Bulkhead's vehicle mode
is-- as you'd expect-- his green offroad SUV vehicle mode from the show,
and in nearly every respect, the proportions and detailing are incredibly
show-accurate in this mode. The green is the EXACT same shade as on his
First
Edition version (ie., completely show-accurate), and important details
like his side bars, headlights, and rear bumper are painted either silver,
black, a pale yellow, or light red, depending on how they looked in the
show. The pale yellow on the headlights would've looked better as a bolder
shade, but otherwise all this means that Bulkhead doesn't look dull in
this mode. His windows, however, are painted a dark bluish military green,
which isn't really show-accurate, and should have been transparent like
his front windshield (with some rather nifty tech detailing inside the
window) or at least painted silver or silvery-blue so they looked more
like windows. The mold detailing-- as befits a Prime toy-- is fairly sparse
in most places, but has some small areas with a surprising amount of intricate
detail, such as his tires, the "suspension springs" molded in above the
tires, and his front bumper. However, as with any other Prime Bulkhead
toy, unfortunately he has some fairly obvious robot mode kibble, in the
form of his lower arms and legs sticking out rather bulbously from below
the bottom of this mode (this is particularly obvious for the front section).
Also, Bulkhead's "Powerizer" weapon is just an absolute mess. I mean, what
IS this huge pile of junk that can only peg onto the top of this mode supposed
to BE? It completely ruins the curvy streamlined look. Part of it is a
"hammer" weapon that can be plugged into the side of one of his lower arms,
while the other, larger part is his light-up weapon. Pressing down on the
taillight piece (why is there a TAILLIGHT on this thing?!) causes the transparent
wrecking ball/mace weapon to rotate forward, spinning a bit as it does
so. A red LED light also lights up behind the weapon, but as is usual with
the light gimmicks for the Prime 2012 toys, it doesn't really work that
well. The spinning of the weapon IS a pretty cool little addicting gimmick,
though, I have to admit. You can really "rev it up" and get it spinning
quite a bit.
Unfortunately, Bulkhead's
robot mode this time around isn't nearly as show-accurate as his vehicle
mode is. For starters, there's large panel-flaps behind his shoulders that
not only are obvious pieces of kibble, but are not show-accurate as well.
His big, bulky shoulders have been reduced to small little flip-out pieces
made from his side windows. His chest design is also way too simplified,
with only the front two side doors folding onto the front of the chest,
while the headlights are still visible next to his waist, and his pelvis
sticks out at an awkward angle. This is particularly obvious when looking
at Bulkhead from the side, and seeing how far back his backpack goes and
how much his stability depends entirely on his large, long feet. And speaking
of his feet, they're probably the best part of this mode-- though I wish
the mold detailing on the outside of the ankles-- which are fake tires--
was painted, they're pretty proportional for Bulkhead, appropriately bulky,
and pretty show-accurate and sturdy. His arms also are fairly decent as
well, though the upper arms could've stood to be a bit bulkier to make
them show-accurate. The mold detailing is quite accurate to the show, with
bits like his lower arms and head pretty spot-on when it comes to detailing.
(Unfortunately, the light piping on Bulkhead's eyes doesn't work at all.)
His colors are also broken up enough by his various paint apps (mostly
carried over from vehicle mode) to keep them from getting boring. His light
milky gray-- a shade which I normally hate-- is a slightly glittery, semi-metallic
shade, and thus doesn't look as boring as most light gray plastic out there.
For articulation, Bulkhead can move at the neck at two points, his jaw
(!), shoulders (at three points), knees (at two points), slightly inwards
at the wrists, and at the hips (at two points) and the knees. Thus, he's
not quite as articulated as First Edition Bulkhead (his elbows could really
use some rotation), but he generally can pull off some pretty nice poses.
The interior of his forearms is made of tinted transparent plastic to help
with the "light piping" gimmick that his Powerizer weapon employs (both
of his weapons can be held in his fists or plugged into ports on the side
of his lower arms, as well as one port on his upper back). Unfortunately,
the LED light up gimmick is completely ineffectual here, as well, so his
arms should've just been solid gray and green.
2012 voyager Bulkhead's
vehicle mode is pretty nicely proportioned and painted, and generally looks
pretty fantastic. Sure, there's some robot kibble, but this is present
on any Prime Bulkhead toy. This toy's robot mode, though, is definitely
the worst out of any of the 2012 Prime Bulkhead toys, having a really odd
chest/pelvic structure, weak shoulders, and show-inaccurate chest and back
panel designs. His Powerizer weapon, while admittedly a bit of a cool gimmick,
is also ridiculously bulky and a major eyesore if you're not using it.
Unless you want a larger Bulkhead toy and despise more complex transformations
like that of First Edition Bulkhead, go for ANY of the other Prime Bulkhead
toys instead.
Review by Beastbot