Zob's Thoughts on Decepticon Bludgeon
Zobovor
line is already starting to trickle into retail shops. (Alliance
Bumblebee is in stores now, too.) The Revenge of the Fallen trade
dress for 2010 differs only in that the N*E*S*T* Global Alliance logo
(a shield-shaped badge with an Autobot symbol superimposed over a
globe) is displayed prominently. It's just different enough to keep
retailers enticed and get kids excited about new product, much in the
same way the AllSpark Power gimmick was used to spruce up the 2007
movie toy line.
Bludgeon is part of Wave 1 of the Voyager assortment for 2010; he
ships with repacks of The Fallen and Optimus Prime as well as Recon
Ironhide, making him the only new toy in a case of four. He's been
revisited a couple of times in the past, but this is the first
Bludgeon toy that was specifically designed as an update of the
original character.
In vehicle mode (he's identified on the packaging as a "jungle tank")
he's about eight inches in length. There have been a lot of tank
Transformers in the past that can't really do any of the things that
tanks are supposed to do, but Bludgeon's turret does rotate, and the
machine gun mounted on the top is independantly positionable as well.
He is equipped with rubberized treads but they are not functional—he's
got four wheels hidden inside the treads that provide his locomotion.
The original Bludgeon toy was predominantly green with some maroon
parts and a bright purple cannon. They got the green color right, but
the purple is mercifully absent.
It's not too hard to design a tank toy that unfolds into a halfway-
decent looking robot, but the designers were going for a specific look—
trying to capture the samurai motif of the G1 toy—and that took some
careful planning. Chunks of the tank armor end up serving as armor
panels for Bludgeon's shoulders and hips, but it's done in such a way
that's well-integrated into the robot form instead of looking like an
afterthought—i.e., "Hmm, dunno where to put these tank parts, so let's
just have them hang uselessly off his back!" One particularly clever
move was to turn his main cannon into his sword, which alone measures
six inches and helps to complete Bludgeon's appearance. (The original
toy came with a rifle, but swords were Bludgeon's signature weapon in
Marvel Comics and this is a change that makes a lot of sense.)
Rather than basing this new toy on the inner robot, Hasbro made the
sensible move of basing the robot form on Bludgeon's original
Pretender shell. He is equipped with the familar pronged helmet (with
slightly smaller spires this time so his head can retract during
transformation), the trademark skeletal face, and chest armor that
likewise looks like a skull. The designers took things a step further
and made parts of Bludgeon's arms and legs bone-like as well, as if he
were really a robotic skeleton covered in heavy armor. His toes point
inwards with respect to his legs, so you are required to rotate his
legs outwards in order to get him to stand correctly. My suspicion is
that he was designed this way to accommodate the weight of his back-
mounted turret. Normally, I'm averse to Transformers whose robot
forms cannot stand in neutral poses, but in this case it still looks
good so I'm not bothered by it too much.
Bludgeon actually has two swords, the one formed from the main cannon
as well as a second, smaller sword that's tucked away inside his
turret, which opens down the middle like an eggshell. The swords are
also designed to be sheathed in the slots on his left hip armor, a
very cool design idea that was not lost on me. He's got about 20
useful points of articulation, though his head is recessed partly
inside his chest armor so it only rotates a little, and his knees have
the annoying tendency to pop off at the joint (I may have to glue them
together).
In a nice piece of continuity, his tech specs make a reference to his
encounter with Whirl (as depicted in the Toys "R" Us exclusive
"Masters of Metallikato" set), providing some back story that also
explains why he doesn't look like a Wreckage redeco anymore (he
scanned a new alternate mode). He's being paired off with Ironhide
this time, specifically Recon Ironhide, who just happens to be
shipping with him. Wow, what a coincidence! The toy also comes with
a consumer-applied NEST emblem that's about three-quarters of an inch
in diameter. It doesn't really make sense on Bludgeon since it's an
Autobot symbol and all, but since there's no logical place to put the
sticker anyway, I almost wonder if the sticker isn't meant for the
toys at all, but for the consumer who's buying them? It could make a
neat cell phone decoration or something.
Bludgeon almost seems like he wasn't designed for the movie toy line
at all. He reminds me of Universe Galvatron in a lot of ways—maybe
because they're both tanks, maybe because they both have some
fluorescent orange—but he wouldn't have been completely out of place
in that toy line. If he really was intended as a Universe toy, this
certainly wouldn't be the first time a character was marketed under
the wrong toy line (Air Attack Optimus Primal, anyone?). You don't
have to be a fan of the movies or the movie toy line to enjoy this
toy. If you consider yourself a fan of Bludgeon, this toy is
guaranteed not to disappoint. This is a really good update for the
character and despite its flaws, I give it a strong recommendation.
