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Zob's Thoughts on Legacy Voyager-Class G2 Jhiaxus
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Zobovor
Jul 8, 2022, 10:32:03 PM7/8/22
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I had pre-ordered this guy from Hasbro Pulse, with an expected ship date of October, but when I heard Amazon had him in stock, I placed an order and was able to get him two days later. (At this point, whoever receives the toys first gets my money. I'm really not picky.)
First, some history! In 1993, after the cancelled Transformers toy line had been ressurected as Transformers: Generation 2, Marvel Comics decided to bring back the comic book as well. Writer Simon Furman was allowed to turn the mythos on its ear, so he came up with a story about a tyrant named Jhiaxus who had taken control of Cybertron after the passengers aboard the Ark were presumed lost, and in the millions of years interim, his Cybertronians had ostensibly become more evolved than the warlike Decepticons. Jhiaxus was created for the comics, and wasn't based on any existing Hasbro toy.
We did get an orange redeco of the Deluxe-scale Beast Machines Jetstorm called Jhiaxus in 2003, an exclusive to KB Toys, but it had nothing to do with the original character. We got a slightly more accurate version of Jhiaxus in 2014, as a partial remold of the Armada Starscream tribute from Generations, but it was colored like the KB Toys orange creamsicle version. So, this is the first accurate version of the character we've ever gotten. Only took 29 years!
The toy is marketed as "G2 Universe Jhiaxus," which is a little strange in that G2 was just a continuation of G1. It's not as though G2 can't exist in the same world as G1, so I'm not sure I'd describe it as a whole separate continuity as they do with the "Armada Universe" toys, the "Prime Universe" toys, etc. I mean, toys like Covert Agent Sideswipe, G2 Megatron, G2 Ramjet, etc. were sold as part of the mainline without designating him as being from a whole other continuity. But, I degress.
As a robot, he's almost seven inches in height. He's predominantly a creamy white, a little bit like Siege Apeface, with some yellow painted deco on his chest and legs, a red-colored helmet, and green bat wings mounted to both his back and the sides of his legs. In the comics, Jhiaxus was white with blue shading, and this style of coloring has been used in the past to represent toys that were light grey, light blue, metallic silver, white, or vac-metal chrome. Any of those would probably have been fine, but creamy white works. The toy does a good job of capturing Jhiaxus's powerful, bulky physique. In the comics, he seems to have been designed as a beefed-up version of Starscream—he had the canopy in his chest, the helmet with vents on either side, and an air intake on his shoulder that even shared details with the stickers on the Starscream toy. He's got a tiny G2 Decepticon symbol on his chest, above the canopy glass.
His articulation is quite dynamic, with shoulders that both swivel and pivot out to the sides, swivel biceps, moving elbows and wrists, fingers that open in tandem, a swivel waist, a ball-and-socket head joint, a wide range of hip and knee movement, and ankles that both tilt and pivot. Just about the only thing you can't really do is adjust the angle or position of the wings on his back.
He comes with two guns, a large, red rifle and a smaller, flatter pistol that is made of the same clear smokey plastic as his chest canopy, but painted mostly silver. In the G2 comics, most characters toted around ridiculously-oversized weapons in true 90's style (think Cable or Bishop), and while Jhiaxus was usually above racing into battle with guns blazing, they're very true to the era—lots of random wires and cables and things protruding from them for no real reason. The red rifle is much bigger and cooler; the smaller one almost seems like an afterthought, like soembody realized there was a bit of room left on the clear parts mold and went, "Well, why not an extra gun?"
He is compatible with Weaponizers, with peg-holes present in his back, shoulders, the sides of his forearms, the sides of his legs, and under his feet. The tips of his weapons can accept Siege-era blast effects, but nowhere else on his body as far as I can tell.
When the Jhiaxus character was created (and likely designed by Derek Yaniger), little or no thought was given to the practical engineering behind how he might actually transform. In the comics, he transformed into a rounded vehicle very much in the style of G1 Scourge, only with the protruding bat wings. That wouldn't have been easily reproduced at this level of scale and complexity. The vehicle mode is okay, and it kind of looks like Jhiaxus, but the design emphasis for this toy was clearly on the robot mode.
