Bulkhead (Prime; First Edition) [Toys "R" Us Exclusive]
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Voyager
Difficulty of Transformation: Hard
Color Scheme: Military green, black, and some silver, dark bluish military green, light blue, light flat gray, moderately dark red, clear tinted plastic, dull milky greenish tan, metallic gunmetal gray, pale metallic gold, and light pale yellow
Rating: 9.3

    Bulkhead's vehicle mode for the Prime 'toon is a 4WD all-terrain type of vehicle. The proportions for this mode are pretty much spot-on when it comes to show-model accuracy-- at least if you look at it from a top-down or "angled from the front" view. Unfortunately, from almost every other view, Bulkhead's robot mode extras become quite obvious below his undercarriage. Now, just a little bit of undercarriage stuff wouldn't be that big of a deal, but these are some BIG chunks of his robot mode underneath that reach almost to the ground, including a large section of his front legs and waist below the front half and his lower arms under the back half of this mode (though two "exhaust pipes" come out of the ends of his lower arms to at least partially disguise his undercarriage there). It's a bit unsightly; there's no way around it. However, given how much Bulkhead's transformation makes him "expand"-- both in the show and in terms of this toy-- it's hard to see how it could've turned out any other way, at least without making a really huge and even more intricate toy. At least there aren't any robot mode extras overtly seen on the top or sides of this mode-- even the transparent tinted windows don't have anything visible behind them that give away that this is a robot in disguise. The military green is pretty much spot-on Bulkhead, so it's nice to see that transfer over so nicely to a modern-esque vehicle, even if the white stars from his previous version didn't make the transition. The dark bluish green and tan plastic complement his military green, while his silver and black colors help to provide some contrast. Pretty much all of the necessary mold details are painted, like the yellow headlights, silver side rails, and red taillights-- thus, even though his primary color is certainly green, that doesn't mean he's not visually interesting in this mode. This being a Prime toy, the mold detailing is a bit more minimal than normal for a TF toy, but it still works, and there's certainly mold detailing on the little things (door handles, gas caps, the roof rails) to keep Bulkhead from looking too simplistic. The toy also does a wonderful job of evoking that Prime aesthetic of having alternating curves and angles, with Bulkhead being a bit more angular in this mode (such as with his headlights, rims, and windows). Bulkhead's "wrecking ball" weapon-- which has some nice "spray black" paint apps on it to make it look battle-worn-- is storable on his back end. It's fairly obvious, yes, but it's not so large I'd consider it an eyesore (and it's not like there's anywhere to store it UNDER this mode, anyways).
    Bulkhead's transformation is quite complex-- it's a pretty big challenge the first time or two getting all of his various windows and panels on his front and back to line up just right, but once you do the result is-- quite simply-- a masterpiece. It's absolutely incredible how accurate they managed to get Bulkhead to his show model, which at first glance seemed impossible to accurately reproduce on a toy-- and they replicated his "expanding" transformation well, to boot! To be fair, there's still a few weaknesses-- I wished his front panels in particular had somewhere to "lock into place" so that their positioning didn't rely so much on you referencing the toy packaging to determine when you've gotten everything just right-- and his backside, with all of its details like fake taillights, is completely unpainted here. However, otherwise this is pretty much the perfect representation of Prime Bulkhead, with his short legs and longer, tougher arms (but to a lesser extent than the cartoonishly-exaggereated Animated Bulkhead). His headsculpt is particularly dead-on when it comes to his show model, but all of the major details of his arms and legs are quite well-done in that Prime stylized version, as well, with a bigger emphasis on his rotund-ness in this mode. (His feet could stand to be a little bit larger, however, for accuracy's sake.) The positioning of his tires behind his upper back is a feat of engineering, as well. His color scheme is a bit more broken up in this mode, with more of his gray, black, and tan plastic showing. It's not the most exciting color scheme in the world, but it certainly gets the job done, and Bulkhead definitely doesn't look boring. (I don't like the bits of bland gray plastic used on his knees and a few interior parts, though.) Bulkhead's articulation is also quite good-- he can move at the neck, shoulders (at three points), elbows (at two points), inwards at the wrists, and at the hips (at three points-- one of them ratching to ensure he can stand fairly stably), and at the knees (at two points). Other than waist articulation-- which would have been nearly impossible to give him, given his transformation-- he can get into a surprising number of cool positions despite his bulk (namely because of his good stability-- his feet aren't that large, but the big chunks that form his lower legs work well as a backup). A neat feature is that either of Bulkhead's hands can turn inwards to show a port, which you can stick his wrecking-ball weapon on, just like in the show-- plus, it's a gimmick that doesn't sacrifice anything else on the figure, which is always good.
    First Edition Bulkhead is an absolute marvel of a figure in robot mode, and for the most part his vehicle mode is quite nice, too-- and I love his wrecking ball-hand gimmick, which is simple but effective. All of his undercarriage junk in the latter mode does drag his score a little, but if you're looking for a big Bulkhead toy and don't care about complex transformations (I think he's probably the hardest to transform in the entire Prime toyline by a smidge), I HIGHLY recommend this figure. If complex transformations turn you off, though, you may want to consider getting the Cyberverse version of him instead.

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Review by Beastbot

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