Zob
Onslaught Six
> Bludgeon is part of Wave 1 of the Voyager assortment for 2010; he
> ships with repacks of The Fallen and Optimus Prime as well as Recon
> Ironhide, making him the only new toy in a case of four. He's been
> revisited a couple of times in the past, but this is the first
> Bludgeon toy that was specifically designed as an update of the
> original character.
Recon Ironhide isn't the first-release ROTF Ironhide again, he's got a
new paintjob and significant retools. Though if you were talking about
entirely new moulds, then you'd be correct.
> Bludgeon actually has two swords, the one formed from the main cannon
> as well as a second, smaller sword that's tucked away inside his
> turret, which opens down the middle like an eggshell. The swords are
> also designed to be sheathed in the slots on his left hip armor, a
> very cool design idea that was not lost on me. He's got about 20
> useful points of articulation, though his head is recessed partly
> inside his chest armor so it only rotates a little, and his knees have
> the annoying tendency to pop off at the joint (I may have to glue them
> together).
I've been looking at pics, and it looks like the hilt of his larger
sword has a peghole that 5mm pegs can fit into, and his other sword's
hilt appears to be that width--can the two combine to form a Darth
Maul-style dual-blade sword?
> Bludgeon almost seems like he wasn't designed for the movie toy line
> at all. He reminds me of Universe Galvatron in a lot of ways—maybe
> because they're both tanks, maybe because they both have some
> fluorescent orange—but he wouldn't have been completely out of place
> in that toy line. If he really was intended as a Universe toy, this
> certainly wouldn't be the first time a character was marketed under
> the wrong toy line (Air Attack Optimus Primal, anyone?). You don't
> have to be a fan of the movies or the movie toy line to enjoy this
> toy. If you consider yourself a fan of Bludgeon, this toy is
> guaranteed not to disappoint. This is a really good update for the
> character and despite its flaws, I give it a strong recommendation.
Word is, the initial design (by Don Figureoa) was done up waaaay back
during Energon or possibly Cybertron, and it was back on the table
during the last run of Universe--the reason they didn't do him then
was because there were already a couple tank or tank-like Decepticons
(Galvatron, Onslaught, etc.) out.
Regardless, he's going with my Classics/Universe/etc. guys instead of
the Movie dudes. Hasbro be damned.
ahsan.sa...@gmail.com
> Word is, the initial design (by Don Figureoa) was done up waaaay back
> during Energon or possibly Cybertron, and it was back on the table
> during the last run of Universe--the reason they didn't do him then
> was because there were already a couple tank or tank-like Decepticons
> (Galvatron, Onslaught, etc.) out.
>
> Regardless, he's going with my Classics/Universe/etc. guys instead of
> the Movie dudes. Hasbro be damned.
Would that explain why he looks (somehow) similar to Bludgeon from the
IDW comics (shell and without)? Or is that just me?
Dave Van Domelen
Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
>The toy also comes with a consumer-applied NEST emblem that's about
>three-quarters of an inch in diameter. It doesn't really make sense on
>Bludgeon since it's an Autobot symbol and all, but since there's no logical
>place to put the sticker anyway, I almost wonder if the sticker isn't meant
>for the toys at all, but for the consumer who's buying them? It could make
>a neat cell phone decoration or something.
That's because it's not for the toy. There's a mailaway for a redeco
Ravage where you apply three of these stickers to a card that comes with the
redeco Cannon Bumblebee vs. Soundwave set. http://www.bwtf.com/node/1222 for
more info.
Dave Van Domelen, gonna pass on this...neither the CannonBee nor
Soundwave redecos look all that interesting, and the Ravage redeco isn't
worth buying other toys to get. If it were SG Ravage, he'd go for it,
though.
Onslaught Six
<ahsan.salahud...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Would that explain why he looks (somehow) similar to Bludgeon from the
> IDW comics (shell and without)? Or is that just me?
I think that's just a coincidence, since ROTF Bludgeon (and Don's
original sketch) contain a lot of design elements that IDW Bludgeon
doesn't. IDW Bludgeon seems to be just based on a more exaggerated
version of the original Pretender shell (trying to be more accurate to
exaggerated samurai armour than the original toy) whereas ROTF
Bludgeon, and the original sketch, definitely look like they Transform
Into A Tank--something IDW Bludgeon clearly doesn't do.
Zobovor
> That's because it's not for the toy. There's a mailaway for a redeco
> Ravage where you apply three of these stickers to a card that comes with the
> redeco Cannon Bumblebee vs. Soundwave set.
