30th Anniversary Blitzwing

I was very concerned recently about being able to find a Generations 30th Anniversary Blitzwing.  Every store that I went to had plenty of Springers, but not one single Blitzwing.  From what I had read online about this particular Blitzwing, that surprised me.  There have been many, let's say, less than enthusiastic reviews of Blitzwing and nothing but glowing positivity about Springer.  Then again, I'm fairly certain that I may the only person in town that reads online blogs and reviews about Transformers.  Thank goodness that my TV died the other day.  During my search for a new TV, I finally ran across Blitzwing.  Is it a match made in heaven?  Read on to find out!

Being a Johnny-come-lately, I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about the other Blitzwing iterations.  The last time a Blitzwing was on the shelves, it was for the Animated line.  Unlike Springer, each iteration of Blitzwing after the G1 version has been a triple changer, so it's not like this is something that I've been itching to see.  Still, seeing Blitzwing, all boxed up and nice amped me up a little.  Then I pulled him out of the box.

Here is Blitzwing in robot mode.  I actually like this mode, even with the shoulders that don't peg or connect together properly.  In term of sheer eye appeal, Blitzwing has it.  He's tall, but he's not as lanky as Springer; definitely bulkier.  The wings protruding from the back of his legs are a great nod to his G1 counterpart.  For The fact that he has feet is a wondrous achievement.  Never in my wildest dream did I imagine that Blitzwing would have feet!  On the downside, I'm not a fan of the gun that he comes with; it's too small.  Then there's the whole face changing deal, which I couldn't even get to work.  I nearly ripped off Blitzwing's nose trying to get it to move, so that's a failed experiment, Hasbro.

Feet!

Here, we have my G1 reissue Blitzwing with Generations Blitzwing.  My original Blitzwing is having loose feet (tail wing?) issues.  Toy engineering has come a long way.



The problems that exist in robot mode carry over into Blitzwing's other modes.  The jet mode, while it looks far and above previous jet modes, suffers from parts that don't connect well and like to pop out.

It seems as though the lower half of the jet should peg into the top half, where the arms are.  Not so.  At least, I wasn't able to get them to go in and stay in.

I don't hate the jet mode, but I don't love it.  Still, it does look better than the G1 version.  The jet mode also features an attack mode.  All you have to do is flip the cannon out and he can fire a missile.  It's not the worst thing in the world.  The gun can peg in at the top, or you can peg it into the bottom of the wings.  Same goes for the sword.  I refuse to do it because I'm a fan of symmetry. 

I know that the flap over the fist isn't up all of the way.  I was too lazy to take another picture.

Then there's the tank mode.  This thing is really nerve wracking.  I just don't like it.

Gh-gh-ghost tank!

 It looks decent, but looks can be deceiving.  I don't have any pictures of the turret moving because when it's moved, the turret essentially falls apart, again, due to parts that don't properly peg together.

I really don't have much to say about this mode.  I'm happy that it actually looks like a tank.  Here he is with the G1 version.

After reading so much online about Blitzwing, I was prepared for the worst.  While not quite as bad as I had initially read, he's not as good as Springer.  I appreciate what the designers tried to do with this figure.  Creating a triple changer that has three distinct modes is hard work, I'm sure.  Blitzwing does accomplish this.  The actual execution of each mode is far from perfect.  Maybe if everything pegged together, then I'd be a little more in love with this figure.  As it is, he's just there.  I'm glad to have him in the collection, but I don't think I'll ever play with him.