Toy Review - GEN-15 Legends Blackjack

:D Pros
The core figure itself is really quite nice; the robot has decent articulation, the paint apps look nice (especially in car mode), and they've tried some new ideas with the transformation. The way that the canopy and bonnet folds and tucks away is pretty clever.

:( Cons
As others have mentioned, he just does not lock into place as Menasor's breastplate and is easily prone to falling out. He sits there just fine as a static display piece; and I've yet to complete Menasor and thus have a proper play with the gestalt, but I suspect that it'd likely fall out all the time during combat. Luckily Blackjack's not that essential to forming Menasor's chest, as Motormaster's backpack can just close up and form the chest on its own (in fact, that's how Menasor is currently being marketed by TakaraTOMY in their promotional photography).

:o Anomalies (neither pros nor cons)
What's up with that non G1 accurate face? And his accessory (weapon?) is... a fan? A battle standard? So... he's a Decepticon flag bearer? SPQD*! Perhaps it's a fan. Or maybe he's an assistant referee for Association Football matches. Or maybe it's a big paddle...
"Making fun of my weapon, that's a paddlin'."
TFwiki claims that it's an axe, if so, that's the weirdest (and arguably impractical) looking axe I've ever seen.

:cool: Overall
Weapon ambiguity aside, the toy itself is quite neat; it's solid in both robot and car modes, and the transformation is reasonably fun and intuitive for a figure of this size and price point. The main flaw lies in Blackjack being a gestalt component; which appears to be a poor execution of what was an inherently good idea. If only the pegs on Menasor's chest were thicker or if the holes on Blackjack were smaller. :/ A nice enough toy, but not utterly essential to one's Stunticon collection. Since Menasor has his own in-built breastplate (Motormaster's backpack) and considering that Blackjack was never a member of the original Stunticons, he's a rather superfluous member of the team, so you're not missing out on anything critical if you skip this toy; but he's by no means a bad toy either. Recommended.

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Originally Posted by philby

what kind of real life car (if any) is it based on?

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None, although G1 Blackjack is a 1988 Ford Probe GT Turbo. :o

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*Senātus Populusque Decepticōnus: The Decepticon Senate and People

Cool little guy. Mine clips onto Menasor's chest, but is bumped out quite easily.

Definitely glad I picked it up :)

Cool little figure, but needs some adjustment to look decent/stay on Menasor.

Now that I've completed the Stunticons and had a fiddle with Menasor, I've discovered that Blackjack functions even worse as a breastplate than I first suspected. The damn thing fell off about half a dozen times as I was posing the toys for those photos. The problem just isn't with the looseness in the pegs, but the two halves of Menasor's 'default chest,' which tend to buckle whenever either arm is moved inward, causing Blackjack to dislodge. :(

And considering that the default chest already resembles G1 Motormaster's Roller car, it really makes Blackjack feel rather superfluous. It's little wonder that TakaraTOMY have just omitted this mould from their Unite Warriors Menasor gift set (although releasing it separately as Runabout; which also explains the design of Blackjack's head which looks nothing like G1 Blackjack).

Blackjack is still a relatively nice little Legends Class figure on its own, but a thoroughly disappointing gestalt component, and utterly unnecessary for forming Menasor. I'm personally just going to display Blackjack as Menasor's chest, but I won't be playing with him as such. The combiner aspect of Blackjack's play pattern is effectively a failure.

I opened him tonight and had a play. A net robot mode, cool vehicle mode and great homage to the G1 Micromaster. Transformation is quite natty too so I'm quite pleased with him.

I was thinking of picking up a second Blackjack as I want two sets of the Stunticons - one of the 7 individual robots and one of the 6 combined into Menasor. I haven't put Menasor together yet but after reading the reviews of others I may just wait and do so before I order another Blackjack to see if its worth the hassle of having him as a chest piece.

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Originally Posted by millhouse

Had to use a clear rubber band to keep him attached to Menasor, so a bit of a fail in Combiner mode in that respect...

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Originally Posted by ProphesizedFunk

Yeah he comes off super easily unfortunately :(

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Originally Posted by liegeprime

+1, I put him on Menasor's chest and he just slid out... annoying really. it's already ridiculous the way he combines to be the chest armor and for him NOT to be able to stay at all is just getting to my nerves... I jammed a couple of blutack in there but yeah they should've made the pegholes and the pegs connect better.

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Originally Posted by Trent

Cool little guy. Mine clips onto Menasor's chest, but is bumped out quite easily.

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Originally Posted by Dimi194

Cool little figure, but needs some adjustment to look decent/stay on Menasor.

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Geez, I must have lucked out. Put Menasor together tonight and Blackjack stays on perfectly. Even turned him over and shook him to see if he would slide off and nope - stays on nicely :)