Transformers Animated Blurr

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

Blurr is one of those Transformers that was introduced in The Transformers: The Movie, waaaay back in 1986. As a new character created after the Autobots had beaten the Decepticons butts and re-connected with Cybertron, he never got a boring Earth-mode. Blurr's alt-mode was a very, very cool Cybertronian car (it looked much more like a hovercraft in the movie but I remember the toy had little wheels).

The original toy was pretty crappy. The car mode looked good enough, and if I remember correctly there were still some die cast parts, but when you transformed him he was a dinky, top heavy thing, that looked anything but fast.



There have been a few incarnations of him in other Transformer lines, but I think that the new Transformers Animated version is the most true to the original design. Not only is the robot remenicent of the first, his vehicle form also looks sleek and fast (supossedly he's even faster than Speed Racer's Mach 5). It even has the same front hood piece that converts into a sheild!

The new car mode seems to borrow alot from the aforementioned Mach 5, looking more like a racer than anything else, but it looks very futuristic. I hear the voice is no longer the John Moschitta who did such a great job in the movie, but I figure the guy's long retired so I'll give 'em a pass.

On the card, he comes already Transformed into his vehicle mode:





Transforming Blurr is pretty simple, though it can be frustrating since he is so well made and his parts fit extremely snugly. His back end become his legs, while the front wheel wells are his shoulders. The parts basically flip front to back, but it's a pretty well designed process. As I said, everything is really tight and the lines aren't broken too much by the cracks. You might have to work at it to get everything in place the first time around.





The aforementioned hood becomes Blurr's weapon; a weird energon buzzsaw thing. The saw also tends to pop out during vehicle mode and looks not unlike a tongue. Personally, I don't really like the action feature. It's unobtrusive, sure, but the weapon looks goofy and not at all threatening. I prefer him to hold the thing as a sheild if at all, but I usually just tuck it away.









I do wish that they had included something to fit in his other hand, a sword or blaster or something. There's a hole there so that you can fit the weapon on either hand, but it's not the standard Energon/Classics/Universe hole so other guns won't fit. I found the one below in my bits box, I think it was from knockoff of a G1 dinobot or something. It's really the only thing that will fit in the socket provided.





As an action figure, Blurr gets so-so marks. There are parts of him that are highly poseable, and parts that aren't. The parts that aren't limit his articulation severly though. One of the biggest gripes I have are the shoulders. Thought they look cool, the big front wheel wells really block his range of motion; He can't swing his arms out at all.

The hip and thigh assembly is a little better off, but you don't expect Spidey worthy poses. The shape of some of the parts, and the lack of a thigh-cut, limit the angles.
The feet however, are a marvel of design. His foot print is tiny compared to some of his compatriots, but the four ball joints on his toes and heels really come through in keeping him stable. And the mere fact that he has wheels for feet makes him seem that much more fast looking.







Size wise, he's just like Lockdown; a deluxe figure who towers over others. The difference though is that he is so skinny, it doesn't really look imposing. The fact is, he fits perfectly with the rest of the Elite team.





Overall, Animated Blurr is a great buy. An excellent toy despite a few misses. You'll probably have to do a lot of hunting though. I bought him Christmas Day when they had just released him, but since then he's been about as tough to find as a Universe Ironhide. Don't blink or you might miss out on a good thing.