The first of Blitzwing's three modes that I'll focus on is his tank mode. He's just barely big enough dimension-wise to pass as a Voyager-class toy, but he's very compact, and the other two modes certainly look voyager-scale, so I don't mind it in this mode. The weakest part of this mode is the rear-- there isn't really any back end to this mode, just his robot feet sticking out the back and a few tailfins from his jet mode. From pretty much any other angle, however, this mode looks great and remarkably solid given that Blitzwing's a triple-changer. There's a SLIGHT gap in between the sides and center of this mode-- due to the sides forming his robot legs and his midsection forming... well... his midsection-- but that's a small quibble. His proportions are otherwise fairly solid, with only minor issues if you really want to get nitpicky (such as the turret being slightly too large proportionally, and the gun barrel being a bit too short and his treads slightly too small). All of these are more than acceptable compromises given his triple-changing gimmick, however. The way his legs move slightly outwards from their position in his other modes to make him square here is quite a feat, as well as getting the wings to fold into the body as much as they do. The mold detailing on Blitzwing is quite well-done, with all kinds of details around his turrets as well as "armor plated" detailing on his sides and a "porthole" molded on the top of his turret (Blitzwing's treads aren't actual treads, though-- they're simply molded in, with small wheels on the bottom of them to help him roll, as is standard with tank TFs). Blitzwing's color scheme is pretty much what it's always been-- mostly tan with some dark purple and a bit of gray, all of which come together to look quite good, fitting both a tank, a jet, and Decepticon. I wish the gray were a tad darker to provide some better contrast against the tan, however, but in some places the black does that, too. Also, his tan paint is of a noticeably lighter shade than his dull greenish tan plastic-- making the plastic a bit lighter of a shade would also have worked better, too, but again, minor quibbles. Not as much paint detailing makes itself known in this mode as in the others, but the plastic colors are broken up enough where it largely doesn't matter. Blitzwing can rotate 360 degrees on his turret base in this mode, though unfortunately the barrel can't move up or down. I generally recommend leaving the turret pointing in a forward or forward-diagonal direction, however, as if you rotate it all the way to the side all of the plane junk stuck up in the middle of this mode makes itself blatantly known. Blitzwing's cannon barrel fires a spring-loaded projectile if you press in on the barrel, which is a pretty nifty additional gimmick. Blitzwing's gun and sword accessories can be stored in ports either on the top or on the rear sides of his turret in this mode.
    Blitzwing's transformation to jet mode is surprisingly involved-- not confusing, there's just a lot of little steps. As far as overall appearances go, this is the weakest of Blitzwing's three modes, as there's some very obvious chunks of robot/tank (the robot arms/sides of the tank turret) that stick up on the top rear two-thirds or so of this mode. Granted, there's no obvious hands showing or anything that blatant, but it definitely does look out of place on a jet and partially ruins the sleekness of it. There's also a noticeable gap in between these two protrusions-- one that you will definitely want to try to partially cover up by plugging Blitzwing's gun into the port in the center of this mode. (Both accessories can also be stored on the rear sides of this mode, though, just like in tank mode.) Also just like in tank mode, just about every piece does "lock in" and have a solid, definite place where it's supposed to be, which is great. ANOTHER thing Blitzwing's jet mode has in common with his tank mode is that the rear portion is a bit weak, with there being no real back end and the robot feet rather blatantly sticking out the back. However, this is partially ameliorated in this mode by the VERY creative use of the tank barrel as a "rear thruster". Blitzwing's wings are slightly small proportionally, but not ridiculously so when you consider that he's a triple changer. There's also small flip-out panels on the underside of the wings to make them look not quite so skinny and triangular in this mode-- something that wasn't absolutely necessary, but is nonetheless appreciated. By far the best part of this mode is the solidity of the front section of the main body and the nosecone-- Blitzwing does indeed have a well-proportioned and detailed nosecone, complete with a transparent cockpit that you can lift up to look at the pilot seat detailing under it. His nosecone is made of the rubbery kind of plastic, both for safety concerns and because of the unfortunate problem of his robot head being ever-so-slightly too bulbous to fit inside the nosecone if it was made of regular plastic-- as it is, you can sort of tell that that piece is "bursting at the seams" a little because of the head inside of it, an unfortunate design overlook. As far as colors, Blitzwing gets a bit more varied here, with some nice red and yellow highlights popping up on his wings and cockpit, making him look more visually appealing. The purple also takes a bit more visual precedence in this mode, and is certainly more fitting for a jet than a tank. Blitzwing does, surprisingly, have landing gear in this mode, though only the front one actually folds out-- the rear two are simply molded onto the underside.
    Blitzwing's robot mode transformation is a bit easier, being sort of "halfway" in between his two vehicle modes, with the various appendages simply extended instead of collapsing together in some other way. I'll get the big downside out of the way first-- Blitzwing's shoulders are supposed to tab into his body, but without some modifications done with floor polish or the like, they don't say in their slots. Like, at ALL. This makes his shoulders a little shaky when you're moving him around, and you almost certainly are going to have to reposition his shoulders any time you move his arms a tiny bit. Is it annoying? Yes. Is it a huge deal-breaker, as I've seen many people say about this toy? Not at all, not when all three modes look this good. Despite having two alt modes, Blitzwing has remarkably little kibble here; he has wing panel flaps on the sides of his feet and his shoulders, and his nosecone doesn't fit in too snugly behind his robot head, but that's about it. (I quite like the big tank turret behind his head-- it enhances his silouhette and gives him some more firepower in this mode. His shoulders are also a bit hollow-- due to his transformation-- and his jet wings stick out ever-so-slightly from the back of his lower legs, but these are minor grievances. Blitzwing just looks like a pretty proportional, solid robot, hips jutting out from the side of his waist notwithstanding. The new red and silver detailing helps to add more to his overall color scheme in this mode, and his yellow-helmeted head also has a really cool gimmick-- just like his Animated version, this toy has three different faces! By lifting up on the chin of each one, you can cycle through his G1 head (his "hot head" and more G1-ized versions of his Animated monocled "cool head" and jack-o'-lantern-like "crazy head"). Such an awesome little gimmick and thoroughly unexpected-- plus, if you don't like this, you can just have the "hot head" displayed the entire time and ignore the gimmick, no harm done! But it does give Animated fans a rare nod in the Generations line, and to me is the highlight of the robot mode. Unfortunately, because his helmet is painted and it squeezes into the rubber nosecone behind it for both of his vehicle modes, over time the nosecone piece can take off some of that yellow paint in flakes-- a bit of a bummer, and again, something they really should've fixed before releasing this guy. For articulation, Blitzwing can move at the neck (surprsing, given his face gimmick), shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), rotation at the wrists, and movement at the hips (at two points), knees (at two points), ankles, and slightly at his toe and heel on each foot. Given that he's quite stable and well-balanced, this means that you can get some pretty nice poses out of him too, the lack of waist rotation aside. As expected, you can hold Blitzwing's gun and sword weapons in his fists quite easily, though there's pegs on the backs of his shoulders if you want to "store" them.
    Generations Blitzwing is an excellent toy in all of his modes, the obvious arm/turret side pieces in his jet mode and lack of a real back end in both vehicle modes being the only things that keep him from quite being on par with his fellow voyager triple-changer Springer. Yes, he also has an annoying loose shoulder issue, but how bad this is is vastly over-hyped by the fandom, I think, and doesn't at all stop me from highly recommending this toy to any Generations Transformers collector, with ingenious engineering and fun gimmicks all around.

Review by Beastbot

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