First Deluxe Class of the newest mainline is Windblade, the result of a fan design contest about a decade ago now. She's one of those characters that was intricately designed and as time went on, her design got more and more simple, and the toys got worse and worse. The absolute low point would be the Cyberverse release, which to be fair wasn't limited to Windblade.. Unfortunately for me, that was also her best known iteration, and as such, was the subject of a glowup, which as mentioned, is unfortunate but not exactly the worst idea in the world.
You know, after so many years of this Unified Product, I appreciate the fact our figures now suck as much as the Takara ones, but I kind of miss being able to pay premium for a prettier figure and a nicer box.
So yeah, same box, different art. Ever since the move to more environmentally friendly packaging, we get these figures in bondage accompanied by accessories generally wrapped up in tissue paper. I must admit this new Faction themed paper is a classy touch from the generic stuff before.
Oh right. Inside the wrap are the accessories - her Sword and Fan.
Here she is, out of box and bonds, ready to mingle. I didn't realize it at the time, but since this was a Cyberverse update, this figure was doomed to have this kind of generic boxy look to it. Truth be told, none of the Fembots in the Legacy line have really featured that many female traits, but this version of Windblade never had any to begin with. For that, you'd have to go back to Titans Return and the ridiculously thicc version of Windblade. The most complicated part of the figure, the VTOL fans, are incredibly tiny, and I suspect it has to do with saving on paint.
On a different note, I realized after the photos were all done that the nosecone was supposed to be folded upwards in this mode.
What's weird is that despite being the most awkward version of the character, this head, specifically the face, is probably the nicest painted of all the Deluxes, with the exception of Legends version of the original toy. That's the power of Unified Product for you.
So with regard to Articulation, this size class fluctuates based on design and, well, them being cheap. What do I mean by the latter? Well, there's absolutely nothing to stop this figure from having proper thigh twists, or knee swivel, or anything like that. Other figures like the Minerva mould does. On the plus side, at least this figure has a waist and all the other typical points of articulation. Ultimately, it's the usual "you get what you get" type of situation, so for the most part this figure does a decent job. Single jointed elbows and knees so the usual 90 degree limitations on those, though you can fake a double knee if you pull out the lower legs a bit. VTOL fans can be flipped so you always see the painted side.
The fan, like with other figures (or at least the ones I have) comes off and can be held by the figure.
The one good thing about Windblade become blockier is that her VTOL mode tends to hold together nicer than before, though again those fans are just... tiny. I don't know how similar this is to her Cyberverse toy transformation, but for me the legs very much resemble the transformation of the Generations figure. Not a particularly difficult transformation, which is generally true of Deluxe class releases. Sword fits in the rear as an exhaust effect, and the Fan stays on the head.
Paint Application wise, there's some scuffing of the paint on the face, but otherwise it's another situation of decent paint, needs more of it. The vehicle mode in particular looks really, really plain. Which is too bad, as there are some nice mechanical details that are much more prevalent in this mode, and some additional paint would have made them stand out more. In robot mode, the there's enough colour variety to break up the predominately Red colour scheme.
Build Quality wise, it's not as common as it once was to come across a figure that has build issues. It can happen, sure, but for simpler designs like this one, things are rock solid. From a design perspective, this is certainly a durable toy, not so much a figure that was designed for aesthetics.
This figure isn't going to blow your mind regardless of whether or not you are a Windblade stan. It's competent, and basically that's its greatest strength - that it can take a beating being handled for play. Personally, I got it as I like Fembots and this was a different mould, but even I wasn't expecting to be blown away from the final product. As such, this will likely sit on the shelves.
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