3rd Party company, Iron Factory has updated their twitter feed this morning with colored and painted photos of EX-13 Blizzard which is their take on Blitzwing. Blizzard is a legends scale figure that stays true to the homaged character with the capability of triple changing from robot to tank and jet. ETA for this figure is April which you can preorder from many of our site’s sponsors.
Are you excited for this legends figure to help populate your Titan Returns base/city ‘former? Discuss after the jump!
Grievlocke
His ankles were tight on mine as well, though I had gotten him from BBTS and was prepared to contact them if he should break during transformation. He didn't, it just took some time to loosen him up a bit, which is quite common with many 3rd Party figures, not just Iron Factory.
I did have to shave a peg on his leg down some for transformation though, it was too big for its own slot. Transforms like a charm now though, very fun.
Evirdrevo
I just received mine among other items from TFSource.
Robot mode is pretty good. Not perfect, however, but close. The arms on mine come off at the mushroom peg on the bicep more often than I'd like. That's really my only gripe in robot mode.
HOWEVER, I cannot transform this thing into any other mode to comment. The swivels at the base of the ball joints for the feet are entirely too tight, making it impossible for me to rotate them so the feet can be put into the correct position for transformation. Given the history of Iron Factory ball joints being prone to stress marks, I haven't dared to force them to swivel; I'm more than positive I will break them if I try. So he's stuck in robot mode, which sucks… and totally unacceptable at this scale. Something this small should transform in less than a minute and without any struggle at all.
I've been less and less impressed with Iron Factory since City Commander. I've never liked how tight the joints and tolerances are on their figures out of the box. And I HATE how some of the earlier figures have stress marks or cracks on the ball joints from almost no use (obvious use of poor plastics). Now that I have a non-transformable product from them because of the above issues, I think that might be the last straw for me. I have Black Shadow incoming, but I expect to be disappointed and will most likely not commit to the Dinobot team.
Housewife2000
THANK YOU! That looks great.
As for why: I know scale is a ridiculous concept with TF toys, but I have a penchant for displaying my figs together by alt mode scale, and have a great and growing group of legends/legion cars, scout tanks and deluxe jets. It's not perfectly real world, sort of circa 1:70 to 1:100, but makes more sense to me than deluxe cars and jets together.
Blizzard's cyb modes give you a lot of leeway, but if he's a Scount size tank and you imagine his jet mode is the quivalent of a light aircraft on earth rather than a big F15, he kind of works in that scale. I'm thinking of putting him beside deluxe Octane and the upcoming Voyager TR Astrotrain. I quite like the idea that they're all different sizes.
Jeremy.B
he looks GREAT with DX9 Mini Megatron
tekering
Okay…
…but why?
Jeremy.B
This figure has potential. I was trying to mess around with him when I got him in yesterday but the baby kinda blocked that. However I think with a few adjustments and clean up the transformation will be fine. He looks great tho
Housewife2000
Lookin' good! Would love to see a comparison shot with a deluxe classics seeker or the deluxe CHUG triple changers if anyone has them – thanks in advance!
Napalm
I really like him, but it took a while to warm to him due to the tolerances the guy has. Definitely another step forward design wise and easily their most complex figure to date, with all the teething problems that brings. Hopefully Iron Factory recognise these flaws and learn from them.
There's a review in my sig if anyone is interested
zeroblue2099
Finally picked this guy up. I love his robot mode. A lot of character. DX9 should pay attention the ball jointed head just adds so much character. I was afraid he might be too big, but he is smaller than Overlord and Ultra Magnus and DX9's Mightron.
Doesn't tower over most of the other legends I have either, like IF's Prowl/Bluestreak, DX9's Ironhide/Blurr, Hastak's Shockwave/Seekers and Shapeshift Inc's Ironhide.
Having the same problem everyone has experienced with the feet though. Was able to kinda get him transformed. Going to try a dab of lubricant safe for plastics (Thanks Healin!). Tank mode is definitely my favorite.
Considering how the alt-modes turned out I am not sure if I want Iron Factory to tackle any more triple changers. Maybe Springer, not like he had super realistic vehicle modes anyways.
Reichstein
Just got this guy yesterday and i gotta say, the more I fiddle around with him the more I like him.
But the front of the jet mode has been bugging me. IMO it just looks kinda wrong how it curves up.
So I tried flipping it over at the waist and I think it looks much better.
A lot more aerodynamic (as much as that applies to this "jet" mode).
I also noticed that there are tabs on the front edges of the turret and slots on the backs of the tread parts.
These line up in jet mode with the turret sides folded down and peg in nice and secure.
Both of these are contrary to what the instructions and all the official pics I can find show, but it really make me wonder if it was designed to be transformed this way but then Iron Factory changed their minds.
On another point, does anyone know what the peg on turret is for (the one on the back in tank mode). I spose you could peg the gun onto it sideways but that just seems silly. Anyone know what its for?
Rewind
Nope, he's not anymore. I actually just submitted an Ebay dispute this morning as I have yet to receive my Blizzard. After the tracking number didn't work I emailed the seller saying it didn't work and the next day the number started actually working, but never updated beyond "Acceptance". I bought something else from this seller months ago and it arrived quickly with no drama so I assumed this would as well.
Starting to feel like I should only buy from Bababobo these days. :/
Evirdrevo
That guy is NOT reliable. Check his feedback rating and there's at least 3 buyers who never received their item and are calling for fraud.
Napalm
I've really struggled with feeling Blizzard's jet mode. But while drafting his review I've half arsed together something I feel works better (for me, at any rate).
Behold my foolish X-wing attempt as well.
Housewife2000
Pic request! Would love to see a picture of him with the deluxe CHUG triple changers. I know he'll be much smaller, but I'm interested to see by how much. Thanks in advance!
WheelJacksWrkShp
Finally got my guy in last night.
Pretty awesome little package.
The war on my desk is getting very interesting. LOL!
TrueHeresy
Cheers for the advice I'll give them a go and see if I can make those feet move! If not, 80s hair metal always works on transformers, right?
unicronic
Thanks for this.
Step 4 simply doesn't work on my figure.
I've had to slide the two tabs from opposing directions until they click together.
9.8m/s^2
I used a screwdriver to pop out the rotating piece, and then I used sandpaper on the top and sides, VERY slightly, just enough to smooth out the flash and make the fit a bit looser. That was all it took.
I really like this figure; every mode is fun to play with. The only downside is the lack of truly streamlined weapon storage (there are plenty of holes, but nothing that looks great, to my eye). That's really a minor quibble, though, hardly worth mentioning.
Healin
I dabbed a bit of grease with the tip of a toothpick onto the joint and it works fine for mine now. The grease is some stuff my friend gifted me, meant for plastics.
I use it for any toy that has way too stuff joints but apply v moderately or they become too loose!
TrueHeresy
while I appreciate the 5 steps for legs transformation post daimchoc, does anyone know a good way of making the second step (feet ball 90 degree turn) less resistant, as right now it's honestly scary the amount of force needed?