novaBBS - alt.toys.transformers - Dave's TF Legacy Rant: most of Toxitron Capsule

Dave's Transformers Legacy Toxitron Collection Rant:

G2 Universe Autobot Jazz (Studio Series '86 redeco with some new bits)
G2 Universe Laser Cycle (Speedia 500 Road Rocket redeco)
G2 Universe Autobot Mirage (Earthrise Mirage redeco)
G2 Universe Sideswipe (Kingdom Sideswipe redeco)
G2 Universe Dead End (Legacy Dead End redeco)
G2 Universe Toxitron (Legacy Laser Optimus Prime redeco)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Legacy/Toxitron

The Toxitron Collection is what's being referred to as a "capsule"
series in Walmart's internal stuff, just as Speedia 500 was (my receipts even
had "TRA CAP" on them). I guess because it's meant to be self-contained, a
single wave to get everything out (not that Speedia did that, thanks to the
straggler two Deluxes).
I skipped Grimlock (to me, "G2 Grimlock" is blue, and the yellow scheme
doesn't grab me enough to drop $55 on it) and Cloudcover (I own way too many
variants of that mold already).

Yeah, a lot of redecos of retools, getting a lot of mileage out of a few
mold families. The unreviewed Grimlock is also a Studio Series '86 mold (but
without Wheelie), and Cloudburst is an Earthrise conehead with blue digicam
and go-go chex.

http://www.dvandom.com/images/ToxitronCapsule.JPG for a group shot in
robot mode.

CAPSULES

$25 Deluxes and $55 Leaders at Walmart.

G2 Jazz: Original mold was recommended, this adds some accessories and
the colors mostly work. Recommended.

G2 Laser Cycle: Original Road Rocket version was a "mild avoid," and
frankly all this one has going for it is the "unused Jazz design" concept.
And yet, that was enough to get me to drop the money on it, I guess.

G2 Mirage: Original Kingdom version of the mold was recommended with the
proviso that it didn't really get the classic Mirage silhouette. This is
intentionally ugly, and might be worthwhile to some just on the strength of
that.

G2 Sideswipe: This tooling was solidly recommended back in Kingdom. The
change to the missile is a downgrade, though, and this is one of the more
unfinished-feeling designs. Mildly recommended.

G2 Dead End: Original mold was mildly recommended. This is about as
finicky as the original, more of a "true G2" design than most of this
"Capsule" line, but the colors were done back in Combiner Wars. Very mildly
recommended.

Toxitron: Original of this mold was recommended, if something of a
disappointment of the "might have been" variety. This is a faithful
rendition of the abandoned (and later used as convention exclusives) color
scheme from Universe, and notable as a completely new character rather than
just being Toxic Optimus Prime or something. Recommended.

RANTS

The premise of this capsule is that they're using (mostly) unreleased
redeco schemes, mostly from G2 (Toxitron himself is from Universe, IIRC).
Mostly unreleased, since G2 Dead End did actually come out in VERY limited
numbers in the 90s (like, sell your house to buy one rarity) and that color
scheme got used in Combiner Wars as well. Toxitron has been used for a
number of convention exclusives, but this is his first reasonably-wide
release. It's playing on the reputation G2 has for garish colors, and some
of these were deemed too garish for G2.
There's not much lore, here's Toxitron's own info from the walmart.com
website:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unleash a storm of toxic destruction with the G2 Universe Toxitron action
figure! This converting Transformers action figure for boys and girls is
inspired by the original color designs from the G2 toy line in the '90s. The
bright color scheme of this Transformers toy is sure to stand out in any
fan?s collection. This G2 Universe Toxitron toy makes a great gift for
Transformers fans and collectors. Look for more Transformers Legacy toys to
add to your collection (each sold separately, subject to availability).
Includes: Figure, 4 accessories, and instructions.

Transformers and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro.

