Bulkhead's vehicle mode
is less "kiddie-fied" than most of other Bumper Battlers when compared
to his other toys, since he already has such rounded, "kid-friendly" proportions
in the first place. As is the case with most Bumper Battlers, Bulkhead's
vehicle mode is very solid-- all the mold necessary detailing is there
(though with the Animated aesthetic and all, it's still relatively sparse
mold detailing). I like the small details like the rivets on some of the
panels and the intricately detailed wheels, though (only the front and
back wheels actually turn, however-- the middle ones are "fake"). Bulkhead
also has a ton of paint detailing, covering not only the necessary details,
but adding a few new ones as well, such as the orange detailing on the
bumper and the yellow military-esque star & stripes and his name on
the top of his vehicle mode and on the front sides. I think the aforementioned
orange paint looks particularly good against Bulkhead's military green,
but they all fit in very well with the overall color scheme and complement
each other very well. Also like all Bumper Battlers, pressing down on the
Autobot symbol on the front of Bulkhead will activate anywhere from 1-4
sequential sound effects which are played out in a semi-randomized manner.
There's a ton of different ordered sound effects you can get out of the
toy, and they're never played in a manner that doesn't make any sense--
and the show voice actor does Bulkhead's voice on the toy. Pressing in
on the front bumper of his vehicle mode will automatically transform him
to robot mode and also play some of these random sound effects. Here's
a list of all the different sound effects I got out of Bumper Battler Bulkhead
after a couple dozen button presses (though again, with the vast number
of different random ordering of sound effects he has, I may have missed
a few):
-Transform sound
-Smashing sound
-Grunting sound
-Crashing sound
-Engine revving sound
-Tires screeching sound
-Wrecking ball zip line firing sound
-Emergency siren sound
-"Oops."
-"My bad."
-"Hey!"
-"My name's Bulkhead."
-"Smashing stuff IS fun!"
-"So what are we waiting for!?"
-"Let's get this party started!"
As is the gimmick of
Bumper Battlers, Bulkhead's "robot mode" is just the top half of the vehicle
mode folded back to reveal robot mold detailing, with the bottom half of
the vehicle mode remaining the same. In fact, a relatively small bit of
the vehicle mode flips up to reveal's Bulkhead's robot mode-- considering
how bulky he actually is, I think it would've been more appropriate to
have a more substantial part of his vehicle mode flip out, to give it a
bit more "meat", for lack of a better word. Although the inside hollowed-out
portion of his vehicle mode is pretty bland and completely lacking paint
detailing, it does have a few intricate circuitry details. However, the
focus, of course, is on the robot molded on the inside of Bulkhead's vehicle
mode roof. It's done fairly well, given the dimension limitations-- his
arms and main body should be a bit bulkier, but eh, whatcha gonna do, given
the subline gimmick's inherent limitations. His left arm is "normal", though
the molding on that particular part is odd-- it looks more like a nozzle
than his normal three claws. His right arm is molded so that it has his
wrecking ball weapon partially sticking out of it, though I'm not sure
why electric blue detailing is on it-- it's never appeared that way on
the show or any of Bulkhead's other toys. His face is molded with a bit
of a goofy expression, though nothing that looks out-of-the-ordinary for
Bulkhead. The rest of the robot mode detailng is pretty standard, given
the dimensions-- nothing in particularly worth bringing up there.
Overall, Bulkhead's
vehicle mode is excellent, but his robot mode is sub-par even for a Bumper
Battler-- too little of his vehicle mode folds up into his robot mode,
and his bulky proportions are squished, making him look a bit more deformed
than most of the other Bumper Battlers' robot modes. If you're a huge fan
of Bulkhead or know a little kid who likes the character, this might be
worth a pick-up, but otherwise skip.
Review by Beastbot