We are kicking off an overdue new update to our galleries, looking at the fan-made Combiner, Victorion! Made up of six female Autobots – Pyra Magna, Dust Up, Jumpstream, Skyburst, Stormclash, and Rust Dust, Victorion sports a unified red and green “rust” inspired colorscheme across all her component figures. The five larger toys also feature new weapons which merge into a huge sword, new heads, new chests, and new hands / arms. With the amount of remolding involved, all the individuals feel like they have their own identity – and we’ll come to them in more detail when we do their individual galleries.
Victorion herself has some great design going on. First and foremost, the combined mode features a new head, and a new chest (though you don’t see much of this with Rust Dust attached). The combiner also has new dedicated hand and foot parts, which again set Victorion apart from those that went before. The new feet have ankle tilts and toe articulation, which makes it much easier for Vicky to strike wide stances. The hands also have some finger articulation, which helps with bringing some poses to life. I also complement the new combined mode head molding, which evokes the Generation 1 style of “helmet fitting over a smaller robot head”.
That said, Victorion is not flawless. A running problem I had with all six toys was that their paint seemed to chip very easily. Rust Dust also has a lot of problems staying attached, if you plug her in so the Autobot symbol is right-side up. The new hands also have the 5mm socket drilled through an odd place in the hands, behind the thumb, which can look like Vicky isn’t holding her weapons in her hands. Your mileage may also vary on the choice of colors, butI will say that in hand they do go well together and look much better than earlier highly-saturated images led on.
Check out our gallery of the combined giant Victorion and see what you think, and check back soon for a look at the rest of the Torchbearers / Rust Renegades:
koonfasa
What's with the toe joint? I kinda shaved off the plastic bending it back the wrong way.
Otherwise…
GizmoTron
Because it's not a Platinum release. This is just a regular old Combiner Wars release, just sold in one big box instead of separately.
Lovecraft
They only don't paint the rims in toys that turn into vehicles that typically have black rims.
I'm not saying it's not a cost thing, it is, but they have been consistent with only sparsing on wheel paint for figures who's real-life accuracy won't be heavily affected.
TheGrognard
It looks similar but it's not the same head.
Same as Pyra Magna's not being Prowl's.
Bountyan
Yeah, I share that gripe with Pyra Magna not having painted wheels. Regardless of the type of alt mode having painted rims just looks so much better.
Edwardmus Prime
I think her wheels weren't painted because of some weird line wide trend. Service vehicles don't get painted rims. Like Prowl, who's a police car, doesn't get painted rims yet his recolor Smokescreen, who is supposed to be a "sports car" does have painted rims. First Aid, Rook, Streetwise, Hot Spot, Optimus, Motormaster and probably some I am forgetting don't have painted rims, but the rest of the Stunticons (aside from Blackjack), Jumpstream and Dust Up have painted rims. I'm not saying it makes sense or anything like that, but that it is a trend with these toys.
CodeXCDM
Ugh… for a Platinum release… how is it that the wheels on Pyra Magna are unpainted??? Otherwise, the set as a whole looks rather nice. Still wish the green were more Perceptor-friendly. ON that note… someone should pose Classics Perceptor with the girls.
Also… I can see Magna's retool used towards a Strongarm if Takara felt like repainting/retooling the Victorion group into another multiversal combiner.
Pharoid
Yeah that and the broad shoulders nice feminine look Hasbro.
Pharoid
Love to see Hasbro giving it the old half-effort. At least they are consistent in their not really trying or caring. Love that Night Bird head nice reuse.
Sol Fury
Rounding out the Torchbearers, it's a double feature with Rust Dust and Pyra Magna!
Pyra is my favourite in the set. I like the way her head came out, and just the overall look of her. It helps I already really liked the mold – best Voyager in the line, in my opinion. She's let down by the issue with the nubs in her knees, though, and on mine one of the legs did not lock in properly for Victorion mode.
