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Text from transformersclub.com: As part of being a member of the Official Transformers Collector's Club, members receive a free action figure each year. In the first four years of the club's existence, these were combiner parts from Energon such as Landquake. In the fifth year, members received a deluxe scale figure to serve as the torso of the combiner Nexus Maximus. In 2010, the use of a deluxe figure as the exclusive continues with Dion. The figure itself is a redeco of Universe 2.0 Hot Shot, specifically the Henkei! Japanese version of the figure that includes the weapon accessories. The character of Dion was originally introduced in the Generation One cartoon series episode "War Dawn" as the best friend of Orion Pax, the robot who would become Optimus Prime. While the writers may not have intended him to even be thought about beyond that episode, speculation went by for years that after his "death" that he was rebuilt as Ironhide or Ultra Magnus. In this continuity, he was indeed rebuilt, but retained his identity as Dion. Included with Dion is Cop-Tur, a Mini-Con whose colors and personality are partly based on the 80's Go-Bot character of the same name. This review will focus on the changes made to the figure for this release. For a detailed look at the mechanics of the figure, check out Universe 2.0 Hot Shot's review.
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Transformation to Robot Mode:
Robot Mode:
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To paraphrase Lanny Lathem (creative director of Fun Publications, who designed this deco), there are a ton of paint applications on this figure. Hot Shot was fairly simple in color scheme, following the color scheme of Armada Hot Shot as its guide. In this case, Lanny treated the car as a clean canvas to paint on an interesting design. There are eight paint application colors used on this vehicle form. To put this in perspective, your average deluxe figure has an average of about four or so colors, and each color adds on cost to the figure, so clearly creating a good looking design took precedent here, which is a great thing to see considering the cost of the figure (whether you purchase it separately or as part of your membership). The most broadly used paint applicaiton is done in blue. Blue was one of the primary colors featured on Dion in "War Dawn" so it is a color that needed to be on the figure. The blue can be found on almost every part of the figure including the hood, over the wheel wells, the spoiler halves and most notably on the doors of the car. The door designs are the coolest. On the front of each door the design begins as an Autobot symbol and then leads to streaks going back with a matching line starting on the rear wheel well and pointing in the opposite direction. It's a beautifully done detail that I would love to see on a real life car, and it alludes to Dion's new found love for speed. Take a closer look and you'll find the numbers "85" by the Autobot symbol in tiny numbers. This serves a dual purpose. One, it is not uncommon for vehicles nowadays to have all sorts of numbers on them (with various points of significance) but more importantly this was the year that "War Dawn" aired (1985). These details alone are quite awesome, but there's more! The lower half of the front of the car as well as the sides and back are painted white. White was also a color found on Dion in the cartoon, so it is great to see the color integrated into the figure. White is also not a color you get to see often on Transformers in such abundance, so it is refreshing in that respect. The side mirrors are painted grey in an attempt to keep consistancy with the translucent grey plastic. Silver paint is used on the grille details on the front end of the vehicle as well as the sides of the wheels. Yellow is used for detailing under the headlights while red is used on the rear lights. The red on the rear lights is quite deep and really draws your eyes in. I thought it was translucent red plastic at first! A bit of black paint is used at the ends of the vents in front of the rear wheels. This is significant since often such details are left unpainted and such attention to detail shows a lot of care went into this deco. The last color I'll note is one that can almost be missed if you don't stare for a bit - orange. While there is plenty of orange plastic, in order for the cabin cover to match up, a bit of orange paint is used on the rear window section, bringing Dion up to an incredible number of paint applications. Dion still has the same functionality in this mode as Hot Shot including having a Powerlinx peg in the back. Cop-Tur very loosely slides into the slots on the spoilers but unfortunately does not fit into it snug. This is more a weakness of the mold itself before it ever became Hot Shot and really there's not much that could have been done with it without an extensive mold change. Where this figure differs from Universe 2.0 Hot Shot is the design of the back of the figure. Using the HenKei! mold, the rear sections have a curved gap in the back that allow the weapons to attach as exhaust pipes. The missiles for these launchers double as exhaust plumes sticking out the back of the figure. These are designed to look more like a blast of flame and are shaped in a thin cylinder, enhancing the emphasis on speed in this figure. The missiles are cast in translucent blue and look really cool. Transformation to Robot Mode:
Robot Mode: Much like the vehicle mode, Dion has many more paint colors than the average deluxe figure in this mode. Altogether he has six different paint colors: silver, two shades of blue, white and two shades of orange. The silver is found on the robot face, helping it stand out from the rest of the colors. A flat blue color is used on his shoulders, matching up with the blue plastic that makes up most of his torso. Metallic blue paint is found on the middle of his helmet section and on the panels in the front of his legs. White paint is found on his chest, mid-body and legs, giving him a very distinct paint pattern from Hot Shot. A shade of bright orange fills in a lot of the details on his chest and legs while a darker orange is used to color a horizontal section of his waist. As if this was not enough detail and color, Dion has an "Elite Guard" badge tampographed onto his left shoulder. I've got to say this color scheme is absolutely fantastic. I really love the way the white is used to outline orange details on his body, and the white paint on his thighs really offers up an unexpected and welcome detail. Overall, this is simply a better looking figure than Hot Shot. One of my major criticisms of Universe 2.0 Hot Shot was his lack of play value. Part of this was due to shoddy construction (his lower legs pop off constantly when I transform him, whereas I've transformed Dion several times and had it only happen once). This time around I have to say that the joints feel more stiff on Dion than they do on my Hot Shot. Don't get me wrong, the limitations of his back kibble are still there, but at least the figure holds together better. Also, enough cannot be said about how much having the weapons adds to the figure. Instead of just having a helicopter sitting on his shoulder, now he can fire at enemies while a helicopter sits on his shoulders! I'm especially appreciative of the fact that these weapons can either be held in his hands or mounted on the sides of his forearms. They may be only simple cylinders without too much design embelishment, but they look great and a lot of the sculpting went into the missiles, which look really nice in their translucent blue color. In an allusion to his past as a dock worker, Fun Publications offered up an alternative pair of accessories for Dion in this form. Detach the rear-vehicle mode kibble from his back and attach them to the sides of his forearms to create "duro lifters". You can then attach his weapons in his back for storage (they almost look like smokestacks back there). While I'm not generally an advocate of disassembling parts that weren't meant to come apart, this actually works really well and I've done it a few times now without the plastic stressing or becoming loose. That said, I don't recommend doing it often.
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Vehicle Mode:
Vehicle Mode:
