Like the other mass release FoC Combaticons, Vortex doesn't have a color scheme that is accurate to the game, but is rather a "light" homage to the Energon Bruticus Maximus component Stormcloud. The rather loud color scheme of bright orange/red, purple, and black looks rather G2-ish in nature-- it's certainly not for everyone. The black helps to create a dark contrast color, but there's not enough of it-- more of it, or perhaps a considerable darkening of the purple, would've helped considerably. The bright yellow on his two blade weapons looks great, though, like they're made of energy or something. As far as the overall look of this mode goes, it's generally pretty decent, with the major stuff important to the game design like his small tail, long cockpit-gun, the blade-like nature of his propellers, and the peculiar shape of his cockpit windows all very game-accurate. His propeller can also spin quite freely with little resistance. This mode's primary weak spot has to do with the the fact that much of his robot mode is simply hanging below the main body of his vehicle mode without much attempt to disguise it as something else. The purple parts that poke out underneath his cockpit and below the main body of the helicopter are particularly eye-catching in all the wrong ways. Because of all his extras underneath, Vortex doesn't have any landing gear in this mode.
    Vortex's robot mode is the more iffy of his two "main" modes, primarily due to the limitations the toy inherently has in terms of budget and trying to be game-accurate to a design that definitely didn't have a whole lot of thought put into it at the video game level as to whether it would be physically possible on an actual toy. Vortex's rotors pretty much shrink and go nowhere in the game-- instead on this toy, they hang off his lower right arm at a very awkward angle. I understand you have to do something with them, but I would've much preferred them storing somewhere on his back or something. As it is, the propellers-- which don't lock into place-- are my main annoyance with this mode, and twirl around at the slightest touch (not to mention they get in the way of his left fist). His hands are also quite weak, being way too skinny, particularly at the elbow joint, which is also a bit crooked to boot. His chest and head are the best parts of the mode, having game-accurate mold detailing and great sculpting, particularly on the head. (The paint colors together like this with the yellow making the highlights actually works quite well here.) His feather-like "skirt" on his waist also looks quite good, as well. His small tail from helicopter mode simply folds behind his back and doesn't really get in the way or make him back-heavy, so I don't mind it. His legs are also generally good and proportioned well, though I wish he had more defined feet. For articulation, Vortex can move at the slightly at the head (bumps to either side of his neck restrict it a fair bit), as well as at the shoulders, elbows (at two points), waist, hips, and knees (at three points)-- and a fair number of these are ball joints. Thus, ignoring the oddity of his arms, he's fairly poseable, and bits of his helicopter mode make for nice heels to keep him stable.
    Vortex forms an arm or leg of Bruticus.
    Fall of Cybertron Vortex is an okay mold, but it suffers from some pretty noticeable downsides in both modes. In vehicle mode, he has a fair bit of underbelly kibble, and in robot mode, his propeller gets in the way far too easily and his arms are awkward. Overall the weakest of the FoC Bruticus limb molds, in my opinion, among the various color schemes this mold has, I think this is the weakest, as well.

Review by Beastbot

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