TOXITRON COLLECTION: A collection of Transformers robots has risen out of the
Toxic Sludge Swamps of Cybertron! Toxitron is unleashing radioactive mayhem
with a team of toxic warriors
G2-INSPIRED DESIGNS: These action figures are inspired by some of the
unreleased color designs from the original G2 toy line. Featuring bright neon
color schemes, these figures will stand out in your collection

2 EPIC MODES: Transformers action figure for boys and girls converts from
robot to truck mode in 30 steps. Truck rig opens up into a battle station

AWESOME ACCESSORIES: This G2 Universe Toxitron toy for 8 year old boys and
girls comes with a Energon axe, sword, blaster, and Matrix of Leadership
accessories

CELEBRATE THE LEGACY: Transformers Legacy Evolution celebrates 40 years of
Transformers history. Collect different characters to create your ideal
Legacy lineup (each sold separately, subject to availability)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The other toys have substantively the same entries, just swapping in
their names, altmodes, and the accessories.

Packaging: Basically Legacy Evolution trade dress, but with a lot of
"toxic green" color added, and comics-style character art on the left side.
Orange dripping goo is also added around the place, and the back panel has a
purple background with black Kirby Dots. Both halves of the right side mural
are present, with no particular pattern to who gets the left side and who
gets the right. The art has been modified to use comics-style line art and
more green.
There's no QR codes, which is normal for store exclusives Each toy has a
toxic faction symbol, which oddly is a G1 Autobot symbol (regardless of
character faction) in purple on an orange splat and combined with a biohazard
symbol. The actual nameplates use the G2 faction symbol relevant to the
character.
Inside, each toy is held to a cardboard inner tray that is mostly purple
with the orange "biohazard Autobot symbol" deco in the bottom half. The
instructions are monochrome purple with green accent color, including green
ooze details drawn here and there throughout.

AUTOBOT: G2 UNIVERSE AUTOBOT JAZZ
Assortment: F7510
Altmode: Sportscar
Transformation Difficulty: 20 steps
Previous Name Use: None (plenty of Autobot Jazz, though)
Previous Mold Use: Studio Series
Origin Universe: G2

Packaging: Three rattan strings hold the robot to the tray. The rocket
launcher (Hound accessory) is in the upper left held by a corner flap and a
twisted-end string, the regular rifle is held in the lower left by just the
corner flap, and the other new pistol from Hound is in the lower right with
flap and string and that's barely enough to keep it in place.

Color Swaps: Black becomes orange including the wheels (which
fortunately are dipped in black paint), white becomes red, and the clear
plastic is yellow. The new weapons are orange plastic.

Paint Apps: Lots of orange on the chest/hood, fading away as airbrushed
edges. It's also used on the visor for some reason, which makes it blend
into the helmet unless you look under UV, in which case it glows strongly.
Silver toes, shins, wheel hubs, main rifle, and warhead of the missile
launcher. Red paint on the roof and window borders. In vehicle mode,
there's orange dorito shapes on the spoiler and doors. The grille is black,
the headlight and chest G2 Autobot symbol are yellow. And, as noted, the
wheels are completely covered in gloss black paint.
The left the collar area unpainted red, but the panel that fills in the
hood in vehicle mode is properly painted to match the rest of the hood.

Mold Changes: Extra weapons planned for Hound (according to TFWiki) used
to let him have a shoulder launcher in robot mode. They're a sort of
hairdryer-looking pistol and a shoulder missile that Jazz can't mount on his
torso, but using the hairdryer as a strut lets you fake it. The pistol is
1.25" (3cm) long with a 5mm peg grip and a 5mm aperture muzzle. The rocket
launcher is 2" (5cm) long with a 5mm peg grip and a 5mm socket in the back
for backblast or attachment of other stuff.
The instructions just say to pick one of the three weapons to attach in
vehicle mode, they didn't retool to add more 5mm sockets. But you can kinda
kludge the three weapons into one big C-shaped thing.