To transform him, the head and side air intake tuck into the open chest compartment, while the chest itself swings open to reveal the jet nosecone. (Jhiaxus was drawn with a rounded nosecone on the back of his head most of the time, suggesting his head "really" became the nosecone, like the Starscream toy.) The upper legs tuck into the lower legs, which become the back of the jet; the smaller bat wings fold away and are not used in this form. Halves of a central stabilizer fin swing out from the insides of the legs and join together. The robot arms just end up tucked away as part of the undercarriage.
The jet mode is about eight inches in length, with a six-inch wingspan. It doesn't look like the Scourge-style hovercraft from the comics. It's longer and more rectangular, and the tucked-away robot arms add like an inch to the undercarriage. There are no wheels whatsoever, fake or otherwise. Also, the instructions say to position the wings towards the rear of the vehicle, and there are bars that swing back to accomplish this purpose, but honestly he looks better, and more accurate, with the wings centered closer to the middle of the craft. Losing the smaller bat wings also feels like a mistake; true, he only has one set of wings in the comics, but since they're diverging from that look anyway, they should have kept the small wings out to serve as rudders. The visible wiring on his legs is still apparently, but while it looks cool in robot mode, in vehicle mode it just makes him look incomplete, like Siege Astrotrain.
You can mount his gun underneath his nosecone, but don't do this. It just makes a bad vehicle look even worse.
Even though the vehicle mode is a disappointment, the ability to transform is almost incidental to Jhiaxus as a character (I think we only see him in vehicle mode once or twice). Making the robot mode the priority was the right choice. He transforms because he's part of a toy line called Transformers, much like the Quintesson Judge, but this is not why you bought the toy. You bought it because you wanted an action figure of Jhiaxus.
I do love that Hasbro has been branching out and exploring other parts of the mythos, especially if it means they're looking at G2 on occasion. (Yes, selling us toys of Sideswipe and Ramjet and all the rest in G2 colors is great, but I also want updates of the Axelerators, the Skyscorchers, the Color Changers, the Laser Rods, Rotor Force, Go-Bots, etc.) Jhiaxus was probably the most important Transformers character who never got an accurate toy, so it's great that they finally addressed him. Making him a Voyager was a good choice, too, since he scales correctly with characters he tangled with in the G2 comics, like Optimus Prime and G2 Megatron.
I've been trying to think of how Hasbro might repurpose this toy and try to sell it to us again, remolded and in different colors. I keep thinking his vehicle mode looks a lot like the vehicle shell for Ultra Pretender Skyhammer. And, now that I see the resemblance, I can't see anything else. I'm not saying it's a foregone conclusion that they'll do this, of course. There are always a handful of toys that never get a redeco at all, and this could end up being one of them.
Zob (I've been right more often than I've been wrong about these sorts of things, though)
First, some history! In 1993, after the cancelled Transformers toy line had been ressurected as Transformers: Generation 2, Marvel Comics decided to bring back the comic book as well. Writer Simon Furman was allowed to turn the mythos on its ear, so he came up with a story about a tyrant named Jhiaxus who had taken control of Cybertron after the passengers aboard the Ark were presumed lost, and in the millions of years interim, his Cybertronians had ostensibly become more evolved than the warlike Decepticons. Jhiaxus was created for the comics, and wasn't based on any existing Hasbro toy.
We did get an orange redeco of the Deluxe-scale Beast Machines Jetstorm called Jhiaxus in 2003, an exclusive to KB Toys, but it had nothing to do with the original character. We got a slightly more accurate version of Jhiaxus in 2014, as a partial remold of the Armada Starscream tribute from Generations, but it was colored like the KB Toys orange creamsicle version. So, this is the first accurate version of the character we've ever gotten. Only took 29 years!
The toy is marketed as "G2 Universe Jhiaxus," which is a little strange in that G2 was just a continuation of G1. It's not as though G2 can't exist in the same world as G1, so I'm not sure I'd describe it as a whole separate continuity as they do with the "Armada Universe" toys, the "Prime Universe" toys, etc. I mean, toys like Covert Agent Sideswipe, G2 Megatron, G2 Ramjet, etc. were sold as part of the mainline without designating him as being from a whole other continuity. But, I degress.
