Review: Transformers Titans Return Blurr

Posted by parker dew on July 21, 2016 · 2 Comments 

It’s easy to forget just how much of an impact the 1986 Transformers animated movie had on the franchise as a whole. 30 years after its release, the characters it introduced have persisted as fan favorites and mainstays, some even surpassing original ’84 characters in popularity. You’ve obviously got the big ones like Hot Rod/Rodimus, Unicron, Ultra Magnus, Galvatron, and Arcee, but even the relative B-listers like Wreck-Gar and Springer pop back up in major ways every now and then. The popularity of these characters can be attributed to the simple fact that they were all incredibly memorable, as each one had some distinct character trait that instantly stood out among the cast. Chief example? Blurr, the Autobot whose entire schtick is that he talks really fast. (I said memorable, not good.)

Vehicle Mode

We’ve had a modernized Earth mode Blurr in the Generations line before, so now we’re going back to classic ’86 future cars. True to G1, Blurr is a super-sleek, super-aerodynamic Cybertonian hovercar made of wedges. The toy does a great job of taking the Blurr design and tweaking it for appearance, as this car mode is a lot less flat than the original. He rolls on some tiny plastic wheels, which make for an adequately convincing “hovering” illusion. The colors may seem a bit bland now, but… well, we’ll get to that later.

As part of the Titans Return line, Blurr features an opening cockpit where his Titan Master can sit happily, complete with a very detailed seat and dashboard. I think it’s one of the most well executed vehicle cockpits in the line thus far. Several people have complained that the canopy is too short to fully extend over the seat area, but Blurr has always been a convertible, so I don’t see what the problem is.

Titan Master

Blurr’s head surrogate is called Hyperfire, who sounds a lot like Haywire (G1 Blurr’s Targetmaster) but looks a whole lot like Stylor (Chromedome’s Headmaster). Wonder why that is? Hyperfire actually has some of the nicest paintwork on a Titan Master I’ve seen yet, making him one of my favorites. 

Robot Mode

I hope you like this particular shade of blue, because Blurr has a lot of it. In fact, he’s pretty much entirely the same plastic color, with only a few paint apps valiantly attempting to break up the monotone. It’s not a bad color, and the plastic has a really nice metallic swirl in it, but it really doesn’t make Blurr look very appealing. Which is a shame, because this is a damn good toy. Shield aside, he has very little kibble, fantastic proportions, and a ton of sculpted detail (which seems to be the subtle victory of Titans Return, like the head sculpts of Combiner Wars).

He’s definitely no slouch in the articulation department, either. Ball-jointed neck, hinged and ball-jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, single-hinge elbow, wrist swivels, waist swivel, ball-jointed hips, thigh swivels, and single-hinge knees. No ankle articulation, but his feet are long enough to hold most poses.

In the grand Blurr tradition, the front of the car can detach from its hinged mount and peg onto Blurr’s arm as a shield. Like Animated Blurr, the shield can remain attached during transformation and can stay on his back as a backpack. Blurr also comes with a silver rifle. Both accessories have multiple 5mm attachments, primarily to incorporate with larger base modes. 

Unlike Hardhead, Blurr doesn’t come with a gun for his Titan Master to man, but if you flip the shield around, flip out a strut, and peg the rifle on, you have a sled-turret-thing for Hyperfire to, uh, sit in. It’s nothing too spectacular, but it’s just a great example of how fun this play pattern can be.

Overall

Blurr is almost a perfect toy, and that’s a big, blue “almost.” The blue plastic gives Blurr a very dull appearance, washing out a lot of his lovely details and making a great mold look bad. Colors aside, Blurr is an incredibly solid toy and a faithful G1 update for those who weren’t satisfied with the Generations IDW version. The Takara release boasts much better paint apps, but will be more expensive and harder to find. If you can get past the colors, I can’t recommend this guy enough. If you don’t feel like you need another Blurr, though, this mold will be retooled into Brainstorm in the future, so you won’t miss out.

Where to Buy

• BBTS

Filed under Titans Return, Toy Reviews, Transformers