Other Notes: While the orange plastic isn't quite the same as the
crowdfunding exclusive color run of his BMOG set, it's close enough:
http://www.dvandom.com/images/orangeJazzBMOG.JPG
And yeah, like other versions of this mold, have a poking tool like a
pen cap or a small screwdriver handy, as the hood-filler panel is easily
pushed down during transformation.

Overall: The head could have used a differently colored visor (red, if
you must stick with the theme), but otherwise it works quite well. The
Doritos distract from thinking it as Burning Jazz, though. Unlike the usual
trend for later redecos, this has MORE accessories than the original, not
fewer (looking at you, yellow Grimlock).

AUTOBOT: G2 UNIVERSE LASER CYCLE
Assortment: F7512 (I guess Cloudburst is 7511? Or it got skipped)
Altmode: Street racer motorcycle
Transformation Difficulty: 20 steps
Previous Name Use: None
Previous Mold Use: Legacy
Origin Universe: G2

Note, this is a color scheme that was intended for a Jazz version of
Road Rocket, but the G2 line petered out about then and they shifted to Beast
Wars. So, the main reason this is not named Jazz is because there's already
a Jazz in this assortment. But I suspect "This Jazz is a girl?" concerns
might have factored into it at least a little. As much as I don't care for
this mold, the idea of owning Secret Girl Jazz appealed to me.

Packaging: Very aggressively disassembled. The entire front windshield
and cowling piece is held into the left side by card flaps, the front wheel
is held in the lower right by a single string, and the clear weapon is in the
lower left with a single string through its 5mm holes. Five more rattan
strings hold the robot in. The instructions do include assembly steps, as
well as the "mount the split wheel on the back as hoverfans" thing.

Color Swaps: Basing this on Road Rocket, not Arcee. Red becomes white,
clear blue becomes very light clear blue. Some black stays black (wheels,
collar, shoulders, inner forearms, head front, spine, pelvis core, toes, some
struts), some becomes silvery light gray (heels, front and rear wheel forks,
biceps, thighs, lower leg "bones", some bits on the sides of the pelvis,
neck, motorcycle handles and dials display), and some becomes white (fists,
front fender, aerodynamic cowling on front and sides of cycle mode).

Paint Apps: Okay, elephant in the room. The airbrushed splash of yellow
on the lower pelvis makes it look like she's incontinent. There's also
yellow on the outer faces of the forearms and the sides of the boots, but
this doesn't really distract from the urine staine. The abdomen is painted
black, and the thighs are dipped in black, an effect somewhat marred by the
fact that the back of the right thigh is where the assortment number and
production date (31051 for mine, so early April) are branded AFTER the paint
was applied. The knees, shin fronts, cuff front, elbow "spikes," and the
whitewalls on the wheels are painted yellowish green. The faceplate is also
yellowish green, but being on black plastic makes it look darker. In cycle
mode, the headlights are also ringed in yellow-green. The wheel hubs are
silver, and the eyes are unpainted so the lightpiping works. A red G2
Autobot symbol is printed on her sternum. (Same location and design as Road
Rocket's.) No paint on the Energon blades.

Mold Changes: None that I noticed, which means they still haven't fixed
some of the problems I had with the original Arcee mold (a head swap doesn't
fix a bad waist).

Other Notes: Definitely put the split front wheel on the back, it's a
stupid weapon but a good aesthetic detail as Motoroid-style fans. Full
disclosure, I didn't even bother transforming this one, I knew it would just
irritate me. At least the waist doesn't fall apart so easily I'm tempted to
glue it
Headcanon: one Jazz fell into the toxic waste pit, two emerged. But
female motorcycle Jazz decided to make a new name for herself and let the one
who at least looked kinda like the original Jazz keep that name. They share
a "Tomax and Xamot" Corsican Brothers sort of link, with their sparks
remaining entangled. They are not romantically involved, because, "That
would be hella weird."

Overall: It's not a great mold, but at least some of you are going to
like this purely for the concept. Plus, at least the Road Rocket tooling is
a little better than the original Arcee version, since it's not trying to
look like a figure that already had numerous modern molds.

