Blackout's helicopter
mode translates quite well into the very small Legends class category,
with no robot extras visible in this mode at all, and there not being too
many joints or the like exposed to keep Blackout from looking too "solid"
in this mode. There are a few minor proportional issues-- namely his rear
"fin" is way too small and his already small side wings don't really exist
at all on this toy. However, given the limitations of this price point,
they don't bug me too much. Blackout's admittedly dull color scheme is
broken up just enough with the nice contrast colors of silver and black
to keep from getting too boring. The mold detailing, however, is rather
sparse, with not enough "panel" detailing for my liking. Oh, and in case
you're wondering, both rotors freely spin, and spin quite well, I might
add. Due to the transformation, however, three of the blades on the main
rotor are a little lower than the other three blades, but this is a minor
issue.
Blackout's robot mode
isn't as good as his vehicle mode, but it's still easily identifiable as
Blackout, doesn't have any really bad proportions problems, and deals with
the limitations of the size category well. There's some rather noticeable
helicopter cockpit halves used for his arms, but other than that Blackout
tends to keep what vehicle kibble he has on his back and out of the way,
where it belongs. (He actually has LESS back kibble proportionally than
Voyager
class Blackout. Go figure.) The rotors fold onto his back quite well,
though because they're long, skinny, and not made of particularly bendy
plastic, I do worry about one of the rotors snapping if he accidentally
bangs against something a little hard. The legs are pretty much perfect
in this mode, though the feet could be a bit more pronounced, and Blackout's
chest and head are pretty much right-on given the size limitations. (I
do wish the fake "cockpit halves" on the sides of his chest were a bit
more pronounced and obvious that they were meant to be the helicopter cockpit
halves, though.) Like most Legends class figures, Blackout's articulation
is quite limited-- he can move at the shoulders, hips, and side-to-side
at the elbows and knees, so you unfortunately can't get many good poses
out of him, but hey, he's $4, what do you expect?
Legends class Blackout
is one of the better Movie Legends figures, being fairly decent-looking
in both modes. He doesn't have any particular design flaws that could really
have been overcome at this small of a pricepoint, besides perhaps a bit
more articulation. If you have a thing for little, easy-to-transform TFs,
and don't mind stuff like hands molded on the inside of vehicle mode parts,
than he's mildly recommended pickup. Otherwise, save up a little and get
the more detailed, more articulated, meaner-looking Voyager class version
instead.
Review by Beastbot