RID Blastwave *Proofed, Ganon, 1/16/18*

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Skyquake87
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RID Blastwave *Proofed, Ganon, 1/16/18*

Post by Skyquake87 »

Name: Blastwave
Allegiance: Autobot

Bio: Quick-strike attack drone who can take a pounding and keep flying.

The latest in a recent parade of characters dressing up as someone else, Blastwave popped up on supermarket shelves in the UK as part of the latest Robots In Disguise dash for obscurity, Combiner Force. I've not been paying too much attention to Robots In Disguise, it's bewildering sea of One-Step changers and ugly Leader Class lumps have made it an easy pass and the cartoon hasn't really registered. Which is a shame, as the designs are pretty neat and it is a sequel to Transformers : Prime, which I really enjoyed, but I dunno, there's just something about RID that I just can't get into. It just doesn't feel like it matters, you know?

Robot Mode: Sooo its Bludgeon in Onslaught-y colours with an Autobot badge. The packaging art holds the promise of a different head, but no, this Bludgeon in Autobot mode. The layout, skull and general ninjary aren't convincing anyone. And neither is that super generic off-the-shelf name. I'm looking forward to the day Hasbro deliver us a character called Blastblast, which surely can't be far away. It's a bit of a shame, because Blastwave is a good figure. Design-wise. The toy takes its cures from ROTF Bludgeon and simplifies all that Bay-verse mechanical mush into something very solid and brutal looking. Blastwave is packing some beef. He's got these lovely chunky shoulders with cheater treads and some piled up VHS tapes for forearms. The head is great, all traditional headdress sat on this marvelous bone-white skull with beady red eyes (nicely painted up too). The chest carries on the skull motif, and I like the big round eye pecs, which look like some alien fried eggs. The boots are awesome, and although the knees are quite high up, the blue kneecaps give the illusion of a much better proportioned figure. Bonus points for the peg holes that allow his to holster his sword (sort of).

Alternate Mode: It's a big skull faced alien H-tank! Definitely looks best viewed front on or in three quarter profile as there's not a lot to this. It's just treads and a turret with skullplough on the front. The turret can do the full three sixty, which is nice, and he rolls decently enough, thanks to some tiny plastic wheels. It does look awful from the back though, as there's just this huge void of space where the rest of the tank should be. The fists poking out the back of the turret don't look great either.


Marks Out Of Ten For The Following:

Transformation Design: Blastwave does have a pretty ingenious set of moves to get into tank mode and back. I'm especially impressed with how the legs split apart and twizzle around to form the treads. There's not a whiff of kibble in robot mode save for the tank barrels (acceptable) giving him a very clean look. It's impressive stuff and he's great fun to switch between modes. 9/10

Durability: Nice, tough, plastics and a chunky design and feel make Blastwave feel incredibly solid. The tank barrels can be detached, so along with the sword might be something to see missing from the toy down the line, but that's all. 10/10

Articulation: He's got a waist swivel!!! Along with thigh and bicep swivels, Blastwave has an impressive range of motion for a modern Deluxe. He doesn't have any wrist swivels or ankle tilts, but you can get enough out of him to pose him decently and look awesome whilst he's doing it. 9/10

Fun: I continue to get a lot out of Blastwave, he's a cool looking figure and makes for a great action figure. He has a brilliant aesthetic and he's excellent to play with. He's easily passed the desk test, being one of the figures I've kept hanging around before relegating to storage. 10/10

Price/Value: I paid £10 for mine, which for me, is the sweet spot for Deluxe toys. That was reduced in a sale at Asda – who've recently run a similar promotion after all of 3 weeks not being reduced – so if you can find him for that price, he's a steal. At regular RRP, I'd probably say he justifies the price too. 10/10

Overall: Blastwave is hands down the best figure to come out of the entire Robots In Disguise line and will only be trumped by the inevitable Bludgeon repaint, if it ever surfaces. I'm no fan of this whole pre-tooling business, it robs characters of any individuality on the whole and Blastwave deserved better. Even the bio lets him down - he's a drone?! For what he is though, which is an awesome looking samurai warrior that makes RID Drift look like a sad sack of crap, he's a triumph. Highly recommended. 10/10
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Pictures!
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RID Blastwave 04 (800x600).jpg
RID Blastwave 03 (800x600).jpg
RID Blastwave 02 (600x800).jpg
RID Blastwave 01 (600x800).jpg
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HotShot81
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Post by HotShot81 »

All bots deserve to be seen MISB.:)
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ganon578
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Post by ganon578 »

Proofed. Nice and concisely written!

I've been tempted by Bludgeon a couple times at the store, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Maybe on sale/clearance or something.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

I suppose I might also bite if he was on sale or something. Maybe bundle him with a couple POTP Deluxes when they hit and take advantage of TRU Canada's buy two, get one free coupon?

Some of these RID Warriors look neat (Bludgeon/Blastwave, Ratchet and Bisk/Thermidor all caught my attention), but I just can't get past the fact that they're the same size, and more importantly price, as a Generations Deluxe. I've seen Bludgeon a ton and been tempted, but there just isn't enough there to justify spending the same money that I did for figures like Misfire or Topspin.

They all really look like they should be somewhere half-way between Deluxe and Legends, both in terms of size and pricing.
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