Generation Windblade

30^th Generation - Meet the official fan-made Transformers; Windblade. According to tfwiki.net; she was officially revealed at the 2013 SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con) after running a few polls from fan. What I love about Windblade was she is the first Autobot female that I ever bought (Yes, I bought Airachnid from TFPrime). I think I forgot that I bought Arcee from TFPrime but sold it before I could ever review or displayed it (in this case, that does not count). Well, I really like her appearance and here is my review of her figure.

Bio

When given the opportunity to join the Autobot cause, Windblade jumped at the chance. The Autobots were more than happy to welcome her to the ranks. Her near-telepathic link to the titan Metroplex is a remarkable power that holds untold potential. - tfu.info

Jet Mode

I am Batgirl. Seriously.

The stiletto boot came as standard

Starscream and Slipstream will be jealous of my jet mode

I don't know whether to love the jet mode or hate it. But at least he is a nice addition to the Autobot air strike defenses. The jet is quite small in size compared to the rest of the deluxe Seekers. And I really hate that jet engine stiletto boot thing on top of it. Anyway, there is a gimmick to all of these. Just look at the following pictures.

Fan Mode

Mind the pun. Both fans on the wings can be folded forward. I really do not know the real use for it but somehow it works as a defense mechanism or something. The samurai blade can be mounted below and between the leg. But I don't felt like it as it felt a bit odd.

Transformation

I really hate transforming her. It felt flimsy and fragile. So I am cautious when transforming her so that I won't break a parts. Anyway, although some of the transformation process are quite simple; your only concern is the shoulder parts. I accidentally rotate the pegs inside the shoulder pad backward and it does not seems to transform very well as a plane. Then I lookup the instruction and found out that the peg should rest exactly between her chest part and legs. It is a tedious process that I had to transform her for almost 30 minutes.

Robot Mode

Memoirs of a Geisha

Looks good except for that hollow rectangle crouch

I am a pretty butterfly

Weapons for Mulan

Mulan here; I meant Windblade is a perfect warrior fembot. She looks deadly behind all those beauty. She wears a sort of geisha looks. I think we need more eastern culture influence on the Transformers characters. She can pose a bit but often her leg could not stand very well due to the heavy wings part. It also hinder her posture when posing with the sword except for standing straight. Other than that, she is a perfect fembot warrior. And you can check how deadly serious she is in the trailer below:

Conclusion

As much as I really like the Hasbro version; the Takara version has more beautiful detail on her face and on same parts of her vehicle parts. Even the sword are different in color (red for Takara). So if you are fan of Windblade; I suggest that you get both version.

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Fun Fact (Sources: tfwiki.net)

Windblade is the first "officially fan-created" Transformer ever, the culmination of Hasbro's "Fan-Built Bot" initiative program. Two polls on Hasbro's official website allowed fans to determine her character and physical traits (well, most of her traits - her Japanese motifs weren't an option in the poll and seem to be the work of the design team).

From April 18th to May 5th, 2013,[1] fans decided her faction (Autobot over Decepticon), alternate mode (jet over car, truck, tank, spaceship, terran beast [land], avian beast [airborne], helicopter, motorcycle, and construction), signature weapon (sword over blaster cannon, flame thrower, mace, spear/harpoon, morning star, Cybertronian taser, nunchucks, crossbow, and long-range blaster), color scheme (red & black over green & gold, blue & silver, orange & white, or purple & bronze) and personality (valiant over sneaky, hotshot, secretive, wild man, and grumpy)
From May 10th to May 17th, fans voted on name (Windblade over Autobot Eclipse, Charon, Centuritron, Cashtron, Autobot Wraith), gender (female over male), origin (from Kaon, Iacon, Altihex, Kalis, and Praxus) and specialty (telepath over combat medic, bodyguard, recon, and close combat specialist).
Subsequently, Windblade was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2013, where concept sketches of her (and the piece of finished art to the right) were part of the Transformers brand presentation.

Concept sketches at San Diego Comic-Con showed that European knight (with visor, arm shield, and fencing foil-esque sword) and Roman warrior (with twin swords) concepts for Windblade were considered before her Japanese stylings were finalized. A different pre-production sketch gave her a Japanese hand-fan weapon in addition to her sword. Speaking of her Japanese motifs, her finalized helmet was apparently designed to resemble the hairstyle commonly worn by the onna bugeisha, the upper-class warrior-women of feudal Japan.
At Toy Fair 2014, Windblade was noted as being the handiwork of designer Lenny Panzica, who put "probably five times as much energy" into her as the rest of his workload. A gallery of his work was posted by Hasbro on Facebook.
Her name works on many levels: "Wind Blade" is a real variety of industrial fan blade; she turns into a jet with VTOL turbofans; Hasbro designers had said they envisioned her coursing more energy into her sword blade through a spinning turbine fan in the hilt; She has a tessen, or iron fan; and, of course, she was the fans' choice character.