In addition to my Hot Shot and Knock Out, there was a lone Vehicon in the box from Big Bad Toy Store. I only ordered the set of three, figuring I’d buy a second one whenever I found one at retail. And that day has come!
I wanted more than one because, if you don’t follow the show, Vehicons are the generic Decepticon troopers. They are infinite. Two of them are good for me. I’d usually say three, but there are also jet-style Vehicons which are coming out later, and with two of each kind, that’s a good enough-sized army for me.
This is the second Vehicon toy. There was also a Vehicon in the “First Edition” assortment, and boy am I glad those never made it out over here! Seriously, I am. Because I’d own a bunch. And you know what? Those First Edition ones are crap. They’ve got Kibble Backpack like they’re going camping. It’s not an elegant-looking toy.
“Robots in Disguise” Vehicon, in comparison, is friggin’ magic. For reals. Folks were starting at photos of Vehicon v2.0 wondering where the hell all its vehicle parts go. They vanished! What happened, is there a car roof shield he holds or something? Pyche naw. He instead defies the laws of physics. Nearly all of his vehicle mode — hood, roof, and all, folds up delicately and compacts inside his shins. This should not work, and yet it does. And so Vehicon is virtually kibble-free except the parts that are actually supposed to be there according to the character model. It’s insane.
It’s not a perfect toy. His biceps are… weird. There’s some awkward hinging there. But the glory of his car-to-leg-stuffing transformation kind of blinds you to that.
He comes with a gun. It can peg into any of his holes (hur hur) or it can clip onto various mounting points. If you fold his wrist down and clip the gun there, it sort of looks like how his guns look like on the show. Like most of the show characters, he doesn’t have handheld weaponry, opting instead for a forearm that transforms into a gun.
Buy all the ones you can find.
I’m also eschewing my usual “5 of each kind” troop-building mindset when it comes to these guys. 2 of the RID Vehicons, 2 of the First Edition ones, and 2 of the jet ones will be fine by me.
And, god willing, maybe they’ll eventually make some non-show variations, like the Truck Vehicon and Tank Vehicon from the upcoming Wii game.
my goal is 1 FE, 4 RID, and 3 Jets
I was planning to get 3 car and 3 jet vehicons, do we know if there actually is a hasbro release of the jet-type though? Rumour is that they’re japanese exclusive.
Also, the exterior panels are actually a really dark purple, different to the black of his thighs. Mine actually has one black and one purple shin! Only shows up in bright sunlight though, which is good. Are the shins okay on your ones, Willis?
I haven’t noticed any plastic differences on mine. Though it’s 5am here and I’m about to get on a plane, so not the best time to go check for sure!
I reeeeeeeeeally doubt there are any Japanese-exclusive new-tooling bad guy molds, especially considering the lack of strength of the brand over there currently.
The latest case assortment spoiled online is a case with 2 Vehicons and no Bumblebees. Madness or genius? I’d like to think Hasbro loves us.
I figure that means Vehicons are gonna start pegwarming pretty quickly, depending on how common that revision is.
Common, be optimistic! Actually I’m curious to see which way it goes; on one hand he’s not a character that kids will care much about, on the other I’ve seen forum threads all about buying as many Vehicons as can be found.
Of course I know I won’t be seeing that up here in Canada. It feels like all the toy stores here just stockpile wave 1 of any given line.
I lived through the Great Smash Blade He-Man Epidemic of 2003; I can live through this. Not sure if I’ll survive the slow death of GI Joe toys through no-movie-drought, though.
I remember back when Star Wars Episode 1 came out the first wave of figures had four different variants of battle droids with different carbon scoring and battle damage decos. I’m sure we’d never see anything like that on a line like this one, but that might be an awesome idea for customizing your vehicons.
I both like and dislike the idea behind the Vehicons. On one hand, you give the autobots an infinate number of targets to destroy, but on the other hand, the idea of a huge genaric army is just a little too “Cobra” to me. I suppose on that third hand (if you have a third hand) seems there’s so few characters, they can’t kill off anyone without affecting future plots….well, you know, except Cliffjumper for some reason…
Back in my day we had repaints of the jets! And they were new characters! And we were happy for it.
%^&*() kids today. GO BUILD YOUR ARMIES IN ANOTHER TOYLINE!
GO ARMYBUILD C.O.P.S.!
Man, me here in Germany has to settle with Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Wheeljack and Soundwave (all RiDs, though Bee’s First Edition is available alongside with Starscream in that 2-pack). The fact that I can’t even find Arcee and Ratchet drives me mad.
Same goes for the Vehicon. But hey, he’s Wave 2, so I try to be optimistic that we will get Wave 2 some day.
SUCCESS on the repaint two-pack front! I’ve purchased one! I made sure to get one that doesn’t have a derp-eyed Silas! If you would like to purchase it from me, send me an e-mail and we can discuss it! I’m not sure if this comment… forum… thing shows you the e-mail addresses people enter or not, I’ve never seen it from the admin side. So just in case it doesn’t, you can reach me at “adekii@gmail.com”
You are super! I will email you when I’m not in an airport bathroom stall.
Is it a plus that it also resembles the Batmobile? I smell a kitbash or at least a custom job on this one in the future..
This is a pretty sweet figure. Glad I decided to get it instead of Hot Shot when I found Starscream and Knock Out yesterday! (Sorry, Willis, but I’m not big enough of a Hot Shot fan, and I could only spend so much.)
I thought Animated Ultra Magnus had an impressive leg-folding scheme, but this one definitely tops that! Definitely gonna pick up more when I have the chance!
I can see where the Batmobile comparisons come in, but to me, it looks like a 21st century update of “The Car”, which works for me, even though that movie’s probably on the obscure side these days.
This is a fantastic toy. Absolutely awesome. Totally sweet alt mode, great transformation, awesome robot mode.
I’m seriously tempted to armybuild.
Wasn’t really going to army build with these guys(was just hoping to find ONE, wanted two), but I had to go and joke to my wife about if I finally gave in and bought one off eBay, I’d find multiples the next day.
So, I bid $5 higher than the starting price on one last Friday. 30 minutes later I found 2 at retail at 2 different Targets. And I still won the auction(came to about $30 after shipping).
Now I just need to decide on how many Jet versions to go with(I currently have 4 Japanese versions pre-ordered thanks to that scene in Project: Breakdown with Starscream in formation with 4 of ‘em).