Transformers Animated Voyager - Blitzwing

Transformers Animated Voyager Blitzwing corresponds with his Gen 1 counterpart in terms of color scheme and in his Triple Changer design. Blitzwingâs robot and dual altmodes are synchronized with face-swapping features designed to signify Blitzwingâs conflicting personalities. Blitzwingâs tank mode discharges laser from a twin turret, while his jet mode fires ice missiles; the personality linked to the tank mode is comparatively caustic and unreasoning, whereas the persona linked to the jet mode is more calculating and aloof. Blitzwingâs robot mode appears to support articulation at the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and feet. Having abandoned the damaged Nemesis, Blitzwing initially hired Lockdown to capture Optimus Prime. He later visited Earth, allying with Lugnut and eventually succeeding in establishing contact with Megatron.

My son loves Transformers... probably because I want to have a good excuse to play with these things again.

Now, I understand that the ball & socket joints are used because they are stress points where normal joints would easily break and leave you with a broke piece of toy... but sometimes these ball & socket joints are so loose the toy falls apart and is essentially as bad as having a broken toy.

While this figure isn't the worst in terms of falling apart, it has some weak spots. The major complaint is that in tank and airplane mode the parts don't really hold together very well, so you have a plane... but it's a plane with loose, flappy parts. Same goes for the tank. Granted the robot mode looks awesome and all modes are pretty much dead on accurate to the cartoon... but it's not nearly as cool as I... I mean my son... was expecting it to be.

Buy at your risk...

Here we have Blitzwing, the first Triple Changer within the Animated toy line. Out of all the Animated figures I've bought so far, this one has impressed me the most, and I'll tell you why:

Firstly, as with ALL of the Animated toy line, his colors are wonderfully realized. They're spot on representations of the show colors. I certainly applaud Hasbro for this, since their color work on previous show toy lines has been dubious at best. The same goes for the build, model, and sculpting of the toy. It might as well have just clawed it's way out of the TV, and sat itself on my shelf. Hasbro's R&D departments have really mastered the TV-to-Toy jump this time around.

Second, His joints are actually really solid, sturdy, and overall stiff. This just about blew my mind, considering my other animated figures are plagued with absurdly loose, floppy joints right out of the box. I was pleased to find Blitzwing so dang sturdy. He takes just that right amount of force to move, pose, etc, and he stands with stability. Furthermore, because he does have the extremely robust joint systems that all the animated figures have, he's able to assume some pretty expressive poses.

Lastly, his human and tank modes are really nice. (His Plane mode is okay - we'll get back to that) The tank is a great futuristic looking thing, with lots of little details, and excellent part fit. It's a solid, paperweight-like tank mode. As stated before, his human mode has a lot of expression due to his well implemented joints. He's also nice and tall. The face turning gimmick is cute, and I like the tiny little nods to German military uniforms that you find his his helmet, shoulders, etc.

Of course, there are some minor quibbles too:

First, his plane mode, while nice and heavy, is a little strange looking. His giant tank treads don't really have anywhere to go, and they look pretty awkward on the plane. Plus the part fit is less sturdy in plane mode. GRANTED, it does look just like the TV show, so I guess this is more a complaint on the character design, and less on the toy itself.

Second, he has no real accessories to speak of. In fact, his back guns can't even be brought forward while in his human mode. What this means is you better be willing to take full advantage of his expressive joints, cuz he's got nothing else to work with. Oh how I wish he came with a gun, sword, stick, cocktail glass, book, or SOMETHING to hold! His hands aren't even ABLE to hold things, which makes matters even worse..... I eventually settled on a saluting-hand-on-hip pose..... *sigh*

Third, his wings are connected to his shoulders, not his back. They also are not able to fold away, which means they will CONSTANTLY find themselves getting in the way of the arms. Some clever posing can solve this problem, but they'll always sorta be there......

Still, by far and away this is the most enjoyable, nicely built, well conceived toy so far that I've come across in the Animated series (though that Ulta Magnus is looking keen......). Feel free to jump all over Blitzwing when you see him at a store. You won't be disappointed.

Its a great toy, transform in their 3 shapes, tank, plane and robot.
just the cannon part its a little weak, but at the other way its still
a great toy.

This is a good looking Transformer and the only triple changer I've seen to date in which I liked all three forms. My only complaint with this one, however, is the it does not hold the vehicle forms that well. The pieces do not snap securely into place. The nose cone and the tail sag in jet mode, and the turrent will not stay securely in place in tank mode. Still a nice addition to my desk collection.

Blitzwing is one cool character. Like all triple changers he has two good modes and one bad mode. That mode is jet mode. Jet mode has his tank treds sticking out witch in return allows him to roll in jet mode and in tank mode. He has a dial on the back of his head so he can have his face changing feature. I like jet mode and robot mode best. I am not a fan of tank Transformers but I will transform him into tank mode every now and again.