As a robot, he's almost seven inches in height. He's predominantly a creamy white, a little bit like Siege Apeface, with some yellow painted deco on his chest and legs, a red-colored helmet, and green bat wings mounted to both his back and the sides of his legs. In the comics, Jhiaxus was white with blue shading, and this style of coloring has been used in the past to represent toys that were light grey, light blue, metallic silver, white, or vac-metal chrome. Any of those would probably have been fine, but creamy white works. The toy does a good job of capturing Jhiaxus's powerful, bulky physique. In the comics, he seems to have been designed as a beefed-up version of Starscream—he had the canopy in his chest, the helmet with vents on either side, and an air intake on his shoulder that even shared details with the stickers on the Starscream toy. He's got a tiny G2 Decepticon symbol on his chest, above the canopy glass.
His articulation is quite dynamic, with shoulders that both swivel and pivot out to the sides, swivel biceps, moving elbows and wrists, fingers that open in tandem, a swivel waist, a ball-and-socket head joint, a wide range of hip and knee movement, and ankles that both tilt and pivot. Just about the only thing you can't really do is adjust the angle or position of the wings on his back.
He comes with two guns, a large, red rifle and a smaller, flatter pistol that is made of the same clear smokey plastic as his chest canopy, but painted mostly silver. In the G2 comics, most characters toted around ridiculously-oversized weapons in true 90's style (think Cable or Bishop), and while Jhiaxus was usually above racing into battle with guns blazing, they're very true to the era—lots of random wires and cables and things protruding from them for no real reason. The red rifle is much bigger and cooler; the smaller one almost seems like an afterthought, like soembody realized there was a bit of room left on the clear parts mold and went, "Well, why not an extra gun?"
He is compatible with Weaponizers, with peg-holes present in his back, shoulders, the sides of his forearms, the sides of his legs, and under his feet. The tips of his weapons can accept Siege-era blast effects, but nowhere else on his body as far as I can tell.
When the Jhiaxus character was created (and likely designed by Derek Yaniger), little or no thought was given to the practical engineering behind how he might actually transform. In the comics, he transformed into a rounded vehicle very much in the style of G1 Scourge, only with the protruding bat wings. That wouldn't have been easily reproduced at this level of scale and complexity. The vehicle mode is okay, and it kind of looks like Jhiaxus, but the design emphasis for this toy was clearly on the robot mode.
To transform him, the head and side air intake tuck into the open chest compartment, while the chest itself swings open to reveal the jet nosecone. (Jhiaxus was drawn with a rounded nosecone on the back of his head most of the time, suggesting his head "really" became the nosecone, like the Starscream toy.) The upper legs tuck into the lower legs, which become the back of the jet; the smaller bat wings fold away and are not used in this form. Halves of a central stabilizer fin swing out from the insides of the legs and join together. The robot arms just end up tucked away as part of the undercarriage.
The jet mode is about eight inches in length, with a six-inch wingspan. It doesn't look like the Scourge-style hovercraft from the comics. It's longer and more rectangular, and the tucked-away robot arms add like an inch to the undercarriage. There are no wheels whatsoever, fake or otherwise. Also, the instructions say to position the wings towards the rear of the vehicle, and there are bars that swing back to accomplish this purpose, but honestly he looks better, and more accurate, with the wings centered closer to the middle of the craft. Losing the smaller bat wings also feels like a mistake; true, he only has one set of wings in the comics, but since they're diverging from that look anyway, they should have kept the small wings out to serve as rudders. The visible wiring on his legs is still apparently, but while it looks cool in robot mode, in vehicle mode it just makes him look incomplete, like Siege Astrotrain.
You can mount his gun underneath his nosecone, but don't do this. It just makes a bad vehicle look even worse.
Even though the vehicle mode is a disappointment, the ability to transform is almost incidental to Jhiaxus as a character (I think we only see him in vehicle mode once or twice). Making the robot mode the priority was the right choice. He transforms because he's part of a toy line called Transformers, much like the Quintesson Judge, but this is not why you bought the toy. You bought it because you wanted an action figure of Jhiaxus.
I do love that Hasbro has been branching out and exploring other parts of the mythos, especially if it means they're looking at G2 on occasion. (Yes, selling us toys of Sideswipe and Ramjet and all the rest in G2 colors is great, but I also want updates of the Axelerators, the Skyscorchers, the Color Changers, the Laser Rods, Rotor Force, Go-Bots, etc.) Jhiaxus was probably the most important Transformers character who never got an accurate toy, so it's great that they finally addressed him. Making him a Voyager was a good choice, too, since he scales correctly with characters he tangled with in the G2 comics, like Optimus Prime and G2 Megatron.
