Constructive feedback/criticism is always appreciated and welcomed.
Blaster 1985 "When the music is rockin?, I?m rollin?" Allegiance: Autobot
Sub-group: Tape Decks
Function:: Communication
1st appearance: Dinobot Island Part I
1st comics appearance: Transformers #17
Precursor: Microman
Strength: 8
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 2
Endurance: 8
Rank: 7
Courage: 9
Firepower: 7
Skill: 9
Notable Cartoon Moments Pre-movie: Using a radio-jamming device located on the Moon, Megatron creates chaos on Earth. Blaster and Cosmos head to Luna to investigate. Although they?re captured, Blaster uses his own music to jam the device and saves the day. Fought and defeated Soundwave in solo battle in Auto-Bop.
Post-movie: Was put in charge of Metroplex and Autobot City. Notable Headmasters moment: Fought a duel to the death with Soundwave in the third episode of that series.
Alternate Mode: 1980s style Boombox
Colors: Red in the middle and silver on the sides. Black speakers. Silver function buttons and a yellow tape deck.
Stickers: Minimal. Big Autobot logo on the tape deck. Stickers essentially are detail for this mode and nice additions (subwoofers and such).
In the cartoons, Blaster always seemed like more of an annoyance than a strong ally to the other Autobots. Even Prime would often tell him to shut up. The only one who seemed to genuinely enjoy Blaster was Jazz (who?d just dance whenever Blaster started playing music). In Kremzeek, Blaster came up with an idea and Prime responded, ?Blaster, that?s the first good idea you?ve ever had.?
Anyway, he played a major role in the Marvel comics (which I collected as a kid) and was an essential and strong recurring character. Suffice it to say, Blaster was one of the toys I really wanted. Most everyone likes Soundwave (as do I) and Blaster?s his Autobot counterpart only with a smaller set of cassettebots (6 to Soundwave?s 10).
Now on to the toy: Blaster?s a very realistic looking 80s boombox. He?s about the size of a portable boombox (length-wise) which folks used to carry around on the subways and streets of NYC. He?s got a black handle on top, black speakers and black tweeters. There are also two stickers which go on the bottom of the boombox to represent his subs.
The tape deck door is transparent and allows you to see the tape (if any) stored inside. There are no circular cassette holders however nor is there much detailing on the inside of the tape deck. There are four function buttons below the tape deck. From left to right they?re eject (pops open the door), stop (central two) and play. When play is pressed, the stop button will depress it.
He looks really nice in this mode with the colors playing off each other very well. The red isn?t overly bright nor is the silver shiny. They?re both relatively muted and thus come together nicely. The black detailing is a nice little touch although black is the default color for speakers and handles. There?s even an earphone jack on his right side which says 8 ohm output and a molded power switch on his left side.
Blaster?s alternate mode is a beaut. It comes off as very realistic with all the tiny details and the handle coming together very well. The colors also work together nicely. If someone told me you have yellow, silver, black and red all on one figure I would naturally assume it?d be an eyesore. However, that?s not the case here.
The only drawback to this mode would be his size compared to other figures. He?s nearly twice the size of Soundwave (although since Soundwave?s supposed to be a micro-cassette recorder, the scale?s about right). However Soundwave?s alt. mode is larger than all the G1 cars. That?s G1 scaling for you.
Buyer?s Beware: Many Blasters have malfunctioning tape deck/button mechanisms. Luckily, mine work just fine (heh). Other times, a la Soundwave, the tape deck won?t open without assistance when the eject button is pressed. Alternate Mode Rating: 9
His scaling in this mode isn?t bad when compared to Soundwave. When compared to other figures it sucks but I can?t really knock it all that much especially since most people display G1 sub-groups together. Bottom line: He really does look great and the detailing?s topnotch. Transformation to robot mode: Slide the black handle to the right to split the two handle halves. Snap the handles into the compartments on the sides of the boombox. Grab the tweeters and pull them out and straight. Rotate the hip area to form his legs. Flip up his head and rotate it around to face forward. Pull out his arms (on each side of the tape deck) and extend his fists and forearms.
Robot Mode: Colors: Mostly red upper body and silver lower body with a yellow (tape deck) chestplate and spots of black here and there (arms, fists, knees, feet).
