Bot Reviews: Transformers: Legacy Orion Pax/Alpha Trion A Hero is Born 2-Pack.

Well, this was something I was surprised to find. This two-pack of Legacy figures was an online Hasbro Pulse exclusive, released as part of their Pulscon livestream “convention.” I was waffling on whether I’d order one for myself, or rather, if I’d keep or cancel the November 1st preorder I put down, mostly because the exchange rate to Canadian dollars, combined with exorbitant shipping made it a bit too rich for my blood. And then, I went into a local Gamespot to see if there was anything new Transformers-wise, only to find a physical copy right there on the shelf, a full three weeks ahead of the Pulse release. Of course, after tax (but with my membership card discount) it came to about $101 Canadabucks, a bit steep for a Voyager and Deluxe together, though there’s extra stuff in the box.

So, what’s here? Well, it’s a loose recreation of the Optimus Prime Origin Story from the animated series episode “War Dawn,” where he was once a small, mild-mannered dock worker named Orion Pax (his funky name and very different-from-Optimus design meant to very badly obfuscate his identity to 80s kids). Pax gets shot and killed by Megatron, whom he didn’t yet recognize as a villain, and Alpha Trion, the ancient, mysterious sage, rebuilds him into Optimus Prime specifically to set him against the Decepticons.

The set also comes with Vector Sigma, the origin of Transformers life on the Cartoon, and its key, which weren’t in that episode, but were guarded by Alpha Trion in the present day, and are usually tied to him in later media.

Both of these guys are retools of figures I’ve previously reviewed, Studio Series 86 Kup and Scourge respectively, but I’ve still got a lot to say, since this is a big (and pricy) set.

Orion Pax, Robot Mode

There’s perhaps less demand for this part of the set, since we’ve had far more available G1 Orion Paxes out there, including a mass-release Thrilling 30 figure in 2013, and a gimmicky “evolves to Optimus” version in Power of the Primes in 2017. But this one’s at least a) cartoon styled, and b) a standalone figure, compared to those two. As for the base tooling, Orion Pax being a retool of Kup is a choice with history, extending all the way back to a Takara exclusive repaint of Kup’s G1 toy into him in 2006. Which makes sense, because it works weirdly well.

In his robot mode, Pax has got a new head, front torso, forearms, and shins, all sculpted to resemble his Sunbow model in meticulous detail, and, well, it fits, with his Kup identity pretty seamlessly vanishing. One of the weirder bits of Kup’s design was his long, thin noodle-limbs, and while those are still inaccurate on this guy, they kind of suit a character who’s textually small and weak, compared to the beefy bruiser he’ll become.

Speaking of that, there’s little to no obvious “Optimus Prime” details in him (maybe a light suggestion with his chest-window and grill-abs), but again, that’s deliberate, they were kinda-sorta acting like we didn’t know who he was (fun fact: Orion Pax was initially created as a potential Ultra Magnus design).

Uptop, that’s a real good headsculpt, too.

Something about the face really captures the cartoon’s specific look.

The sculpt may be trying to hide who he is, but the colors are a dead giveaway, being the traditional Optimus red, blue, grey, white and yellow. Again, it’s hyper-toon-accurate, and does a good job of massaging the non-retooled bits into looking like his animation model. It’s not totally the same set of colors, either, with the blue being a kind of muted, greyer shade than something Optimus usually uses. It’s a really vibrant red, though, and brings to mind the Premium Finish Bee Movie Optimus repaint. Speaking of premium, I can’t immediately say if he’s slathered in above-mainline-Deluxe-levels of paint, he doesn’t give that impression, but he does seem to have every lick of color his Sunbow model does, so that’s something. My one complaint is that they did the old “include the clear plastic for a lightpiping gimmick, but then paint over the eyes” thing, and it’s not like headsculpt’s gonna pop up somewhere else (probably).

Well, that and he has a build quality issue: His noodle limbs pop off, a remnant of Kup’s gimmick of Being Torn Apart By A Squid, and the problem is that they’re noticeably looser on Pax than on him.

Not loose enough to fall off, but just enough to sometimes come out during posing. If you know how to use floor polish to tighten joints, a layer ought to do it. Outside of that, though, his joints are nice and tight, and he still has the same great, bendy articulation as Kup, minus Wrist Swivels (why not? They don’t need folding away for transformation or anything).