AUTOBOT: G2 UNIVERSE AUTOBOT MIRAGE
Assortment: F7513
Altmode: Formula racer
Transformation Difficulty: 19 steps
Previous Name Use: None (plenty of regular Mirage or Autobot Mirage, though)
Previous Mold Use: Kingdom, Siege
Origin Universe: G2

Packaging: Four rattan strings hold the robot to the tray, the two
weapons are in the lower corners held in pretty well by flaps. Like, "I gave
up and just tore the flaps" well.

Color Swaps: While this is Very Pink (specifically hot pink), that's
mostly paint. Some of the light gray plastic on Kingdom Mirage is now hot
pink (feet and weapons) or dull pink (hip joints). The pointy nose bits of
vehicle mode that end up tucked inside the boots are also hot pink, so
Mirage's sprues are all messed up. Black stays black, at least (fists and
wheels). The rest of the white plastic becomes light silvery gray, and all
the rest of the plastic is lime green.

Paint Apps: Lots of hot pink paint on the chest, shoulder fronts, outer
forearms, all but the inner surfaces of the thighs. Silver on the kneecaps,
face, fake front canards on the chest, and rifle. Oddly, the eyes are
painted lime green that is almost indistinguishable from the plastic, which
makes me wonder if the design never got around to filling those in (obviously
they should be hot pink instead). According to TFWiki, the face wasn't
silver in the original design, so I guess they never got around to details on
the head in general? The warhead of the missile launcher (which can't be
mounted on the shoulder for this version of the mold) is painted very dark
gloss blue. The fake nose on the belly has a printed trapezoid in lime green
with "188" and a red underline. No clue why 188. No Autobot symbol,
although to match the one in vehicle mode it should have one on the belly.
To fully appreciate the rest of the deco, though, it is necessary to
transform it into vehicle mode. It's not just an eye-searing mess of lime
green and hot pink (the driver's compartment is also painted hot pink),
there's an ALLIGATOR theme. Like, he should commisserate with Beast Hunters
Knockout here. There are printed dark green scutes or scales or something on
the sides, and the spoiler has back to back cartoony alligator heads in dark
green with white teeth, and red eyes and tongue. Oh, and while there's an
Autobot symbol on the nose end, there's no 188 in a green trapezoid.

Mold Changes: Same as the Battle Across Time version.

Other Notes: It amuses me that someone will figure out how to match the
colors on this to provide a version of the third party adapter kit that lets
this mold have a shoulder launcher.

Overall: When "G2" is used as an insult, it refers to color schemes like
this...which ironically never got used in G2. Another recent Legends toy
used an actual G2 color scheme, Leadfoot:
https://www.dvandom.com/images/G2realvsactual.JPG

AUTOBOT: G2 UNIVERSE SIDESWIPE
Assortment: F7514
Altmode: Sportscar
Transformation Difficulty: 16 steps
Previous Name Use: None (plenty of Sideswipes)
Previous Mold Use: Kingdom, Siege
Origin Universe: G2

This and Dead End were shortpacked, and I was initially not planning to
get either, but I did eventually see them on the shelf so grabbed 'em.
(Unlike the last gasp of Speedia 500, which I never saw on the shelf and
wasn't about to buy sight-unseen.)

Packaging: Three rattan strings hold the robot to the tray, a rare tray
that has no big holes in it for backpacks or heel spurs. The main rifle is
held in by a tray fold in the lower left, but the missile launcher is wrapped
up in tissue and taped into the thin wedge area behind the inner tray.

Color Swaps: White stays white, red becomes bright yellow, and the clear
plastic becomes clear very light blue, but there's two different black sets.
Most of the black becomes a bright blue plastic. A darker slightly teal-ish
blue is used for the wheels, the pelvis, the abdomen, the rifle, and the root
of the rocket launcher. This does make it very likely that the sprue for the
wheels was not designed to be gated for two colors, so it's either black on
all those parts or blue. So he has blue wheels.

