Yup, I’m still collecting Blokees! When you have a local comic shop that sells these for a competitive price, you tend to impulse buy them. Want to know what Blokees are and how they work? Read my previous breakdown of them here. But to sum it up again: Blokees are a series of non-transforming Transformers model kits, in various sizes, known for being cheap, but also hardy and fun, with the smaller ones being blindpacked mystery boxes. Today’s subjects are two more Galaxy Editions, i.e. those smaller, blindpacked ones, both from the forth series of figures, a set with a character selection that’s mostly G1, with a couple interesting additions.
Two of these things are not like the others. C. Notrab.
And I managed to pull one of those interesting additions, but first, let’s look at the more boilerplate G1 guy I also pulled.
Ultra Magnus
The lawman himself.
Thanks to a recent re-read of IDW’s More than Meets the Eye and Lost Light comics, I can’t help but picture Ultra Magnus as a lawman, obsessed with rules, so I’m happy to have a tiny little version of him.
Did Magnus and Rung shrink, or did Swerve grow? Either option leads to hijinx.
This isn’t the first time Blokees did a version of him in this size, but the previous one was a white Optimus Prime repaint, so this Magnus gets to be his proper armored design.
Just like Siege, and then Kingdom belatedly gave us proper armoring-up Magnus figures.
I’ve always groused a little bit about how the instructions on Blokees are a bit unhelpful, but there’s a new low here: The section that shows you the common points of building every figure has you assemble the shoulders of his torso like a normal Blokee….
Okay, same as usual, simple enough.
……but then when you flip it to the Magnus-specific part of the sheet, it goes “actually, don’t build the shoulders that you already built.” Thanks, guys.
Real helpful.
At least it’s for a good reason, since he’s got a bulky shell that goes around his torso, with shoulders that clip onto the outside of it, to sell the illusion that he’s bigger and taller than other Blokees in his size class. And it mostly works, because he’s literally a bit taller than most of his fellow Autobots, with only my Shining Edition Optimus meeting his eyes.
Magnus is in the middle of advising caution, I’ll bet.
Another little easter egg in his construction is that he actually has a Matrix of Leadership sculpted into his chest, albeit unpainted. It’s not visible when he’s assembled, and you need to tear his chestplate off to get to it, but I like that it’s there.
Comparing Matrices.
The rest of the sculpt is pure Sunbow, a tall man made entirely of blocks. I particularly like his headsculpt, because it looks like he’s in the middle of a serious discussion, while being voiced by Robert Stack.
“You just might help…..solve a mystery!”
Magnus’s colors are also pure Sunbow, pleasantly bright and primary, in white, red and blue.
“We have assembled a Decoy in each Autobot’s image!”
And his articulation is just as excellent as other Blokees, coming with a suite of joints comparable to modern Legacy figures, including ankle rockers and wrist swivels.
On his way to correct some grammar.
For accessories, he’s got the same black stand as all Galaxy Editions, but he really doesn’t need it, he’s very stable, which is why it doesn’t show up in most of these photos.
“Oh, right, we have these.”
He’s also got your standard set of four fists, two open, two splayed, and a few tiny Autobrands on the sprue that he can hold in his hands. His big accessory is a large gray gun, based on the one he used in the animated movie.
He cradles it well.
It’s pleasantly hefty for his size, plus I can sort of fit a blast effect on the end (it probably wasn’t intended).
I’ve never been clear if Rung’s blast effects were energy, or solid crystals.
If you want, you can also mount it on ports on either one of his forearms, or on his back.
For when he’s too lazy to hold it, I guess.
A more sensible mounting point.
These ports look like they should be compatible with mainline Core-class accessories, but are, sadly, a little too large. For one last trick, he also comes with an Energon cube, cast in pink plastic, with some techie details sculpted in, and missing one side. It fits in his open palm pretty well.
“Remember, all things in moderation!”
Overall, all Blokees are good, and this is another good one, not much else to say.
