What's the word, early bird? My name's Thew, here today with an unscheduled assault on Transformers Legacy!
That's right, baby - it's the all-new, all-arousing next stop on the TF Generations train,
continuing the perpetual project to create
spangly new toys based on every TF character ever as long as it's G1 or G1-compatible
and oh my God! Can't believe Thew's getting stolen toys from the factory! Unsubscribed!
Listen, it's hardly my fault that France decided to break the street date by five clear months, is it?
And it's also hardly my fault that I happened to have a mate who was in France the week that happened,
who ethically purchased them from a valid retailer using legal tender,
shipped them to me, legitimately, and I reimbursed him, heroically.
This could not be more above board. I can't even see the board from up here!
I'm the last person whose fault this is, all right?
All I'm saying is, there's no English word for laissez-faire. Okay? Vive la France.
And we're coming in like a wrecking ball
uuuuuggghhhhhhhhhh
with affable Autobot bruiser Bulkhead,
the universally adored kind-hearted colossus and breakout star of Transformers Animated
and subsequently Prime, here reimagined in a somewhat simplified and more directly G1 style
to go with your other Season 1 Autobots in a delightful what-if retcon,
which sounds awesome to me, but I understand it caused a pop of frustration among the Prime fans.
And honestly, I totally get it.
That is, much as Bulkhead was birthed from Animated - not now Energon -
Animated itself was so stylised and so self-contained
that it's tough to dip back into it without making a huge deal out of it.
But the Prime aesthetic seems a little bit more flexible and Legacy seems like the ideal grab-bag
best-of collection where you could ostensibly revisit Prime properly,
maybe not on a huge scale, but perhaps throw in five or six Studio Series-adjacent upgrades
of like Bulkhead, Knock Out, Arcee, Breakdown, I dunno,
but what actually happened is, they just made it G1.
They gave us this reinvented - or deinvented - version that asks, "what if Bulkhead was around in 1984?",
and is that a question that needed answering? Can we pull our heads out the 80s for one minute?
I mean, alright, I'm into it, but my point is, I understand the ire, okay?
Like, the only love Prime seems to get anymore is "what if G1", or "here's a reissue",
or "what if they couldn't transform?". It's not enough, is it?
But listen - this isn't a full stop in the story of Transformers Prime. This is a comma. This is a question mark.
This is what we're doing, this time. Don't be a sulkhead, it's friggin' Bulkhead!
Yes mate, Transformers Legacy Prime Universe Bulkhead here offers us a new twist on an old classic -
or rather an old twist on a modern classic -
that pitches old Macaulay Bulkin here as a somewhat more standard Autoboy
with an Inferno-ish body type taken to the absolute extreme!
He is very nakedly a truck that is barely a man. I love that, like, the cab isn't integrated into him - it IS him!
This honestly goes so hard! Punishing yet pleasant, and VERY top-heavy. A bit like my dating history.
Now, The Amazing Bulk here is definitely a handsome heap with a very slick aesthetic -
Ew.
- tons of detailing on the go, solid posability and a wonderfully approachable energy.
Man's mighty, y'know? Feels like he's got you.
The material's tough and rigid, the joints feel strong and sturdy, and the body is hollow but it doesn't FEEL hollow.
The head does so much lifting in terms of the character!
There's just so much presence and charisma in that face with the deep, blue, kind eyes and that massive jaw,
which sadly isn't articulated. Seems a shame, but it's still engaging and enthralling enough to give the whole toy some pathos, y'know?
Kinda bulk and kinda head!
But the design of the toy itself isn't that interesting, really, mechanically.
There's very few surprises. Not a lot of nuance.
Like the arms are just kinda normal. They've got wheels on, I don't know.
The legs are just kinda normal. They've got wheels on, I don't know.
They've taken Bulkhead and made him "normal". That's what happened here.
This is the yassification of a roly-poly icon.
Anyway, colours are visibly very green. Like, there's some grey and black and the blue windows there for some texture,
but he's a big-time plastic green head, and I do love that it's a nice friendly forest green rather than a more hard-edged armed forces phthalo.
It's bright and alive, and he makes a wonderful traffic light trio with Grapple and Inferno!
It is kinda magical how seamlessly he slides into any group display, like an all-purpose heavyset hype man,
and I can't lie - it does feel fantastic to set him next to Reveal The Shield Lugnut
whether you want that long-awaited final showdown, or like an alternate timeline where they're mates.
That's what I do.
Right then, gimmicks! We got weapon ports! We're still doing weapon ports. Cool. Fine with that.
I'd be alright with that being a permanent thing from now on, actually. He's even got 'em on his wheels, whayyy!
Combining weapons, though, I'm a little bit tired of. Like, we just did that! War for Cybertron was all weapons all the time.
And yeah, it was kinda good, but this ain't hitting the same, somehow.
I think it's the blue crystal plastic. I don't like it in weapons. It seems fragile to me! It probably isn't, but it seems it.
And I do love that he can use it as a little shoulder cannon, that's cute, but like -
are we doing Mini-cons or are we not? I see that port!
I dunno. Combining see-through weapons and Mini-cons? It's giving Energon, to me. It's giving Power Core Combiners.
It's giving C-tier play pattern and I don't know if I'm here for it.
Whatever, man. It's additional. It's not the whole show, is it? I'm just - you can keep it.
Ports FOR guns, yes; ports ON guns - I'm good.
Bulkhead ain't really a guns guy anyway, is he? He's the wrecking ball guy!
And I honestly do love how this one works - it like hinges open, and there's a handle in there so he can hold it,
and then it closes up around his fist - that's neat! That's a neat solution.
Plus it's got weapon ports on it! Whayyy!
Wait - what did I just say? Weapon ports ON a weapon...
