*2018 UPDATE/BUYER BEWARE: After several years, reports have come about the rubber treads on Bludgeon starting to emit a sort of slimy gunk that actually EATS THROUGH the surrounding plastic. Keep this in mind when purchasing this toy.*

    Bludgeon gets a big upgrade in the RotF toyline, and he's not just a repaint this time! This time around the mold is a much more direct homage to G1 Bludgeon. His vehicle mode is a tank, and proportionally is spot-on. There's no robot extras whatsoever in tank mode, though a couple of details near the front don't match up with the the tank details, both in terms of the orange color and just the mold and paint detailing. However, it fits in with the overall shape, so I don't know if I'd outright call it "robot kibble". Speaking of detailing, though, the mold detailing in this mode is fantastic-- there's little grates, handlebars, pipes, panels, etc. all over the place. Unfortunately most of the paint detailing was saved for robot mode, which makes this mode a bit one-note in that respect. The light gray serves as a nice secondary light contrast color, though unfortunately it's the same boring shade of light gray that's used far too much on Transformers these days. As far as movement, the tank turret can rotate 360 degrees, as can the small light gray gun on top of the turret. The treads-- which are mostly rubber-- don't move, unfortunately, due to the transformation, though there are small wheels on the bottom of the treads to move Bludgeon along. Also due to the transformation, some of Bludgeon's treads are odd colors (gray or orange as opposed to black), which looks a bit telltale. Some black paint should've been used on the front of those tread-wheels to lessen how much they stand out, methinks.
    As for his robot mode... wowzers. Rarely is there such a stark contrast in terms of looks between a Transformer's vehicle and robot modes. Bludgeon's tank mode was bulky and fairly ordinary-looking, homaging his G1 "real" vehicle mode, while his robot mode looks like his G1 Pretender shell-- an orange samurai with a skull for a face! Granted, it's been "robotic-ized" a bit to make it a bit more believable on this toy without the Pretender gimmick, but it works very well. The robot-skull look is very cool, and fitting with the movie look, and the additon of orange and a bit of maroon really makes the green/gray/black color scheme look a lot better. There's samurai-esque details all over his body, many done in a very ingenious manner-- the rubber tread bits hanging from his hips and shoulders looks like "chain mail", the details around his waist look like samurai armor, his chest is molded to look like armor while still having a bit of the skull-like visage of his head. His appendages also have a bony look, being very skinny in the arms while his legs actually have gray "bones" going through the regular orange armor-- a very cool look. His clawed feet help to give hiim that extra touch of "eeevil"-ness. And, what's a samurai without swords, amirite? Well, Bludgeon's got two-- the main cannon from tank mode ingeniously slides out to become a long sword, while opening up his turret-backpack unveils a sheath for another, smaller dagger! (The large turret-backpack can admittedly hinder movement a little, but Bludgeon's still quite stable due to his big feet, and it can rotate if it gets in the way of a pose you want.) His hands can hold both, though in addition to storing his larger sword in his tank turret, there's also a hole for Bludgeon to sheath it in his "armor skirt" like a proper samurai warrior. The fit in his hands is admittedly a little tight for the long sword, though-- some have reported the hand pieces actually snapping under the pressure. It's not a universal problem, but be careful. Bludgeon's articluation is pretty decent-- he can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at three points), hips (at two points), knees (at two points), and the ankles. All the armor can get in the way a bit at the hips, but otherwise he has a pretty good range of movement.
    RotF voyager-class Bludgeon is an excellent example of a proper homage, and one done brilliantly. Practically everything about Bludgeon is so unique and brilliant-- his mold detailing, his samurai-skull look, the way his tank parts incorporate into that look in robot mode, his weapons, the great proportions in vehicle mode-- that's it's very easy to overlook the couple of small downsides like the oddly-colored treads in vehicle mode or the limited mobility around the waist in robot mode. Highly recommended.

Review by Beastbot

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