Welcome to the Powet Top 5, where we explore the top (and bottom) 5 items we think are relevant to any of a variety of topics that span the imagination. Sit back, read, and respond.

We’ve listed the Top 5 Botcon Sets here at Powet, but Fun Publications does more than just Botcon. They also run the Official Transformers Collectors’ Club, and with that comes it’s own rich assortment of exclusive toys. With the impending commencement of the new Club Subscription Service, we thought we’d look back at the last few years of Transformers Club Exclusives.

Here are 5 of the best exclusives Fun Publications has released through the Transformers Club. This is sure to be a contentious list, so be sure to let me know what you think of it!

5. Autobot Infantry: Dion
This figure answers an age old question amongst Transformers fans: Who is Dion? 

Nine million years ago, Dion and his best friend Orion Pax were victims of a Decepticon assault on the docks where they worked. Orion Pax went on to be rebuilt as the future leader of the Autobots: Optimus Prime. Dion was never seen or heard from again. Fans have often speculated that Dion was similarly rebuilt, perhaps into characters like Ironhide or Ultra Magnus.

Thanks the the Transformers Club, we now know that Dion stayed Dion, but he got an upgrade and went on to join the Generation 1 version of the Autobot Elite Guard! While the Universe Hot Shot toy doesn’t particularly look Dion, his original design was pretty generic anyway. He’s got a really beautiful orange and blue deco though, and even carries the missile launchers that were only available in the Japanese version of the original release.

 

This exclusive takes an old character, mixes it up with new ideas, and brings along accessories unreleased in the US. Throw in a GoBot homage for his Mini-Con – Cop-Tur – and it’s easy to see why Dion definitely embodies the spirit of these exclusives as something made by the fans, for the fans.

4. Autobot Speedy Knight: Side Burn
The Robots in Disguise line is somewhat unique among the US Transformers continuities. Among the main lines, it ran for the shortest amount of time, and with few exceptions the characters and concepts didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the brand as a whole for a while. Whereas G1 is constantly mined for references and updates, Robots in Disguise rarely gets a second look. So, when it happens, fans pay attention.

Side Burn is an extremely faithful attempt to bring the character into a more traditional “G1’ style. No modern mold quite captures the silhouette of the original RiD toy, but the Classics Hot Rod figure has enough in common with it – exposed engine chest, general head shape, fast sports car alt mode, – that the choice doesn’t seem that far fetched.

 

For having a wonderfully slavish deco that really helps differentiate this exclusive from the original release, being an excellent tribute to a series that has fallen out of the mainstream consciousness, and for the unintended but still awesome feature of being able to hold the original’s weaponry, Side Burn is an easy selection for this list.

3. Seacon Superwarrior: Piranacon
Way back at the Official Transformers Collectors Convention in 2004, Hasbro unveiled a redeco of the original Seacon combiner Piranacon as a new, Wal*Mart exclusive giftset. It was to be sold under the Energon banner, and the characters were presented as further reinforcements for the Terrorcons. Unfortunately, as the years passed us by, so did the set’s release. Wal*Mart had apparently dropped the exclusive, but Hasbro seemed intent on finding a place for it.

It took them almost four years, but they did it. And people say Hasbro never gives us what we ask for.

While the deco hadn’t changed from it’s original unveiling in 2004, the characters were once again the original Seacons, presented in the bios as having been upgraded since the last time we saw them nearly 20 years previous. They were sold together in an awesome box set, with artwork that evoked the classic Japanese Transformers boxes of the late 80s.

 

The Seacon set is an example of a toy that quite factually would not have been made available to fans if it wasn’t for the club – and trust me, Hasbro tried! At the time, the Seacons had not been reissued, so getting these G1 toys through the club was really special. Despite being vintage molds these new Seacons featured paint befitting a modern toy, giving them a striking new “tropical fish” color scheme and making for a really impactful set.

2. Decepticon Jet: Ramjet
In the 1990s neon was king and questionable color combinations ruled the roost. And so, during Transformers: Generation 2 many classic toys were re-released in striking color schemes that leave many today shouting words like “gaudy” and “retina-destroying.” While taste is subjective, the fact is that like many things from the 90s G2 color schemes just don’t fly in mass market retail scenarios. For a long time, those of us more radical dudes and dudettes were left with nothing but nostalgic memories of those more bodacious times.

That is until the year 2010 came along. Released as a counterpart to the totally bad G2 Botcon set, Ramjet took the popular Classics Seeker mold, dipped it in hypercolor, and sent it out the factory doors cruising on a skateboard blasting Vanilla Ice from a boombox.

 

If the Seacon set was a difficult to bring to retail, Ramjet represents something that Hasbro would probably never even attempt to sell to normal people. The deco just oozes 90s goodness, and is a perfect recreation of the original G2 version, down to the choice of typeface for the text on the vehicle mode tampographs. Lay down some fresh, vintage-styled foil stickers, and it’s hard to see Ramjet as anything other than totally tubular.

1. Decepticon Cars – Runamuck and Runabout Run-Over
Sometimes we see exclusive redecos that kinda sorta work – they evoke the spirit of the character or concept well enough that we forgive the details for not matching up all that well. Dion and Side Burn both do a great job of being Dion and Side Burn, but look at them hard enough and they’re really just an orange Hot Shot and a blue Hot Rod.

Every once in a while though, we get a redeco that is just so perfect that it borderlines on magical – it’s as if the mold was always destined to be this new character, and we’re just now seeing its true potential unveiled before our eyes. This is the case with the Runabros.

As redecos of the Generations Wheeljack mold, Runamuck and Runabout feature robot forms that match up to their original designs insanely well. And due to the way the toy’s transformation works, you can even fold in the door wings pushing them even further towards the classic look for the characters. Pop on a new head sculpt and you have a stunningly accurate update to these classic characters. If somebody didn’t know they were based on the Wheeljack toy, you could forgive them for thinking this toy was designed from the ground up to be the Battlechargers.

 

And yes, it might be cheating to lump these two together as they were made available separately, but they were clearly designed as a set and they even made a spot for Runamuck to fit in Runabout’s box.

So there.

Possibly Related Posts