Starting in the mid 2010s, major Western toy companies started moving production out of China due to skyrocketing labor costs (e.g. workers wanting to be paid a fair wage), relocating mainly to Vietnam where there's still a good 10-20 years of economic anxiety to exploit. Now we're seeing an emerging trend of Chinese companies scoring major licenses and taking their American and/or Japanese competitors to school. The nuances of international trade are beyond the scope of my knowledge, but I know good toys, and Blokees is making some good toys.
I resisted the siren call for some time, not entirely without reason. They're blind boxes, which is always a crapshoot, and I'm generally not a fan of Transformers that don't transform. The engineering and the 3D puzzle aspect are major draws for me. I have a handful of old SCF figures on my desk, which I bought when there literally weren't any other options for G1 characters, but that's kind of it. But one day I was at the game shop while milady pulled cards for her Oathbreaker deck, and while I was milling about killing time I found a wall of Blokees of various series and size classes. I picked a box from series 8, because I would have been satisfied with any of the options, and took the leap.
Physical assembly, which in many cases must still be done by hand, is the highest cost associated with toy manufacturing. Blokees cuts out the middleman by selling their figures as model kits, although calling them that feels disingenuous. None of the parts come on runners except the hands (which are universal), everything else is loose in a sealed bag, prepainted and molded in color in extremely dense and high quality plastic. The parts pop together to let you know they're installed correctly, and assembly took about 15 minutes.
The result is a highly poseable 4-inch figure of the Autobot cavalier who would be leader. Basically, he's a modern version of an Action Master. Series 8 added pull down hips, thigh swivels, a ball jointed waist, and a slight butterfly shoulder to an already sumptuous array of articulation. The knee and elbow joints fit so precisely that I wasnt even sure they were flexible until I was done. Bucking the recent trend of magenta Hot Rods, he comes in his classic bright red and orange which really pops. He comes with his fishing pole (with a little Sharkticon on the hook) and the buzzsaw he uses in the movie can replace one of his hands.
Obviously your mileage may vary depending on who you get, but I really like Hot Rod so I'm satisfied with my $9 purchase. Nine. Dollars. Less than half the price of your average 1:18 collector figure. And $20 less than a deluxe Transformer. If you're lucky enough to live near a decent Walmart you can get them for as little as $5. For fans of 1:18 scale figures, or people who leave their Transformers in robot mode forever, these are a serious option. I don't think they're quite there with their human characters at this scale, but give them a few more years. (Though tempting, the larger kits are a lot more "model kit" than "action figure", which may not matter to someone who just wants some background Stormtroopers at half of Hasbro's rate.) And hey, if you're into the whole chibi thing, the Defender Version series is three bucks a shot or $36 for a whole case, which guarantees a full set. I for one welcome our new Blokee overlords.
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