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Zob's Thoughts on Combiner Wars Blackjack
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Zobovor
May 25, 2015, 4:49:40 PM5/25/15
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I remembered seeing this little guy at Target a couple of weeks ago, and went back to find him after I got Motormaster (my Menasor is nearly complete; Brake-Neck is on the way from toysrus.com as we speak). Luckily, he was still there. I passed on Huffer... maybe I'll get him later, since this could be the only modern-era update for the character.
So! Blackjack is kind of a double-homage. Obviously, the new Menasor didn't absolutely positively have to have a car stuck sideways on his torso to serve as his chest armor, but somebody at Hasbro really wanted to pay tribute to this aspect of G1 Motormaster. (Unlike Trypticon, the design for Menasor as he appears in the cartoon doesn't indicate that the chest armor is a car in the slightest.) Since this is a modern-era take on the otherwise unnamed roller car, Hasbro made it transformable. In the doing, they decided to pay tribute to another aspect of G1 lore, the Decepticon Micromaster Blackjack, originally part of the Sports Car Patrol and sold with Detour, Roadhugger, and Hyperdrive.
As a robot, Blackjack stands at about three and a half inches. He's predominantly sort of a charcoal color, with a plastic purple head, upper legs, and pelvis and painted purple forearms and toes. Not a perfect match, but it comes pretty close. He's got a gold windshield on his chest, and details on his upper arms and knees are painted gold as well. Unlike some of the other recent tributes to Micromasters, the face is not a good match for Blackjack. He's got a visor and mask, not a mouth and individual eyes. He looks more like the Throttlebot Searchlight or Battlecharger Runabout. So, maybe he's more like a triple-homage. He carries a double-bladed axe that is very wing-shaped.
In transforming to car mode, the chest window actually forms the rear window; the front windshield and hood assembly is on his back. The legs have the rear wheels attached to them and the arms include the front wheels. With G1 Motormaster's roller car, there was literally no way to tell the back end of the car from the front. They've replicated that with Blackjack to some degree; the front and back are nearly the same shape, and only the presence of his headlights, the Decepticon symbol on his hood, and the visible robot feet betray his symmetry. Like most recent toys, he's wearing a set of Lee Press-On Wheels. The axe attaches to the back of the car to serve as a spoiler.
When he's in car mode, he's ready to go and serve as Menasor's chest shield. (Interestingly, Blackjack's instructions and packaging are the only place that make mention of this compatibility. Motormaster's own instructions do not.) In theory, he has two peg-holes that should accept the two pegs revealed when you open Menasor's chest, but in practice, the peg-hole formed by Blackjack's robot legs isn't tight enough, and the single remaining peg connection isn't strong enough to hold him tightly in place. He pops off way too easily. In this configuration, the axe/spoiler can mount sideways on the top of Blackjack's car mode to serve as decorative armor for Menasor. (I had been hoping the axe could also serve as an extension of Menasor's sword somehow, but sadly this does not seem to be the case at all.)
Blackjack is slated for a retool as Rodimus, a red-and-yellow version of the mold with an alternate face sculpt. The gigantic spoiler makes more sense on this version of the toy, though I think its car mode works better than the robot mode (since the hood, with its trademark flame deco, do not serve as the robot chest at all). Both toys are compatible with Motormaster/Optimus Prime, though Rodimus is clearly intended to be part of the Autobot combiner.
Basically, Blackjack is a ten-dollar accessory for Menasor, whose chest panel is hauntingly empty without it. Still, he's a cool little toy in his own right. Not sure if I'll be picking up the Rodimus version or not.
Zob
So! Blackjack is kind of a double-homage. Obviously, the new Menasor didn't absolutely positively have to have a car stuck sideways on his torso to serve as his chest armor, but somebody at Hasbro really wanted to pay tribute to this aspect of G1 Motormaster. (Unlike Trypticon, the design for Menasor as he appears in the cartoon doesn't indicate that the chest armor is a car in the slightest.) Since this is a modern-era take on the otherwise unnamed roller car, Hasbro made it transformable. In the doing, they decided to pay tribute to another aspect of G1 lore, the Decepticon Micromaster Blackjack, originally part of the Sports Car Patrol and sold with Detour, Roadhugger, and Hyperdrive.