I've been trying to think of how Hasbro might repurpose this toy and try to sell it to us again, remolded and in different colors. I keep thinking his vehicle mode looks a lot like the vehicle shell for Ultra Pretender Skyhammer. And, now that I see the resemblance, I can't see anything else. I'm not saying it's a foregone conclusion that they'll do this, of course. There are always a handful of toys that never get a redeco at all, and this could end up being one of them.
Zob (I've been right more often than I've been wrong about these sorts of things, though)
Gustavo Wombat
Jul 9, 2022, 1:08:47 AM7/9/22
to
Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> Even though the vehicle mode is a disappointment, the ability to
> transform is almost incidental to Jhiaxus as a character (I think we only
> see him in vehicle mode once or twice). Making the robot mode the
> priority was the right choice. He transforms because he's part of a toy
> line called Transformers, much like the Quintesson Judge, but this is not
> why you bought the toy. You bought it because you wanted an action figure of Jhiaxus.
I bought him because I wanted a Transformer, and the vehicle mode being a
> Even though the vehicle mode is a disappointment, the ability to
> transform is almost incidental to Jhiaxus as a character (I think we only
> see him in vehicle mode once or twice). Making the robot mode the
> priority was the right choice. He transforms because he's part of a toy
> line called Transformers, much like the Quintesson Judge, but this is not
> why you bought the toy. You bought it because you wanted an action figure of Jhiaxus.
disappointment is disappointing. No bottom to the cockpit is bad.
>
> I've been trying to think of how Hasbro might repurpose this toy and try
> to sell it to us again, remolded and in different colors. I keep
> thinking his vehicle mode looks a lot like the vehicle shell for Ultra
> Pretender Skyhammer. And, now that I see the resemblance, I can't see
> anything else. I'm not saying it's a foregone conclusion that they'll do
> this, of course. There are always a handful of toys that never get a
> redeco at all, and this could end up being one of them.
head past the canopy though?
Remold the calves, obviously, and also the backs of the pieces that have
the hands, to give him optional jet thrustor hands. Add knee missiles.
On the one hand, the vehicle mode would still be compromised the lack of
cockpit floor. On the other hand, have you seen how bad the Armada Thrust
toy is? This would be an improvement.
Gustavo Wombat
Jul 9, 2022, 1:26:34 AM7/9/22
to
Gustavo Wombat <gustav...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> Even though the vehicle mode is a disappointment, the ability to
>> transform is almost incidental to Jhiaxus as a character (I think we only
>> see him in vehicle mode once or twice). Making the robot mode the
>> priority was the right choice. He transforms because he's part of a toy
>> line called Transformers, much like the Quintesson Judge, but this is not
>> why you bought the toy. You bought it because you wanted an action figure of Jhiaxus.
>
> I bought him because I wanted a Transformer, and the vehicle mode being a
> disappointment is disappointing. No bottom to the cockpit is bad.
If they just want to make an action figure, put him in RED — that’s what
> Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> Even though the vehicle mode is a disappointment, the ability to
>> transform is almost incidental to Jhiaxus as a character (I think we only
>> see him in vehicle mode once or twice). Making the robot mode the
>> priority was the right choice. He transforms because he's part of a toy
>> line called Transformers, much like the Quintesson Judge, but this is not
>> why you bought the toy. You bought it because you wanted an action figure of Jhiaxus.
>
> I bought him because I wanted a Transformer, and the vehicle mode being a
> disappointment is disappointing. No bottom to the cockpit is bad.
that line is for.
I don’t hate this toy, he’s just… disappointing. I expect there will be
some 3rd party gap filler shield thing that pegs in and fills up the gaping
flaw. And the arms underneath aren’t so bad — add weapons that peg in and
wrap around the arms, and it could be salvageable.
Codigo Postal
Jul 9, 2022, 12:34:58 PM7/9/22
to
The toy itself is…fine. The transformation is intuitive, the figure feels solid, and he comes with all the standard WfC articulation, plus forearm covers, a luxury not granted to either Megatron or Galvatron.
