Yes, I’m happy to say that Transformers Thursday should be back on track for the rest of the Summer! I’ve got some new stuff rolling in, but before it arrives I’ll be taking some time to look at some older TF: Animated figures that I’ve added to my collection. I originally pulled a bunch of the Animated line out to re-shoot reviews and see if I was still in love with them or willing to let them go to clear up some space. In the end, I wound up buying a bunch of the ones I was missing, so we all know how that went. Today I’m looking at Deluxe Class Blurr. I got him loose, there’s no packaged shot, so let’s jump right into his alt mode.

One of the things that I loved about TF: Animated was the way it could take a familiar character and take ownership of it without fundamentally changing that character. Blurr is one of many great examples of that. Just look at his car mode. It’s a sleek, futuristic sportscar that takes the original G1 alt mode concept to new heights. It’s both undeniably Blurr and undeniably TF: Animated. Gone are any of the remnants of the boxy G1 aesthetics and they’re replaced with sleek-as-shit curves and angles. I love everything about this car!

Well, almost everything. The hollow backside is a bit of a letdown…

…but everything else? It’s poetry in plastic. It’s like a mash-up of Speed Racer and Tron. The dual front pontoons, the light-cycle-like wheels, the rear fins, the rear-view mirrors mounted on the roof! Toss into that the killer deco consisting of the traditional Blurr colors of powder blue, dark blue, and a little mint. The black painted windshield and side windows looks great as does the Cybertron Defense Force emblem stamped on the hood. This alt mode is a winner!

The robot mode does that seemingly impossible thing that TF: Animated loves to pull off with ease. It takes a super stylized robot and turns it into a working Transformer. Blurr is so lanky, he’s almost creepy, with his super slim legs and clever wheeled, but not-wheeled, feet. His tall super-tall shoulders give him a distinctive profile. Most of the car elements are on display, but he doesn’t look like the engineering should work. Yeah, part of that is because a sizable piece is removed, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

From the back, Blurr’s robot mode is just as tight. There’s an angled car plate behind his head, but otherwise, all the car kibble is absorbed into his lean, runner’s body. The only real blemish here are the exposed screws on the back, and let’s be honest, Hasbro is often content advertising those on the front of Transformers, so I’m not about to complain about them here.

And that portrait! Once again, Animated Blurr is still Blurr. The head sculpt is perfect, sports some spiffy light piping in the eyes, and also features his trademark fin.

If only everything about this figure were as great as Petro-Rabbits and Cyber-Kittens. But no, my biggest gripe is the way the hood comes off to form his “weapon.” Hasbro, if you’re going to pull off a big piece from the alt mode at least make it a good weapon. This is his Energon Blade and it sucks. It’s sort of reminiscent of the hood shield from G1 Blurr, but I’m not really buying it. I would never display him with it, so what do I do with it? Toss it in a tote with other unwanted accessories? Can’t do that, because what if I want to change him back to his car mode. You see my dilemma?  And yet, I still feel a little guilty for complaining about something similar to what the original toy did.

To a lesser extent, I find Blurr’s articulation a little problematic. The legs are fine, but those arms can dampen the fun somewhat. The big shoulders tend to get in the way of his head, but you can still get some nice running poses out of him and he does have a waist swivel.

Blurr is undoubtedly one of my favorite characters from the Movie and Post-Movie cast. I don’t think my love for him had a lot to do with how he talked or that he could run fast, but I just really liked his animation design and wished that the G1 toy could have pulled it off. This one is admittedly not striving for that G1 look, but it captures the same essence of that design for me and I love him for that. I’m really looking forward to the Titans Return version to see if it can replace this guy as my favorite incarnation of beloved Blurr.

As promised, I’m back with the second half of a Transformers Thursday double-feature. Hopefully this helps to make up for the lack of contend lately. Tonight I’m checking out Ratchet from the TF: Animated line, a Deluxe sized figure that I’ve had for a while, but never found his way into the spotlight. I’ve got no packaged shot, so I’m going to dive right in to check out his alt mode.

And I am not really digging it all that much, and for a number of reasons, but mostly because it’s rather f’ugly. The off-white, almost gray, plastic does nothing for me and even when coupled with the burgundy, I’m just not a fan of this deco. The paint is pretty rough too, with some sloppy lines and it’s a shade or two off from matching the colored plastic that it’s supposed to. There’s also some annoying scratches on the roof, which is yet another example of some of the poor QC that reared it’s ugly head on several of my figures from this line. Toss in a lot of ugly seaming, and those big hinges on the sides, and there’s just not a lot to love here.

The translucent blue plastic used for the windshield, lightbar, and rear lights is nice. The Autobot emblem printed on the hood is cool. At least Hasbro slapped some yellow paint apps on the headlamps, those are all pluses. But then you get some more really sloppy paint on what I assume is supposed to be a tow winch on the front, and the painted blue windows on the side doors is another turn off for me. Ratchet’s alt mode is also pretty small, especially if you park him next to Bumblebee. Let’s see if the robot mode can save this figure…

OK, not bad. I definitely like the way the front of the vehicle forms the chest. G1 Skids would approve! The proportions aren’t bad, and I love the he forms a backpack that can hold his tools. The only thing I’m not fond of here are the huge panels jutting up off his shoulders. A couple of simple swivels would have been nice to swing these down and make them look less cumbersome. They weren’t nearly that bad in the animated model.

