Decepticon Bludgeon Formerly famous only for being in the comics Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Voyager-Class Toy Item No.: Asst. 83972 No. 93831 Manufacturer: Hasbro Includes: Sword, dagger Action Feature: Transforms into tank Retail: $19.99-$24.99 Availability: Spring 2010 Other: Repainted as Banzai-Tron
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For some reason during Revenge of the Fallen it seemed that Hasbro was going for more classic toy homages, and fans decided to go the extra mile and repurpose these as "Classics" toys-- Bludgeon here made the fan jump, but he reportedly started life as a concept for a toy in the early 2000s. The original 1980s toy was a teeny tiny tank that could be stuffed into a skeletal samurai figure shell, while this new version is a modestly sized tank which unfolds into a skelatal samurai robot. I think the one one works better in most respects.

In tank mode, what you have is a fairly convincing green tank. Part of the cannon pulls out to become the sword, and another short blade weapon is hidden inside the turret. The wheels spin, the turret turns, and the non-moving tank treads are rubber in places. In short, it's a pretty nice tank toy, which is more than a lot of Decepticon tanks can say in some years.

Transformation is quite pleasant, with a few twists and turns and few frustrating bits. I say "few," and not "none" because getting the head in place sometimes means the sliding torso elements get stuck and you have to result to Brute Force^TM to get the pieces the way you want. This, and a minor tank tread problem (see below) could result in there being problems with the long-term enjoyment of this figure, as I'm already seeing some signs of fatigue and I haven't even had it out of the box for six months yet.

While highly articulated in robot mode, the big guy does have a massive tank backpack hanging off his back plus a number of other little tank bits on his person. Some look like armor or tassles, so Hasbro certainly had a good time coming up with a different way to make a Decepticon tank figure. The clawlike feet are monsterous and nice, while the skull head evokes the original without being a human skull like you might be used to. His hands have some articulation at the wrist, but are extremely hard plastic-- the swords are a softer material, so expect to see some indentations in the blade handles after you remove them from his hands. The figure is a lot of fun to futz with, but it does seem to need a little extra care in places if you want to keep yours in mint condition. I assume if you give this to a kid, there will be tears later.

A note: for some reason the tabs near the tank treads are showing signs of stress on my sample. Given he hangs out on a shelf and gets little heavy play, I'm not sure why this is-- so be careful with yours, it clearly isn't as durable as one may come to expect from modern toys. (Or someone is going in my toy room and breaking stuff.)

Another note: due ot the classic-ness of the character, fans have taken to producing upgrade kits. One company in Asia is developing a kit with two different heads and two new swords for the figure. Another collector in North America produce a new head piece, giving the original head light-up eyes as it appears the designers originally intended. Given the seeming difficulty in removing Bludgeon's head, well, good like with popping it off kids.

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