Transformers Constructbots Triple Changers Bumblebee and Blitzwing

First announced at Toy Fair 2013, Transformers Constructbots is Hasbro’s answer to Lego Hero Factory as they continue to try and get into Lego’s product categories.  When I first heard about these, I assumed they would be sold under the Kre-O name.  This seemed logical.  However, as they are not being sold under the Kre-O name, I can only assume this is due to the poor sales of Kre-O (as evidenced by Walmart and Target barely stocking Kre-O toys anymore) and Hasbro wanting to make sure that stores at least order the initial waves of these before the line fails completely as I expect it will.

Having said that, I am encouraged by these toys.  Bumblebee and Blitzwing have a fairly significant flaw, but I am hopeful that the non Triple Changers will be a lot better than I thought.

Bumblebee and Blitzwing have to first be built into a basic robot mode as shown above.  The flaw of the Triple Changers is that now you need to either build them into the robot for the car/tank or the robot for the jets.  Each vehicle mode uses different parts.  So, while it is true that these toys do transform and do not need to be taken apart, the Triple Changers do have parts that must be added and removed to form the different vehicles.  Hopefully the non Triple Changes will not have that problem.

The engineering on these guys is intresting.  Connections are either with pegs and ports, ball and sockets, or clip-ons.  The combination gives them a wide variety of customization options.

Bumblebee (Car)

The Bumblebee car robot adds wheels to his legs and wheels and wings on his arms.  He’s really not too bad looking.  (He comes with two swords, but I forgot to put them in his hands for the picture.)

The car mode looks…interesting.  Certainly it doesn’t look like anything that should be Bumblebee, but it’s not that bad.

Bumblebee (Jet)

The Bumblebee jet robot looks really nice.  Wings are added to this legs and wings and jet engines are added to his arms.  Again though, it just doesn’t look like Bumblebee.  (Yes, I forgot the swords again.)

His jet mode is very cool.  If it was in red, white, and orange he would make a pretty great Technobot Strafe.  It should be noted that the swords on the jet are pictured on the box, but are not shown to be added in the instructions.  I do think it looks better with the swords than without.

Blitzwing (Tank)

The Blitzwing tank robot has a turret added on his back, wheels on his legs and arms, and wings on his shoulders.  He is also armed with a missile launcher and a gun.

The Blitzwing’s tank mode looks like anything but a tank.  It’s more like a car with a turret on top.  Not great to say the least.  It would have been better if they could have at least made it look like he had tank treads.

Blitzwing (Jet)

The Blitzwing jet robot has a launcher on his back and wings on his arms, shoulders, and legs.  I really like the look of this one.

The Blitzwing jet mode isn’t as nice as Bumblebee’s jet mode, but it’s okay.  I would have preferred an add on nose of the jet rather than his feet.  It would have looked a lot better.

In any mode Bumblebee and Blitzwing have left over parts.  The nice thing is, since they are designed to be customized, there are plenty of ways to snap the extra parts on in robot mode.

In both of the above, pics, I started with the jet robot modes for both and added the extra car/tank parts on their backs.

Overall, these toys are better than Kre-O in that they do actually transform.  I’m hopeful that the non Triple Changers will not have the extra parts issues.  The major problem is that the robot and vehicle modes barely resemble the characters they are supposed to be.  While I expect this line to fail, these could very well be popular with kids.  They do have great play value in customization with all the interchangeable parts.

Thanks for reading!