Not to keep bringing the noodle limbs up, but they’re great for posing him into About To Be Killed, Terrified, I Am Not Yet A Brave Hero poses (and that makes me almost wish he had a Hauler-esque Distressed Shout face). Oh, I thought I had an issue with his shoulders popping out of his torso along their transformation joint, but I just had to make sure they were securely tabbed in.

For features, he’s got those pull-apart limbs, which happen to be amusingly appropriate for a character whose fate is to get blown up. And they’re Weaponizer-compatible stumps and limbs, too, if you want to imagine Trion really whiffing on the reconstruction.

Outside of that, he’s got Kup’s accessories: A small red pistol, and a solid blue box of “Energon goodies” from the animated movie.

The pea-shooter pistol, again, felt odd on Kup, but feels character-appropriate here. The snacks, less so, but maybe Orion was on a snack break, or was going to offer them to Megatron.

The CGI render on the box, meanwhile, seems to be trying to pass it off as a Walkie-Talkie, which, given how it’s sculpted, fair.

Transformation

It’d been awhile since I’d transformed Kup, so I needed to check the instructions on this guy. That, and it’s a surprisingly involved transformation for a Deluxe, where he bends in half backwards at the waist in a grotesque reverse-ab-crunch, and you unify the halves via a lot of panels and tabs.

He’s a bit on the fiddly side, and it initially feels like nothing is going to fit or peg together, until, suddenly, it all does, and it all fits together. It’s a neat moment.

Vehicle Mode

We never saw Orion Pax’s alternate mode on the cartoon, which gives potential toy designers carte blanche to make it whatever they want, and in this case, it’s Kup’s abstract, Cybertronian alternate mode, kind of a pickup truck, which works well as the baby form of a Truck Optimus, and is surprisingly sleek-looking, The only bit of retooling visible in this mode is the chest, which conveniently forms the front of the truck, so the window and grill on it sees practical use.

Once everything pegs in, he’s solid and stable, albeit kind of small and stumpy-feeling, especially around the back, which makes me wonder exactly what he’s capable of hauling, particularly with no back to his truck bed.

His colors are distributed really evenly in this mode, making for a clean two-tone of blue and red otherwise, with details on the hood alone. One big blemish he has is that his wheels are unpainted gray, with a plainly visible red mushroom peg, making the mode feel like it wasn’t the priority.

For features, you can peg his gun and his Mysterious Box onto his altmode sides, on specific bespoke tabs, for a pseudo-attack-mode with the gun.

It’s a little extra I appreciate. That, and he can roll, though I’m unclear if his shins are scraping the ground, or if his wheels are a bit on the stiff side.

Overall

You know, out of the two figures in the set, this was the one I was interested in less, but in practice, I liked him more than I thought I would. It helps that it’s a really effective retool that solidly works as the character.

The new bits on him make for a good cartoony sculpt, and make him feel like he has less design jank than Kup. He comes with a ittle bit of a fiddly transformation, pop-off limbs don’t like to stay on, but yeah. I’d say he’s pretty solid.

I don’t know if he’s Rare Convention Exclusive solid, but he’s probably the best Sunbow Pax out there.

Alpha Trion

It’s funny, there’s technically been more figures of this guy than Orion, and more mass-released versions of him, but they’ve not often been based on his actual G1 Cartoon design, usually being some kind of riff on it.

Titans Return did a mass-released version of him that was, oddly, a barbarian-looking warrior that changed into a lion (and a spaceship). Power of the Primes, meanwhile, did him as a tiny Prime Master that didn’t resemble his traditional design at all. And he got a nice, big gimmick figure a few years back of his Cyberverse design. But his Sunbow cartoon self’s only existed as a BotCon exclusive retool, or a non-transforming action figure. This new version is an extensive reworking of Studio Series 86 Scourge, seemingly inspired by a proposed Takara repaint of Generations 1.0 Scourge that lost a poll, and never got made. Also, he’s based on present-day Alpha Trion, and not the alternate, “younger” design from War Dawn, so this is clearly aiming to be everyone’s main G1 Alpha Trion, for now.

