Unique Toys Y-02 Data Courier Buzzing (3rd Party Blurr)

The Transformers: The Movie was a game changer for the original cartoon version of The Transformers. Most of the beloved characters of the shows first two seasons were gratuitously killed off and replace with new characters in order to sell more toys. While some fans whole heartedly accepted this new cast others hate them with a passion. Some even go so far as to suggest everything post season 2 has been a huge mistake.

One of the new toys characters introduced in the movie was Blurr. A jittery, impatient, fast talking Autobot. He was little more than a side character in the movie, getting enough screen time to establish his character but otherwise just present as events unfolded. But his little panicked rant about the defence of Autobot City stuck in my mind and made Blurr one of a number of toys I wanted but never got as a kid.

Third party company Unique Toys have been around for a few years now. Some of their more notable figures include Mania King, a version of Galvatron, and their Ordin series that homages the Terrorcons. They recently started making Masterpiece-styled figures with Y-01 Provider (Octane/Tankor) and now Y-02 Buzzing. As I already owned Ordin and have been very happy with the quality of those figures and have been wanting a G1-style Blurr since I was a kid I couldn't resist Buzzing.

(From here on out I'm referring to the toy as Blurr. We all know that's who Unique Toys meant this toy to be.)

 Vehicle mode:

Blurr's alt-mode is a sleek, futuristic hover car. The look is true to the G1 toy and the cartoon, sort of. Like many things in the G1 cartoon Blurr's alt-mode was drawn inconsistently. But the main features are there - two tone blue coloring, sloping three pronged front end, rear thrusters in either corner and that swept back antennae thingy on the roof.

The design is very flat and wide. As you can see in the side on "hovering" shot above. It's got that Star Wars landspeeder feel which can't be a coincidence. There is a plug hole in the underside that works with the display stand included with MP Tracks & Road Rage, or with the Tamashii display stand as I've done here. Just be careful plugging him in as I've heard of a couple of display stands losing their pegs because Blurr's port is a little too tight.

The alt-mode has one major concession - the gap behind the windscreen. This was made to accommodate his Targetmaster partner (more on him later). It does break up the look of the alt-mode and I can understand why this would bug some people. If you're not into the whole -master gimmick this is probably going to be a big black mark against this toy.

Transformation:

I'm going to put this right at the start. Blurr cheats with his transformation. If that bugs you this isn't the toy for you. He also does a lot of really nice tricks to turn his very flat alt-mode into a very well proportioned robot mode.

The trickiest part of the whole process involves that gap in the alt-mode - the seat for his Targetmaster - that's upset some people. There are a number of folding panels here that become Blurr's heels. The first couple of times I found it a little difficult getting everything to line up properly going from robot mode to alt-mode.

The front half of his alt-mode become his arms and the front of his torso and the rear half his legs and back. To get the ball rolling you unhook the two blue panels at the back of the seat. Then lift up the back of the car and swinging out the two panels either side of the antennae thingy. The side skids of the car mode then untab and swing inwards lifting the long parts up to clear the front of the car.

At this point everything should be free to move and it's a fairly straightforward process going either way. The arms untab and swing out, straightening at the elbows. This is where the first cheat presents itself. The shoulder thrusters are not those of the car mode. Flipping the windscreen down allows the head to be flipped out. And here we have the second cheat. The head antennae is not the one on the roof of the car.

The front skid of the car (which was a shield on the G1 toy) splits and collapses to fill in the middle of the torso. The middle rear of the car all folds in on itself to form the back of the robot. While there are a number of hinges involved everything works together to give the robot next to no backpack. Nothing is wasted. Everything folds away tidily. Just fantastic engineering.

The backs of the legs open to fold in the alt-mode thrusters. The legs rotate and straighten. There are panels that slide up from the shins to hold the transformation joints in place. The seat pieces all collapse down to form Blurr's heels.

Robot mode:

The robot mode is spot on Blurr. The colors, the chest, the head design. This is the guy having a mild panic attack about Decepticons at the start of the '86 movie.

The head Blurr ended up with was not the first Unique Toys designed. The first design was much rounder. But they listened to fan criticism (well, the constructive ones at least) and redesigned the head to the one we got.

Blurr's cockpit has received some criticism in robot mode as well. Many feel it's too flat. Looking at pictures from the original cartoon it does look like it protrudes further there than on this figure. So not unjustified but I personally don't have a problem with this Blurr being a bit more flat chested.

Blurr ends up more articulated than most official Masterpiece figures. This is partly due to his transformation but I wouldn't be surprised if Unique Toys put those joints in places they could be used in both modes. The arms especially make me think this with the dual swivels and double jointing right on the elbow.

One of the oddities of Blurr's design are that the skids from his alt-mode end up on his elbows. Unique Toys have designed this toy with those pieces on springs. You get full range of movement out of his arms and the springs keep the skids as close to the body as possible without hindering movement. It's a very nice touch.

Accessories:

Blurr comes with a blaster and Metroplex's transformation cog. The cog featured in a few episodes of season 3. This fits in with the pattern set by official Masterpiece toys of including an accessory (or many in some cases) that relates to a specific event from G1. 

The blaster is based off of the one Blurr used in the movie when defending Autobot City from Decepticons and ranting about it the whole time. It's nicely sculpted and fits well into his hands. It can also tab into the roof of his vehicle mode which seems to be a requirement of all Masterpiece figures - offical or otherwise.

Blurr's last "accessory" is a little black and gray transformer. As far as I know this guy wasn't given a name by Unique Toys. He's based on and clearly intended to be Blurr's Targetmaster partner Haywire.

Haywire's decently poseable given his size. Ball shoulders and hips and hinge knees all work well enough. I have heard of some people's Haywires having one hip that's prone to popping out of it's joint.

Haywire more or less transforms into a second gun for Blurr. He has a fair go of it, he really does. But on mine at least I can never get him to plug together completely straight. That said he looks more like a gun than some official Targetmasters we've had in recent years.

Haywire can combine with Blurr's other gun to create a longer rifle. The intention here is good. Sadly Haywire's alt-mode never being quite straight is exaggerated by the length of the rifle. I prefer to display Haywire as a robot or as a second pistol for Blurr, not combined.

Going back to that controversial seat - Haywire can ride in Blurr's alt-mode. He can't sit down normally, Blurr's spine doesn't leave space for Haywire's legs. Instead he ends up kneeling in the gap. It does add a little bit of play value to them as a pair. But if you don't like Haywire then all this means is Blurr's alt-mode has a gap in it. And, as I've said before, this has upset some people.

Final thoughts:

I really wanted a Blurr toy as a kid and never got one. So having Unique Toys take on the character does fulfill that for me. I like the alt-mode, I love the robot mode, and I think he looks great with my other Masterpiece figures. Unique Toys have put together an awesome toy.

But he does have his flaws. If any or all of these bother you then this is probably not the figure for you. I don't know of any other companies that are doing a Masterpiece styled Blurr (there is a Generations scaled and Legends scaled option out there) at the moment so I can't suggest any alternatives other than to wait.