His color scheme resembles a creamsicle. Just a lot of white that may succumb to the yellowing syndrome afflicting so many WfC figures.
I’m glad to add him to the Decepticon leader shelf. He just underwhelms. An ideal G2 release should lean into the excesses of the era, but we’ll take what we can get.
Bottom line: if you’re a completist or like the character, get him now; I doubt we’ll be seeing many more Jhiaxuses in the future, not at this scale and price.
Codigo Postal
Jul 9, 2022, 12:44:41 PM7/9/22
to
On Friday, July 8, 2022 at 10:32:03 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> The toy is marketed as "G2 Universe Jhiaxus," which is a little strange in that G2 was just a continuation of G1. It's not as though G2 can't exist in the same world as G1, so I'm not sure I'd describe it as a whole separate continuity as they do with the "Armada Universe" toys, the "Prime Universe" toys, etc. I mean, toys like Covert Agent Sideswipe, G2 Megatron, G2 Ramjet, etc. were sold as part of the mainline without designating him as being from a whole other continuity. But, I degress.
We've had a mad scientist Jhiaxus in IDW, and a Senator Jhiaxus in Regeneration One, so maybe this designation underscores the fact that this is our first representation of OG G2 Jhiaxus.
(too lazy to look up the wiki, so here's The Basics video on him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fng679RnEoI)
> He's got a tiny G2 Decepticon symbol on his chest, above the canopy glass.
> Even though the vehicle mode is a disappointment, the ability to transform is almost incidental to Jhiaxus as a character (I think we only see him in vehicle mode once or twice). Making the robot mode the priority was the right choice. He transforms because he's part of a toy line called Transformers, much like the Quintesson Judge, but this is not why you bought the toy. You bought it because you wanted an action figure of Jhiaxus.
>
> I do love that Hasbro has been branching out and exploring other parts of the mythos, especially if it means they're looking at G2 on occasion. (Yes, selling us toys of Sideswipe and Ramjet and all the rest in G2 colors is great, but I also want updates of the Axelerators, the Skyscorchers, the Color Changers, the Laser Rods, Rotor Force, Go-Bots, etc.) Jhiaxus was probably the most important Transformers character who never got an accurate toy, so it's great that they finally addressed him. Making him a Voyager was a good choice, too, since he scales correctly with characters he tangled with in the G2 comics, like Optimus Prime and G2 Megatron.
>
> I've been trying to think of how Hasbro might repurpose this toy and try to sell it to us again, remolded and in different colors. I keep thinking his vehicle mode looks a lot like the vehicle shell for Ultra Pretender Skyhammer. And, now that I see the resemblance, I can't see anything else. I'm not saying it's a foregone conclusion that they'll do this, of course. There are always a handful of toys that never get a redeco at all, and this could end up being one of them.
>
> Zob (I've been right more often than I've been wrong about these sorts of things, though)
Kidding.
Evil King Macrocranios
Jul 9, 2022, 6:48:36 PM7/9/22
to
On Friday, July 8, 2022 at 7:32:03 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> So, this is the first accurate version of the character we've ever gotten. Only took 29 years!
This will be an interesting test of the updated character vintage version aftermarket price inflation phenomenon that usually occurs. I seriously doubt previous Jhiaxuses will see any spike in secondary market value. I hope they don't Jhi-Scalp-Us on this one but I don't want it so unpopular that it ends up Jhi-TJMaxx-Us.
> So, this is the first accurate version of the character we've ever gotten. Only took 29 years!
Back in '04 I made an SCF scale Jhiaxus out of resin and I enjoyed it being the only comic accurate version of the character in toyetic form. For a while there I thought it would be the only one ever so this new Hasbro one is a welcome surprise.
> The toy does a good job of capturing Jhiaxus's powerful, bulky physique. In the comics, he seems to have been designed as a beefed-up version
> of Starscream
> You can mount his gun underneath his nosecone, but don't do this. It just makes a bad vehicle look even worse.
> Jhiaxus was probably the most important Transformers character who never got an accurate toy, so it's great that they finally addressed him.
> Making him a Voyager was a good choice, too, since he scales correctly with characters he tangled with in the G2 comics, like Optimus Prime and G2 Megatron.
> I've been trying to think of how Hasbro might repurpose this toy and try to sell it to us again, remolded and in different colors.
