Name: Whirl
Series: Classics
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Helicopter
CHOPPER MODE
Height: 3cm Length: 10.5cm Width: 3cm (rotorspan is 8.5cm)
A baby blue chopper with a navy blue rotor and some navy blue around the fuselage and on his windows, Whirl sports some painted yellow highlights as pinstripes and on the tail rotor. He's a repaint of Cybertron Legends Evac without the rescue theme in the paint job, designed to tribute Whirl. While the original toy had yellow rotors and no pinstripes, the colours do remind of that G1 toy fairly. There's a red Autobot logo stamped on the portside of the tail.
Whirl is a civilian helicopter this time around rather than an Apache inspired fantasy vehicle. The rotor has a single blade while the yellow (painted) tail rotor is solid moulded inside the tail. here are navy blue gunpods on either side of the roof. They're fixed into position, and at this scale it works fine, since they make for menacing little weapons. There's a winch unit on the starboard side which is non-functional - at this scale making the gimmick work would have been a minor miracle. There are no wheels or runners underneath, which is my only real complaint. The rotor on his roof can turn, but it detaches rather than spins.
A simple but well moulded helicopter at this scale, and while it lacks wheels it doesn't have the half-done feel of some Legends. The colours evoke Whirl so despite this being a vastly different style of helicopter, the tribute still works here.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Lift up the gunpods and fold them back to reveal the head. Swing down the front to form the legs, rotate the waist, split the boots and rotate, folding up the feet. Split the roof and swing back to the sides to form the shoulders, then rotate the forearms into place. Split the tail to form wings, fold the gunpod down onto his back.
While the transformation has been somewhat simplified, Evac's heritage as a much larger figure means this is a complex and clever transformation for such a small toy, and that it manages to work is a highlight of this figure.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 9.5cm Width: 7.5cm
Again based on baby blue, although this time around there's more navy blue, on his thighs, head and shoulders. Whirl has a baby blue face with red eyes while there's yellow on his chest and wrists. The gunpods stick up behind his head and the rotor attaches to his left arm. The wings stick out from the sides of his shoulders, with the left side wing bearing the small Autobot logo. It's interesting that this Autobot logo has changed sides on Whirl compared to Evac. The paint mask is fairly complex for a Legends toy, but it looks nothing like that of G1 Whirl's robot mode - making the tribute weaker here than in chopper mode.
The rotor can detach and plug into the small holes in either fist, although it works better in the right fist since the engineblock on the left forearm gets in the way. The gunpod unit can lift up over his head, although it tends to conceal the head with is a little strange. The elbows can rotate but not bend, while the knees and hips are ball jointed, giving Whirl erratic poseability (but then with so much transformation at this scale, it's understandable). The legs are actually quite long and the torso short, which is a tad strange, but he works visually since the torso is beefed up by the wings and gunpod rack.
A cute little robot with a good set of features and a complex paint mask, Whirl works aesthetically although he doesn't strongly evoke the G1 character here. The mould is worthwhile, mind you - the rotor can form a kind of melee weapon, making this robot imposing for his scale.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of. As mentioned, he is a repaint of Legends Evac.
OVERALL
A good Legends mould and an aesthetically appealing set of colours make this a nice toy. The transformation is spectacular and both modes display well, but the tribute is one of the weakest amongst the Classics line, so I can't recommend him for the tribute. The mould is worthwhile, so if you missed Evac but can grab Whirl, I'd recommend him, since the colours work. I'm not sure I'd recommend both - 8/10.
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