I short, Warrior Bludgeon is lots of fun and gets the job done. He of course has a few cons (heh) of his own but the pros far outweighed them. Now onto the full review!
I do not know if you're like me but every single picture I see of a toy will never prepare me for the real thing. There will always be something I had not noticed. With Bludgeon, it is all about the head sculpt. There is a depth to it that no picture can show and I hope I will be able to demonstrate it this time. Firstly the centre of his helmet crest sticks out forward quite a bit. Then there are he's very very deep set literal cheek bones.
It's now that we get to the cons. The depth also extends in the back but not in the best way. You see there is a peg they put there with the edge unpainted that is used for the alt mode and not to great success if I may add.
But that should not detract from the amazing headsculpt which I believe is the best we have ever gotten for a transforming bludgeon. Especially when you realize that it's mae of orange plastic, meaning that every other colour is painted. I also had not noticed the fangs which are very different from the artwork on the box which makes him look more like a Jack O Lantern.
Another element I had not noticed was the point of the black outline on the shoulders. You see, they appear to be tank treards and since he turns into a tank we would assume that they would be used in the altmode. However those that own Megatronus (which is the base mold for Bludgeon) know that the shoulders were never part of the treads below. So the shoulder treads actually do not contribute to the alt mode at all and are simply there for the robot mode as an homage to the Revenge of the Fallen toy whos tank treads imitate Samurai armour. This was quite a fun revelation for me.
We spoke of paint earlier I have no need for more paint aside from maybe the samurai skirt and the kneecaps as well as the teeth on his chest. His weapons can be weilded in very different ways. He has two cannons on his back à la Bruticus but they can actually be either become shoulder cannons or simply lowered in the back not to be seen.
They can also be removed and used as a handheld weapon and even stored on the side of his legs were you have a peg hole. Speaking of those peg holes, they work perfectly for the sword and are actually painted green so that they can match the end of the sword making it resemble a scabbard for the weapon. Speaking of the weapons they are both very well painted with the sword blade painted fully in silver and the same for the cannons which are all in silver aside from some very intricate purple detailing on the sides.
I like the look of the robot mode, he looks like a force to be reckoned with. My main problems with this toy come from the alt mode and how the robot parts are (not) hidden. Firstly you have the arms and while I do very much like the paint on them (it's a gorgeous red) I do not like how the hands stick out. It is very similar to the problem we have with Soundwave (though I admit I adore transforming both these toys, they have dynamic and fun yet chunky transformations). Megatronus had the extra step/piece which made you able to hide the hands inside the arm so this is a step back. Another robot part which is very noticeable is the head now sadly I would have thought that putting the sword on top of the alt mode was optional weapon storage but it is not. If you want to hide the robot head the only way is to use the sword. However I must admit it does not look terrible and hides the head quite well. The holes on the legs that imitated a scabbard are still useable in this mode and can be used for any 5 mm port weapon.
In the end, even with its flaws, I still find this very well-done toy and I think any fan of Bludgeon will be pleased, especially wth the headsculpt and homages to previous versions. The paint is well applied and the colour variation is perfect and it is fun to now have a fully articulated deluxe sized Bludgeon. It's pretty cool to think that one could now make a top 5 list of Bludgeon releases.