In his robot mode, Trion’s got more new parts than I was expecting. His head, upper torso, shoulders, and upper arms are all new. Amusingly, he’s got Scourge’s open left hand, and the Sweep retool’s open right hand, making him symmetrically open-palmed.

As a final touch, the outermost flaps on his wings have been replaced with straight pieces, meant to resemble his cape.

I’ll be real: Next to Pax, this retool’s a little bit lacking, in that it didn’t fully change him into a new character, he still reads as “Scourge with alterations,” or “Alpha Trion’s head on Scourge’s body.” It’s not for lack of trying, all the new details on his torso are very specifically based on his Sunbow Animation Model. I think what it comes down to is his silhouette, it’s not shaped like Trion’s, with his large shoulderpads and tiny cape, it’s still shaped like Scourge’s, largely because it has to be the same shape for the figure’s transformation to work. I do tend to fold his wings in a bit more, to suggest more of a cape, at least

Still, it’s not bad looking, it just came out like a normal “obvious retool of a different character,” compared to Pax. And like Pax, Trion’s got a really nice head sculpt, too, even if the beard’s a bit short for practical reasons, like on Studio Series 86 Wreck-Gar.

The sculpt captures the weirdness of his Sunbow head, including his sticky-out glasses-like eyes, and his high collar.

The colors are, again, doing a lot of heavy lifting on him. He’s a mostly cartoon-accurate mix of deep maroon, dark purple, and off-white, and they’re distributed in a way that’s trying really hard to imitate his cartoon layout, and even suggest the shoulderpads that aren’t on him. It seems elaborate, but it’s just the three colors, plus an Autobrand and blue eyes. Still, the paint’s been generously applied, and he feels like he’s got more of a deco budget than Scourge. I do kind of wish his waist was painted, that’s the only bit of cartoon deco that he’s missing.

Unlike Pax, Trion’s got no build quality problems, all of his joints are just as impressively tight and stable as on Scourge, and he comes with the full Siege Suite of bendy bits, plus multi-jointed wings, though the sculpt of his thighs impedes his legs a little bit. The double open hands work well with his posing, too, making him feel like a dramatic, wizardly old sage.

For accessories, Trion just comes with Scourge’s gun, in purple, without Scourge’s blast effect.

It’s admittedly not very characterful, since I don’t really remember Trion ever packing heat, but if it was that or nothing, it’s fine, I suppose. Also, you can weaponize him just a little bit, for when the Sage is through talking.

Transformation

You know, this shellformer transformation has grown on me, probably because of how straightforward it is. The middle segment of the outsides of the shell is still annoyingly hard to snap in, but it’s easier overall than Pax.

Also, some internal retooling means it’s a pain to get part of the ligature Trion’s head is on out of his torso, I needed a knife the first time around, though it got easier with time.

Vehicle Mode

Alpha Trion still changes into a weird hover-boat type thing, making him even more clearly Still Scourge than in his other mode. Credit where it’s due, though, there’s more retooling effort put in here.

Trion’s got a new shell that first around his head that’s a fresh design, designed to accentuate his headsculpt. He’s also got new painted cockpit in front of his head.

But those bits can’t really disguise what’s fundamentally the same, distinctive altmode.

Maybe if they’d had the budget to retool his cape, since the body of the thing is mostly made up of it. Still, what’s here is solid, save for those fiddly bits midway up his sides.

It’s still a nicely-colored altmode, too, in the same three colors, which pull the same trick as Pax’s altmode, where they’re a lot more evenly–distributed now.

For features, again, you can clip his gun onto his side.

More distinctively, though, he can still do Scourge’s head-popped-out third mode.

But it’s also got Scourge’s problem of this mode being way too complicated to get to, for a kind of middling result. To recap: You basically have to do about half of his robot-mode transformation, splitting open his shell, instead of just, like, raising the head up, and the finished product has the head supported on a platform of panels. Really, a telescoping neck would have been much simpler.

That being said, I find this mode a bit more charming on Trion, if only because I imagine this Boat of Wisdom sailing the spaceways, lecturing whoever floats by it.

Overall

Alpha Trio’s definitely not as strong of a retool as Orion Pax, in that he’s still very Scourge-y.

