Transformers Reviews

Bulkhead

June 1, 2008 4:26 pm Ryan Animated, Toy Reviews, Voyager

Well, it’s another month, so I’ll do one I’ve been dying to do for a while now. It’s time for Voyager Bulkhead from Transformers Animated.

Bulkhead, like every Animated toy I’ve got so far, is pure joy in vehicle mode. He’s chunky, although he seems a bit smallish for a voyager. Maybe that’s just because I’m anxious to see the leader size figure later. He’s mostly a military green, with white stars that remind me of Hound for some reason. It’s mostly show-accurate, except for the dip in the roof between the arms and a couple of missing paint applications (golden yellow for the lowest pair of lights on the front, and black for the viewports in the doors. All things considered, it’s a really nice vehicle mode.

Transformation from Armoured Personnel Carrier to Robot

Separate the roof section with the lightbar and fold the halves down over the rear wheels. Fold the parts in half, putting the roof panels in parallel with the side panels.
Pull down the rear of the vehicle, exposing the hands. Lift the arms slightly from the pegs that hold them in place, and they’ll swing around to face forward due to the springs in the shoulders.
Bring the rear of the truck up behind the cab.
Pull the front wheelwells down, away from the cab. Rotate the wheels down (it’s an odd diagonal swivel) to put the wheels on the soles of the feet.
Push the cab up and back to rest agains the rear section of the truck, which automorphs a section of the forward roof, replacing it with Bulkhead’s head.
Rotate the arms so that the elbows are facing the right way. Separate the halves of the back door of the vehicle, and pop them out so that they stay separate. Sadly, there is no way to get this kibble to form a chair on this toy. If you want that, wait for the leader class figure.

That’s a remarkably simple transformation for a voyager figure. It’s simple, to the point, and has a very nice end result. Bulkhead’s robot mode is stocky, with some very odd proportions. In other words, pretty much exactly as shown on the show. The biggest deviations from the character model are the feet, which don’t feature the tread kibble (which doesn’t belong there anyways - he doesn’t have tracks in his vehicle mode), and the Autobot symbol on his chest is silver instead of red. There’s some extra kibble on his sides, but what can you do? There’s bound to be some, and it’s fairly unobtrusive. He’s clumsy, he’s oafish, but he’s just plain charming enough to get away with it. Besides, that’s more show accuracy. If he falls down and knocks half a shelf of Transformers onto the floor, that’s just him being in character. I’m amazed they got as much articulation in as they did, but I’m expecting that the real fun will come at the larger size later. He’s got a couple of fun play features, as well. On his left arm, there is a lever that when swung back launches his trademark wrecking ball from his hand (it’s on a string, too, so there’s nothing to lose behind the couch). On his right arm, there is a lever that when swung back causes his arm to bend at the elbow, delivering an uppercut of justice.

Articulation Breakdown

Head - ball joint with fairly limited range
Arms - Triple swivel shoulders (one joint is ratcheted), swivel elbows (one is spring loaded to deliver a power punch, both are limited to about 90 degrees), swivel fingers (all six of them, individually)
Legs - swivel hips (ratcheted), swivel knees (ratcheted, limited to about 90 degrees)

Score

Deco: Rating: . It almost feels like a G1 Hound homage, and it’s pretty complete. I’m hoping to find some well matched paint to complete it. There are plenty of nice little details, and hey, I like green.
Posability: Rating: . I’m feeling almost like I rated it too high there, but he seems like the sort of figure where giving him, say, Prowl’s level of articulation might be overkill.
Transformation: Rating: . It’s very show accurate, or close enough as makes no difference, and despite (or perhaps because of) its simplicity it’s just a lot of fun to do. I could probably kill most of an afternoon (if I had that kind of time) just switching him back and forth.
Badassery: Rating: . He’s pretty tough looking, but relatively unarmed, and they did a good enough job capturing his personality that he doesn’t seem so intimidating - he pulls the gentle giant look off rather well. He’s kind of cute, really.
Vehicle Mode: Rating: . My only real gripe is that gap in the roof. It would have been nice if some way had been figured to close that up.
Robot Mode: Rating: . His robot mode is a joy. They did an excellent job turning his animation model into plastic, and his play features are actually really fun. I can see this one being pretty popular, even if he wasn’t a central character in the show.

Overall, Overall Rating: . I’m going to say “highly recommended” on this one, although I can’t say until both have been released (and bought) whether I’d recommend him over the leader class. If the leader class has removable weapons (he’s got way too many guns), this guy may take second place, but otherwise, I’d say he’s likely the winner.

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