[Transformers] Generations Deluxe Class Wave 4

Continuing our little round-up of the various Transformers Generations figures that I have in my collection, we're now on the fourth wave of Deluxe-class figures released by Hasbro. As the 2012 releases continued on, we saw an increasing number of repaints and redecos for this toyline as effort was being applied elsewhere for movie-related toys and such.

As far as redecos go though, this unlikely pair of Blurr and Dirge did make for very cool additions to my collection. And of course we will always feel that more Seekers is a good thing.

As with other waves of Generations toys, the OCD part of my brain appreciates it when the set includes a balance of Autobot and Decepticon figures. Although why they thought that the speedster Blurr is best balanced with the conehead Dirge is a little beyond me.

Plus Dirge ends up looking pretty short.

Blurr is a repaint/redeco of Drift, who had been part of the first wave of Generations figures. While some might argue that his head is just a minor tweak of the Drift design, it's actually made to somewhat match his appearance in the on-going IDW Transformers comics as designed by Guido Guidi.

He has the same nicely solid feel of Drift in robot mode and comes with a total of three weapons. Instead of a katana he has a rather large sniper rifle and instead of two smaller blades he has two pistols. The pistols can be connected with the rifle to form a sort of bipod if you're into that. It's just a tad weird that his pistols reside in what are essentially sheathes at this sides given that's where Drift had his swords.

I do like the poseability options for this toy, especially with his diverse weapons. Although I do wish his head was a bit more flexible since it doesn't have much side-to-side movement.

His vehicle mode is essentially a race car in his signature blue paint job, although the paint used has a tendency to feel a bit dull at times. It's hard to describe but for longer term collectors you'll recognize this as the pain that seems to attract dirt like a magnet and thus seems to stain over time.

Still, he's a nicely fun figure and his ridiculously large sniper rifle does lock in securely under the car. And no, it won't get in the way of his ability to drive across flat surfaces, so that's cool too.

Now what is there to say about Dirge, really? He's another of the conehead-style seekers similar to Thrust in also released in Wave 1.

In his robot mode, you can fully appreciate the detail that went into his snazzy paint job including the gold stripe details on his arms and the decision to make his landing wheels blue. Thus he has rather stand-out blue disks on his chest that could be nipples on a more organic creature.

He still has two wing slivers were most others deal with the primary wing, thus making for slightly annoying pieces during Transformation. At least his primary wings attached to his legs are solid enough and can be used to provide a bit more stability when he stands. Otherwise, he has the same range of arm motion as the other Seekers and the option to mount his guns to his arms or have them held in his hands.

Admittedly his vehicle mode is a bit more impressive given the very nice paint job used. I love the striping on the wings - it certainly adds character and is a solid effort to emulate the original toy. And here's just the look of the wings themselves that clearly remind you of the closing credits of the Transformers G1 cartoon. You know the part I'm talking about, right?

Otherwise, he's still your basic Seeker mold with missiles that launch and all that good stuff. All hail the Decepticon Seekers!

I'm a bit of a completist, and so I tend to gobble up any Seekers that come along just for sport. And Blurr was really to add to the set, especially since I'm hoping to eventually recreate the cast of Transformers: the Movie using Generations figures alone.

As far as ratings go, Blurr is a solider 5/5 for me while Dirge is 3.5/5, perhaps only because he's a bit of a forgettable character.