Toy Review - Studio Series Blitzwing

Blitzwing (Bumblebee movie)
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Studio Series
Size/class - Voyager
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here - September 2020
Approximate Retail Price - $45 - 60
Approximate Size - 17cm tall in robot mode
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - Fighter Jet (not screen accurate to Bumblebee movie, bearing no resemblance to McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II)
Main Colours - light grey, dark grey, red, yellow
Main Accessories - null-ray blaster, electron spike blade, left hand, right hand, 2 missile pods

https://i.ibb.co/vJ8Hy5r/2020-09-21-19-01-12.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/60TxhH6/2020-09-21-19-01-35.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/82GHNVy/2020-09-21-19-01-56.jpg

Very good looking robot mode, bearing good resemblance to his appearance in the Bumblebee movie. The robot mode has "standard" articulations found on current Siege and Earthrise toys, with the only ball joint being the neck. The shoulder and hip joints are pinned/screwed, with the ankles able to be hinged inwards like the Siege and Earthrise toys. Each elbow is double jointed, and can bend close to 180 degrees.

Transformation is decent, pretty good. I managed to transform between the two modes without looking at the instructions. I would say the transformation is mostly smooth, and with (mostly) good fit and tolerance on mine.

A bit of a shame that the fighter jet mode bears little resemblance to the jet as seen in the Bumblebee movie.

His right palm is hinged by a pin and can open, supposedly for people to recreate the scene in the movie when he held Bumblebee up by the neck/collar.

I also saw a blog post indicating the shoulder fins are installed backwards in the box. They can be easily swapped though.

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

I also saw a blog post indicating the shoulder fins are installed backwards in the box. They can be easily swapped though.

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I did the swap after posting the pics above. They do look better. To be honest because the wings are tiny, the swap didn't feel much of a difference :D

And because I didn't follow the instructions, I realised later that the gun can be stored/hidden a lot better underneath the belly of the jet, instead of how I attached it in the pic above. I saw a hole and just plugged the gun in :D

I'm really looking forward to this figure. The bot mode looks gorgeous.

The jet mode looks a bit naff, but that's just got me looking forward to what 3P/4P companies can do with the design.

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Originally Posted by Kyle

A bit of a shame that the fighter jet mode bears little resemblance to the jet as seen in the Bumblebee movie.

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The jet mode is the only sore point for me. I'm not particularly fussed about it not being an F4 Phantom (though that would be pretty cool if it was), but it looks kind of squat and chibified.

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Originally Posted by SharkyMcShark

The jet mode is the only sore point for me. I'm not particularly fussed about it not being an F4 Phantom (though that would be pretty cool if it was), but it looks kind of squat and chibified.

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I really like the robot mode. If they release repaints of this as the other seekers I'll likely end up getting them as well...

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Originally Posted by Kyle

I really like the robot mode. If they release repaints of this as the other seekers I'll likely end up getting them as well...

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I'd love to see a repaint specifically as Skywarp. That way we'd have each of the OG seekers at Voyager size with different molds in the Studio Series line.

Found a Blitzwing at Big W today. Luckily he was easy to spot on the shelf with a bunch of other SS figures because he was the only one with the Bumblebee logo on the top of the box.

A fun figure and should go well with SS Nitro Zeus and SS Thundercrack

was there any official reason given why the jet looks nothing like the one in the movie? i thought that was the point of studio series.

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Originally Posted by philby

was there any official reason given why the jet looks nothing like the one in the movie? i thought that was the point of studio series.

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No word on that, unfortunately.

The only thing I can think of is that the figure's design predates the the final movie, and that Blitzwing was originally meant to be a USSR/Soviet fighter jet. In support that, I note the following:

1. The first release retail figures after a move comes out are usually based on concept art, which is not necessarily the final design of any character in the film. Studio Series Blitzwing is the first retail release of this design in a collector's line. It's been almost two years since the film, but the figure was likely designed prior to the movie coming out.

2. The jet mode of the figure has a sort of Sukhoi 27ish look to it. The film is set during the Cold War era, where the USSR were the Big Bad of the world. The Su27 was the USSR's leading air superiority fighter at the time. It's not dead on to an Su27, but it's certainly a lot closer to it than it is to an F4 Phantom.

3. Boeing owns the design of the F4 Phantom after acquiring McDonnell Douglas. Earthrise Starscream was released this year, is unlicensed but is much closer in design to a real world F-15 Eagle. The F-15 is another McDonnell Douglas design that now belongs to Boeing. Clearly Hasbro could have chosen to design a figure much closer to an actual F4 if they wanted.

It seems that the only real explanation is that a decision was made after concept art was produced, and a figure designed, to change Blitzwing to an F4 Phantom for whatever reason. None of the Blitzwing figures in the kid oriented lines (Spark Changers? Power Chargers? You know what I mean) have anything resembling an F4 for an alt mode.

I want to like this more but the vehicle mode reminds me too much of the Nitro Series version of this character (which I impulsively got and now only like for the face-switching gimmick). That by association makes me feel like this is a bit too hollow and cheap, an impression that could be dispelled if only I handled it.

I've had this for a week now.

It's a very good figure.

The jet mode isn't as silly looking in hand as I had feared. It's not accurate to the film at all, so if you're after an F4 Phantom this isn't your boy. The only issue with it for me is that the rear stabilisiers (tail fins? I'm not a jet guy) are too close together. Otherwise, it looks nice, has a good wingspan, and is quite stable.

Transformation is fun. It's a good modern twist on the standard seeker transformation.

Robot mode is bloody great. One of the best in the SS line. It looks awesome, and poses well.

The figure comes with four accessories. A gun, which looks great on the figure, an alternate hand for throat jab action, and two drop tanks (which the packaging calls bombs, but they're not). The drop tanks are kind of underwhelming and are honestly just included to increase robot mode accuracy. I wish they did anything else other than just being pegged into either side of the wing.

In all, a great toy.

Has anyone else had difficulty with getting Blitzwing's anti-aircraft gun mode right? :p https://www.flickr.com/photos/725155...7673654823481/

A character whose color scheme denotes Ramjet instead of Blitzwing.
A character who isn't a triple changer like Blitzwing.

I don't know the imposter's real name but it certainly isn't Blitzwing.

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Originally Posted by Dan

Has anyone else had difficulty with getting Blitzwing's anti-aircraft gun mode right? :p https://www.flickr.com/photos/725155...7673654823481/

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That's very cool. I haven't tried that version, but there's a tank-ish mode that works pretty well, although the gun just rests on top.
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threa...-mode.1201291/

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Originally Posted by Butcher31

That's very cool. I haven't tried that version, but there's a tank-ish mode that works pretty well, although the gun just rests on top.
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threa...-mode.1201291/

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Oh that's definitely better than mine! Just as well for us things look weird on Cybertron. ;)