General Information:
Release Date: June 27, 2013
Price Point: $92 (In a two pack with Sandstorm)
Retailer: Botcon Exclusive
Accessories: Rifle
While the theme for this year's boxed set is "Machine Wars", the story is really a follow up tale to the "Generation 2 Redux" boxed set from a couple years ago. This opens the door for some "Generation 2" inspired characters to appear in the line. One of these is "Autobot Electrons", who really has that name for trademark purposes. Originally, the character was known as just "Electro" in "Generation 2". He was a member of the "Laser Rods", a team who used swords as their primary weapons. This time out, Electro is a bigger figure based on the Sargeant Kup mold from "Generations". I recommend checking out both those reviews to get context on the character and sculpt. This review will focus on the changes made to the toy for this release.
Vehicle Mode:
In his "Generation 2" incarnation "Autobot Electrons" (who I'll just call "Electrons" for the rest of the review) was an old style truck that looks like it could have come out of the 1940's or 50's. As with many toys in the line he was given a bright deco using a somewhat pastel color palette for details. The use of Sargeant Kup's sculpt as the base for Electrons makes perfect sense as it too is a somewhat "retro" looking pickup truck.
Electrons' primary plastic color in this form is gold. It's a lighter shade of gold plastic with some silver metallic flakes worked into the mix, giving it a very distinct look. Even without paint applications this figure would pop on a visual level. The wheels are cast in black and the windows are clear plastic, matching up fairly well with the plastic colors of the "Generation 2" version of the character.
The deco pattern on this figure is largely inspired by his "Generation 2" counterpart. The front end and the sides of the wheels have copious amounts of silver paint providing detail. Black is used on the grille and the inside part of the truck bed. Tiny touches go a long way, and that's shown by yellow on the fog lights in front and red on the rear lights in the back. There's even a bit of black paint on the sides of the vehicle that I wouldn't have missed if they didn't exist, but the figure winds up looking so much more detailed with them than without. On the top of the hood is a giant "Generation 2" Autobot symbol resembling Optimus Prime's head. The placement is appropriate as this is the same spot where G2 Electro has an engine sticking out. This kind of adds a "substitute detail" for the engine and it looks great.
Of all the decos however, the ones that most contribute to this figures' connection to his G2 counterpart are a series of tampographs running along the sides of the vehicle. They resemble uneven rock shapes and the pattern starts on the hood and runs to the sides right under the windows. The pattern starts with a pink color and then ends with teal. This bright palette is rather retro but it matches up nicely with a very similar pattern on G2 Electro. With this in place, this figure's deco is firmly solidified as an updated version of Electro's!
The vehicle still feels solid and all functionality is intact. The wheels roll without a problem. The back of the truck still swings down nicely and you can clip "C-Clip" weapons onto the top of the cabin section.
Trasformation to Robot Mode:
- Flip the vehicle over and swing each of the front wheels out to the side.
- Swing out each of the robot arms to the sides.
- Holding the main body of the vehicle, pull the cabin section and hood piece of the vehicle up.
- Tuck the hood panel behind the windshield.
- Swing the cabin section back, which will rotate the main torso section around revealing the robot chest and head.
- Extend each of the arms.
- Pull the halves of the truck's rear half apart.
- Swing the inner panels on the truck bed down to reveal the robot feet.
- Swing panels on the sides of the area near the knees in, then push those panels down to form the knee armor.
- Place the rifle in either hand.
Robot Mode:
Electrons is one of the Botcon 2013 toys that received a new head sculpt. This head design is based on his "Generation 2" counterpart complete with two crests on the top of the head, a mouthplate and two panels that stick up on the sides of the head. The design is not quite as square as Electro's, instead it's more rectangular and well proportioned. It's a fantastic head sculpt.
Another note: the Hoist figure included with the Botcon 2013 boxed set has a shoulder assemly issue where the piece was backwards. Since Electrons uses the same base sculpt some feared this toy would suffer from the same issue but I see no evidence of that on my figure (and there were no mass reports of Electrons being misassembled at Botcon).
In this form gold is still the main color, but silver now plays a role as well. The silver parts make up parts of the arms, thighs and the rifle. Not only is this a good visual counterpoint to the gold, but it's also a color combination carried over from G2 Electro. Make no mistake however, gold is still the primary plastic color with the others forming smaller parts.
Silver is used again in this form, this time making up almost the entire head (similar to G2 Electro). The waist is also painted silver. The eyes are painted blue, but it's a stronger shade than we usually see and it looks great. The pink and blue designs from he vehicle mode carry over to the sides of his chest here, but also appear in a "Y" shaped pattern on his chest that is a wonderful homage to the G2 Electro figure, who has a similar design. The knees have the raised sections painted blue and pink as well, continuing the color theme nicely.
All of Electro's joints are really tight, which isn't too shocking as this sculpt has only been used a few times so far. His weapon can still be held in his hand or clipped to his back without a problem.
Final Thoughts:
Autobot Electrons is one of those great homages that works well in both modes with a fantastic color scheme. The only thing which would've made him absolutely perfect would have been a sword accessory, but that's a nitpick. This guy is fantastic and belongs in any collection that welcomes figures from that odd age called "Generation 2".
