Toy Review - Generations Deluxe Class Windblade

Windblade
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Thrilling 30 (30 of 30)
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 10
Released here - NO
Approximate Retail Price - $25
Approximate Size - 13cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - VTOL Jet
Main Features/Gimmicks - Spinning VTOL blades
Main Colours - black and Red (w/ Blue, Gold and Silver)
Main Accessories - VTOL Sword, Sheath, Fan/Headpiece

Stock Images
http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/...-Windblade.jpg

So here we have Windblade, the first ever Fan-Built Bot, Star of her own Miniseries by IDW, and Camien City-speaker. Hasbro claims they put 5 times the effort into designing Windblade, lets see if the hard work of the fans and Hasbro has paid off.

Robot Mode
http://i60.tinypic.com/do1h7l.jpg
first things first Windblade's robot mode looks gorgeous, it may not have the big eyed cutesy style of the artwork from her miniseries, but she still looks lovely
she's a rather slender figure (like most fembots) but still carries the look and feel of a warrior. her body is made up of red and black plastics, with some metallic blue paint on her chest and wrists, while her head also has red and gold paint to create her "camien city-speaker/ Kabuki facepaint" Windblade has quite a few paint-apps on her (particularly her face) but her wings are entirely black except for the blades of her VTOL fans which are white.
In terms of poseability Windblade has ball-jointed shoulders (with hinging shoulder armour over them, a swivel at the upper bicep, her elbows have hinges and her wrists can rotate. Her waist can rotate, her hips are ball-jointed and her thighs can rotate (although they are a little hindered by their shape) her knees can hinge both forward and backward and her heel can move a little due to transformation. Her head can rotate and based on how she transforms can also look up and down (although slightly hindered by her collar) her wings are also poseable and can be angled at different hinges to have them down by her side, or angled up, or angled back. and her VTOL fans can spin and also rotate like they do in the comics
The only major piece of kibble Windblade has is her vehicle mode cockpit and nosecone sitting on her back in robot mode. but it's not so bad

Accessories
http://i62.tinypic.com/27y8u53.jpg
Windblade's major accseories are her Sword and Sheath,
Her sword has a black handle and hilt (that is square in shape similar to animated Arcee's swords) with a white non-spinning VTOL fan in the hilt, the blade of her sword looks awesome and is clear purple although it fades to being completely clear the closer it gets to the tip. and of course the sword can store in the sheath

The sheeth is entirely black and has a peg on one end which she can hold although it looks kinda awkward (this peg is mostly used for storage in vehicle mode) there is another peg which acts as a handle for her to use to hold her sheath in a more normal looking fashion
The sheath also has a pair of tabs on it allowing it to peg into either of windblade's thighs, or onto the sides of her cockpit as weapon storage.
http://i60.tinypic.com/2d0c4kg.jpg http://i58.tinypic.com/316aip5.jpg
One final accessory that Windblade has that wasn't mentioned before but is included in her instructions is that the golden hairpiece on the back of her head is actually removable and can be held by her as a fan to further her Japanese theme. it is stuck in there quite tightly though
(I couldn't get it out and was scared of breaking it so I couldn't get a picture of her with her fan)

Transformation
http://i61.tinypic.com/5zqr0m.jpg
Windblade's transformation is, unique but kinda fiddly and awkward. most of her altmode is made up of her wings which unfold and angle down to sit along the sides of her body, her shins collapse up to create her ... (i'm not good with vehicle terms... is it intakes? boosters? whatever) while her calves and heels create her tailfin and thrusters. her arms just fold down to her hips and then just sit there pegged onto the back of her wings.
Her head stores in her chest and her sheath can store on the underside of her vehicle mode
Her transformation can be a little difficult to do since her wings need to peg into various parts of her body which they don't seem to want to do so it can take some time to line everything up to make the wings sit properly and peg in

Alt-Mode
http://i59.tinypic.com/2ptwil3.jpg http://i61.tinypic.com/ea36lf.jpg
Sadly, Windblade shines brighter in her Robot Mode than her Alt-Mode. unlike in the comics where she was mostly red Windblade's altmode is mostly black with the only red being her underside and her shin-thingies. speaking of which, due to their shape, when in vehicle mode Windblade is left with a large hole in the middle of her vehicle mode, although this can SORTA be improved by pegging her sheath into her underside.
Windblade has a landing gear under her cockpit and also has two molded onto the back of her thighs.
Her vehicle mode can be a little hard to keep together due to her wings not liking to fold the way they should and not pegging in properly.
just like in robot mode her VTOL fans can rotate

Pros

Windblade has a very uniue design and some great paint apps in robot mode, her accessories are very nice and her arms are very poseable, she can store her weapons in a variety of ways and it's always good to get new characters, especially fembots.
She also has a hole in the underside of her cockpit to allow for figure stands (similar to all AOE figures)

