Dave's Universe Rant: Blastcharge

     I've given up on counting the waves and fractional waves and stuff.
This may be the last gasp of Universe, from the scuttlebutt I'm hearing.

     http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/BMac/BMDelux3 contains the original
review of the Blastcharge mold.

CAPSULE

     Blastcharge: Nifty new color scheme.  Essentially the same mold, minus
the spark crystal.  Recommended.  $9.89 at Target.


RANT

     Packaging: In vehicle mode in standard Universe Deluxe blister card
packaging.  A secondary tray piece keeps the vehicle in place without the
need for twist ties, although the package is not with out ties...each missile
gets its own.
     Oddly, the package art suggests that the missile rack can be folded down
against the chest.  This is not possible, sadly.  Also, the instructions lack
a mention of how to get the front third to spring forward (press the front of
the gray bit in the middle upper side).  They do, however, keep the "Attack
Mode" instructions for making it a wheeled robot.

     Color Swaps: The gray plastic is about the same, maybe a little lighter
than on BMac Blastcharge.  BMBC's tan plastic becomes black, his black
becomes a somewhat dark purple, and all clear plastic is now blue.  The
lightpiping that was painted over on BMBC is clear blue on UniBC.  The opaque
red plastic on BMBC is now a purple that's just a shade lighter than medium.
There is no chrome on UniBC, but a lot of silver paint.
     There's a sort of silver camo pattern on the main body and turret,
silver hubcaps on all wheels, and a silver death's head pattern over the
driver's viewslits and the radiator grille.  The orange-yellow paint apps
from BMBC are still present, if a little more yellowy.
     The overall effect on the vehicle mode is that of a black and silver
vehicle with purple tiers.  More gray is visible in robot mode, which is only
black and silver on its torso, with gray and purple (two shades) limbs, gray
and yellow-orange head, and clear light blue missiles in both modes.

     Mold Changes: The spark crystal is gone.  It was never really that
visible in the first place, so simply omitting it was quite sensible.

     Modification Suggestions: In addition to those in my original review,
you may want to reverse the feet, so that the long toes become heel spurs to
counter the huge backpack.

     Overall: A decent toy with a good-looking recolor.  It would have been
nice if they'd added a joint to the missile launcher so it could fold down
onto the chest like shown in the package art, but that would have required a
new mold and gone against the point of the Universe line.

     Dave Van Domelen, now to open up Alt.Wheeljack and start messing around
with it.