Helicopters are flying machines that are used by the military. So an ideal
vehicle mode for Decepticons. But for some reason the helicopter is the one flying vehicle I associate more with the Autobots. I mean look at how few Decepticon Helicopters there have there
been over the years:
Blackout is a blue/grey Sikorsky Pave Low. Well I assume that's what it is as that's
what's credited on the box. Yes, Wikpedia agrees.
It's a 6 bladed helicopter, the rotor
of which is on a crank via a push button on the rear of the tail, you know
the form here. Lots of molded on weapons detail. Of especial note are TWO
MINICON POSTS on each wing (Yes !) I've tried the Classics Minicon tank on
it and the rotor blades just cleared it. Nice touch. There's a bay at the
back of the helicopter for storing a mini Scorponok animal mode in - think
decoy size - which has a small button on the back of the bay to drop the
mini Scorps out of. The full sized deluxe Scorponok can be pegged to the
underside of the vehicle - repeatedly cranking the Helicopter blades can
power Scorponok's spinning claw gimmick. That was enough to sell me a Scorponok to go with
this.
The transformation is a bit of a nightmare: unpeg mini Scorp's cage and swing it round onto
the top of the tailfin and repeg it into place. Fold the rotor blades
together into 2 sets of 3. Fold the cabin roof out to the sides. Fold the
arms down from under the wings, turn out to the sides, fold the rear of the
wings (connected to the arms) up and fold the hands down. Unpeg the side
panels connected to the wings and fold back. Fold the undercarriage down to
form the legs - this should in theory Auto TF the cab into the chest and
head. In Theory. It's shafted on my toy. Rotate at the waist, fold the
legs to the sides at the knees, fold the feet down, open the flap at the
back, fold the heal spurs down and close the flaps up. There's a folding
join connecting the robot's back with the blade section - concertina that up
and then clip the side panels of the middle of the helicopter onto the sides
of the cab. Position the arms out and fold the roof halves into place so
the missiles are revealed - either separately to the sides covering the
minicon ports or together in the centre above the head.
The robot relies on you have clicked and aligned lots of bits together - I've seen transformations that are a lot easier to get right. The movies design aesthetic comes through on the face mainly but apart from that he'd happily sit with other older Transformers robots. He's got knees, rotation above the knees, universal hips, a waist, shoulders fore and aft and to the sides, a bicep, elbow, wrist and neck joints. The head is lightpiped which is always a plus. He's got no obvious hand weapons but the entire rotor and tail assembly can be removed and loosely held as a rather buly weapon. The Minicon ports from the Helicopter have ended up on the shoulders of the robot mode which is idealling placed for mounting some of the missile launching Minicons like the Land Millitary team. The robot's head is mounted lower down than the recently released Voyager Classic Megatron, but the rotor structure pushes the toy's overall height up above the previous toy.
Overall: Good toy. Bonus points for minicon ports and combining with Scorponok. It's a panel pegging nightmare though !
Black out was available as a Voyager toy - numbered MD-01 in Japan - and in a 2-pack with Deluxe Scorponok. There's also Premium Blackout which retouches the colour scheme slightly.
We loose the mini Scorponok included with Blackout but gain in it's place a tent shaped life raft which can be dropped from the bay at the back that used to contain Scorponok. The life raft also transforms: a 5mm peg folds out the top of the tent enabling Evac to hold it as a weapon - the floats on the underside of the raft become missiles this way up with two gun barrels in the middle being revealed.
Evac is one of the better Movie repaints. So naturally he was in the Voyager wave due appear after Christmas 2007 that was skipped in the UK.
Not something you need to bother with if you've got a previous version of this toy.
Whirl is a reuse of the modified Blackout mould used for Evac above. The dark blue colours on this toy's helicopter mode are more inspired by Universe Whirl rather than the predominantly light blue of the original. The robot reveals arms, legs, waist & head that are light blue making this mode coloured more like the original version.
This pack is currently reduced at Toys R Us, the Bludgeon is decent and it's your only chance to buy the modified Blackout in the UK.
Evac
The problem with Blackout is he's an evil looking toy, especially the face in robot mode, while the obviously military feel of the vehicle mode doens't help. So how do you make an Autobot from it ? Solution - recolor & remould. The grey is swapped for a mixture of orange and white with the black becoming grey to give the helicopter a Coast Guard rescue theme. For the robot we get a new head, shaped more like a traditional robot with helmet head that comes complete with a new lightpiped visor. The robot gets new hands complete with a traditional 5mm peg hole, making it easier to hold the rotor blades weapon mode.
Grindor
The original Blackout mould returns for the Revenge of the Fallen line recoloured as Grindor. Grindor is a relatively simple colour swap with the blue/grey becoming an off white.
Whirl
Whirl - named after the 1985 Deluxe Autobot Whirl (a repaint of the Dorvack 1/55 Ovelon Gazzette toy licensed from Takatoku Toys) - appears in the Toys R Us exclusive Master of Metallikato VS pack with Bludgeon (a repaint of Movie Wreckage).
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