General Information:
Release Date: April 2016
Price Point: $99 (In a boxed set with Dust Up, Pyra Magna, Rust Dust, Skyburst & Stormclash)
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc. - Sales were primarily online)
Accessories: Hands x 2, Feet x 2, Swords x 2, Axe, Shield, Crescent Blade
Official images and text below in italics are from Amazon.com:
Victorion is the first Fan-Built Combiner. Through voting in the Transformers app, fans voted on whether the team would be Autobot or Decepticon characters, their vehicle modes, what the Combiner robot's special power would be, and the name of this Combiner character. Bring home a piece of fan-made history and build a Combiner super robot with this Combiner Wars Victorion collection pack. In the Combiner Wars, teams of Autobots and Decepticons combine into giant super robots and battle with the fate of worlds in the balance. Laws don’t apply in the Sea of Rust, the unstable area of Cybertron where the Rust Renegades learned to work together and survive. When it’s time to stand tall, the team combines to form Victorion, the most relentless and resourceful Combiner.
The helicopter twins Skyburst and Stormclash make Victorion the only Combiner able to fly, and her extreme adaptability makes Victorion the only Combiner who can change her configuration to meet any challenge. Get 6 Rust Renegades figures that combine to form a Victorion Combiner figure. The Voyager Class Pyra Magna figure forms the torso; the Deluxe Class Dust Up, Jumpstream, Skyburst, and Stormclash figures form the arms and legs; and the Legends Class Rust Dust figure becomes Combiner armor. These figures work with other Combiner Wars figures! Combine the Pyra Magna figure with other Deluxe Class Combiner Wars figures or combine the Dust Up, Jumpstream, Skyburst, and Stormclash figures with other Combiner Wars Voyager Class figures to build more Combiner super robots! (Additional figures each sold separately.) The Pyra Magna figure converts from robot to fire truck. The Dust Up and Jumpstream figures convert from robot to sports car, the Skyburst and Stormclash figures convert from robot to helicopter, and the Rust Dust figure coverts from robot to motorcycle. Comes with 5 accessories, a poster, and a Victorion character card. Transformers and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro.
In 2015 Hasbro held a poll on its web site to give fans a voice in planning out the next Combiner figure to be released. Fans were able to decide on the figure's gender, name, molds, color scheme, special power, place of origin, rival and personality. This extensive poll was much wider in scope than previous fan built Transformers since its results would affect not just one or two characters but an entire team and Combiner robot. The result of this poll was Victorion, the first "Scramble City" style Combiner with all female components. This represents a huge shift for the Transformers toy line. Once upon a time, a team of all female robots at this price point would have been unthinkable from a marketing perspective. However giving fans a say clearly helped push this idea through.
The base sculpt for Jumpstream began as the Stunticon Breakdown. It would go on to be retooled and given new decos as:
Now, I don't expect you to read all the reviews above before this one (though hey, I'm totally cool if you do!). For the best reference, check out the original Breakdown review before checking this one out. This review will focus on the changes made to the base sculpt for this release.
Thanks to the "Earth Wars" game I formed a bit of an attachment to the Jumpstream character even before I sat down and took a good look at the figure. In the game she can charge at a target and bash at it while using a force field to protect herself. Based on her bio from the game she is loyal to Pyra Magna, able to teleport and a skilled hand-to-hand combat fighter, making her even more appealing as a character.
Packaging:
The packaging for Victorion resembles the one used for G2 Superion. It is a huge rectangular box with a black background. The side features a vertical "Transformers" logo with the "Generations" logo above it. Most of the box's front features Victorion's poster art. The other side features the poster and card art that is packaged inside the box. Below that are photos of all six team members in vehicle mode. This figure has the distinction of being called "Fan Built" above her name and the "Combiner Wars" logo. The back features a large, vertical photo of the character with a write up about her. The individual character names are broken out along the top of the box with cropped images of each team member.