Literally all bangers.
Tarn
An example of how a cool design gives a character way more mileage.
Tarn was one of the few Galaxy Edition Blokees that wasn’t a vintage 80s G1 character, until they did a wave of Transformers One guys. Instead, Tarn hails from IDW’s More than Meets The Eye comics. When I reviewed his mainline Legacy figure a couple years back, I went into detail about who he is, but to sum it up, he’s the leader of the Decepticon Justice Devision, evil lawmen who root out dissent in the Con ranks.
He also made for a very, very good Voyager-sized figure.
Tarn’s popularity with a general audience is most likely due to artist Alex Milne giving him a really cool design, since the point of the character was supposed to be that he was kind of an edgy tryhard.
“Remember, child, you can never be too edgy.”
One of the few things I didn’t like about the original Legacy toy was how skinny he was, when the actual character’s a bulky bruiser, and wouldn’t you know it, this Blokee design manages to keep that bulk, within the stylization of the size.
On his way to punch traitors.
That’s because he also uses the same unusual shoulder construction as Ultra Magnus to make him a little wider, and a little taller.
It’s their album cover photo.
Beyond that, there’s a lot of little things within the sculpt that suggest to me that they actually used the Legacy toy as the basis for his design, but I’ll get into that, below. Point is, he’s the same purple, spiky, maximalist design from the comics, in tiny form.
Baby’s first reading of “Towards Peace.”
Uptop, he’s got a Decepticon symbol over his face, with an interesting little design quirk: You can pop it off, but underneath, there’s….nothing. No face.
AAAAAAAA
It’s a funny to me, because Tarns’s true identity was a bit of a mystery box for awhile in the comics, and not sculpting a face under there feels like the designers were trying to preserve a decade-old spoiler.
Never meet your idols.
For colors, Tarn’s got an impressive amount of tampographed detail on him, on top of all the blacks and purples. I honestly don’t know how they find the budget to put it all on him, at this price, without even resorting to stickers.
For when you gotta kick a traitor.
Tarn’s also got the same excellent poseability and durability as Magnus, and comes with the same kind of stand.
You can clip stands together, and doing so had led them to put aside their differences.
It’s Tarn’s accessories that are interesting, though.
*Megatron Fusion Canon Sound, but in stereo*
Tarn’s got a double-fusion-cannon on his arm, and it’s formed by two mirrored guns, with a little block in the middle. The entire assembly is really specifically a downscaling of the Legacy figure’s cannon, in that the block’s got four little weapons ports on it, for mounting the guns in different positions, in different ways.
Making it asymmetrical also makes it more comic-accurate.
He’s got four little pegs on his body, and one on his back, and it’s actually possible to equip his weapons in a bunch of different ways, a feature I wouldn’t expect on something this small.
For when you gotta shoot two traitors.
For when you gotta shoot a really tall traitor.
A shame they’re not the right size to work with Core-class figures, but still. Oh, and he also comes with a little Energon cube, same as Magnus, so I guess these are standard now, to my delight.
“Feh, I never touch the stuff.”
Overall, while all Blokees are pretty good, I feel like this might be the strongest of the Galaxy Editions I’ve handled, if only because of his unexpected flexibility in the accessories department. Plus, as far as character selection goes,Tarn’s quite the unexpected novelty.
He makes a good rival for Magnus, too, since they both dispense justice.
A Last Word
There’s not a lot of new insight to be gained here, but that’s not a bad thing. Blokees are good and fun in general, and this pair are also good and fun specifically.
Swap their limbs, and make the JUSTICE FORCE!!!
I’m gonna be frank here: This was such a brief review just because I’ve got some big things coming down the pipeline, and wanted something simple that I could put out quickly.
My thoughts are somewhere else.
But that’s what these Blokees are: Concentrated little doses of simple robot goodness, with a quick little building exercise. If you see any Galaxy Editions, just pick one or two up, simple as.
Their thoughts are occupied with each other.
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