Combiner Wars Pyra Magna gallery
Rust Dust is a redeco of Legends Groove, a mold she can now own thanks to Deluxe Groove getting a wide release. The green and black is very striking, but be careful with the tabs on her arms – they're painted and seem vulnerable to paint chipping. Also, it would have been nice if Hasbro could have given us a weapon for Rust Dust when they were designing weapons for the other five Torchbearers.
Combiner Wars Rust Dust gallery
For this last image, I borrowed Generations Chromia's gun – it's a good match for Rust Dust and fits nicely in her hands.
Sol Fury
If I were ever to do a sponsored review, I'd say it outright and clearly. I'm just a guy who likes to focus on the positives far more than the negatives – and if you look over my last few, you can see I do flag bad points too. I just don't dwell.
l0te
At first impression, I didn't like her because she has a freaky little alien head… Then I remembered that she is in fact an alien, and now I like that she looks a bit weird.
C.I.A.D.
I don't know why, but her face paint, especially on her lips, is a bit too pouty for me…
RNSrobot
i mean, your mileage may vary. The head looks great IMO. They have new hands/arms and chests as well. It's a great toy. *shrugs*
Regarding QC: Other than the misassembled knee struts (I've already trimmed the nubs off so she can properly transform into robot mode), my Victorion may be the most solid of any combiner in the line. Everything is tight, holds together well. Couldn't be happier.
YMMV. I've got a great Sky-Lynx, some friends have floppy neck.
OperaSingerPrime
Victorion QC issues
I was wondering if anybody was having QC issues? I found the plastic quality to be very low and flimsy. Things not clipping together properly etc.
I love the esthetic and thinks she looks fantastic… just disappointed in the plastic quality.
MartyFeeb
AMAZING pics, once again! You guys really add a lot of salt to a somewhat tasteless dish (imo)!
Are these reviews sponsored…? Or… is it just really sheik to gush positively about things? Cause this is an excellent paid review (so if it's not sponsored, it really should have been)!
The head looks like a custom, though. A BAD custom. I can understand you accept it because Hasbro stamped their name on it, but… if this was a job you paid someone for? Would you really go, "yeah… that looks exactly how I'd want it! Here's your $50!"???
My main gripe with this set is the cut corners… and how obvious those are. New heads only… did FunPub design this toy?
I just expect something more impressive from the grandaddy of transforming bots! More retooling, at the very least. But the figure just reeks of "DON'T BREAK THE LOW BUDGET!!!! DON'T!!!!" I guess I should be happy they didn't siphon money from a more important combiner like Computron, but… this was the "fan vote" and it just feels like an afterthought, overall.
I'm not knocking your proud owners (I'm certain she looks better in person!!); my gripe is how I don't feel like she's necessary in the TF universe, based on this design, and that's a shame. The IDW representation is impressive; this is not.
Super4Ever
This is my only Combiner so far, and I absolutely love her. Such a great looking figure and a welcome addition to my collection.
Haywired
I don't see how they look bad, aside of their somewhat repetitive color schemes. Jumpstream looks cute. There's something going with a visual contrast of this delicate face and this blocky body type on this figure. It works for me.
Breakdown mold isn't anything to "wow" anyone, but she wears it well.
Zylly103
The Breakdown mold is probably my least favorite CW mold, but it works really well here with Jumpstream.
Sol Fury
And here's part 4, a little lady named Jumpstream! Averting the mold fatigue of the rest, she's a reuse of the less frequently seen Breakdown mold, with entire new lower arms alongside the new head and chest. She's also got lots of that lovely green on her car mode. I'd say overall, she is my favourite of the four Deluxes and second favourite in the set as a whole. She just really clicks for me.
Combiner Wars Jumpstream gallery
Did someone say about a gun? Because if you have Jumpstream hold her shield underslung, it makes for a decent looking machine gun shield hybrid.
Borrowing Skyburst's sword for some sword and shield action