The coloring doesn’t bother me as much here either, probably because we get a lot more of that burgundy paint and plastic. Although, you can still get a good look at all that scratching on his backpack. It’s disappointing that he came right out of the package like that.

The head sculpt is solid and a good representation of his cartoon counterpart. I like that they kept the one cracked horn. He looks appropriately grumpy too.

Ratchet has a few accessories and play gimmicks. Firstly, he has these fold-out implements in his arms. I can’t remember whether these were weapons or tools, but I suppose they could be used for either. They’d probably come in handy for rock climbing too.

And you also get a bunch of tools, which clip into his backpack, and which can be clipped into his hands as well. These are a really cool idea and give the figure a lot of added personality.

Yeah, Animated Ratchet is a mixed bag. His alt mode is disappointing on a number of levels, but I think the robot mode is more than enough to redeem him, at least in my eyes. He’s fun and he looks great alongside the rest of the Autobots. If you haven’t checked out my other Transformers: Animated features, I have finished re-shooting all of them. Unfortunately, while I set out on this endeavor with the hopes that I would feel comfortable unloading my TF: Animated collection to make some room and generate some cash for other figures on my want list, things didn’t go as planned. Not only have I decided to keep these toys, I now feel a burning need to pick up some of the others I’m missing. So don’t be surprised if we see more of these guys popping up on Transformers Thursdays in the near future.

Transformers Thursdays have been slim pickings these days. I’m awaiting the release of Unite Warriors Bruticus and arrival of my Deluxe Groove, I’m still mulling over whether to pick up MP Shockwave, and maybe one day I’ll finally buy the Leader Class Skywarp that’s been languishing on the shelf at Target. But today it just so happens that I did pick up a Transformer last week, thanks to a hook up on Twitter. It’s been a long time coming, but I finally added TF: Animated Swindle to my collection, which just about completes my Deluxes for this series. I bought him loose, so no package shot. Instead, I’ll jump right in and have a look at his alt mode.

The Consensus seems to be that modern Swindle should be a Humvee and that is indeed what the TF:A version is. While this series favors highly stylized vehicles, Swindle’s actually looks fairly normal. Swindle has a few sculpted panel lines, but that’s about it, and there is some rather unsightly mold flashing on his driver side quarter panel near the hood. There’s also very little in the way of paint apps. He gets by mostly with tan colored plastic. The front grill and windshield are both a rather striking translucent purple and the side windows are painted purple to match, albeit rather unconvincingly. A little black plastic trim, black wheels, some shockingly pink headlamps, and he’s good to go. Oh yeah, he also has that glorious Decepticon emblem stamped right on his hood.

Swindle comes with his rather large blaster, which can peg right into his roof and give him the extra firepower that any respectable Decepticon demands. You can also plug it into the side, but I prefer it as a top cannon. The fit is disappointingly loose, but to make up for that it can fire a missile. Transforming Swindle is just satisfying enough for a Deluxe and holds a few fun surprises, like the way his hands come together to form the hood. There’s some clever plate shifting there and the resulting robot form is pretty damn sweet.

Yes, one of the most remarkable things about this line is the way the toys were able to mimic those highly stylized animated designs and still work as functional Transformers. Swindle is a nice approximation of his animated counterpart. I should note that the back panels can be positioned in a few different ways and I like to mix it up. I think they look better sticking out to the sides, but that can get in the way of aiming his arm cannon, so it helps to be able to point them upward. There’s some fun stuff going on here, like his rather large, albeit somewhat impractical, claw hands and I really dig the appearance of even more of that translucent purple plastic. The way the tires make up the bottoms of his feet is pretty cool too. Also note, the detailing on the lower torso is the front of the vehicle mode faked out.  If I had one gripe about Swindle’s design is that his chest is just a little too close to the iconic look of Optimus Prime for my taste.

But then I look at that face, and how can I not love him? Swindle features some giant eyes with some lovely purple light-piping and a smarmy grin that totally suits the character. One thing even the detractors of T:FA must admit, these robots had a lot of personality.

The arm cannon is awkwardly large, but that’s not to say he can’t aim it. Once again, I wish it stayed on better. I might have to pop a little glob of blue tack into that hole to better seal the deal. Oh yeah, if the giant arm cannon isn’t getting the job done, Swindle has a little surprise hidden in his chest…

Say hello to my leetle friend! Yes, he has a flip out gatling gun. A little lower and he’d really have something to brag about! I actually didn’t know about this gimmick going in and it was a pretty neat surprise. 

One of these days I need to go back and revisit the TF: Animated line. I was a little worried about how well this figure would hold up after jonesing after it for so long and there being so much time between now and when I was collecting these figures back in 2008. Turns out, I dig this guy a lot and I even had some fun with Lugnut and Oil Slick when I pulled them out for a little group shot. Animated was one of those queer little detours in what passes for a Transformers continuity that I was fine with at the time, so long as I knew a more traditional line was lurking around the corner. These are clever designs and ultimately fun toys, but given my inability to get into the current Robots in Disguise line, I don’t know how receptive I would be if this line released now. I do know that I’m a little more motivated now to take stock of what I have and maybe pick up the last TF:A figures that I’m missing!