Toy Review - Generations VOY Blitzwing

[kup]

Fixed the shoulders on my Blitzwing by sanding down the halves as in the TFW2005 link and made a huge improvement! Not perfect as the design is still flawed but the shoulders hold with acceptable movement pressure instead of just popping out on their own.

I also went an extra mile and painted the bottom and inside of the helmet black so that his head doesn't look like it's in a yellow bubble.

[snaketales]

I think his gun is too small.... I love the figure, but it's a damn shame about those shoulders. Nice to pose, at the moment not nice to play with (I am looking at some shoulder fixes, so that may change)

[Bidoofdude]

Got this guy a while ago. Here are my thoughts:

Pros:
Visually impressive
3 Face Gimmick
Modes are suitable enough
Colour choices are decent
Good homage to original Blitzwing
Weapons are amazing

Cons:
Some things don't line up that well, mostly due to the complexity of the modes and the rubbery material used for some parts
Helmet is a bit bubbly, but still decent
The obvious shoulder problems
My left leg is a little loose at the waist
Could the little shoulder wings be the other way round?

Overall, it's a fairly decent toy IMO, as most of those problems can be fixed with a little handy work to create a suitable classics representation of Blitzwing.

Although the modes aren't exactly the premium, they successfully pull it off well, especially with what seems like small budget.

The face changing gimmick, although unwanted my some, is pulled off reasonably well and is a good nod to animated, evoking the true meaning of "Generations", which will be even more evoked in the coming year.

Considering the fanbase has wanted a triple changer Blitzwing for some time, this is a nice treat. Although not perfect, it gets the job done and allows for a good visual Blitzwing with acceptable alt modes.


Visual: 9/10 Playability 7/10 Transformation: 8/10 Alt Modes: 7/10

Overall: 31/40

Mean of Scores: 7.75/10 (77.5%- B+)

[kup]

Got this guy a while ago. Here are my thoughts:

Pros:
Visually impressive
3 Face Gimmick
Modes are suitable enough
Colour choices are decent
Good homage to original Blitzwing
Weapons are amazing

Cons:
Some things don't line up that well, mostly due to the complexity of the modes and the rubbery material used for some parts
Helmet is a bit bubbly, but still decent
The obvious shoulder problems
My left leg is a little loose at the waist
Could the little shoulder wings be the other way round?

Overall, it's a fairly decent toy IMO, as most of those problems can be fixed with a little handy work to create a suitable classics representation of Blitzwing.

Although the modes aren't exactly the premium, they successfully pull it off well, especially with what seems like small budget.

The face changing gimmick, although unwanted my some, is pulled off reasonably well and is a good nod to animated, evoking the true meaning of "Generations", which will be even more evoked in the coming year.

Considering the fanbase has wanted a triple changer Blitzwing for some time, this is a nice treat. Although not perfect, it gets the job done and allows for a good visual Blitzwing with acceptable alt modes.


Visual: 9/10 Playability 7/10 Transformation: 8/10 Alt Modes: 7/10

Overall: 31/40

Mean of Scores: 7.75/10 (77.5%- B+)

You are very generous.

[GoktimusPrime]

The shoulder problem significantly impairs the value of this toy because it really affects the playability of the robot mode. Remember that the core purpose of a toy is to be played with, not just to be a poseable display piece - becoming more of an articulated statue rather than a proper toy. Saying that a toy looks nice but doesn't play so well is like saying that you have a really sexy looking car that drives/handles like rubbish (but would look great sitting in your garage).

IMO if the play value fails, the entire toy fails. That's why I'm not a fan of MP Lambor, and it's also why I'm not a fan of Generations Blitzwing.

Good homage to original Blitzwing

Only superficially IMO. G1 Blitzwing was an excellent toy by 1985 standards (considering that it's a Triple Changer). Even Takara toy designer Ono Koujin considers Blitzwing and Astrotrain to be the best toys that they engineered during G1 (well, Diaclone). Blitzwing represented the acme of 1980s toy engineering; but Generations Blitzwing seems to be on the complete opposite end of the scale, being an incredibly lacking toy by 2013 standards.

Overall, it's a fairly decent toy IMO, as most of those problems can be fixed with a little handy work to create a suitable classics representation of Blitzwing.

