Toy Review - JP Device Label Blaster [Archive] - Ozformers Transformers Club of Australia (otca.com.au)

kup

3rd August 2010, 11:21 PM

As many of you know, this toy was first cancelled and then delayed a couple times to the point that it almost felt as it was never going to happen. Thankfully Device Label Broadcast (Blaster) was finally released and my pre-order arrived today.

As you can see Device Label Blaster's robot mode is a very faithful representation of his G1 character model mainly due to his chest, head and arms. He does have some very large alt mode kibble hanging from his back and back of his arms but as you can see from the photos, it isn't anywhere as intrusive to his overall look as it could have been which is good. The mold is also fairly tall, roughly the same height as Classics Voyager Prime.

The figure is surprisingly well articulated considering that there is a fair bit of wiring going on inside him but no more than the average deluxe or Voyager toy. He has knee, thigh, elbow and wrist joints although much of these are used for Transformation. Unfortunately his head is not on a ball joint so he can only look from side to side which is silly since there is no reason why he couldn't of had a ball joint on his neck. On the up side, he has a superb light pipe for his eyes and it's gold just like th eyes of his original toy :)

Like G1 Blaster had the speakers on his legs, Device Label Blaster has the USB ports on his. They are indeed noticeable but then again so where G1 Blaster's speakers. As we all know, Device Label Blaster is a functional USB hub so the 4 USB ports are indeed functional even on this mode. Despite the interface USB cable (to the PC) connecting from the left leg, the right leg ports are still functional in robot mode which suggests internal cables running through much of the figure's inside. This is most impressive as it doesn't seem to have compromised the figure at all as the legs are very articulated.

Something to note as you can see from the pics bellow is that much of the red and yellow on this figure is painted. The paint quality and application is also of a high grade, much better than the average Hasbro toy. The paint also serves to nicely highlight the mold details on the arms although they aren't very extensive which is understandable as neither were G1 Blaster's.

http://kupscigar.com/collection/blaster/blaster1.JPG

http://kupscigar.com/collection/blaster/blaster2.JPG

Another feature of the robot mode is that Blaster has retained his cassette door from G1. Sadly, it doesn't 'eject' and needs to be opened manually but it can still fit in a G1 cassette inside which is a very nice touch! Strangely enough, under the cassette door we can see painted grey buttons in a similar arrangement to G1 Soundwave's which is rather odd but still looks nice.

http://kupscigar.com/collection/blaster/blaster3.JPG

http://kupscigar.com/collection/blaster/blaster4.JPG

The transformation from robot mode to laptop is very simple but locking him in place can be a little tricky. Just be careful with painted parts, particularly the groin when transforming the legs as many of the parts have pointed edges. The way the legs fold in has a very broad similarity to how G1 Blaster's legs transform for his Boom box mode.

Although Blaster is a functional USB Hub, his actual alt mode is a Toshiba laptop. The Laptop's screen is on ratcheting joints and can close and open like a real laptop. There is a fair bit of laptop detailing including two fans (or speakers) above the keyboard and a power button beneath it with a thumb pad. The keyboard has all individual keys molded in a realistic ATX QWERTY arrangement but unfortunately they do not have any labels on them which takes away the realism of the alt mode. This is unfortunate as there clearly has been a lot of effort in portraying a scale model of the Toshiba laptop and the blank keys take that effect away. Hopefully reprolabels will give us a keyboard layout sticker at some point.

The only playability in this mode is being able to lift/lower the screen and of course, the USB ports which are not really a gimmick and more of a functional gadget. Unfortunately the cassette door which is now underneath the laptop can no longer be used to store tapes as the transformation requires the robot head to fold inside taking space needed for the tape.

http://kupscigar.com/collection/blaster/blaster5.JPG

http://kupscigar.com/collection/blaster/blaster6.JPG

As a Transformers figure he is very good although fairly conventional when it comes to articulation. The character tribute is spot on in robot mode and the laptop is nicely detailed overall but could have been better. I believe that the Laptop is an excellent choice for updating Blaster as it is both used for communications and also to play music by most people.

Overall a great figure, excellent character tribute and a functional USB Hub.