The set comes packed in a nice, easy to open clamshell package that displays the items you get in the set along with some nice art of Bludgeon with his upgraded head. The instruction are on the back.
The set includes two swords to replace the two that Bludgeon comes with, a new head that has two different faces (more on that later), and a new end for the tank turret.
To replace his head you have to first unscrew the two halves of his head. There is a screw located on both sides of his head; I recommend using as thin a screwdriver as you can find as his head does not turn all the way around and it's a tight fit to get the screwdriver in there.
Once unscrewed the front of the head comes off pretty easily, but you will have to pop the back half off. It makes a disgusting "snap" that sounds like you've just broken it, but relax, you haven't. The new head snaps on easily, no screwing or anything involved. Due to this it is a tiny bit "shakey" on the neck, but once you have the helmet on that pretty much goes away.
The first new face option for Bludgeon resembles his classic G1 Pretender shell; a grimacing skull. Though this one has nice red eyes to accent it while the original G1 didn't.
The second new face option resembles the recent IDW take on Bludgeon with his lower jaw missing and a bunch of wires going up into his cranium.
I decided on the G1 version, mostly because I personally never really cared for the IDW Bludgeon, and I think that the face doesn't so much look like a bunch of wires entering his head as it does a speaker patch or something. Maybe if one applied a bit of paint to make the detailing look more like wires it might look better, but I don't feel inclined to do so right now.
The helmet simply slides on the top of the head and fits pretty well. The pastic colour chosen matches the similar brown plastic of Bludgeon's forearms quite nicely. Better than the brown paint used on the original head.
The two new swords fit nicely in the storage spots for transformation...
And in the two scabbards at his side. The larger of the two fits really snugly, and may cause some concern about scraping the chrome off of the blade; but it seems to be on there pretty thick, I've taken it in and out of both the turret and the scabbard multiple times and no scraping has occurred.
The green of the sword hilts is a pretty dead-on match for the green of the tank, which is nice since the same plastic is used for the new end of the turret.
Speaking of which; the turret piece pegs onto the side of the machine gun for storage during robot mode.
In tank mode it just slides over top of the hilt of the sword....
Like so.
The turret piece is the only real weak spot of the set as it doesn't really fit tightly enough over the sword and will spin freely or just fall off if tipped forward. Using some clear nail polish or something might help it to stay on more snugly.
I appreciate the creative way Headrobot's decided to solve the problem of the non-uniform colour of the turret and how to store it in robot mode; but it might have been nice if they gave it a handle or something to be able to hold it as a gun, mimmicking the original Bludgeon figure who's tank turret became his hand gun.
And to answer any questions you might have about the ability to transform Bludgeon with his new head on, since it is a good deal taller than his old one, I give you this pic. There is plenty of clearance for transformation. I advise pushing down on the head while transforming him though, as the force of his head going into his body will cause the helmet to pop off.
In both modes the upgraded Bludgeon looks great....
And I highly recommed picking up this set. It's available from
TFSource for $17.99[/url]