Zobovor
Jul 9, 2022, 7:50:10 PM7/9/22
to
On Friday, July 8, 2022 at 11:08:47 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> Armada Thrust. Wings forward, and not bat shaped. Can they get the cone
> head past the canopy though?
Oh, yeah. There's lots of extra room for a nosecone head.
> Armada Thrust. Wings forward, and not bat shaped. Can they get the cone
> head past the canopy though?
Zob (would not buy an Armada Thrust retool, though)
Zobovor
Jul 9, 2022, 7:55:17 PM7/9/22
to
On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 10:34:58 AM UTC-6, Codigo Postal wrote:
> Bottom line: if you’re a completist or like the character, get him now; I doubt we’ll be seeing many more Jhiaxuses in the future, not at this scale and price.
I would argue that the first Jhiaxus toy (Beast Machines redeco) doesn't count, and the other one barely counts. This is the first "true" Jhiaxus toy we've gotten, and yes, it's not likely he's a character who is going to be addressed repeatedly. We were lucky to get this one.
> Bottom line: if you’re a completist or like the character, get him now; I doubt we’ll be seeing many more Jhiaxuses in the future, not at this scale and price.
Zob (has always imagined him as being voiced by Tony Jay for some reason)
Zobovor
Jul 9, 2022, 8:03:14 PM7/9/22
to
On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 10:44:41 AM UTC-6, Codigo Postal wrote:
> But he wasn't a Decepticon, was he? I get that they wanted to put some G2 branding on it, but nitpicking is the right of all sentient collectors, and ACTUALLY he claimed to have evolved past Bots and Cons alike.
I believe, in the context of the comic book, the G2 Decepticon symbol "really" represented Jhiaxus and his Cybertronians. I'm not looking at the comics right now, but I remember him having a really big G2 symbol on the walls in his chambers or something. I could be misremembering. But, he's a G2 Decepticon in the same way that Gnaw was a Decepticon—he's a bad guy in the Transformers toy line so they need to use some kind of branding on him.
> But he wasn't a Decepticon, was he? I get that they wanted to put some G2 branding on it, but nitpicking is the right of all sentient collectors, and ACTUALLY he claimed to have evolved past Bots and Cons alike.
> Are we getting another G2 Megatron at some point?
Zob (if they're going to keep addressing G2, then I want updates to characters like Jolt, Firecracker, Turbofire, etc.)
Zobovor
Jul 9, 2022, 8:15:27 PM7/9/22
to
On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 4:48:36 PM UTC-6, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:
> Back in '04 I made an SCF scale Jhiaxus out of resin and I enjoyed it being the only comic accurate version of the character in toyetic form. For a while there I thought it would be the only one ever so this new Hasbro one is a welcome surprise.
Always loved your projects. Still have my copy of the Megatron/Ratchet fusion, and I display it with pride amongst my official PVC figures.
> Back in '04 I made an SCF scale Jhiaxus out of resin and I enjoyed it being the only comic accurate version of the character in toyetic form. For a while there I thought it would be the only one ever so this new Hasbro one is a welcome surprise.
> As someone who spent time studying the physique for my own version, I kinda wish this one was more rounded. It seems way too angular. Jhiaxus had memorable Schwarzenegger-esque pectoral muscles, rounded calves, and thighs sculpted like a He-Man figure. But he's all flat and blocky here. Also I think they went way overboard with the black on his chest. It should almost be unbroken yellow. So it's close but not the Jhiaxus physique I wanted. They should have used the black paint to do a wash over the white parts. The G2 guys were always covered in oil and something like that would really bring out all the details. But all the crybabies who complain about battle damage paint apps probably have Hasbro a little gun shy now.
> So logically the next most important ones would be Leige Maximo and Xaaron. I guess some comic characters are too important to get toys.
> And then not as important, Scrounge and Rook from G2 would be nice to get accurate versions of.
I was thinking it would be neat to get Rook and perhaps Mindset (I know we got a toy with that name already, but it didn't really look like the G2 guy). All those Cybertronian guys had the same green-and-white color scheme, though, so I wouldn't want to see too many of them. They're all kind of visually samey. (With that said, I saw somebody on Reddit had done a 3D-printed version of the Unicron acolytes—DEATH TO OPTIMUS PRIME!—and I find myself wanting to own a small army of them now.)