I haven't tried to fix the shoulders yet, but easy or not IMO we as consumers shouldn't have to fix anything. The toy should be able to do what it's meant to do - in this case, stay together as a robot and be playable.

Although the modes aren't exactly the premium, they successfully pull it off well, especially with what seems like small budget.

The shoulder problem doesn't even appear to be a budgetary issue, rather just carelessness. As paying customers, we ought to expect better.

The face changing gimmick, although unwanted my some, is pulled off reasonably well and is a good nod to animated, evoking the true meaning of "Generations", which will be even more evoked in the coming year.

I personally don't care about the face changing gimmick one way or the other. It's a non-intrusive gimmick, which makes it nice. People who aren't fans of Animated can just leave it on the default G1-style face. This is a good example of how gimmicks should be done on toys; it works but doesn't adversely compromise on the engineering of the toy. It does make Blitzwing have a huge head which can be tricky to cover up with the nosecone, but part of that problem is the soft rubbery plastic they used on the nosecone; but that's not a fault of the design (but rather whoever chose to use that softer grade of plastic). Often better quality materials can drastically improve a toy; e.g. Transmetal v. Metals Megatron, Takara MP Starscream v. Hasbro MP Starscream etc.

[Demonac]

I don't understand why Blitzwing gets all this hate.
I think it's a great toy.

OK, the shoulders are a flaw, but it is fixable (I know we shouldn't have to, but sometimes these things slip through).

He transforms from a purple jet that looks nothing like a tank, to a tan tank that looks nothing like a jet. Neither mode is perfect, but look at all the dud tank & jet TF's that have come along through the years.

Springer, on the other hand, transforms from a green and yellow car that looks like a helicopter to a yellow and green helicopter that looks like a car. I call that lazy.

[Bidoofdude]

I personally don't care about the face changing gimmick one way or the other. It's a non-intrusive gimmick, which makes it nice. People who aren't fans of Animated can just leave it on the default G1-style face. This is a good example of how gimmicks should be done on toys; it works but doesn't adversely compromise on the engineering of the toy. It does make Blitzwing have a huge head which can be tricky to cover up with the nosecone, but part of that problem is the soft rubbery plastic they used on the nosecone; but that's not a fault of the design (but rather whoever chose to use that softer grade of plastic

^ This.

[GoktimusPrime]

IMO Blitzwing is a disappointing execution of a good idea. I can see that on paper (or on screen) this toy would've looked fantastic. And had just a few minor things been done properly, namely in terms of tabs, then this toy would have been so much better. If TakaraTOMY were to release their version with better tabs, I'd get it. But still... it'd mean that I would've bought two Voyager Blitzwings where I initially only wanted one... just as what happened to me with Animated Blitzwing! (i.e. Hasbro version was crap, later got the TakTOM version so now I have both) *sigh* I just can't get a break when it comes to Blitzwings...

Another thing that I'm not terribly fond of with this toy are the two distinctly different and mismatching shades of cream/beige -- i.e. there are parts which are beige plastic, and other parts which are painted cream... but the two colours don't quite match each other (the cream is really vibrant while the beige is quite muted and dull). I don't know if Hasbro just found it impossible to make these colours match... they gave a similar excuse with yellows on toys like Universe Sunstreaker, but yet TakaraTOMY's Henkei Sunstreaker has a lovely well-matching rich cadmium yellow. :/ Again, if the TakTOM version can make these colours match up gooderer, it'll be yet another excuse to get it. But still, this is a minor issue... I'd happily put up with mismatching shades of beige/cream and skip a better matching colour version if it didn't have the tab issue.

[Sinnertwin]

Meanwhile, in BBTSland... Zzz... Zzz... Zzz... I think i'll be celebrating my 50th by the time these figures arrive -i've PoL'd the three pack

[AJ_Prime]

I also went an extra mile and painted the bottom and inside of the helmet black so that his head doesn't look like it's in a yellow bubble.

Definitely looks better with the black on the bottom. I too was a bit disappointed when I first got this figure, mostly due to the shoulders. But once I did the fix it made a huge improvement for me to how much I enjoy it now.

The only thing I have a little concern about (and it may just be my figure) is that the leg articulation is a bit loose. Not overly so, but certainly noticeably, to the point where the weight on top can force it to fold on itself in certain poses.