But Pax was blessed with a doppelganger to use as a base. For what he is, Alpha Trion is a strong effort, and it’s better-looking than his Botcon retool, and more fitting for the character than his Titans Return Voyager. Critically, I wasn’t really enamored with Scourge, but I do like this guy better, thanks to him being a more interesting character, in more interesting colors. He’s still got Scourge’s issue of feeling a bit too “basically competent,” but the retooling adds a sense of the special.

Still, I’ll say this: Pax is good enough to not need a new mold, this can be Orion’s current figure. But if Alpha Trion got a newly-tooled, cartoon-based Generations figure, it would immediately supersede this.

Vector Sigma

On the cartoon, this long lost computer gave Transformers their personalities, and was protected by Alpha Trion. It came with a key that was needed unlock it, with that key also having the totally-unrelated secondary ability to Cyberform organic life, making it a threat to the Earth. I was more familiar with both these implements when they showed up on Beast Machines, retconned as a link to Primus, but otherwise visually identical to their old designs, so I’m pretty happy to have a physical representation of them both. There’s been a couple attempts at both the Key and the Computer in the past, usually sold with more expensive things, like Masterpieces and BotCon figures, so this is probably the most easily-available they’ve ever been.

So, the main accessory, Sigma itself, is a sphere that looks a bit like a golf ball, but is closer in size to a tennis ball. It’s painted metallic gold (over clear plastic), and refreshingly isn’t flat yellow like some previous ones. It’s sculpted with elaborate triangles along its surface, like its media appearances, but they’re marred by a big equatorial seam on the thing, which kind of bums me out, since this seam was absent in all the stock photos, though I suppose it’s an inevitable part of the production process, and it’s not like there isn’t holes on the top and bottom anyway.

On the plus side, while the sphere is definitely hollow, it’s more weighty than I was expecting.

The sphere also comes with a really solid two-part clear plastic base for the sphere, with tech details sculpted into the bottom, so it can hover ominously. But more importantly, there’s a buried lede here: That stand attaches to the sphere through a 5MM, War for Cybertron compatible accessory port, meaning you can a) attach other accessories to Vector Sigma instead, or, more entertainingly, b) attach Vector Sigma itself to other characters.

And that’s where the fun happens.

The other, rectangular slop uptop is for the other accessory, the Key to Vector Sigma.

Don’t jam it in there too far, though, or it’ll be a pain to pull out. As for the key itself, it’s painted the same metallic gold, and has a nicely detailed sculpt.

The big problem I have with it is that it’s a little too big to be 5MM compatible, meaning modern mainline transformers with closed fists for hands can’t really hold, or interact with it at all.

If the narrow end of it was just a little bit shorter, it’s work. As it stands, figures need either poseable hands, or open-sculpted hands to hold it.

Luckily, Trion’s open hands are a perfect fit, so at least it’s compatible with the figures in the set.

Overall

This is a nice set, in general. It’s decent, but not immaculate. It uses two molds that were good-but-not-great, and while I think it improves on both of them, it doesn’t really augment either of them all the way up to a higher tier, in my eyes.

Orion Pax is a standout, he works really well, and feels like an improvement over Kup. Trion doesn’t work as well, but is an improvement on Scourge, even if Scourge’s innate humdrum brings him down. And Vector Sigma is a nice bonus, though I do question value-for-money. Let’s do some math.

A Deluxe and a Voyager together, at Gamestop, would set me back $83.98 in Canada Bucks, before tax. This set’s on shelves now for $99.98, so you’re basically spending an extra $16 on Vector Sigma, and the nebulous possibility that the budget on the individual figures might be higher. That’s *maybe* worth it, though, in my case, I have an Edge card, which shaved ten dollars off that price, and an extra 6 bucks was a much better proposition. Still, I’d say it’s basically worth it, but I definitely wouldn’t have thought so if I’d swallowed the import-and-exchange costs of my Pulse preorder.

So, where does that leave me on the whole box? It’s not bad, and it’s a clever bit of retooling, with a good accessory, but I’m a bit lukewarm on the whole set. This isn’t a must-have, but if you’d like a Pax, Trion, and Sigma, this is the best option, until something better happens.

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