Allegiance: Vehicon
Function: All Terrain Combat Specialist
Alternate Mode: Missile Truck
Height: 7cm Length: 13cm Width: 8cm
The level of detail here is pretty good, which is to be expected of a Vehicon. The sculpt of the chrome section really gives the impression of this being one tough vehicle - and the small windows reinforce this. The bumper, turret and tyres are also quite detailed. The only spot which is relatively bare is a silver block on the back of his turret which is the robot head - it's not meant to grab your eye in this mode.
There's a lot of play value here for a deluxe. The turret can turn right around, and there's a little wheel at the back which will cause it to turn in the opposite direction (there's obviously a gearing mechanism inside the toy). His turret also lifts up and holds three missiles. The two missiles on either side sit in storage holes while the central missile fires courtesy of a small red button on top of the turret.
The wheels all turn, and will happily roll on a surface with some traction (although being plastic they don't do so well on flat tables). There's a silver button just behind the chromed front section which will pop forward about 2cm when the button is pressed. There's a joint in the connection, allowing Blastcharge to bend around corners now, which is pretty spiffy.
On the whole Blastcharge's truck mode is a lot of fun - lots of play value, good colours and great detailing make an excellent deluxe. The only real drawback is a tendency for the two sets of wheels on the back section to detach and flop around a little. But this is easily offset by all the positives here.
This is actually a rather involved transformation for a deluxe, and while there's nothing difficult it takes a while and certain things need to be done in the right order. There's an official third mode, a Wheeled Robot mode which is little more that the robot mode with legs still folded up as wheels.
Height: 13cm Width: 10cm
This is probably one of the most distinctive and unusual robot modes the Transformers toyline has seen. With a giant missile rack sticking out on his chest (that puts Warpath to shame) and tyres for shins, Blastcharge is unmistakable. He does end up with a strange bodyshape, including legs that attach to the sides of his hips (like those of reptiles) and the impressive rack, but the overall look is so unusual and powerful that the shape isn't at all a liability.
There's nice play value here again. The hips allow the legs to swing back and forth, as well as lift out to the sides. The head turns while the shoulders are ball jointed and the elbows hinged. You can detach two of the missiles for use as clubs (they work very well as clubs, too), while the missile in the centre can still fire. The missile rack no longer lifts up - well not without popping the head off. For some reason there are springs inside the lower tyres on his shins (the ankles, I guess), allowing Blastcharge to bounce up and down.
Blastcharge does have his shortcomings here. There's nothing stopping the lower wheels from spinning, and when they do the feet move around with them. On the one hand this does mean he can stand in a "spread toes" stance, which looks very natural, on the other hand the feet spin out of place easily. The missile rack is a pretty menacing weapon, but there's no option to fold it out of the way, which would have been nice.
Despite the problems, this is still a fun robot mode with a lot of detail and some standout features that make Blastcharge a great display piece. Granted, if you hate the missile rack or the tyre theme this robot mode is likely to annoy you, but as intentional features both work well.