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Transformers: Combiner Wars Blast Off

This review brought to you by the fine folks at Entertainment Earth!

Entertainment Earth

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Sometimes, when you’re an avid, nostalgia-fueled fan, certain decisions by modern toymakers can drive you up the wall. Even if you know the reasons (more often than not financial) these choices can be infuriating.

At times like this, sometimes I’m glad I was mostly a fringe Transformers fan in the 80s, so when Blast Off is represented as a fighter jet instead of a space shuttle in the Combiner Wars line, I can kinda shrug it off and say “makes sense to me”. I mean, after all, what kind of “combat” vehicle is a friggen space shuttle?!

Granted, the Takara version of Blast Off does look pretty friggen sweet.

As mentioned, this rendition of the Combaticon air support member is a jet instead of a shuttle, a repaint of several previous releases within the Combiner Wars line, including Quickslinger. In fact, this figure is a direct repaint of Quickslinger, included the head sculpt, which has caused some understandable consternation among Transformers fans. Even if you’re not going to give folks the full blown space shuttle experience, it feels like a new head would have at least been a good bone to throw to the fans out there.

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Because Blast Off is such a straight repaint, it’s tough to find a whole lot more to talk about with the figure itself. I still really love the base figure here, and it was one of these fighter jets that got me interested in Combiner Wars in the first place, way back when. The transformation is really straight forward, easy to pull off in both directions, and the figure is very nicely articulated, something that’s especially important to a long time G.I. Joe fan like myself.

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Blast Off is colored in much the same way as the vintage version, with a metallic gray and purple mixture, both complimenting each other remarkably well. The small hints of yellow add some nice color, without being too intrusive.

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No, Blast Off is not a space shuttle, but in my opinion, he fits much better with his peers in this form. I can certainly understand the complaints of the long time fans who want a G1 update to go along with these others, but from a practical standpoint, I’m cool with the version we got.

Combiner Wars Blast Off
  • Character
  • Articulation
  • Vehicle
  • Robot Mode
  • Transformation
3.2

Summary

A straight repaint of Combiner Wars Quickslinger, many vintage fans will complain about this guy being a plane rather than a space shuttle, and while I can understand those concerns from a G1 homage perspective, I think a warplane makes more sense from a “combat” sense. That being said, it would have been pretty cool to see some new tooling here, instead of just a straight repaint of a figure we already have. The colors are nice callbacks to the vintage version, however.

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Transformers: Combiner Wars Vortex

This review brought to you by the fine folks at Entertainment Earth!

Entertainment Earth

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In a way, when Hasbro first released Alpha Bravo back with their first wave of Combiner Wars figures, fans everywhere immediately knew that Vortex was just a matter of time. Not only was Vortex the same distinct kind of helicopter that Alpha Bravo was, but even the head sculpt was pretty unique to that Combaticon. With Quickslinger’s release, Alpha Bravo became the odd man out of the Aerialbots, so at this point, even though Vortex is a straight repaint of that figure, it doesn’t feel like a big deal, because the original version of the helicopter combiner has been rendered more or less extraneous.

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I’ll admit Alpha Bravo was never my favorite of the first run of Combiner Wars, and that opinion is maintained with Vortex. The transformation feels a little clunkier and the robot isn’t quite so fluidly articulated as some of the others. That being said, looking at the Vortex source material, Hasbro did a pretty spectacular job of updating that character to a modern version, while maintaining much of the spirit and uniqueness of the original.

Most of Vortex is gray, like the original, with just the right hints of that nice shade of green. Even the yellow painted missiles are a nice mimic of the yellow stickers adhered to the side of the original G1 Vortex.

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Even with the transformation being not as intuitive as other releases, it is still relatively easy and accomplished quickly, allowing for much more enjoyable “play time” for those of us who are Transformers novices.

I love the colors, really like the character now that I know him better, and consider this a pretty great update to the G1 original.

Combiner Wars Vortex
  • Character
  • Articulation
  • Vehicle
  • Robot Mode
  • Transformation
3.1

Summary

The original Combiner Wars helicopter, Alpha Bravo returns in the form of Vortex, and most Transformers fans agree this is who he should have been from day one. A very Vortex-esque head sculpt with a great vintage accurate paint scheme, brings us the assault copter version of the Decepticon Combaticon, only with two propellor blades instead of the vintage four. Using a very familiar base figure with cool transformation and great articulation helps the end result, though Vortex feels exceptionally familiar.

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IDW Publishing G.I. Joe Solicitations for May, 2016

IDW Publishing has released their list of upcoming comic solicitations for May, 2016, including the newest issues of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and Street Fighter X G.I. Joe.  Check out all the details below.

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Street Fighter X G.I. JOE #4 (of 6)

Aubrey Sitterson (w) • Emilio Laiso (a) • Phil Jimenez (c)

The World Warrior Tournament enters the finals, and M. Bison will stop at nothing to be the last one standing! Can the Street Fighters and G.I. JOE stop the Shadaloo dictator before he takes the top spot?

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

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Street Fighter X G.I. JOE #4 (of 6)Subscription Variant

Aubrey Sitterson (w) • Emilio Laiso (a) • Nelson Daniel (c)

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:

  • Your favorite Street Fighter characters face off against G.I. JOE for the first time ever!
  • 8-bit Variant cover by Matthew Waite!

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G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #228: Cobra Nation, Part 3

Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a & c)

Things have been quiet on the Cobra front, as far as G.I. JOE can tell… but that may just be because there’s a snake in the grass on the homefront. Could there be a traitor within G.I. JOE’s ranks?

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

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G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #228: Cobra Nation, Part 3—Subscription Variant

Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a) • Brian Shearer (c)

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:

  • COBRA NATION CONTINUES!

G.I. JOE: The Complete Collection, Vol. 9

Larry Hama (w) • Herb Trimpe, Marshall Rogers, Rod Whigham, Ron Wagner, Don Hudson (a) • N/A (c)

Presenting the full run of original G.I. JOE comics in proper reading order. Includes an introduction and issue notes by Mark W. Bellomo. Collects issues #77–83 of A REAL AMERICAN HERO and issues #14–19 of SPECIAL MISSIONS.

HC • FC • $49.99 • 356 pages • 7” x 11” • ISBN: 978-1-63140-607-2

Bullet points:

  • The in-depth look at Marvel’s classic G.I. JOE run continues!

Marauder “Gun Runners” reveals test shot of Stedi-Cam Gunner

Okay, I think I’m in love.

Alongside their latest Kickstarter for the Marauder Task Force Valkyries, Marauder “Gun Runners” also included  a great stretch goal for the “stedi-cam gunner” an excellent looking tweaked version of the Marauder Task Force figure with rolled up sleeves, different lower legs, a fantastic new helmet, webgear, and really cool looking new stedi-cam heavy weapon.

Today over on the Marauder Gun Runners Facebook page we get a first look at an early test shot of this set and frankly, it looks amazing.  Even better than I thought it might.  The same fantastic design work that we’ve come to expect from Boss Fight Studio, all working flawlessly within the Marauder customizable figure system.  Really great stuff.  Check out the mirrored images below.

G.I. Joe Collectors Club Mike Power reveal and FSS 4.0 status

While Toy Fair news was pretty sparse in the way of Hasbro’s G.I. Joe line, the G.I. Joe Collectors Club started this week off on the right foot with a nice look at the upcoming 12″ Mike Power “Atomic Man” as well as a report that FSS 4.0 would start arriving “in the next week or so”!

Great news for those of us who subscribed.  The image of Mike Power can be found on the G.I. Joe Collectors Club Facebook page, and you can read the FSS update via their Twitter page here.

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