Dead
End (Botcon 2011 Exclusive)
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is
not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold
and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original Animated deluxe
Jazz. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original
Animated deluxe Jazz
here.)
Dead End is a major homage
to the G1 Stunticon of the same name, particularly in terms of his color
scheme. Just like G1 Dead End, this version has a dull fuchsia has his
main color, with black being a major factor as well. The fuchsia is of
a particularly nice shade, while still being relatively flat given the
Animated line's style. Again, just like with the G1 toy, there's a dull
yellow-and-white stripe down the left side of the vehicle mode, and really
helps to give some light contrast to what is otherwise a fairly dull-colored
mode. This isn't to say that Animated Dead End's colors are slavish to
the original, though. For one, there's a bit more of that yellow in vehicle
mode-- such as on the side mirrors and the tailpipes-- that helps make
it that much more visually appealing. The transparent plastic is also a
nice shade of purple, which of course goes well with a Decepticon and goes
nicely with his other colors. The light purple added in robot mode really
helps to make that mode pop, too. Even though Dead End has no new head
sculpt, giving Jazz' head "facial hair" really makes it look like a different
guy more than you'd expect, and they did the paint apps around his face
well. Really, as far as colors go, I have no (realistic) complaints about
Dead End at all.
No mold changes have
been made to Dead End.
Botcon 2011 Dead End
is a great Animated homage to the G1 character in terms of color scheme,
but it's not afraid to take a few unique leaps of its own, such as the
purple in robot mode and the facial hair in robot mode. One of my favorites
in what is already a great convention set.
Review by Beastbot