| General Information: Release Date: April 2016 Price Point: $99 (In a boxed set with Dust Up, Jumpstream, Pyra Magna, 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 this figure began as the Stunticon Legends Class Groove. It would go on to be retooled and given new decos as:
Since Rust Dust has not been retooled at all you can read my original Groove review to see my original thoughts on this base sculpt.
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.
Vehicle Mode:
Rust Dust is, in my opinion, the best example of how the base colors of the Torchbearers can work very well on a figure. The figure is mostly green and black plastic. The green is the copper patina shade mentioned previously in Skyburst's review. This makes up most of the vehicle, with black used for smaller parts like the wheels, windshield and the section with the handlebars. The use of the black plastic really helps break up the relatively bright and unusual green color. Even better, there are no red plastic parts. Instead, red is left to the realm of paint deco.
Paint colors on this figure include black, silver and red. The black is used on the front and rear section of the vehicle, which again helps to break up the green. The silver is found on the seat. The red paint is slightly darker than the red plastic used on other figures in this set and is found on the sides of the vehicle. There is also an Autobot symbol on the front of the vehicle against the black triangular section.
If you look at the windshield section, you will see several Cybertronian glyphs. These 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.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Swing the rear of the vehicle back.
- Swing the sides of the vehicle out to the sides.
- Swing the front of the vehicle back, so you can see the robot head.
- Swing the windshield down to form the chest.
- Split the rear of the vehicle to form the legs.
- Swing the arm/shoulder sections back against the body on either side of the head.
Robot Mode:
The vehicle mode looks good, but the robot mode is where this deco really shines. The green plastic is found on the torso, head and lower legs. The black plastic is found on the upper arms, chest, thighs and feet. The result is that the green is broken up offering lots of appealing visual contrast. The red paint is used to paint the forearms and the crest on his head. This minimal use of the red aids in the contrast against the black and green making for a more visually striking impact. Silver is found on the knee armor and the face and her eyes are blue. This is by far my favorite deco pattern out of all the figures in the boxed set.
The joints on my copy of Rust Dust feel slightly more loose than those on my copy of Groove. It's not terribly however. She can stand and pose just fine. Her fists can still hold 5mm peg weapons without a problem.
Transformation to Armor Mode (from Vehicle Mode):
- Swing the arms out to the sides.
- Split the rear half of the vehicle and swing the halves out to the sides.
- Swing the arms back, under the handlebars then rotate the forearms around and bring them up. The forearms should look tucked against the front wheel.
- Rotate them around so the sides of the vehicle face the same direction as the windshield and front wheel.
- Bend each of robot legs at the knees.
Armor Mode:
Rust Dust looks good in the armor mode. I like the way the green panels wind up on the sides and in the middle with black coloring in between them. I also dig the cool silver "crack" tampographed into the windshield. It gives the impression that this piece truly is serving as battle armor, showing some "battle damage". I also dig how prominent the Cybertronian writing is in this mode since it is facing front.
Final Thoughts:
Out of all the figures in this set Rust Dust has my favorite deco, mostly because she winds up muting the red color quite a bit in favor of the black breaking the colors up. Sure there aren't any new parts, but she looks absolutely fantastic.