Accessories:
Jumpstream's weapon is a combination shield and melee weapon. The shield is loosely based on the design of the Lightning Bug seen in the Generation One cartoon episode "Cosmic Rust". It has an oval shape coming to a point on top. This shape resembles the shell of an insect. There are lots of details worked into this accessory. The center has some mechanical details segmented into four sections. The top section has several raised lines that splay out in a pattern in a semi-circle pattern. The bottom has some cross hatching details as well. The sides of the shield have small blades (that you could interpret as insect legs) effectively making this a multi-purpose accessory. The end has 5mm peg allowing figures to hold it as a shield/melee weapon. It also has a second peg that allows a figure to hold the accessory so the melee weapon handle is pointing forward like a blaster barrel.
The shield/weapon is cast in translucent blue plastic. It is painted silver, with some gaps left unpainted to expose the translucent blue plastic. It's a really interesting and cool looking accessory.
The hands and feet on Victorion are new parts and do not follow the "hand/foot/weapon" design used on most of the "Combiner Wars" figures. Instead the hands are just that, two distinct hands and the feet only serve as feet. While that means Jumpstream does not have an "extra" weapon as most "Combiner Wars" figures do, Victorion winds up having all new hand and foot pieces that are distinct from the rest of the line. The only unfortunate result of this is that when the six team members are separated they can't really use the hands and feet as weapons, so you just have to stow them away somewhere.
Vehicle Mode:
Jumpstream has the same vehicle mode as Breakdown with no mold changes. She resembles a real life Lamborghini with some design changes to avoid trademark issues. It is a very sleek vehicle mode with very futuristic looking lines that slope up in the from the front end and even out towards the back with some interesting curves along the way. Some of my favorite details on this figure include the unique headlights which look like three small lights in a thin column over the front wheel wells.
The vehicle mode mostly shows off green plastic with red plastic used on the spoiler. Interestingly, the plastic on the spoiler is a shade darker than the red seen on most of the Torchbearer figures. Red paint is used on the section in front of the spoiler and on the lower half of the vehicle starting in the front and wrapping around the back. Silver paint is used on the license plate in front, windows, headlights and the sides of the wheels. You'll also find some Cybertronian writing in silver on the doors. Rounding out the deco are red and white Autobot logos tampographed onto the doors.
The Cybertronian glyphs on the doors are part of a poem spoken by an ancient Autobot hologram in the G1 episode titled "Cosmic Rust". In that episode the Decepticons come across a planet that has been destroyed by a substance known as "Cosmic Rust". Since the fans voted for the Torchbearers to be from the "Sea of Rust" the designers thought it appropriate for the Torchbearers to each have a piece of this poem "tattooed" onto their bodies as a sign of defiance against something as deadly as Cosmic Rust. For those curious, the poem goes like this:
If Cybertron be your home, far away never roam.
Hear my message, listen and fear.
Danger comes, the end is near!
Just like us, you soon will rust.
All shall be turned to dust.
Some artistic interpretation of the Cybertronian symbols was done for this set, so I'm not exactly sure which character has which part of the poem on them. That said I think it's really cool that this part of G1 history found its way onto the deco of these figures.
After Rust Dust this is perhaps my favorite vehicle mode deco in the set. A lot of this is thanks to the red paint. The red paint and the red plastic on the spoiler are a darker shade than the red plastic used on most of the Torchbearer figures. One of my issues with the base colors for this set is the red plastic color which I just find too bright to be appealing. By taking it down a notch, Jumpstream's red doesn't look overbearing at all and contrasts nicely against the green. I also like the use of the silver. The windows are pretty standard, but having the silver on the sides of the wheels and the license plate are a nice extra touch.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Swing the windshield piece up.
- Swing out each half of the vehicle's rear section and push the lower legs against the thigh sections of the robot mode.
- Swing the robot feet out and the spoiler halves down to form the feet and heels.
- Pull the halves of the vehicle's rear section apart to separate the legs.
- Push the hip joints up and even them out.
- Swing the front of the vehicle back.
- Swing the panel under the front of the vehicle forward to reveal the robot head and form the chest.
- Swing the shoulders up and then swing the forearms out.
- The weapon can be placed in either hand or attached to the back.
