Generations Whirl - Pictorial Review

For now, 2014 seems like a well-balanced year, with interesting releases from both HasTak and 3rd Party companies. There's still no sign of the Generations Deluxe Wave 4 here in Malaysia, kind of worrying; considering this won't be the first time I have to outsource some of the regular releases. We are lucky though, since the Wave 4 (if not mistaken) of Generations Voyager has already arrived.

Pic Credit : Web

Whirl....the weird character both in term of his design AND personality. Don't get me wrong Geewunner, I have nothing against his design, just calling a spade; a spade. Whirl is a member of the Wreckers, which recently given more spotlight in the Transformers world. Honestly, I think it's because of that spotlight that fans could have a chance to get our hands on an obscure characters like him (and not long after, Voyager Roadbuster).

Wreckers are well-known to be 'reckless', not abiding to most rules written. But Whirl take it to another level. None can determine whether Whirl is in fact insane OR he just believes that insanity makes an extremely effective weapon.

G1 Whirl
Pic Credit : Web

In Package

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Whirl comes with 4 weapons and one of them (2nd from the left) homaging G1 Whirls Null Ray Module.

All 4 weapons come with pegs and c-clips for them to be attached to other weapons or to Whirl in both alt mode and robot mode. Different from when it was introduced during Generations/Reveal The Shield line, the c-clips are made out of sturdy and solid plastic.

Whirl comes with a sticker sheet (sorry, I got impatient and had all of them applied) with translucent base to give him a better G1 looks.

Helicopter Mode

Pic Credit : TFWiki

As above, Generations Whirl helicopter mode heavily homage his G1 toy design and Marvel Comic continuity.

I'm fairly impressed with Whirl's plastic and material quality, feels like a huge improvement since Springer. Transformation from robot to helicopter mode is fun but rather simple.

Side View

Whirl's weapons can be attached to both sides with the c-clip or round pegs with the weapons configured by your own preferences.

Seems fitting to have the Gatling gun at the front of the helicopter.

The gun must be detached when landed.

One of the things that surprised me is that how detailed the stickers are. As you can see, the stickers are really small yet the texts are perfectly clear.

Cockpit can be opened.

In Helicopter mode, Whirl is roughly the same width and length as Generations Springer. However, Whirl's mass is more on the front half of him, which basically covers 90% of his weight.

Heloped Mode

Yup, Whirl's a triple-changer. A nice but surprising update for him, I must say, would be understandable for the upcoming Leader Jetfire. If anyone can update why Whirl has a Heloped Mode, that would be great.

Whirl's Heloped mode is basically a mid-transformation from Robot to Helicopter mode (and vice versa).

As you can see, the knees are designed specifically for this mode, to make the Heloped *cough*gerwalk*cough* mode happen.

All of the weapons can be reconfigured for this mode, again at your own preferences.

Robot Mode

I must say, I really like Whirl's neo-G1 design. From his old toy, one would've guessed that it'll be totally changed, somewhere along the line with 'normal' bots but instead, Hasbro was brave enough to have Whirl as how the fans remembered him. Kudos!

Back View

The back is basically kibble free with just the helicopter's blade hanging loosely.

One of the main complaints for this figures is that the thighs are facing outward and should be in reverse. I haven't tried to do anything yet but I think that's how the design really is, switching them would cause the inner part of the thighs to be visible in alt mode. Second, the knees have weird joints to cater for the Heloped mode.

Weapon configuration (example)

Weapon configuration (example)

Whirl has a gimmick where the light-piping can be turned off by rotating the ear piece.

It was not mentioned in the manual but Whirl's shoulder struts can be pushed inside his body for a better proportion. However, it will hinder the shoulder's articulations.

Whirl in general has great articulations, except for the knees and the lack of waist swivel. Head on a ball joint, double-jointed shoulders, and double jointed elbows. The thighs and the knees are all double jointed but the design of the joint of the knees limits Whirl's pose-ability.

The Null Ray Module can be attached to his hand

Size wise, Whirl is basically the same size as Springer which to me is the appropriate size. Sorry as I can't afford to assemble my Wreckers team for a group photo.

Another Wreckers acquired! Who's next?