TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Additional Image:

Box Art:

Detective Barricade's review: Bulkhead (leader class)

Name: Bulkhead
Function: Super tough strong-bot
Sub-Group: Animated Leader class
"Oops. My bad."

It’s hard not to like Bulkhead. Despite being huge and strong, he’s the kindest, most gentle of the Autobots, and he always has other people’s best interests at heart. He’s also a klutz. That’s why it’s so terrifying when the Headmaster takes over his body. Bulkhead regularly engages in wholesale property damage purely by accident. With the Headmaster in charge of his body, will anyone be able to stop the tide of destruction?

Galactic Powers and Abilities:
- The strongest of the Autobots on Earth.
- Rarely uses air torpedoes because of accuracy issues.
- Buzzsaw originally built to slice iron meteors.

The name Bulkhead has only been used once before. That was for a green Autobot helicopter. This time it’s used for a green Autobot that’s a lovable, giant klutz! On to the review!

Alternate Mode:

In vehicle mode, Bulkhead is an armored truck, likely used by SWAT or the military. His sirens indicate that he’s at least some sort of emergency vehicle, which keeps in theme with the other members of Prime’s crew. The vehicle mode looks like it can take a pounding, with molded on rivets and a combination of smooth curves and sharp slopes. He’s bigger and more heavily armed than his Voyager mold. He has a turret on top of the cab and rotating turrets on the sides which hold the air torpedoes. His six wheels roll well across most surfaces.

There’s a fair few colours on Bulkhead. His primary colours are green and black, with some beige on his grill, arms, legs, and face. The Autobot symbol and light bar are in translucent red. His eyes are blue, but the light inside his head is yellow. He also has some details picked out in a deep gold. The Headmaster unit is mostly shocking pink with a grey face, yellow eyes, and translucent blue. The “horns” are clear.

Bulkhead probably has the most gimmicks out of any Leader class figure so far. He has the near obligatory for Leader class “electronic lights and sounds!” gimmick. In vehicle mode, pushing the Autobot symbol will play a siren noise, which will last until the button is released. When the top turret is moved during transformation, he plays a lower-pitched G1 transform sound than the other Leader class figures that include it. (Premium Prime, for example) In robot mode, pushing the Autobot symbol causes his head to turn to the left, open his mouth, and say “Time for the big guns!”, “You can do it, buddy!”, or “Sorry! My bad!”, all of which are voiced by his cartoon voice actor, Bill Fagerbakke. (also voices Patrick on Spongebob Squarepants) Attaching the included Headmaster unit will change Bulkhead’s chest lights’ color to red and cause him to say the Headmaster’s infamous line, “OWNAGE! TOTAL OWNAGE!”, which is voiced by Alexander Polinsky (not his first nerdy bad guy). While the Headmaster unit is attached, pushing the Autobot symbol will turn the unit to the left and say the phrase again. The air torpedoes can be detached, but aren’t spring loaded, so there’s less chance of losing them! Moving a lever on his right arm will spin the buzzsaw, while moving a lever on his left arm makes his claw open and close. And fans can rejoice! Bulkhead can convert his back kibble into a chair!

Robot Mode:

I won’t cover transformation this time, but I’ll cover some tricky parts. In order for the arms to lock into the sides, the top turret has to be pulled up to allow the upper body to raise to meet the clips. Before bringing the back kibble up, bring the side parts back down after rotating the arms out so the tabs can lock into place. When bringing the side panels up or down with the arms back, pull back on the arms a little to make it easier. And pulling the waist off of the clip may require a bit of force. The rest is more obvious.

Bulkhead’s robot mode looks a little intimidating, despite his gentle nature. The side turrets end up on his arms and he has a buzzsaw instead of a second claw or a wrecking ball, but is otherwise very show accurate! His feet even have tracks molded in behind the toes! The back kibble cleverly hides the halves of the top turret, which hid his head in vehicle. He looks and feels very sturdy.

In terms of articulation, Bulkhead can do pretty much everything his Voyager version can do, but a little better. His head can turn to the left only, and only due to the gimmick. The upper arms and lower legs above the knee joint swivel. Everything else ratchets. The shoulders and hips move in, out, forward, and back. The elbows and knees bend forward and back. The feet only move due to transformation. Also, due to how he transforms, there is no waist articulation. The turrets on his arms can rotate a full 360, but it’s mostly to get them facing forward in either mode.

Marks out of ten for the following:
Transformation: 6 He’s not difficult, but he has a loose order of doing things. Pulling the waist off the clip is hard.
Durability: 10 Built almost like a tank!
Fun: 10 Lots to do with ‘Bulky! He can even use his back kibble as a chair!
Price: 7 The weight is certainly there! He’s not exactly a bargain, though.
Overall: 9 If you like big robots, you’d be crazy to pass this guy!