Paint Apps: Another design where it feels like they never bothered to
pick colors for the head and this homage is being too faithful to an
unfinished design. The eyes are painted white...and that's it for the head.
In robot mode, the main deco is a bit of 90s-ish art on his chest, an orange
rectangle with dark blue clouds (some of which are upside down) and a
yellow-orange setting Sun near the bottom. It's like he's wearing a print
tank top or something. The feet and wheel hubs are painted silver, there's
some bright blue at the top back of the boots, and a red G2 Autobot symbol is
printed on the left shoulder front. The missile part of the launcher weapon
is painted gloss black.
In vehicle mode, the roof and window posts are painted bright yellow in
an okay match to the plastic. There's more sunset-and-clouds prints on the
doors, mirror images of each other (they're fairly visible under the arms in
robot mode too). Bright blue on the front edge of the hood, and on the back
of the car with an airbrushed fade going forwards. Unfortunately, the bright
blue plastic hinges behind the front fenders somewhat mar the otherwise
unified look.

Mold Changes: Weirdly, the weapons are retooled. They look the same at
first glance, but are slightly smaller, and the warhead of the missile
launcher ends in a long 3mm peg rather than a 5mm peg with a 3mm stud.
There's a very short 5mm collar to let it stay in the launcher, but it
doesn't do a great job of that. The launcher is very slightly narrower, and
the rifle is slightly smaller in all directions. It's entirely possible that
other than the warhead it's all due to the white paint on Kingdom Sideswipe's
weapons just being insanely thick, though.
The head is also slightly retooled, using the shorter-horns version
created for the Walgreens exclusive Red Alert.

Other Notes: I'm tempted to just glue the missile in place, it falls out
way too easily.

Overall: Another "too G2 for actual G2" design, it started with a good
mold but introduced a new flaw. If you can't find this one due to
shortpacking, don't feel too bad about it.

DECEPTICON: G2 UNIVERSE DEAD END
Assortment: F7515
Altmode: Sports Car, Menasor Limb
Transformation Difficulty: 15 steps
Previous Name Use: None (the previous G2 Dead End was only sold as part of a
Menasor gift set)
Previous Mold Use: Legacy
Origin Universe: G2

If you want an all-G2 Legacy Menasor, you might have a bit of a weight.
Shadowstrip, one of the aforementioned hard to find Speedia 500 toys, is the
only other G2 Stunticon in Legacy so far. You're probably better off looking
for Combiner Wars gift sets (the day I started writing this review, Ben Yee
had one MIB for sale for $100, so it's probably not that expensive on the
aftermarket these days).

Packaging: Four strings around the robot, the two pistols are held in my
edge flaps in the two lower corners. Held in really well, ended up just
ripping them out.

Color Swaps: Most of the dark red becomes bright red, except for the
forearms, fists, shoulder roots, and several of the struts and hinges. Those
are black. Most of the black becomes a slightly metallic medium blue-gray
plastic, except for the wheels, head, and guns. Those stay black.

Paint Apps: Metallic light blue covers the head, most of each gun (all
but the 5mm pegs), the chest detail and abdomen center. The front of the
torso and pelvis are painted silver, as are the wheel hubs and all of the car
windows. The faceplate is canary yellow while the visor is a slightly more
golden yellow.
In vehicle mode, the headlights are also silver. The moon roof is the
same yellow as the visor with a metallic light blue border. The hood has a
big negative-space G2 Decepticon symbol as part of a black stripe detail.
The doors have fireballs printed on them in black and yellow with a sort of
//// fade out rearward.

Mold Changes: None that I noticed.

Other Notes: Mine took a fair amount of panel massaging to get to stay
together in vehicle mode. However, my original Dead End doesn't seem much
better in that regard.

Overall: This is one of the more "authentic" G2 as it actually existed
designs, which is something of a plus for those who want the real deal. On
the other hand, Combiner Wars already did this one. Kinda skippable unless
you really want to hope for a complete Legacy G2 Menasor (Shadowstrip was
part of Speedia 500, not that I ever saw it in stores).

