(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the RID2015 warrior Megatronus toy. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the RID2015 warrior Megatronus toy here.)

    Blastwave shares the same very general alt mode of Megatronus in that he's a futuristic tank, but nearly everything from the waist up is a new mold; the tread portions of the tank are kept the same, along with the upper arms and upper legs. His whole look has been made a lot more "samurai-y", with samurai-like segmented armor details on his waist, lower arms, and the new kneecap pieces (the only new pieces on the lower portion of the body-- in vehicle mode, these same pieces have holes in them for you to stick Mini-Con Weaponizers or other weapons on them, compared to the little missile packs Megatronus had). The shoulders have some tread-like details on the sides, along with some half-circle details that help make him look more unique (with one of them filled with his Autobot scan symbol). There's also some skull-like details in two places-- the first is on the chest, which have what look like two large yellow eyes for the pecs, with a small "skeleton nose" and teeth over the abs. In vehicle mode, you still see this same "yellow skull face" motif on the bottom of the main body of the tank, with similar "skeleton nose" details that are just slimmer because of the proportions, along with what looks like the center portion of the Decepticon symbol above said "eyes". In fact, Blastwave's headsculpt looks AWFULLY familiar... yep, this is a really obvious "pre-tool" for Bludgeon, who came later in the year. I mean, a tank samurai with a skullface who's NOT Bludgeon? It's an odd choice, but there might have been a miscommunication about the mold changes-- on the show and on the box art, he still has Megatronus' head, weapon, and the like, just repainted and with his chest remolded, sort of like a "halfway" point in between Megatronus and Bludgeon, utilizing parts of each different design. Instead the toy is just straight up Bludgeon in different colors. His whole schtick is that he's an Autobot that looks like a Decepticon in his one appearance in the show, though, so it still mostly works, except for the head. He has a samurai sword, which can be stored in a port on the back of his head in vehicle mode or on either of the aforementioned ports on the top of either of his treads. He also has a nice double-barreled cannon, which pegs into the front of his tank turret or behind his upper shoulders in robot mode. He can also wield it in his hands-- it's a pretty cool accessory, and enhances his silhouette and makes it more unique in both modes. The only piece of kibble Blastwave has that Megatronus doesn't is that in tank mode, due to the design, the robot fists are fairly obvious on the back of the turret, which is a bit oddly long due to the turret design essentially being a "180" from how Megatronus' turret was oriented. (The back of his head is also kinda obvious if you don't peg the sword in above it.)
    Blastwave may look like Bludgeon, but his color scheme sure ain't-- it's much more "military" in its look, with a military dark green being used for much of his turret/upper robot mode. He's also got a fairly dark blue on his faux skull "faces" in vehicle and robot mode, as well as on his lower arms, kneecaps, and some minor connector parts. His treads are a charcoal black, along with a bit of paint of that color on his shoulders. All in all it makes for a decent color scheme-- none of them clash to be sure, but they don't "wow" me, either. With the number of paint apps and minor colors though, his colors are broken up pretty well. He's got those aforementioned yellow "eyes" on the "skull faces", which contrast well against the blue, and there's some yellow stripes on his cannons, too. There's some white on his skull-face, and some dull red on his eyes and shoulders. Finally, there's some blah light milky gray plastic, but thankfully it's only really used on his upper arms and legs and a few minor connector parts, so it's not a huge deal. The hilt of his sword, his ankles, and almost his entire cannons are painted silver, which pretty much always looks good.
    Blastwave is a bit of a missed opportunity, likely due to some miscommunications somewhere along the line in Hasbro. Mixing up more Megatronus and "future Bludgeon" parts would've made him more unique, but with him using all the parts his future repaint Bludgeon will, he just ends up looking like a Bludgeon in different colors and not as his own character. This is unfortunate, as most of the mold changes-- the "skull faces" on the chest and tank, the beefed-up shoulders, the weapons-- are positive when compared to Megatronus. As a mold, it's still merely okay, though. Get Bludgeon instead.
 

Review by Beastbot

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