking for a fun little figure (and he IS fun), but if you're looking for the best Bulkhead there are better ones already out. Video review is available here:

 

Are the fists stuck at that orientation or is there a swivel hidden somewhere like on the Voyager?

 

Definitely has a Roadbuster vibe to him. Not sure I'm digging him just from these initial pictures, but will hold off final judgement until I see your video.

 

I wasn't expecting you to get Bulkhead (Roadbuster) so soon, his transformation scheme is pretty interesting.

I'm assuming you have Smokescreen as well.

 

No, sadly, he's got curling arms.

Nope, so far I've only seen that one that we've already seen pics of available anywhere.

 

i REALLY want to try something with him if i can find him for cheap

 

He looks great. I'm really diggin the beast hunters line thus far. i eagerly anticipate your full video review peaugh

 

I'm definitely picking him up after seeing these pictures. He'll my Transformers: Prime Brawn.

 

nice misassembled feets...
dreadwing, then skyquake , now him, who's next?

joking aside, he got a very strong roadbuster look

 

This guy will be my Prime Roadbuster...until one is released.

 

Thanks for the review, your pics are worth a thousand words.

And with that, he's a pass for me as well.

 

The feet aren't misassembled, they're on ball joints. If they were swapped he wouldn't be able to transform into vehicle mode, as they form part of the roof.

 

Would be a buy for sure if he didn't have curling arms. As it is, it is leaning towards pass. Curling arms are almost an instant deal breaker, no matter how good the rest of the toy is.

would it break the transformation if the hands were cut off and glued back on the "correct" way?

 

Will have to see what the rest of his wave looks like, but I think I can probably be convinced to pick him up. I like it.

People say he looks like Roadbuster or Brawn, and sure, I can see that. But with the brown, green and purple color scheme, along with a saw weapon?

Come on, this guy is Rhinox.

 

Possibly not. Let me check. It definitely wouldn't prevent transformation at all but could affect clearance in alt mode.

Edit: you could totally rotate and reglue the hands as long as you don't mind them being very visible under the car mode. (Although they're not exactly hidden anyway.)

 

love it! best version of prime bulkhead imo! thanks for the review peaugh  

 

Not bad, thanksf or posting. I really didn't expect him to have such a steampunk vibe to him.

 

I have yet to buy a Dr Wu upgrade, but I can see a Roadbuster head upgrade coming soon after release, and I will buy that head as fast as I can.