Bulkhead is one of the
few Beast Hunters "upgrades" that actually gets a brand new mold, albeit
a deluxe one that thus isn't all that in-scale with the rest of the "regular-sized"
Transformers, due to how big of a guy he is in the show. In vehicle mode,
he remains a 4WD vehicle, though he's been lined with considerably more
detail than his original Prime design had-- there's armor-like ridges all
over the plkace, along with a few ornamental bits like how his front gold
bumper is detailed, and the spikes on said front bumper. All these extra
details look pretty cool, though I admit I'm a bit stumped as to why they
didn't stick with the more "Viking-like" detail on his Commander-class
toy-- that looked a bit more individualistic, methinks. This toy--
perhaps because it's a deluxe instead of a voyager-- doesn't hide Bulkhead's
robot bits quite as well as his earlier toys do. None are particularly
egregious, but his robot fists stick out rather obviously below this mode
(far enough whre you can see them from most angles), and he doesn't really
have much of a rear bumper, it instead just being his knees folded up.
There's also a bit of an obvious crotch piece sticking out from below the
middle of his front bumper, and although the top of this mode looks pretty
flat, the color breakup of the mold means there's odd little pieces of
goldish tan and light gray just sticking up in the middle of the roof.
As for the color scheme, Bulkhead still keeps a fair amount of green and
black, but adds a pretty good amount of orange mixed with a bit of black,
giving him more of G1 Roadbuster homage, who had a somewhat similar vehicle
mode. There's a good amount of bronzish-tan paint and plastic on him as
well (though it's more visible in robot mode)-- this makes helps make him
look a bit more "royal" and "ornamental" like most of the other Beast Hunters
toys, and all of these colors contrast and complement each other quite
well. That said, the bronzish tan plastic has a slight greenish tint to
it, and looks a bit "dirtier" than a shinier, golder plastic would've looked--
I'm not a huge fan of it. Bulkhead also has an impressive number of colors
used only as accents, like the yellow and red for his front headlights,
the silver on his spikes, some light milky gray on some interior robot
bits (thankfully this blah color isn't used much), and some blue on his
side windows. (Unfortunately, his rear window isn't painted, and worse
still, his front window is translucent blue and of a signficantly darker
hue than the blue paint, which makes it look off.) In fact, he's almost
TOO busy color-wise, at least in this mode. Bulkhead's weapon is a "Dragon
Grinder" saw, which spins a bit when you press in on the gray trigger on
it. It's a pretty addicting, fun little gimmick, as most saw-spinning gimmicks
tend to be from my point of view. It also has some nifty "dragon head w/
fangs" detailing on it, which is a nice touch.
Bulkhead's robot mode
suffers a fair bit from his vehicle mode and smaller size-- he's got a
TON of kibble on his back, including "door wings" on the sides and-- most
annoyingly-- a partially split-apart front hood that simply settles down
right behind his head (and without locking into any place securely). His
front wheels also just kind of angle slightly behind his main body, and
don't look that good from a side view. This severely hampers what is otherwise
a pretty decently-proportioned mode (to be show-accurate, the arms could've
stood to be a bit bulkier, but that's about it). His legs are big and chunky
and a bit more simplified because of the size, along with being a bit more
edgy to fit in with the Beast Hunters aesthetic. His chest is designed
to look like an armored-up version of his original chest, complete with
fake "rivets", but it doesn't copy his original Prime chest close enough--
not only is it fake detailing, it LOOKS too much like fake detailing (the
"windows" are more of a blue line than anything else), and takes you out
of it a bit. His front bumper-crotch takes up a larger portion of his midsection
as well-- by itself not a bad thing, but the big flip-up crotch plate with
a big black Autobot symbol on it is a bit much. His waist and crotch pieces
also come undone from the body a touch easily, though they're easily enough
pushed back into place. Bulkhead's arms are pretty nice-looking, so no
complaints there except for the lack of elbow rotation, meaning his arms
usually look like they're curling. His headsculpt is well-done, but it
doesn't scream "Bulkhead" as much as it should-- he's got a visor and what
look like goggles on his forehead and fangs jutting out of his large lower
chin, making him look more like a completely different character. (The
light piping for his visor WOULD work well, if the front hood didn't completely
block any light from entering the back of his head.) Bulkhead's colors
introduce more bronzish tan in this mode at the expense of the orange--
which I'm not all that fond of given how "dirty" the color looks, though
again, the number of paint apps he has are impressive. For articulation,
Bulkhead can move at the neck, shoulders (at three points), elbows, inwards
slightly at the wrists, and at the hips (at two points), knees, and ankles.
He's decently poseable, beyond the waist and elbows, and he's pretty sturdy
so you can get some decent poses out of him. As you'd expect, Bulkhead
can hold his saw weapon in either of his fists, but it can also mount on
the back of either of his lower arms or on his back in this mode, too.
Beast Hunters deluxe
Bulkhead has some interesting features-- such as all the extra "armor"
detailing, the nifty saw-weapon, and the slightly knight-ish robot mode--
but his major kibble problems make this my least recommended out of all
the Prime Bulkhead molds. He's got some obvious fists and a few other issues
in vehicle mode, but robot mode is where it gets particularly obnoxious,
with both large door wings and a big hood above his head which doesn't
lock in securely anywhere. A few other minor things just aren't close enough
to Bulkhead's original form, like his chest and headsculpt. If you're after
a Beast Hunters Bulkhead, I'd get the Commander class version instead.
(Continued from Chapter 8, Deluxe
Ripclaw)
Bulkhead can't deny that the new weapons
brought back to base by Bumblebee are pretty cool, but no one can figure
out how to activate them. Autobot Ratchet is working on it in his lab,
but Bulkhead would rather smash stuff than study, so he's been out in the
middle of the desert for hours, trying to get the thing to work. He's just
about to give up when Ripclaw plunges out of the sky and smashes into him.
Before Bulkhead can react, the unknown dragon's tail claw grips his chest
and rips away a chunk of armor. Even as the big Autobot pounds on his beastly
opponent, giving as good as he gets, he feels the poisonous heat of the
dragon's mech venom searing his circuitry.
(Contined in Chapter 10, Deluxe Smokescreen)
Dragon Grinder:
-Diamondium saw blade spins fast enough
to superheat the air near its surface.
-Superhot vortex near blade can be used
to block incoming laser fire, as well as damage enemies.
-Specially designed to quickly cut through
dragon armor.
Strength: 10.0
Intelligence: 5.0
Speed: 4.0
Endurance: 9.0
Rank: 6.0
Courage: 8.0
Fireblast: 7.0
Skill: 5.0
Review by Beastbot