A Concise Review of Combiner Wars Protectobot Blades In 500 Words Or Less

Pricepoint/Vintage: Deluxe, 2015.

Modes: Robot, Rescue Helicopter, Arm, and Leg.

Transformation Style: CW deluxe limb, collapsible legs.

Play Patterns: Robot and aircraft, combiner, 5mm weaponry, a pack-in comic in the USA.

Points of interest: Pre/retool of wave 1 Alpha Bravo, with new head and deco.

The Good

Assuming you didn't take an immediate dislike to him for being a new character, Alpha Bravo was one of the better things about wave 1, and Blades benefits from that foundation. His robot mode is slightly more articulated than the CW norm, with sixteen points, and comes with a lot of guns. The new head is spot on, paint is plentiful, and the deco has been thoroughly remixed. Its the best Blades has ever looked. The helicopter mode meanwhile benefits from tampographs, and a combiner piece that doubles as a weapon pod and a stand. As with all CW toys, play value is a definite strength, if not from the combing gimmick, but then from all the 5mm weaponry.

The Bad

The Aerialbot moulds are pretty terrible at concealing robot bits in their altmodes, and even if Alpha Bravo wasn't the worst offender, Blades inherits that problem. The arms don't really go anywhere, and the head is exposed. There's also some minor kibble issues in the robot and arm modes, with the latter inviting a slight mistransformation to free the elbow.

The Mediocre

Its worth pointing out that a rescue helicopter probably shouldn't have missiles on it. Not even one as inexplicably bloodthirsty as Blades. Its not a bad look, but some further retooling would have helped. Blades also ends up quite skinny in comparison to the rest of the Protectobot deluxes, which effects Defensor's proportions.

The Alternatives

There is, of course, the limited release Takara boxset version, if you want something closer to the 1980's cartoon, although this is unreleased at the time of writing. Also, Combiner Wars is extremely fond of reusing moulds, so if you don't like this particular helicopter, there's others. And other compatible toys.

The Verdict

If you've brought any CW toys before, you probably have a good idea what he's like. Fortunately, Blades is still pretty good, if suffering in helicopter mode. He passes the acid test for any remould, in that he feels like a different toy. He just isn't as good as some other members of his team, and he could have been a lot better if they'd tweaked his altmode as with the Fan Built Combiner team. Pick him up to complete the team, or if you haven't got the mould, but he's not mandatory otherwise.