Transformation: Remove the launchers and set aside. Pull the tail section back. Split the rear half of the tail in two down the middle and fold forward with the tail fins recessing into slots on the forward part of the tail section (The launchers would have got in the way of this bit, that's why they were removed). Stand with the underside facing you. Fold the red nose of the jet back to reveal the head. Pull the sides of the helicopter out (but don't pull on the landing skids!) to form the arms and raise them. Peg his photon pistol into the inside of his fist and re-attach the twin launchers. Fold the blades closed round the helicopter's nose.
Blades' robot mode mainly continues the same colour scheme as found on the helicopter with the white used for his head, arms and upper legs and red for the legs and back. The sole new colour here is a darker red used for his chest which comes in the same metal or plastic variation found on Hotspot and First Aid. His articulation is limited to just his shoulders turning.
So on to our "match the Protectobots to original Autobots" game - see Hotspot's review for why. There's no original Autobot helicopter, they're all cars in year 1 setting a standard for the line (don't get me started on the Aerialbots and the Stunticons!) The earliest Autobot helicopter is 1985's Whirl, and he's not amongst the original Autobot. So I'm looking for a 1984 Autobot, who can fly, and is preferably red and/or white. There's one obvious candidate: Sideswipe. Sideswipe's car body is red, a lot of his robot parts are white, his tech specs say he can fly and as a bonus his tech specs (mistakenly) mention two flares which could be translated into Blades' twin launchers. Though if we're thinking Sideswipe maybe we should break our 1984 limitation and make Blades Red Alert instead !
Blades can form a limb for Defensor or any other robot formed from Scramble City/Special Team combiner pieces.
Leg mode: remove the weapons, fold the tail fin halves forward, peg into a foot, fold the front of the helicopter forward and plug in as a leg. At this stage I'd re-add the weapons to give the leg some firepower.
Arm mode: Transform to robot mode, removing the weapons, folding the head forward, bringing the blades together and plug a hand into the base.
Arm Mode (Philip's version): Fold the front of the helicopter back, fold the head down under the helicopter and fold the front back into place. Remove the weapons, fold the tail halves forward and re-attach th weapons. Plug the hand into the base.
Very detailed helicopter mode. I'd overlooked Blades for years but really this toy is rather decent.
Blades was released in 1986 as Protectobot P3 and he was also part of the Defensor Giftset. He was released in Japan as Transformers toy C-72 Graze and was also available in the C-76 Guardian giftset. His one re-release was as a gold carded European Classic in 1991.
Blades has in recent year gained a life outside the Protectobots as a Universe Legend, a Universe Voyager (both repaints of various sized of Cybertron Evac) and a Movie Legend.
Fly-Up makes the white whiter and swaps the red for blue. Apart from Fire Chief, he's the most heavily modified of the Operation Combination Protectobots.
I think our Decepticon version, Fry-Up, would have to black!