> And then not as important, Scrounge and Rook from G2 would be nice to get accurate versions of.
I do very much want a Xaaron toy. I don't even care if he turns into a robo-crab like Studio Series Soundwave.
> The only great injustice here is that there's rumors of Straxus getting a Leader class toy, which is unfair for a small minded tyrant when the great Jhiaxus is a voyager.
> Put me on the list of everyone who thinks Thunderwing is coming. That mounting point under the nose would be a perfect fit for a core class Thunderwing. Then maybe even release a Weaponizer Thunderwing to armor up the jet mode and make that ultra mode he had in Stormbringer. And of course a corrupted Matrix accessory.
Zob (still thinks Titans Return Black Shadow was the perfect toy to sell again as Thunderwing, and I have no idea why they didn't do this)
Codigo Postal
Jul 9, 2022, 8:41:34 PM7/9/22
to
On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 8:03:14 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 10:44:41 AM UTC-6, Codigo Postal wrote:
>
> > But he wasn't a Decepticon, was he? I get that they wanted to put some G2 branding on it, but nitpicking is the right of all sentient collectors, and ACTUALLY he claimed to have evolved past Bots and Cons alike.
> I believe, in the context of the comic book, the G2 Decepticon symbol "really" represented Jhiaxus and his Cybertronians. I'm not looking at the comics right now, but I remember him having a really big G2 symbol on the walls in his chambers or something. I could be misremembering. But, he's a G2 Decepticon in the same way that Gnaw was a Decepticon—he's a bad guy in the Transformers toy line so they need to use some kind of branding on him.
You're absolutely right. Just looked up Issue 4. Grimlock and his team are captured by Jhiaxus and loaded into a ship to be sent to the Liege Maximo, and the ship has a big ol' G2 Decepticon symbol slapped on it.
> On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 10:44:41 AM UTC-6, Codigo Postal wrote:
>
> > But he wasn't a Decepticon, was he? I get that they wanted to put some G2 branding on it, but nitpicking is the right of all sentient collectors, and ACTUALLY he claimed to have evolved past Bots and Cons alike.
> I believe, in the context of the comic book, the G2 Decepticon symbol "really" represented Jhiaxus and his Cybertronians. I'm not looking at the comics right now, but I remember him having a really big G2 symbol on the walls in his chambers or something. I could be misremembering. But, he's a G2 Decepticon in the same way that Gnaw was a Decepticon—he's a bad guy in the Transformers toy line so they need to use some kind of branding on him.
In the very same issue, Bludgeon's ship *also* has the G2 Decepticon symbol. Haven't thought through the in-universe implications yet, though from an external perspective, it was likely a matter of "the baddies are Cons, the goodies are Bots."
>
> Zob (if they're going to keep addressing G2, then I want updates to characters like Jolt, Firecracker, Turbofire, etc.)
Codigo Postal
Jul 9, 2022, 8:44:11 PM7/9/22
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> So logically the next most important ones would be Leige Maximo and Xaaron. I guess some comic characters are too important to get toys. And then not as important, Scrounge and Rook from G2 would be nice to get accurate versions of.
Zobovor
Jul 9, 2022, 11:55:49 PM7/9/22
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> As someone who spent time studying the physique for my own version, I kinda wish this one was more rounded. It seems way too angular. Jhiaxus had memorable Schwarzenegger-esque pectoral muscles, rounded calves, and thighs sculpted like a He-Man figure. But he's all flat and blocky here. Also I think they went way overboard with the black on his chest. It should almost be unbroken yellow. So it's close but not the Jhiaxus physique I wanted. They should have used the black paint to do a wash over the white parts. The G2 guys were always covered in oil and something like that would really bring out all the details. But all the crybabies who complain about battle damage paint apps probably have Hasbro a little gun shy now.
Meant to respond to this and I forgot.
I feel like they probably studied the Derek Yaniger art (the gold standard as far as I'm concerned) as well as the Manny Galan art, which was sort of a watered-down attempt to copy Yaniger's style, which I think would have been less useful at arriving at an understanding of what Jhiaxus "really" looked like. I feel like this goes without saying, but every drawing of a character is going to have minor deviations in proportion and detail. I don't know what Hasbro's design process was, but I hope that somebody studied all the existing Jhiaxus art from the G2 comics and discarded the ones that were clearly missing details, or had extraneous incorrect details added, or were misproportioned, or just plain badly-drawn. But, of course, you can't really know that until you study all the reference material and see which illustrations agree with each other and which ones are outliers.
