-Submitted by: Omegus Prime | Overall Score: 6 Among the interesting extras for Galaxy Force that Takara did, among Red Excellion, Black Fangwolf, and Police Gasket, were the versus packs that featured remlded Armada toys. Each was molded after a character of the past, from G1 to Beast Wars 2, and among them was Generation 1 Blurr, remolded out of Armada... well, Blurr.
Vehicle Mode
Blurr is a futuristic sports car in vehicle mold, very sleek and fast. The main color is a faded blue, with red for racing stripes over the top and down the sides. Gold, white, and black accent and translucent gold flake plastic is used for headlights and windshield. And all I can say is... why wasn't he done in these colors to begin with? While the red throws you off from making the connection to G1 Blurr, it does look much more dynamic than Armada Blurr, and especially more than Universe Swerve. Oh yes, and as a Speed Planet character, yes, his wheels are clear plastic, though it's hard to tell.
To accomodate a Planet Key, the top rear part of the car has been remolded to fit one instead of the Minicon Incinerator, but the whole area has gotten redone as well, now featuring turbines and exhaust pipes that run through the new details. The launchers have been remolded as well, looking like thrusters from the back, but the new missiles get in the way of the appearance, it looks better without.
This may be a problem just on mine, but the body and legs of the robot mode tend to swing down a bit in this mode that keeps the toy from rolling well.
Planet Key
I have to do the Planet Key gimmick here, since it doesn't work in Robot Mode.
Blurr comes with a silver Speed Planet key... odd since in the show you see him often on Earth... anyway, inserting it into the rear of the vehicle folds down the sides, complete with molded in turbines. The launchers here look good with missiles and are nice as jets on the ends of the wings.
Of all the Armada remolds, Blurr's gimmick is best with the key instead of a Minicon, especially since it's the same activation method he had with Incinerator.
Robot Mode
Unlike vehicle mode, you cant possibly mistake who this is. This mode adds in a deeper shade of blue, combined with the faded blue of vehicle mode and white on the arms and upper legs, this can only be G1 Blurr. Also adding to the color scheme is more of the smokey grey plastic the tires use, almost black unless you look close enough, which goes well with his black hands.
The head, like the other Armada remolds, has been done as a slightly stylized version of the original character's head. The colors and helmet, along with the odd antenna on top, is a dead ringer for G1 Blurr, just a few colors and details changed to be more dynamic. The launchers can now fit in his hands rather than the peg holes on his forearms, and while it looks more proper, they cant point directly forward this way. The mold suits the character well, though, and is probably my favorite character update of the four remolds.
However, while I like the toy, it's articulation is still it's drawback. The legs turn and move out at the hip, the shoulders move out only, and his only forward articulation are double jointed elbows. The head turns as well, but there's not much as far as dynamic poses he can get into.
Overall
Cybertron Blurr is what the mold was always meant to be, the best of all his versions. While vehicle mode and robot mode look great, and the gimmick works well, keep in mind the low articulation he has. But if it doesn't bother you, or you're a G1er, this should be a must have figure.
Submitted By: Scantron
Blurr
Notes
- Blurr is a repaint and remold of the Transformers: Armada figure of the same name. As such, this review will only cover the differences between the two figures. See my review of Blurr for more details about the original mold.
- This mold has also been used for the Transformers Universe figure Swerve.
- This figure is an homage to the G1 character Blurr. Similarities between the two figures will be noted throughout this review.
Vehicle Mode
In this form, Blurr is still a futuristic race car. The main colour of the vehicle is metal flake light blue, which gives Blurr a metallic sheen when viewed under the right light. A red stripe is located on each side of the car, extending from below the doors to the rear wheel wells. A larger red stripe runs the length of the car, from the black front bumper to the end of the spoiler. White detailing appears on a quartet of bars flanking the hood, on a set of vents in the center of the spoiler and pipes on each side of the spoiler. Yellow paint is used on the rear windows, in front of the central vents and above the missile launchers. The hubcaps are silver, medium grey appears on the projectiles and light grey is visible on the bodies of the missile launchers. Translucent metal flake yellow plastic is used for the windshield, front windows and headlights, while all four tires are translucent smoke grey. Blurr’s colour scheme on this release of the mold is a nice improvement over the original figure, with the red stripes looking great against the blue background and increased paint detailing on the spoiler making the vehicle look less plain than the Armada release. The white and yellow are used sparingly, but add character and bring out the pipes and vents on the spoiler. Although Cybertron Blurr’s colour scheme isn’t as striking as the black and red used for Universe Swerve, it looks good in its own right. My only complaint about the deco is that the paint applications are sloppy in a few places, with a few splotches of red on the blue background and uneven boundaries on the stripes.