Cons

Her transformations is fiddly, and her vehicle mode is gappy and lacks paint apps.
Her robot mode is also quite back heavy which is made even worse by her having such skinny heels the can easily fold against the underside of her foot causing her to fall over and when looked at from side on without her arms down by her side she looks quite hollow

Additional Pics

http://i57.tinypic.com/sv01dv.jpg http://i61.tinypic.com/14bp27m.jpg http://i57.tinypic.com/1zfr0om.jpg http://i60.tinypic.com/33e6cr8.jpg http://i57.tinypic.com/23mo5ki.jpg

Final Thoughts

All in all I am pretty pleased with Windblade and think the fans have created something quite nice, there are some drawbacks, but no figure is perfect. I'm not sure if she really has "5 times the effort put into her" compared to other figures, but she is still very nice. and it is great to have a new character and new fembot in my collection (also helps that I really loved her comic miniseries)
Recommended

I got her yesterday and I really like her. She looks like they did make an effort with this one. That sword is very nice too.

Thanks for the review. Ironically modern kabuki female characters are all played by males, despite the female origins. I will get her(him). Her. Whatever. :p

Is Robotkingdom and tfsource about the only place to get her?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Firestorm

So here we have Windblade, the first ever Fan-Built Bot

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Not quite. Windblade is the first community-decided (elected) concept that was developed into a toy. I think better examples of actual fan-designed Transformers would be 1999's (Archadis, Bazooka and Mach Kick). These toys were based on individual designs that were submitted by fans via a competition run through TV Magazine.

Just ordered an eBay one last night, should be here within a week. Cant wait to get it in person, Ive read in other reviews that the arms dont tab into the torso very strongly, but I guess ill find out when mine arrives. The paint apps in robot mode look great though, hopefully a third party can create a head sculpt that fits the look of the comics.

Got her last week. It's all good in robot mode, but the altmode is crap. It's gappy, the legs on top look stupid and it struggles to hold itself together. The plastic tabs at the front in particular are too small and weak to do any good - they needed to be proper trapezoidal-style tabs rather than the friction style.

Don't go paying a stack of money for her on ebay, only buy if cheap.

Got her today and I like a lot. She's definitely not perfect but it's a good design well translated into plastic form. Here are some quick phone snaps:

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psd4029092.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps32878bec.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa83a5bc2.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps36cc0b3c.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps45ff0f7a.jpg

Jet mode is okay. I like how the design is contact and indicative of maneuverability. The rotate turbines are a nice feature. Without the sheath underneath it's gappy in the middle. But with the sheath it sticks just a bit too far for the two rear landing gears to touch ground so it's kind of tricky to display on a surface.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps36b78a50.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps88d96efc.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps77a27dd7.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa27ac6c6.jpg

Transformation is simple and quite intuitive. Nothing we've never seen before.

Robot mode is the better one of the two modes. Between the wings and the high heels, it IS tricky to stand her up it's not as bad as some people claim. And they do help the legs to have a nice feminine curvature. The face sculpt and paint apps on it are great. Articulation is decent. She could use a double-jointed elbow to help with sword wielding poses though. The neck has a horizontal swivel joint for transformation which provides great up-down movement, but the collar limits side to side articulation a little bit. The sculpt of the upper thigh also limits the poseability.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psfa5745b2.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps8711bdf2.jpg

Overall if you're not into the unique design the engineering alone is far from satisfying. I happen to like the character design a lot to overlook the small flaws. And I think she looks great with Drift.

Nice pics! I do understand some of the criticisms but she is still pretty great! And I don't even read the comics. I love her alt mode despite the gaps.

I paired her up with Drift as well, but the cheesy easily distracted dude from AoE:

http://i.imgur.com/akS00L2.jpg

Windblade is a funny one. She has a fair few issues, but i can't put her down. She is very gangly and lean, and she is fiddly as hell to Transform. Her sword is great and the sheath clipping in is a cool idea, but because its a bit loose it falls out if you lance at it funny. But i like the character, I love the jet mode, I love the head sculpt and the sword.... Its a fun toy. . I wouldn't go crazy hunting it down, but its worth owning if u can get it at a good price.

It's clear they put a lot more effort into designing this one than most of the Deluxe toys of late, but I can't help but feel the material quality lets her down, things fall off or come undone easily.

Can anyone tell me if there a lock for the two halves of the torso in robot mode? I can't seem to find one so the torso has tendency to split when played with.

I wish they had used a standard peg rather than a tab for the sword sheathe, it really does fall of all the time.

Overall a quite ambitious toy for today's deluxe's but alas afflicted by it's limited budget.

Without having her in hand, my only complaint is her eyes aren't the same as in the comic.