Robot Mode:
Jumpstream features several retooled parts in this mode:
- Head: The head sculpt is entirely new. Instead of the more rectangular and blocky head on Breakdown, Jumpstream's is round and very humanoid looking. The sides of the head have circles on them that are reminiscent of the "buns" seen on Princess Leia in Star Wars. The top part of the "helmet" section has a really nice design on the brow that has a "T" shaped set of details that are layered over one another. Finally her face has an interesting design with large eyes that lead to the cheeks with small red lines. Her mouth is designed to look like lips from a human cartoon character complete with red paint on it to look like "lipstick".
- Torso: The panel that forms the front of the torso is entirely new. The chest section comes out an angle and slopes down leading to an abdominal section with a vent like design in the center. The chest has additional details such as a circle in the center and armor panels on the sides. Yes, this chest design does indeed resemble the robotic version of human breasts. This is a design element that has appeared many times over the years on figures such as Galaxy Force Chromia and "Prime" Arcee so it's nothing new.
- Forearms: Like Skyburst this figure has new forearm pieces. Each one is more curved than Breakdown's with hands set slightly open. The hands can still hold 5mm peg weapon showever, so no worries about functionality.
Taken together, these new parts really do change the personality of the figure. Breakdown looks very stern and serious. Jumpstream looks more like a sleek fighter ready for action. That's quite a hat trick given that the figure overall is very blocky and chunky, especially the lower legs, which are a bit out of proportion with the rest of the figure (no matter which iteration you're talking about). I really like the head sculpt because it is so different than most Transformers heads out there. The new torso plate does a lot to give the figure a distinct look and the new forearms look more defined and detailed than Breakdown's.
In terms of deco Jumpstream is a mix of green and red plastic, but there are two shades of the red plastic. One is the bright shade also used on other members of this team and the other is the darker one seen on the spoiler in vehicle mode. This is important because the darker red helps balance out the brighter red. The two colors then contrast well against the green plastic, making for a much more appealing looking figure than it would have been otherwise. I appreciate the way the colors are laid out too, with green and red alternating here and there. The best example is the legs where the thighs are the darker red, the lower legs are green and then the feet are bright red.
The paint colors used on this mode won't shock anyone: silver, red and blue. The silver is the most heavily used color. You'll find it on the head, chest, mid-body and hands. The silver is used very well to break up a lot of the red and green coloring. Red is used on the head, but it's most heavily present on the arms. Blue is used for the yes. Overall I like the deco on this figure quite a bit, more than I had expected. If I were to offer any critique it would be the lack of deco on the front of the lower legs or feet. It would have been cool for instance to maybe have a bit of silver on the feet.
Transformation to Arm Mode (Starting in robot mode):
- Detach all weapons.
- Swing the forearms up against the upper arms.
- Swing the arms down at the shoulders and push the arms up against the torso.
- Swing the chest/torso panel back into the front of the vehicle mode.
- Pull both legs down, then connect them together.
- Swing the feet and spoiler halves up.
- Rotate the legs/waist around. Depending on which side you want the arm to be you rotate it left or right.
- Swing the Combiner joint up.
- Attach the hand piece to the port near the spoiler.
Arm Mode:
I've never been terribly fond of the arm mode for this sculpt. However I will say if you use Dust Up as the other arm, there is an interesting symmetry that is created on Victorion. It makes her upper body look super powerful which is cool in its own way.
Color-wise there are no surprises here but I will say it is cool that the connector piece for the joint is revealed to be the darker shade of red, again offering some balance to the bright and darker colors.
Functionally the arm is just as tight as my copy of Breakdown. If you position the elbow joint just right she can even hold up Powerglide in weapon mode!
Transformation to Leg mode (Starting in Vehicle Mode):
- Detach all the accessories.
- Lift up the windshield piece and swing it back.
- Swing the front of the vehicle mode back.
- Swing up the Combiner joint.
- Connect the foot piece to the back of the vehicle.
Leg Mode:
This mode is my preferred one for this sculpt. The bulkiness of the vehicle mode helps add to the impression of a powerful looking leg. The Combiner joint is nice and strong in this mode and holds Victorion up with no issues.
Final Thoughts:
Jumpstream is one of my favorite figures in this set. I really like the head sculpt and the color scheme.