Huh. How bizarre. You'd think Hasbro would have wanted to mention
that on the packaging somewhere. (I only noticed the sticker by
accident when I discovered that it was in the baggie the instructions
came in. I could have easily thrown it away and never known about
it.)
Zob
Zobovor
> Recon Ironhide isn't the first-release ROTF Ironhide again, he's got a
> new paintjob and significant retools. Though if you were talking about
> entirely new moulds, then you'd be correct.
I just think it's funny that from a sales perspective, Hasbro is
selling retailers a case of four toys but fobbing off three toys that
have been made available previously. Maybe this is because they won't
be able to amortize the Bludgeon design by tarting it up as different
characters, so they're still coming in under budget by shipping him in
a redeco-heavy assortment? (They're kind of doing the same thing with
Wave 1 of the Deluxe assortment for 2010. It consists of Dirge x2,
Alliance Bumblebee x2, Tuner Mudflap x2, Armorhide x1 and Gears x1, so
Hasbro only had to cough up two new toy designs in a case of eight.)
> I've been looking at pics, and it looks like the hilt of his larger
> sword has a peghole that 5mm pegs can fit into, and his other sword's
> hilt appears to be that width--can the two combine to form a Darth
> Maul-style dual-blade sword?
Ah, yes. You are correct, sir. </ed mcmahon>
Zob
William Rendfeld
> On Dec 29, 11:59 pm, Onslaught Six <onslaught...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Recon Ironhide isn't the first-release ROTF Ironhide again, he's got a
> > new paintjob and significant retools. Though if you were talking about
> > entirely new moulds, then you'd be correct.
>
> I just think it's funny that from a sales perspective, Hasbro is
> selling retailers a case of four toys but fobbing off three toys that
> have been made available previously. Maybe this is because they won't
> be able to amortize the Bludgeon design by tarting it up as different
> characters, so they're still coming in under budget by shipping him in
> a redeco-heavy assortment? (They're kind of doing the same thing with
> Wave 1 of the Deluxe assortment for 2010. It consists of Dirge x2,
> Alliance Bumblebee x2, Tuner Mudflap x2, Armorhide x1 and Gears x1, so
> Hasbro only had to cough up two new toy designs in a case of eight.)
>
One new toy design - aside from Dirge, everyone in that bunch is a
recolor. Alliance Bumblebee is a recolor of the preview Bumblebee toy
(itself a remold of the 2007 'modern' Bumblebee), Tuner Mudflap's a
repaint of Mudflap, Armorhide's a repaint of Movie 1's Landmine, and
Gears of Movie 1's Stockade. A similar thing's at work with the next
bunch of Scouts too - one new guy in Brakedown, two repaints in
Wideload (from Rollbar) and Sonar (from Depthcharge).
And odds are this is the recession at work. Damn you, Congress!
> > I've been looking at pics, and it looks like the hilt of his larger
> > sword has a peghole that 5mm pegs can fit into, and his other sword's
> > hilt appears to be that width--can the two combine to form a Darth
> > Maul-style dual-blade sword?
>
> Ah, yes. You are correct, sir. </ed mcmahon>
Ooh...I'll have to check on that, though I prefer it as two swords.
Zobovor
> > Hasbro only had to cough up two new toy designs in a case of eight.
>
> One new toy design - aside from Dirge, everyone in that bunch is a
> recolor.
Sorry, phrased that badly. I meant that the two new toys were both
Dirge, since he ships two per case.
Zob
Victoryleo
breakdown.
William Rendfeld
> I have yet to find/buy Rotf Bludgeon,Recon ironhide,Dirge &
> breakdown.
No one has yet to see Breakdown at retail, but you'll catch the other
three eventually.
William Rendfeld
Ah. Sorry - I tend to think of new waves of toys in terms of new guys
coming out for them rather than in terms of case assortments. Minor
little thing though, so no big, yes?
Sidecutter
> It doesn't really make sense on Bludgeon since it's an
> Autobot symbol and all, but since there's no logical place to put the
> sticker anyway, I almost wonder if the sticker isn't meant for the
> toys at all, but for the consumer who's buying them? It could make a
> neat cell phone decoration or something.
For thos who do not know yet, those circular NEST emblems are redemption
stickers. Piis-poo explanation on Hasbro's part, I know.
The deal is, there's a Bumblebee and SOundwave 2-pack coming (recolored
Soundwave, somewhat less unique Bumblebee). It will include a NEST
patch, and also a mail-away card. You need to affix three of these
emblems from Deluxe and Voyager toys to the card in the marked spots,
and send it off with some money enclosed. In return, you receive a
special recolor of Ravage, with chrome parts (guns, front lower
forelimbs, lower jaw), grey and black, and red and yellow details.
COnjecture is that it's something of a Black Lion homage.