I've seen/handled Windblade IRL, and I was surprised to see that the face is silver rather than "Geisha white" like in the comics. I'm also not a huge fan of how the feet just stick out from the top of the jet, and there's also a gap in the jet body. But overall it's a fairly impressive looking design, and I quite like the sword (kinda wish she had two :p). The design of the blade itself feels impractical if it were a solid blade, but I'm guessing that it's a form of malleable energy blade (like plasma or something) rather than something solid like metal.

Got mine today. Lovely looking figure; her red is almost pastel in my opinion, which evokes the Sarah Stone artwork. Her wings fold back behind her nicely, a-la the comic book. Great upper articulation but she could really use a thigh swivel; the one at her hip is blocked by plastic and her feet don't tilt so it limits stable poses.

Only 2 small things to consider. :
1) Her face looks nothing like the Sarah Stone illustration, which is a matter of taste, but I would have preferred a more animated style.
2) Those elbows are mighty thin. I can't see them standing up to the kind of play a kid would give this figure.

7.5/10.

From tinyJazz's HLJ link, it seems the Takara Tomy version got the face right.
Edit might as well post a link here. http://www.hlj.com/product/TKT81690/Sci

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CBratron

From tinyJazz's HLJ link, it seems the Takara Tomy version got the face right.
Edit might as well post a link here. http://www.hlj.com/product/TKT81690/Sci

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But I just got my windblade! Damn you takaraaaaaaaaaa!

Finally got around to opening her today, she's been sitting in my shed for nearly a month.

I quite like her jet mode, the turbines swiveling is a massive plus in my book, the colour scheme is good (especially for an Essendon Bombers supporter ;)) and it's quite stylized. My main problems with it are those that others have mentioned, that the wing pegs are a bloody pain in the arse to clip in to the main body and that without the sword hilt there is a gap - and with it there is a sticky-outy nub at the end. But overall its quite nice.

Robot mode: Its well proportioned, decent articulation and nice colours. I wish the sword hilt when attached to her thigh stuck down a bit more rather than so far out the back but its a small quibble, and I have had trouble removing her headpiece to use as a fan. Like others have mentioned, she loses a fair bit of resemblance to the comic - in the comics she was wide eyed and relatively youthful looking (maybe only a million :p), the bot mode here with the tiny eyes, severe face and low set chest make her look a bit like she's TF middle aged. Looks like she would be Blurrs stern babysitter rather than his girlfriend :rolleyes:. But then perhaps the blame for this could lay at the feet of the comic artists rather than the toy designers since the toy came first.

But overall very good, not brilliant but not bad for the first fan built TF, lets hope that the upcoming fan built combiners are even better :)

Picked up this babe...um...transformer at Oz Comic Con and I'm now wondering who's the sexiest fembot in my collection.
Thunderblast (Cybertron)? Who has greater sex appeal due to thigh high boots and a more beautiful face yet has an excessively heavy weapon that makes posing a somewhat limited prospect.
Or Windblade? Who despite being less sexy can strike better poses as samurai transformers usually can (e.g. ROTF Bludgeon, Generations Drift & Alternity Megatron although they're not fembots).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shockNwave

Picked up this babe...um...transformer at Oz Comic Con and I'm now wondering who's the sexiest fembot in my collection.
Thunderblast (Cybertron)? Who has greater sex appeal due to thigh high boots and a more beautiful face yet has an excessively heavy weapon that makes posing a somewhat limited prospect.

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♪ "I like big boats and I cannot lie. A massive kibble that she just can't hide." ♭ :p

Ha, ha, well said, well said.

I've had the takara one for a while and I haven't played with it much, mainly just trying to get fun looking poses in robot mode. Those heels though, man they really need a little tab or something to lock into the jet nozzles. The slightest movement or change on my one and they retract. I find that when trying to pose her she's generally pretty fiddly with things moving all over the place and getting in the way, like the wings in robot mode. I don't know if mine is just slightly looser than usual. I mainly bought it because I really like the design and the new character. I do really like having it and looking at it in my display. So I'm not sure on what to vote for!

so while browsing on reddit I stumbled across a couple of things that help Windblade's stability:

https://www.reddit.com/r/transformer...indblade_more/
(change the rotation of the existing heels)

shapeways custome heel part:
http://www.shapeways.com/product/L3Q...ionId=58936068

tfw2005 thread about above custom with some photos and discussion:
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radico...apeways-2.html

So much promise and excitement over the first Fan Built Bot, and honestly I really like her characterization so far in IDW, but alas this is such a heavily flawed toy. Like others I do think the robot mode is the better mode, but suffers from stability issues. The jet has some serious issues, and you would think that being a fictional style jet where they could design whatever they wanted you could've avoided a lot of the problems. Maybe they penned the comic appearance first? I can't remember what the sequence was...

Here's my video review of Generations Windblade:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../Windblade.jpg