Siege Blowpipe

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Skyquake87
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Siege Blowpipe

Post by Skyquake87 »

Name: Blowpipe
Allegiance: Decepticon
Size Class: Battle Master
Accessories: 2 “Fire Blast” pieces

Siege has finally given us Targetmasters! Each sold separately. That's right, the Transformers equivalent of a hat for Barbie have been deemed legitimate releases in their own right. A canny move on behalf of Hasbro, so fans can pair these tiny fellows with the current line or releases from a previous series.

Blowpipe was originally a Nebulon bio-engineered to become the weapon of the Decepticon Triggerhappy. Given Siege is set on Cybertron, I'm having it that all these little Battle Masters are wee little Transformers, disposable class forced into horrible upgrades in the escalating war between the Autobots and Decepticons.

Robot Mode: Blowpipe is a hardy looking fellow in robot mode. He's nicely designed and looks quite dynamic and soldier-y for someone that turns into a hand cannon. There's a nice Decepticon sigil burnt onto his left chest plate and he has a green face. You can also take the cannon off his back and jam it on his arm and he can then lift it up and fall over.

Weapon Mode: Gun mode is nice. I like the dual barrels – I assume one is a sight or laser targeting thingy or something – and he all pegs together nice and securely. He comes with 2 rubbery blast effects. I could do without these myself, but I'm sure they're a boon to those into stop-motion animation.


Marks out of ten for the following:

Transformation Design: The design work is very nice, with just enough detail so he doesn't look as busy as the other Siege figures, which helps with his compatibility with other lines. The transformation is the same as it's always been for these robot to gun robots – fold the gun barrel out and stick his legs over his head. Not really much else you can do. 6/10

Articulation: Very limited, as you'd expect on 1” tall figure. He has movement at the shoulders and hips, but that's it. 5/10

Durability: The gun barrel can detach to become an arm-mounted weapon for the robot mode, so is bound to be one of those parts that gets lost over time, as it's easy to detach. The arms and legs are on ball joints, so if you're of a mind to pull them off, there's a chance those could get lost too, but he feels very sturdy otherwise. 7/10

Fun: On his own – not much. Paired with a larger Transformer toy, much more so. The blast effects are nice, if you're into that, but they just look like Haribos to me. Nom nom. 6/10

Price: £6.99 for something that, in the past, has been chucked in with a larger toy. It's alright, I suppose, but taking the figure on it's own merits, the play value isn't really there and he works out more expensive than a single Siege Micromaster. 5/10

Overall: I like Blowpipe. He's a pretty cool little robot. There's just not much you can do with him on his own and he definitely makes more sense paired up with larger figures in the range. Japan has had the Arms Microns which were sold separately wee robot critters that turned into guns and melee weapons, but the charm with those was that you got to build them yourselves. That's lacking here and makes Blowpipe feel a bit overpriced for what he is. 6/10
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