There was a time when Dion cared little for the echoes of war beginning to spread across his home world. Occasionally he'd opine on the feats of the new robots with flight capabilities, who he secretly envied, but otherwise turned a deaf audio receptor to the discussion about the start of what some were calling the second Cybertronian war. All that changed the day the war finally found him. The flying robots landed at the front door of the storage depot, led by the one called Megatron. Amicable at first, the encounter quickly turned for the worse when Megatron unleashed his full fury on the dockworkers and fled with that cycle's shipment of Energon.
When Dion awoke, he now was fully aware of what Megatron and the Decepticons were capable of, and having lost all that he had known, Dion decided to join the Elite Guard and now works to stop the Decepticons any way he can!
Figure Details
Manufacturer - Hasbro
Toyline - TFCC
Additions/Mods:
- Added an Autobot symbol to the roof
Review
Dion started life as an improbably-named Transformer (similar to if
Optimus Prime were called 'Kevin') who showed up in the cartoon as Orion Pax's sidekick and was promptly (supposedly) dispatched during the same episode. But his death was not seen on screen, which has allowed Fun Pub to provide a new figure of him. Let's see if it was worth the bother.
Appearance (Robot Mode) 8/10
Since his rebuild, Dion is a bit more badass than the sap who
Megatron blasted a hole in, and accordingly, his figure is pretty cool. The colour scheme is reminiscent of the original, although the yellow is a bit too orange for my liking. The headsculpt is very nice, with a moveable visor, and the guns are decent looking, when not displayed with the silly 'blob' missiles attached. All in all, Dion looks very striking in this mode.
Appearance (Alternate Mode) 7/10
The car mode is slightly more chunky than the standard cars in the 'classicsverse' range, which is understandable as this mould has been repurposed from an earlier toyline. There is a big gap on the rear spoiler which is supposed to be taken up by a small helicopter minicon that this guy comes with. I just pretend that the small helicopter chap doesn't exist. This aside, the car is pretty cool and has some great
Autobot decals by the front wheel arches. The twin exhaust (comprised of the guns) works very well.
Transformation 7/10
This figure is reasonably shell-formerish, which means a lot of making sure all the body panels are aligned just so to make the car mode not look like a M.O.T. failure. But, there are some neat touches. For example, the groin splits (ouch) and the head ends up somewhere between the legs. Dion was clearly a hedonist who warranted more that one episode of screentime.
Poseability 6/10
This guy ain't half bad. His feet have some articulation, allowing you to redistribute the weight subtly, which lends itself to some neat poses. However, there is no waist swivel, and the car kibble on the back of the shoulders collides even in a neutral pose. Also, his arms are splayed out somewhat, as if Dion was quite the power-lifter in his spare time. He has head swivel, and only the one axis of movement in his shoulder. He is blessed with bicep swivel and double-jointed elbows though. He has better movement in his hips, but is crucially lacking thigh swivel which has been replaced with the pretty useless 'shin' swivel.
Quality 6/10
I fear what a mischievous child could do to this toy. There are lots of thin panels which could easily snap or bend if the transformation was done out of sequence. Keep your ham-fisted friends away from him. I also feel like excessive force is required to split his groin, and as I mentioned the shoulder kibble is constantly colliding.
Overall - 34/50
For someone who showed up briefly and then supposedly died, Dion has been awarded a disproportionately nice figure. He even works well as a 'generic' Autobot despite his slightly incongruous alt mode. I bought this from Fun Pub directly for a steal, and would recommend him should you see him going cheap. Now it's up to Hasbro to hurry up with the forthcoming Orion Pax!