Is that bad? Do I like that? Am I okay to like that?
'Cos I like that.
And check out the canopy back here, which old Bulkan Raven can wear as a cape or use as a shield.
Fashion AND function. We stan.
It is perhaps a touch wibbly though. Like, I love that the handle can pop out either side, but it doesn't seem to want to stay firm.
Still, it looks cool, right? It's got a window. We're cruisin'.
What else do you want? Melee, defence, range. The big three.
So yes, Jimmy-Jimmy, Bulkhead's robot mode is an extraordinarily enriching Energon cube.
Just a perfect blend of Earthy green eco dude with a friendly vibe and big-ass battle-ready hardcore motherf**ker.
Kind of a happy medium between Hound and Hound.
Anyway, speaking of cuboids, how about these Legacy boxes, eh? Gotta say, I'm into it.
Look at this class artwork and crazy angles!
Just picture for a second how majestic these are gonna look stacked up on the store shelves,
like a stunning purple explosion of space rock synthwave vibes!
Look at that logo. It's like if the middle eight from "Dare" was visible.
Like, between this velvety purple luxury and the clean black of the Studio Series,
I fully support Transformers packaging taking a goth year.
Cheeky QR code there, which - aw, it doesn't work! I guess they haven't hooked it up yet.
That's all right. I feel like that's on me, honestly. We are a bit ahead of the deadline here.
Désolé.
Also, you may have clocked that there's no window in that window, which is fine.
We can get behind an environmental initiative, right? They do use enough plastic.
But I guess it does make the toys more susceptible to sticky-fingered kids dirtying them up.
I've also seen a few folks concerned that it'll make the toys easier to steal?
Like you can just reach in and slip 'em out? Probably not, mate.
First of all, I dunno if that gap's quite big enough to squeeze his bulkness out of there,
but primarily, they are still tied in there pretty tight
and if you're gonna piss about snippin' ties in full view of the whole Wal-Mart, you might as well just tear the box to shreds
and at that point, why would you not just steal the whole box? I'm not advocating shoplifting, I'm just saying,
if you're that committed to doing a crime, a small plastic window isn't gonna be what stops you.
And honestly, fair play to Hasbro for avoiding the emissions from all those millions of tiny see-through slivers.
Gotta offset those NFTs somehow.
Transformation's clever enough. It all kind of folds away in a normal way.
Like the arms tuck under his chin, there's flaps.
I kinda like what they did with the shins, with the little foldy-outy grey panels.
Feet are tricky, though - these heels can be a real pain in the arse to fold back out of there. There's nothing to really grab onto.
And like, I didn't just now, but you can keep the tarp on there the whole time, so it's not partsforming. It's fine.
That's his vibe. It's fine. Just a solid job, and that's kind of enough.
Like, the alt mode sure is a truck! Simply a nice solid APC/covered cargo truck thing - one of these, y'know -
once again bringin' the Hound vibe and a deeply gratifying fistful-of-chonk factor!
Gotta say, I love that cab, though. It's got a certain reassuring size and power to it.
I wanna sit in that passenger seat. It looks fun! And high up!
But like, the wheels ain't great, it's visually quite uninteresting - we hate to say it, but that tarp is DULL.
There's just not much to lock onto, y'know?
Definitely doesn't look like much without the tarp, either - it's just functional but ugly weapon storage and his whole dick.
But generally, it does have a nice vibe! It's fun to hold and pleasing to look at.
Not super interesting, but it is fun, and it always feels perfectly natural in a team display.
That's what he does. That's his superpower! Let's face it, that's the reason they made it.
'Cos there's always room for a big, comforting backup lorry -
whether you're doing an anachronistically augmented G1 squad, or like, an alternate universe version
of the crew from Transformers Prime.
Oh, or Animated.
So mostly, I do LIKE Legacy Bulkhead. It's a good-ass figure, but I don't know if this makeover did him any favours.
Like, he fits in now, and that's nice, but it cost so much to get him there. He had to become so much less remarkable.
'Cos this design could conceivably have been anybody - Payload, Wideload, Overhaul, Blockade, Stockade, Mudflap, one of those.
Canopy. Remember Canopy? He's got a canopy.
What I mean is, it feels less like they did Bulkhead a favour by giving him a new toy, and more like they did this toy a favour by making it Bulkhead.
I dunno, I still feel pretty bad for the Prime fans, man.
'Cos like, with this being Transformers Legacy, doesn't that imply that the legacy of Transformers Prime is that it would be better if it wasn't Prime?
And isn't that kinda mean? Like, look at that Arcee. What a downgrade!
I honestly do appreciate the unifying intent behind the idea, but I also get why it's annoying.
Like, you wait ten years for a new toy of a guy you like, and it shows up and it barely looks like him.
It's just big and green and it's got his chin.
I hear you. You are heard. But look - it's an ongoing franchise. It never ends. We know this. We've been here before, a lot.
This isn't the be-all-end-all Bulkhead, it's just, this is what we're doing right now.
But for now, for me, this is a fun enough idea, okay? I love Prime! I do! But G1 is where I live.
I also really like big generic dude toys!
At worst, this is a solid Voyager class figure that wears Bulkhead well
and I'm just gonna enjoy it as the fanciful fanservice fella that it is!
Bulkhead...
I needed that.
Wow, what the hell was that? What happened to "two waves late since 2008"?
Huge thanks first of all to Sam Makes Toys of the Sam's Forge fame,
he was my man in France when it mattered. Thank you mate!
Also, huge gigantic shoutouts to the Patreons! Love you guys!
Especially, this time, the one who goes by Rain. Thank you so much, my friend. Right! See you next time, baby!
Be sure to subscribe for more Thew's Awesome Transformers Reviews.
Robocentric vocabugasm.