The Bot mode is where Blaster doesn?t come through. The colors still work very well together. His lower body is mostly silver and the boombox handles aren?t visible. It?s great how they were able to make those virtually disappear as they snap into the sides of his legs. His torso and shoulders/wrists are red while his chestplate is yellow (tape deck). He?s got black knees, feet, arms and fists. His ears and the outline of his head sculpt is red with yellow eyes and a silver forehead and face.
His head sculpt is not show accurate. It is very comic book accurate though.
There?s some limited mobility here folks. You can move his shoulders but not his elbows. His head and hips do rotate though (can pull some nice Exorcist shit). That?s about it.
The lack of poseability/articulation really hurts his overall look. He really can hold only a couple of poses and in all of them he comes off incredibly blocky. His head?s disproportioned with the rest of his body as well. Actually, all of his proportions are off. The legs are a little too long (although they?re not skinny!) and his arms are way too short. They?re also way too square and too wide (little more than ? the size of his chest). It?s a damn shame because the colors look sharp! How could they have gotten it so right with Soundwave yet so wrong with Blaster? Overall - very, very, disappointing.
Accessory wise, Blaster?s got one ? his gun. It?s about as long as his legs?yea?way too fricking long. There?s a lot of detail sculpted into it though. Finally?to make matters worse, his scaling?s horribly off. He?s about the size of Metroplex and much bigger than Soundwave (his counterpart who?s supposed to be the same size). Although most of it?s due to the origin of the molds (Diaclone/Microman). Diaclone toys were generally smaller versions of Microman figures.
Buyer?s Beware: The tape deck again is a problem in this mode as its functionality was as important in robot mode as it was in alternate mode for the Tape Decks. Other frequent problems are with his antennae ears which are often stressed or broken. Occasionally his head is missing due to the transformation process. Finally due to the size and the molding of his gun, it?s often snapped in half. Robot Mode Rating: 4.5
There are just too many negatives to this mode. His overall size and inaccurate scaling coupled with the sheer blockiness and lack of proportion leaves me let down. Not to mention the lack of poseability and that huge fricking gun! Very frustrating, especially because there?s so much potential there and they had a great blueprint in Soundwave. Overall Rating: 6 (solo) 7 (w/cassette-bots)
I hate having to give him such a low overall rating because I love Soundwave and the whole cassettebot thing. However, the ?Bot mode is a real let down. It?s just really very frustrating! As a boombox, Blaster?s a thing of beauty. Stick Eject inside him and pose Rewind, Grandslam, Raindance, Ramhorn and Steeljaw around him and he looks great. However, I can?t give him anything higher than a 6 solo when he?s really only a 1 mode pony. I?m frustrated because Blaster?s simply a character I liked a lot. And again, the player/cassettes subgroup is one of my favorites. But I can?t logically bump his rating up based on 1 great mode.
Blaster?s basically one you?d want for three reasons:
1) Nostalgic value or you loved his character or completeness.
2) You love the idea of the cassettes and players.
3) You don?t mind your Transformers staying in one mode and don?t care about poseability (Blaster has none!) and don?t plan on touching/moving them much.
Personally, I love the look of Blaster and the cassettes around him. I?m fine with just being able to display him as the boombox surrounded by his minions. I don?t generally play with my Transformers much and I don?t expect much from the G1s except nostalgic value. If they look good and I liked the character I buy them, otherwise I don?t.
Still, even knowing all that, I was very disappointed by his Bot mode even though I consider it to be a wash with his boombox mode. So?keep all that in mind when trying to decide if you want him or not. A nice Blaster complete with a working tapedeck should cost you around $40-50. If you?re very patient you can definitely get him for $35. Be sure to get his gun for that price however as his gun alone is worth a pretty penny (I?ve seen some for $10 and even $15 and up).
I would advise being patient with him. The individual tapes tight, unbroken, complete go for a pretty penny (around $25 each complete at online stores, $30 each for the combiners and the gold weapons are rarer than the silver ones). Keep that in mind as well.
In the UK comics, Blaster also "hosted" the letters page in the final issues of the comic.
Once, Blaster was known as "the Voice", a radio personality who cheered on and encouraged the Autobot forces in their battle with the Decepticons. Until one fateful day, he was attacked and left for dead in space. Found by aliens and returned to his Autobot brethren, he set about the task of unmasking the one who tried to kill him. Upon learning it was the peace-loving Beachcomber, Blaster learned of a deeper conspiracy - Beachcomber was being controlled by a cerebro shell implanted by the Insecticon Bombshell, who in turn had been acting under orders from Soundwave. Blaster vowed to get even with Soundwave.