DECEPTICON: G2 UNIVERSE TOXITRON
Assortment: F6956
Altmode: Oil Tanker
Transformation Difficulty: 30 steps
Previous Name Use: None
Previous Mold Use: Legacy
Origin Universe: G2

Toxitron is a bit of an exception, being an unused design from the
Universe line in the late 00's, but it was going to be a redeco of the G2
Laser Optimus Prime mold, which I guess gets it in as an honorary G2. The
design has shown up a fair amount in convention exclusives, including most
notably the "Bizarro" Optimus Prime version seen in TF:Animated's authorized
fiction.

Packaging: The inner tray is undecorated corrugated cardboard. The
tractor is held in with three strings, and the trailer by three more. The
sword and axe are each held by tray flaps. As happened with the original,
the fuel tanks are not folded out, but that's probably because they don't
snap into place that way and normal agitation would make them close up over
time.

Color Swaps: Ugh, this is a mess, so many split sprues. Heck, even the
clear sprue is split. Simpler to just list what's where on this version.
The wheels are all vibrant purple, as are the front and top of the
trailer, and the ramp in battle station mode. The wheels and fists are also
bright purple plastic. The side walls of the trailer are black plastic. The
claw/hitch piece on the trailer and the joint connecting the front cap to the
top are light silvery gray plastic. A slightly darker silvery gray plastic
is used extensively in the robot, notably the upper legs, pelvis, upper arms,
and part of the torso core. Clear purple plastic is used for the lightpiping
(it's painted over in back, but still works), the chest fake windows, and the
cab windows. The sword and the axe blade are neon greenish yellow clear
plastic, while the Matrix piece and shoulder missiles are clear amber
plastic. Dark gray plastic is used on the back of the trailer, the shoulder
front flaps, the boot cores, the axe handle, and more of the torso interior.
Lime green plastic is used for the shoulder towers, forearm exteriors (the
cores are light gray), and feet. I suspect the head is green as well,
despite being totally painted over.

Paint Apps: In truck mode, there's lime green paint on the window frames
(it's noticably darker than the plastic), gunmetal stripes on either side of
the nose, gunmetal on the smokestacks, black wheel hubs, and yellow-orange
toxic ooze dripping along the sides of the tank. The grille is painted gloss
black. A big purple G2 Decepticon symbol is printed on the roof.
In ronot mode, there's more lime green paint on the inner faces of the
shoulder pylons (over gray paint), and on the forehead crest. Vibrant purple
paint around the raised sockets of the shoulder towers, and it seems the head
was almost completely covered in it first. There's more purple paint on the
abdomen and on borders around the shoulder flaps. Gunmetal paint on the
faceplate, helmet vent, the borders of the chest windows, the fronts of the
shoulder flaps, and the pelvis front. The flanks of the abdomen front are
painted gloss black.
No paint on the battle station.

Mold Changes: None that I noticed.

Other Notes: I discovered that the folded up axe can be mounted
awkwardly on the forearm using the wrist joint stress slot and one of the
tabs on the axe haft, making it sort of a shield.

Overall: A fitting exemplar for the capsule, even if he isn't actually a
G2 design. And as garish as it is, they were restrained in keeping the
original "icky green" instead of something more blatantly neon. Plus, it's
an entirely new character rather than just "redeco Optimus Prime" like most
of this capsule's characters. (Even Laser Cycle is really just a Jazz design
rather than intended as a new character.)

Dave Van Domelen, finished this review while watching Netflix's Gamera.

Subject	Replies	Author
Dave's TF Legacy Rant: most of Toxitron Capsule By: Dave Van Domelen on Mon, 11 Sep 2023	0	Dave Van Domelen

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." -- Walt Disney

arts / alt.toys.transformers / Dave's TF Legacy Rant: most of Toxitron Capsule