Vehicons are basically the Stormtroopers of the Decepticon army in the Prime show (though they have even worse aim), and for this first outing of their design, their vehicle mode is a very solid, angular sportscar that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Batmobile. (I mean, with that rear spoiler, and being primarily black and all, how could it not?) The proportions are very stylish in this mode, fitting in well with the Prime aesthetic while still being relatively realistic (though the hood should probably stick out slightly more above the front section). In another big plus, the Vehicon has basically no robot mode extras in this mode at all, though you can just barely make out his robot waist if you look carefully enough inside his front window. The color scheme is-- for the most part-- pretty simplistic and dark in this mode, being almost entirely black with a few clear parts (like the windows and headlights) and silver bits (like the wheel hubs). What makes this mode pop more than it otherwise would are the really nice-looking light purple paint apps along the front grill, front sides, and taillights. There aren't many of them, but they really contrast extremely well with all the black, and give the toy a more Decepticon-y color scheme, even if it's a little touch. The Vehicon also comes with a small triangle-barreled blaster weapon in this mode, which you can stick onto either side of his front section as a little pop-out gun or store on his underside securely.
    The First Edition Vehicon's transformation is borderline hard-- not so much because of the number of steps, those make him qualify as "Medium" at best, with the only semi-difficult part being the legs-- but because there's so many little "fiddly bits" you're just not quite sure if you're done unless you have the instructions in front of you. Many pieces-- like the small bits on his back, or on his lower legs-- don't really plug in anywhere, and don't sit flush with the surrounding parts, making you wonder if you've dotted every i and crossed every t when it comes to transforming him to robot mode. Indeed, this is the First Edition Vehicon mold's biggest drawback, that's it's so much more complex than it needs to be, and throws off what should be a fairly streamlined robot mode and instead makes it look a bit chunky and awkward. For example-- what's up with the rear tires rotating down to be behind his elbows? Not only does it look bad and interferes with his movement there a little, but it's not show-accurate. The wheels are in the shoulders on the show, which means that their default position when you transform the Vehicon's arms are perfectly fine. His arms are also a bit too two-dimensional, and the windshield bits on his lower arms stick out too much because of this. His clawed hands also can't hold his weapon-- it does plug in slightly below either of his hands, but this looks off. Pretty much the entire top part of the vehicle mode also sits behind the Vehicon's back, making him look bulkier, though at least it compresses somewhat and doesn't get in the way of articulation much. His legs are the best part of this mode-- yes, they're a bit complex, but at least they do get those little "points" of his front grill behind his knees, which is a nice little touch that would've seemed impossible by looking at the show model. What does definitely improve in this mode is the Vehicon's color scheme, with a pretty good amount of dark purple and dark bluish purple on his chest, waist, shoulder interiors, and knees, breaking up his color scheme a fair bit more to make him more visually interesting. His face sculpt is slightly off from the show-- the chin being a bit TOO small-- but otherwise it looks pretty good. (It doesn't have personality, but that's sort of the point for Vehicons.) His mold detailing stays quite angular-- particularly on his purple painted parts on his chest and knees-- and enhances his "evil, stylized" look. For articulation, the Vehicon can move at the neck (at two points), shoulders (at two points), elbows (at three points), inwards at the wrists, and at the waist, hips (at two points), knees, and slightly at the heels and toes of each high-heeled foot. He's pretty well-balanced, so you can get him into many poses, though with his kibble and odd arms not a whole lot of them look particularly dynamic, unfortunately.
    The Vehicon is one of the few First Edition molds I would argue is definitely sub-par to the "Robots in Disguise" release of the character. This version has a slightly better vehicle mode, more show-accurate legs, and waist rotation, but fails in terms of how much kibble is visible in robot mode, along with that mode's general unappealing proportions and fiddly transformation. This, in combination with how hard this mold is to get due to troop-building and its exclusive nature (I had to get the Takara version of the mold, that's why I'm using stock photos for this review), make me easily recommend the "Robots in Disguise" deluxe over this version, unless you're a big troop builder of this mold and just want something a bit different in design from your other Vehicons.
 

No Stats

Review by Beastbot

(Pics from Hasbro.)

Back to Transformers: Prime Index