As a robot, Blackjack stands at about three and a half inches. He's predominantly sort of a charcoal color, with a plastic purple head, upper legs, and pelvis and painted purple forearms and toes. Not a perfect match, but it comes pretty close. He's got a gold windshield on his chest, and details on his upper arms and knees are painted gold as well. Unlike some of the other recent tributes to Micromasters, the face is not a good match for Blackjack. He's got a visor and mask, not a mouth and individual eyes. He looks more like the Throttlebot Searchlight or Battlecharger Runabout. So, maybe he's more like a triple-homage. He carries a double-bladed axe that is very wing-shaped.
In transforming to car mode, the chest window actually forms the rear window; the front windshield and hood assembly is on his back. The legs have the rear wheels attached to them and the arms include the front wheels. With G1 Motormaster's roller car, there was literally no way to tell the back end of the car from the front. They've replicated that with Blackjack to some degree; the front and back are nearly the same shape, and only the presence of his headlights, the Decepticon symbol on his hood, and the visible robot feet betray his symmetry. Like most recent toys, he's wearing a set of Lee Press-On Wheels. The axe attaches to the back of the car to serve as a spoiler.
When he's in car mode, he's ready to go and serve as Menasor's chest shield. (Interestingly, Blackjack's instructions and packaging are the only place that make mention of this compatibility. Motormaster's own instructions do not.) In theory, he has two peg-holes that should accept the two pegs revealed when you open Menasor's chest, but in practice, the peg-hole formed by Blackjack's robot legs isn't tight enough, and the single remaining peg connection isn't strong enough to hold him tightly in place. He pops off way too easily. In this configuration, the axe/spoiler can mount sideways on the top of Blackjack's car mode to serve as decorative armor for Menasor. (I had been hoping the axe could also serve as an extension of Menasor's sword somehow, but sadly this does not seem to be the case at all.)
Blackjack is slated for a retool as Rodimus, a red-and-yellow version of the mold with an alternate face sculpt. The gigantic spoiler makes more sense on this version of the toy, though I think its car mode works better than the robot mode (since the hood, with its trademark flame deco, do not serve as the robot chest at all). Both toys are compatible with Motormaster/Optimus Prime, though Rodimus is clearly intended to be part of the Autobot combiner.
Basically, Blackjack is a ten-dollar accessory for Menasor, whose chest panel is hauntingly empty without it. Still, he's a cool little toy in his own right. Not sure if I'll be picking up the Rodimus version or not.
Zob
Shin Hibiki
May 26, 2015, 2:47:36 AM5/26/15
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Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
>Basically, Blackjack is a ten-dollar accessory for Menasor, whose chest panel is hauntingly empty without it.
There's an upcoming accessory that allows for some pretty cool
>Basically, Blackjack is a ten-dollar accessory for Menasor, whose chest panel is hauntingly empty without it.
fanwankery with Blackjack.
http://nonnef.com/products/12645508-menasor-blackjack-chest-adapter
- Shin Hibiki
----
The race ain't over yet, baby
It's only just begun
They thought they had it won, baby
But soon we'll have 'em on the run
Zobovor
May 27, 2015, 9:10:48 PM5/27/15
to
On Tuesday, May 26, 2015 at 12:47:36 AM UTC-6, Shin Hibiki wrote:
> There's an upcoming accessory that allows for some pretty cool
> fanwankery with Blackjack.
That's an impressive accomplishment from a technical perspective, but I'm wondering why it's necessary. Menasor is *supposed* to have a sideways car on his chest in his combined form. To me, this is like... like coming up with an adaptor so G1 Megatron can hold his fusion cannon in his hand. I just don't understand the need for it.
> There's an upcoming accessory that allows for some pretty cool
> fanwankery with Blackjack.
Zob
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