Transformers Combiner Wars Blackjack Review
Wave two of the Combiner Wars Legends figures are out and we’ve got Blackjack in our hand. Does he beat the house or is he a bust?
Blackjack comes blistered on the standard skinny Combiner Wars Legends card. Like the other Combiner Wars packaging, the card features some nicely painted artwork of the character on it.
Also included is the trading card and for one of the first times, it appears the card has the same artwork as the packaging.
Blackjack himself has a nice purple, black & gold color scheme. Blackjack is an update from the 1989 Sports Car Patrol Micromaster of the same name, however, the head looks completely different from the Micromaster and according to the Transformer Wiki, this figure was originally going to be released as the Battlecharger Runabout who bears a striking resemblance to this toy in the IDW comics. I don’t have the fondest memories of the Battlechargers from my youth so I’m ok with this being Blackjack.
The figure has some great articulation, with ball joints and swivel/hinge joints all over (which isn’t too uncommon in the Legends Class) what’s also nice is that Blackjack has a rotating head (Which has been happening with this size a lot more lately)
Blackjack comes with a nice surprise as he has a large purple axe accessory. The axe fits in his hands well and looks pretty cool.
Blackjack’s car mode has a nice futuristic feel to it while still retaining a car look. I really like the tampo’d Decepticon symbol on the hood, the white background on it makes it stand out a lot better than the one on his shoulder in robot mode.
You’ll notice some notches in the roof and rear of the car, well this is to attach the axe to. In the car mode it can act as a spoiler/gun that is reminiscent of the weapons the Stunticon cars came with in the G1 days.
Speaking of the Stunticons, if you look at the bottom of Blackjack’s car mode, you’ll notice there’s two holes, these can be plugged onto the two pegs that come out of Ultra Prime and Menasor’s chest which then allows Blackjack to take the place of Menasor’s roller car chest plate! The axe can also be added on to the notches in his roof to add to the chest plate design
Blackjack is fun, super poseable and has a nice, but easy transformation. The addition of a cool accessory and the ability to form into the combiner bots more than just becoming a weapon, has made Blackjack one of my favorite Legends Class Combiner Wars figures, which is funny since I almost didn’t buy him! As I’ve learned a few times over now, there are always some toys that you don’t think much of at first, but they can quickly change your mind by just being great toys, Blackjack is one such toy.