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It’s an excellent sculpt, and I’m of the opinion it’s far more suitable for Bludgeon as a one off than to be used for Budo, even though Budo is also a samurai. Bludgeon is built on the torso and legs of the Retaliation Red Ninja, with new arms. The sculpted detail is simply fantastic. You have overlapping armored plates, gauntlets and shoulder armor that adds to the samurai aesthetic.
The detail continues throughout the accessories as well. The skirt, chest piece, and overlaying coat/cloak all work well together. The only downside, to me, is that the chest piece doesn’t fit well on the torso, and sits a bit off-center, which throws everything else off just a bit. It’s not enough to really affect my opinion of the figure, but it’s enough to make me want to work out solutions so it looks better.
The best show of sculpting on this figure in particular, and keeps it worlds apart from Budo, is this headsculpt. It has a superb techno-organic feel, and those soulless red eyes are simply awesome. The top of the head has tiny tabs, that help it sit firmly inside the helmet, also, which is some great forethought. So, despite the tiny flaw in the fit of armor, it all comes together to make an excellent rendition of Bludgeon, and he is one bad bot.
As great as all the layered armor looks, it really takes away from the poseability. The articulation is still great, top notch for what we expect out of our modern figures, but you can barely use any of it. The skirt alone hinders things, let alone the inability to bring the arms closer together for some two-handed sword poses. Just not going to happen without some serious modifications.
Head, shoulders, elbows, swivel-and-bend wrists, torso, hips, double-knees, and rocker ankles. It’s such a shame that there’s few good dynamic poses to put him in.
