With the Masterpiece line consistently cranking out some of the best versions ever of these transforming robots, thoughts quickly turn to who they’ll reveal next, while simultaneously (impatiently) waiting for the announced figures to show up. Unfortunately, there’s quite a bit of wait between releases, so that means plenty of time to think about who would make a great release. So you know who would make a good release? Yep, Blaster, one of the funkiest Autobots there is. But why him? I’ll give you five reasons.
Soundwave Needs Someone to Fight!
We have the evil tape deck in all his cold, methodical badassness, so it’s just natural that we need his opposite number. While their natural animosity didn’t get much play in the American cartoon or comic, it was amped up a bit in the Japanese Headmasters cartoon. And obviously it makes sense, right? It’s like that scene in Do the Right Thing where Radio cranks up the volume on his ghetto blaster until ears start popping, and the other dude relents, and Radio gives this “yeah, you damn right” nod. It’s exactly like that.
Cassettes!
One of the greatest things about Soundwave is the fact that he’s not just a tape deck, but an apartment for a gaggle of smaller transforming robots that resemble an archaic manner of musical conveyance. At least, that was the awesome part in the ’80s. Nowadays it’s probably a bit confusing, with a whole bunch of punk kids that need to get off my lawn wondering what a cassette is. At least it’s not 8-track. But invariably, if we get Blaster, that immediately guarantees we’ll get, at minimum, Rewind, Eject, Ramhorn, and Steeljaw. Grand Slam and Raindance would be nice also, but I’ll take the more popular ones, gladly, in nice two-packs like the Decepticon ones.
The Twincast Effect
Blaster was reissued and redecoed in Japan as Twincast, in a perky blue and yellow color scheme. In the aforementioned Headmasters cartoon Blaster was upgraded to Twincast in the type of opportunistic, synergistic cross-pollination that make toys and cartoons such perfect bedmates. And with Takara’s eagerness to reuse a mold as much as they can, as evidenced by Soundwave’s release in his black Soundblaster colors, if Blaster is made, a Twincast release is almost guaranteed. As Soundblaster was released with Ratbat, Blaster’s Twincast release would be a great way to get Grand Slam and Raindance released — because the idea of combiner cassettes is pretty neat.
Add-ons
The Masterpiece line has been great at giving us some cartoon-specific additional items that add a nice flavor to our toys. Blaster would benefit greatly from a pair of speakers that could plug into his fist-slots to add a little extra sonic spice to his attack. And while Soundwave didn’t come with this, I think a small, non-transforming tape deck version of Blaster would be pretty awesome to have.
Take Your Pick — Funky or Brooding
In the cartoon, Blaster was an enthusiastic, boisterous music fiend who rivaled jazz in his penchant for funkiness. In the comic, Blaster was a brooding warrior who clashed with authority and was one of the better fighters in the Autobot army. This dichotomy means you can have your Blaster whichever way you prefer him, or mix it up and have him be a brooding fighter that lightens the hell up once he hears a John Denver song. Or something. But the point is, you can have your Blaster in whatever flavor you want him. As long as we get him sooner rather than later!