There have been three molding changes made to this release that are visible in this mode: First, the projectiles have been altered, from the machine gun barrels with flared centers of the original release to thinner cylinders with rectangular ‘flares’ near the missile tips. The new projectiles vaguely resemble large gun barrels with smaller barrels flanking each side of the tip, but the look is less clear than the machine gun barrels on the original release. The missiles also clearly slant towards the side windows of the passenger compartment and look a bit odd. While Armada Blurr’s missile tips do slant towards the vehicle’s passenger compartment as well, the flares near the tips on Cybertron Blurr’s projectiles make this slant more obvious. The second mold change is that the missile launchers are set about a quarter inch further forward than on the previous release. This is due to the removal of the large peg on each launcher and shifting the launcher attachment peg hole back. This is a simple remold that I like, as the launchers are more concealed under the spoiler and don’t stick out the back of the vehicle as much as on Armada Blurr. The final, and largest, remold is that the rear half of the vehicle roof, including the spoiler, has been replaced with an altered piece. Where Armada Blurr’s roof was mostly smooth, with a few vents, Cybertron Blurr’s new roof has an extensive level of mechanical detail, including four intakes, three pipes on each side of the spoiler and jet thrusters. The hardpoints atop Armada Blurr’s spoiler have also been removed. As mentioned, much of this detail is painted, which helps it stand nicely. This last remold is a dramatic improvement over the original release and adds more depth to the vehicle. One problem unique to this release of the mold is that the wheels refuse to roll at all on smooth surfaces. I can sometimes get the driver’s side front tire to spin a little when pushing the figure across my desk, but the other three consistently stick.
8/10
Gimmicks and Weapons
One of the other remolds made to this figure is the addition of a Planet Key slot, to make Blurr compatible with the over-arching gimmick of the Cybertron line. The Planet Key slot is located where the Minicon Incinerator plugged in to the original release of this mold. Cybertron Blurr is packaged with a standard Speed Planet Key which, when inserted into the slot, causes the sides of the vehicle to flip down 90 degrees, converting the vehicle into flight mode. Where Armada Blurr’s gimmick trigger was a bit sensitive, Cybertron Blurr requires a lot of force on the Planet Key to release the flight mode wings. Other than the spoiler remolds, opening the wings reveals that the missile launchers have been altered, adding a rectangular tab on one side and a different set of ridges. The Minicon hardpoints on the launchers have also been removed, in exchange for standard light grey launcher triggers. Pushing the triggers will launch the projectiles about a foot and a half, a significant improvement over Armada Blurr, but still only average power. As a result of the mold changes, Cybertron Blurr’s launchers are not compatible with Armada Blurr or Universe Swerve’s missile (or vice versa). Both of the missile launchers can be detached from the wings and held in the hands in robot mode. Unlike the previous releases, where the launchers pegged into the wrists, Cybertron Blurr’s weapons are held in the figure’s hands, with the aforementioned rectangular tab on each launcher sliding between the thumb and fingers on each hand (note that the holes on the wrists, that accommodated the old launchers, are still present on this figure). There are two problems with this alteration: First, the hands do not hold the weapons securely and the launchers can be dislodged easily, especially when trying to fire the missiles. Secondly, the hands are curved, causing the tips of the missiles to point towards each other and allowing Blurr to only aim at targets that are on a slight angle. Armada Blurr’s weapons were one of the better hand-held weapons in the Armada line and, while Cybertron Blurr’s launchers are easier to fire, it’s a shame that they’re more awkward to use in robot mode.
6/10
Robot Mode
Transformation to, and articulation in, robot mode is the same as on Armada Blurr. The limited articulation leaves Cybertron Blurr with some of the same problems as the previous releases, including little range in the legs and a lot of extra weight hanging off the back. In fact, Cybertron Blurr is rather easy to tip over, unless the Planet Key is left inserted and used as a support for the backpack. For colour distribution, the lower legs, center of the chest and shoulder pads are medium blue, while the shin guards, a pair of circles on the abdomen and the wrists are red. Translucent smoke grey plastic is used for the toes, heels, thighs, hip armor and shoulders, with black appearing on the fingers and a red stripe on the outside of each arm. The elbows and hips are white and the center of the chest consists on a red Autobot logo on a white background. The head is mostly dark gloss blue with a light blue forehead crest, grey forehead, white face and light blue eyes. Other than the use of blue as a main colour, the figure’s head is the only direct reference to the G1 character Blurr. Besides the colour distribution, Cybertron Blurr’s head has been remolded from the Armada release to resemble the general shape of G1 Blurr’s helmet. The most easily noticeable connections are the forehead crest and ear pieces, but the vents flanking the chin and the shape of the face are also similar. No other molding details have been changed in this form. Although I like this figure’s colour scheme in vehicle mode, it doesn’t carry over to the robot mode. While the extensive used of blue is a good homage to G1 Blurr, there aren’t enough bright colours to break up the darker shades and the body comes out looking plain. A little more red, and maybe some yellow, and the torso and lower legs would have looked much nicer and added some character to the toy. The gloss blue used on the helmet is also jarring, as it doesn’t match any of the other shades of blue and makes the head too different from the rest of the figure. Finally, as in vehicle mode, there are a number of areas where the paint applications are sloppy, particularly the right eye, cheeks and the boundaries on the shin guards.
4/10
Overall
While Blurr’s remolded spoiler is nice and the colour scheme in vehicle mode looks great, there are a few problems with this figure that make slightly worse than the original release. The aesthetic could be better in robot mode and there have been no improvements to the articulation from the previous releases of the mold. The projectiles do launch better now that the triggers have been altered, but the launchers are awkward in robot mode and the remolded missiles look a bit odd in vehicle mode. Also, the homage to G1 Blurr is rather weak. This figure is slightly recommended if you don’t have Armada Blurr or Universe Swerve, otherwise neutral.
6/10 |
