| Blurr is a fast-talking and quick moving Autobot appearing in various parts of media beginning with the 1986 animated Transformers: The Movie voice by John Moschitta well known for Galoob’s Micromachines and Federal Express commercials in the 1980s. To sum up Blurr is what DC Comics’ The Flash to Marvel’s Quicksilver. But the character’s appearance in the animated film won’t end there.
There have been many interpretations of the character during the Unicron Trilogy, but none of them even have a semblance or inspiration based from the original character that Moschitta has voiced. No until in 2008 when Hasbro and Cartoon Network collaborated in producing Transformers: Animated. |
In the series, Blurr was introduced as a member of the Autobot Elite Guard under the Supreme Command of Ultra Magnus, which has a subordinate bumbling field commander in Sentinel Prime where Blurr reports to for his missions. This character deviates from the original Blurr from G1, but still have some elements and designs inspired from which was also voiced by John Moschitta.
The action figure was released as part of the fifth wave of Deluxe Class assortments for the Transformers: The Animated range of toys. The designs were heavily designed from Derrick J. Wyatt’s art, which is a different take on how the toys were created. Back then the toys where released first and then the cartoon followed suit. For Animated it was more of a different concept.
Transforrmers: Animated was aired on Cartoon Network, and the toys followed its release, where the process was different and was a team effort between Hasbro, Cartoon Network, and Takara engineers putting together some of the best designed toys ever to jump from 2D animation to action figure form.
Car Mode | Sleek Futuristic Car
With all the Deluxe Class toys released beginning in 2008, Blurr was a later wave figure and was one of the sought after characters as his portrayal in the series. It was packaged in car mode, the carded bubble with details and techspecs describing his personality. Blurr transforms from a sleek futuristic car aching to some elements of Speed Racer’s Mach 5 with sharp lines and sleek angles.
There’s a bit of Tron-like engineer as well with the rear wheels appears to not roll, but only its middle part. There’s so much light piping on the headlights, where the windows are tinted in black. The tail fin which is hardly seen is made of rubber, which goes the same with the front edge of the car for child safety purposes.
On broad daylight you can definitely the headlights are translucent blue and with combination of dark colors make up the car’s aesthetics. Its impressive how it appears way better than his G1 original counterpart when it comes to the angles and edges of representing a modern futuristic concept car.
In vehicle form there’s a button on top of the hood, which reveals a gimmick that activates a spring-loaded translucent blue saw underneath that also have its use in robot mode (more of this below).
Alternate Vehicle Mode Features:
- Spring-Loaded Saw
- Sleek Futuristic Styling
- Translucent Blue Headlights
- Rolling Plastic Wheels on Flat Surface
Transformation | Futuristic Car to Robot Mode
There are some careful ways to transform Blurr into that formidable robot mode, and it takes some careful steps. Since the toy is from 2008 it hadn’t aged properly with one part of the car’s side has revealed a stress fracture due to several times it was transformed.
The toy is thirteen years old and since this one was stored in a ziplock-type bag and stored away from sunlight, which were not openly displayed. Careful movements of the parts in transforming it from vehicle to robot mode must be gently executed than heavy handed like being arm wrestled might cause further damage to the figure.
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Robot Mode | Intelligence Agent
For a Deluxe Class figure, Blurr looks skinny and tall for its size assortment, but back to more than a decade ago scale was not the issue how these figures where put together. Blurr looks the way he was designed based from the cartoon model with blue matte finish that doesn’t show any shiny detail like most figures prior to this one and the current toys that’s been available on retail.
The head design is impressive incorporating the light piping gimmick that lights up his optics. The tailfin from the car mode is actually part of his made of rubber, which is good if it was made with a plastic material this has been broken off a long time ago. Blurr’s shoulders are ball-jointed and can execute a running pose due to his ball-joined toes and have swivel waist. His accessory is also part of his car mode that doubles as his shield with a hidden weapon when you press the square button that you activate it to reveal the saw. You can store the shield through two pegs at the back or a single peg on both of his forearms.
Though his aesthetics does not fit with the G1 characters his appearance defines a generation of TF fans who grew up watching the show. In comparison to his fellow Elite Guardsmen, he stands taller even with Jazz and Sentinel Prime. But just as portrayed into a Cybertronian Speedster his design aesthetics fits with his personality.
As mentioned with the toy’s age it did not look well having a stress fracture that can be seen in his car mode, which also seen in his robot mode near his knees. You can see how thin Blurr’s legs are and this pose an issue to the one that showed the great amount of stress and it might be long that this is an evident damage to the figure if not given extreme care as this is better stored in vehicle mode to avoid that crucial issue.
Featured Articulation:
- Shoulder Ball-Joints
- Ball-Jointed Head
- Swivel & Ball-Jointed Elbows
- Double Jointed Hips
- Swivel Waist & Knees
- Ball-Jointed Toes & Heel
Overall TF Animated Blurr is its own a character from that TF Animated series, that was unfortunately cancelled at the end of its third season run. If they kept it going by the fourth season it reveals the true fate of Blurr, which was confirmed a long time ago that he lives. The toy shows how design and engineering is pushed to how cartoon model can be translated to 3D form namely the action figure.
This was a great design and creation of a character not largely appreciated in the G1 series, and carries some elements from its later inspiration, which was also voiced by John Moschitta that certainly makes this clearly not just another Blurr.
Transformers Animated | Deluxe Class Autobot Blurr was sold in Philippine retail in 2008.
Product Rating:
Transformation (Difficulty): 2
Aesthetics: 10
Quality: 8
Robot Points: 8.5
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Some of the Product Description Courtesy of TF Wiki
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