Windblade's original
design is carried over to her RID2015 version with fairly minimal changes--
in jet mode, she's still a red VTOL jet with wind turbines on the wings.
In this mode, she looks pretty good, like an ever-so-slightly "cartoonized"
version of her original Generations design. The proportions are pretty
solid overall, with long, wide wings with nice long angular ends that help
put the "blade" in "Windblade". The tailfin is pretty long, as is the nosecone;
this is a pretty "lanky" jet, but it works for her. There is one obvious
extra, unfortunately, and that's the lower arms and fists, which are blatantly
obvious sticking up behind the main body of the jet. On the back end you
can see the little bits that become her feet in robot mode, but especially
at a Legion-class size that's being pretty picky. The mold detailing is
pretty minimal, though some vents on the sides of the main body look pretty
good, as do her fragmented cockpit windows; otherwise it's "just the basics"
and a few minor details on the ends of the wings. Her color scheme is almost
all red in this mode, with a bit of metallic black on the turbines, cockpit,
and exposed robot hands. There's also just a bit of silver on the nosecone,
but that's it; adding a bit more color to the wings or tailfin in particular
would've been appreciated.
The transformation to
Windblade's robot mode is really easy, even for a Legion-class toy-- basically
you just stand her up, separate her legs, fold back the nosecone behind
her head, and then fold up the wings slightly to become her shoulders.
The end result is... less than impressive. On the positive side, the body
proportions are pretty good, with the chest, abs, and waist mold details
all in there. The legs are a bit too long and stiff-looking on the lower
sections, but they're not too bad, especially for a Legion-class toy. The
top of the tailfins serve as excellent "heels", and keep Windblade nice
and sturdy in this mode. The arms are pretty bad, though. It was not a
good decision to make the wings PART of the upper arms instead of hanging
behind the shoulders like they should be, as they look INCREDIBLY awkward
this way. Her shoulders are basically very small 2-D little black hinges,
with her wings splaying out from the upper arms, and then her overly long
lower arm pieces coming out near the bottom of said wings. It's such a
bad look. The nosecone hangs behind her back, but it stays in place and
it doesn't get in the way of articulation, so I don't mind it. The headsculpt
is also... really unfortunate. It's just badly sculpted, I have to be honest.
The eyes are too small-- they're little dots-- and her little smile is
too small, as well. The "hair" and yellow helmet are sculpted alright,
but that face, especially with the little blue dot-eyes and off-white paint
on the rest... it looks like some 5-year-old drew the face, honestly. I
really don't know how a facesculpt this bad got onto an official mainline
product. Beyond the paint on the face, there's also some blue on the knees
and chest and metallic black on the chest, feet, and turbines-- so she's
a bit better broken-up in terms of colors. Also on the plus side, for articulation
Windblade can move at the shoulders (at two points), elbows, hips, and
knees-- definitely above-average for a Legion-class toy, though the shoulders
can only move up-and-down, they cannot pivot forward or backward, which
is a shame.
The RID2015 legion class
version of Windblade has an excellent jet mode (though a bit more paint
would've been appreciated), but in robot mode she's a mixed bag. She has
some great sculpting on the body and legs, but her arms and head are just
HORRIBLY done. Get the Warrior class version if you want a version of this
design; only get this if you're insistent on getting her in scale with
other Legion-class toys.
Review by Beastbot