(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 Generations Sergeant Kup. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Generations Sergeant Kup here.)
Unlike most of the other
toys in this "Machine Wars"-themed set, "Autobot Electrons" (the copyright-friendly
name for Electro) is an update of a G2 character-- specifically a Laser
Rod toy, infamously known for having SEVERE Gold Plastic Syndrome after
several years and crumbling if you so much as looked at the toy wrong.
Thus, the "upgrade" Electro's gotten is much appreciated. He's more old-timey
truck this time around than old-timey truck-esque hot rod, but it still
works quite well-- the alt mode is generally close enough, all things considered.
He takes the original Electro's color scheme of primarily gold, with light
milky gray parts becoming more obvious on most of his robot bits. I do
really like the shade of gold-- it's got enough glitter in it to look semi-metallic--
but I've never been a fan of this blah light milky gray plastic. It doesn't
contrast all that well with the gold, so Electro ends up having a rather
light, pale color scheme overall. I wish the gray had been a darker, more
metallic shade, though in FunPub's defense, it IS a pretty close match
to G2 Electro's gray. Luckily for Electro, he has a pretty good number
of paint apps- as you'd expect on a BotCon exclusive toy. The most unique
paint apps are the rather odd (and very '90s) color combo of pink and seafoam
green paint apps along the side of his truck mode and on his chest, done
in a way that makes them look like rocks for whatever weird reason. It's
quite accurate to the G2 toy, though I'm glad FunPub didn't go overboard
with these odd paint apps and mostly kept them where they were on the original
toy (only adding a bit more of these colors to the lower legs). Electro
also has a good amount of black-- obviously on his tires, but also on his
front grill, truck bed, and parts of the rear bumper (though given the
plastic breakup, it looks a bit odd back there). There's also unique colors
for his taillights (dark red) and lower headlights (dull yellow), both
of which look good next to their surrounding colors. His transparent plastic
for the windows is a pretty straightforward clear plastic. As for silver,
he's also got a fair amount-- on his wheel hubs, his front bumper and grill,
on the backside of his headlights (which makes for a rather cool effect),
on his hood for his G2 Autobot symbol, and on his head.
Speaking of Electro's
head, that's the "new mold" part of the toy-- he shares the same head as
Hoist
from the BotCon 2013 boxset, though Electro pulls it off considerably better,
with it looking much closer to the original's head than the original MW
Hoist's. The light blue eyes on the silver head make for a nice color contrast--
no issues here. Also, some Electros have the same misassembled arms issue
as Hoist, but it doesn't appear to be universal in Electro's case.
BotCon 2013 "Autobot
Electrons" is definitely the redeco FunPub aimed for first, with the mold
fitting the G2 character very well, especially with the remolded head.
The gold looks good, as do most of the myriad paint apps, though I'm not
a fan of the bland milky gray plastic in robot mode. The toy's a great
update for anyone who wants an Electro (or who lost theirs due to GPS),
though I'd be lying if I didn't say that, from a purely visual perspective,
Hoist's color scheme catches my eye a bit more.
Review by Beastbot