Vehicon (Prime)
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Decepticon
Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Black, dark bluish purple, and some clear plastic, transparent cherry red, light metallic violet, and silver
Rating: 9.5

    The mainline deluxe version of the Vehicon pulls off the Batmobile-ish vehicle mode quite well, particularly when it comes to proportions-- everything is pretty darned spot-on compared to the show model, including the spoiler, which is oversized on the other versions of this design. There are also no robot mode extras to speak of in this mode-- yes, you can see some stuff inside of his clear plastic windows, but nothing that looks definitively like part of a robot. (Heck, the way things are folded up, it actually looks a bit like he has small seats right behind the windshield.) The overall color scheme in this mode is pretty dull, however, with black making up by far most of the color. There's a bit of silver on the wheels and behind the headlights that serves as a nice contrast color, and some light metallic violet on the sides behind the headlights and on the rear bumper. The latter looks particularly good against the black, though I really wish it had been used a bit more often, such as on the front bumpers (and a bit more silver wouldn't have hurt, either). The mold detailing is minimal here, in keeping with the streamlined look of the design, though a couple of angular bits like his front bumper and spoiler stick out a bit. This Vehicon comes with a (non-firing) blaster weapon that resembles how their arms look when they're converted into weapon mode in the show. It can plug into a port on either side of this mode, near the back, but it looks rather out-of-place in either port, given how much it sticks out in an asymmetrical manner. It also could've used some light metallic violet paint, though as an accessory it's still decent enough.
    The transformation to robot mode isn't complex, but it's a pretty amazing feat of engineering-- nearly ALL of the vehicle mode is stored in his lower legs. It all folds over each other FOUR times to fit there, and it doesn't even look overly bulky! The end result of this ingeniousness is a surprisingly show-accurate robot mode, demonstrating the lithe look of the Vehicons on the show considerably better than any other toy of them. The only real vehicle mode extras here are his rear bumper behind his back (which doesn't get in the way of movement at all), and the slightly more obnoxious sections of the front side parts of the car hanging off his knees. The wheels on the shoulders are not only show-accurate, but they give him a more unique, hunchbacked silouhette, which I love. His arms are appropriately skinny-- almost 2-D-- though due to the transformation the elbows are a little wonky. They actually fold outwards before you get to the ball joint, which means it's quite difficult to make the arms look like they're in a completely "natural" position. Otherwise, this mold is just fantastic, with the usual angular Prime toy detailing on the legs, arms, and the chest. It's particularly well-done on the chest, with some purple and silver headlights looking quite sharp. The headsculpt is also spot-on, with a nice red visor-- however, the plastic's just a tad too dark and he's a tad too hunchbacked for the light piping to work well, unfortunately. The Vehicon's color scheme is broken up substantially more here, with a good deal of dark bluish purple visible here. I wish it was a bit lighter of a shade to add a little more contrast against the black, but it stil looks very nice, and in this mode there isn't too large of an area that's dominated by any one color. For articulation, the Vehicon can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows (at three points), wrists, hips (at two points), back-and-forth at the knees, and a little backwards at his elongated toes. The lack of waist articulation is a bit of a disappointment considering that there's no reason he shouldn't have one given his transformation, and his legs can't rotate at the knees. Other than that, though, the Vehicon is quite poseable, and given his long toes and arch-like foot structure, he's quite stable too. As expected, the Vehicon can hold his blaster weapon snugly in either of his claw-hands in this mode, though the weapon can still be stored on the vehicle mode pegs (now on his shoulders), too.
    The Prime deluxe Vehicon is one of the molds from the 2012 "Robots in Disguise" section of the line that is substantially better than its First Edition toy. The vehicle mode is nigh-perfect (missing only a few paint apps), and the show robot mode design is captured extremely well, pulling off his lithe look with some amazing engineering and only a couple very minor downsides. One of my most highly recommended purchases out of the entire Prime line (and yes, this includes Beast Hunters).



Vehicon Bio:
Every Vehicon knows how likely he is to be dismantled-- either by the Autobots, or by a Decepticon commander in need of spare parts. Danger is just part of life for them, and they welcome it. To a Vehicon, happiness is loyalty to Megatron and a warm blaster cannon.
Strength: 6.0
Intelligence: 5.0
Speed: 6.0
Endurance: 5.0
Rank: 3.0
Courage: 7.0
Fireblast: 5.0
Skill: 4.0

Review by Beastbot

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