When I try to reconstruct character models, I tend to review as much source material as I can get my hands on and then go from there. Just for example, if Screwball has red knees in seven appearances but blue knees in one appearance, we can reasonably dismiss the blue knees as a coloring mistake. If he's drawn with pointed wings in four appearances but rounded wings in four other appearances, though, that makes it a little more complicated. Sometimes I defer to who I judge to be the more accurate artist, which by the way is not always the most talented artist. To name some real-life examples, I tried to come up with a character model for Thunderwing once, so I was looking at a lot of the Andrew Wildman and Geoff Senior appearances. But, both of those artists always translate character designs into their own distinctive style. The art I found to be most useful as reference was José Delbo's drawings of him. Delbo was just about the only artist who drew Thunderwing with his backpack assembly, with the wings protruding from his back like the toy. The other guys left off his kibble, probably to make him more dynamic-looking. Wildman also didn't usually draw the tail on Scorponok's back or the shield attached to his arm. So, sometimes details got left off.
Anyway, for Jhiaxus (for whom I did some up with a character model once) I would probably focus on the Yaniger illustrations and ignore Manny Galan's stuff for the most part. But, Yaniger had a very distinctive way of drawing Optimus Prime or G2 Sideswipe or Megatron that didn't correspond to the way that, say, Geoff Senior drew them.
Of course, Hasbro probably just looked at Jhiaxus drawings online, which would have included fan art—interpretations of interpretations. Lots of room for error there.
The toy we ended up getting is a pretty good marriage of appearances. It's not perfect, but it captures the huge shoulders, the rounded thighs, the clunky boots, the oversized chin guard. His face sculpt is perfect. I love his scowl.
Zob (has a tiny Tonka truck sized tractor now that waters my lawn for me)
Gustavo Wombat
Jul 10, 2022, 5:27:19 AM7/10/22
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Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> Anyway, for Jhiaxus (for whom I did some up with a character model once)
> I would probably focus on the Yaniger illustrations and ignore Manny
> Galan's stuff for the most part. But, Yaniger had a very distinctive way
> of drawing Optimus Prime or G2 Sideswipe or Megatron that didn't
> correspond to the way that, say, Geoff Senior drew them.
I would really enjoy a series of G2 toys that captured the Yaniger look,
> Anyway, for Jhiaxus (for whom I did some up with a character model once)
> I would probably focus on the Yaniger illustrations and ignore Manny
> Galan's stuff for the most part. But, Yaniger had a very distinctive way
> of drawing Optimus Prime or G2 Sideswipe or Megatron that didn't
> correspond to the way that, say, Geoff Senior drew them.
original toys be damned. Whether they were in RED, or whether they can
transform, I would buy them all.
> Of course, Hasbro probably just looked at Jhiaxus drawings online, which
> would have included fan art—interpretations of interpretations. Lots of
> room for error there.
the vibe or the something. In the comics he is barely able to restrain his
rage at all points, and everything about how he was drawn reflected that.
This toy has normal proportions and too many details that would have been
brought out in linework in the comic just fade into pearly white nothing.
Even if it is inaccurate to the “real” Jhiaxus that the art represented, I
want longer arms just shy of ape-like, and larger hands and head. I want
black details to break up the white and suggest the heavy linework. I want
him less leggy.
There is no “real” Jhiaxus behind the art — there is only the art. And the
art is wildly inconsistent, so capture the feel.
> The toy we ended up getting is a pretty good marriage of appearances.
> It's not perfect, but it captures the huge shoulders, the rounded thighs,
> the clunky boots, the oversized chin guard. His face sculpt is perfect.
> I love his scowl.
>
glad they didn’t try to G1ify those details. I think they are both too
small, and wonder what they could have done with the extra bulk of a Leader
toy. I also wonder if next year we will start seeing third party Jhiaxus
toys.
>
> Zob (has a tiny Tonka truck sized tractor now that waters my lawn for me)
>
Gustavo Wombat
Jul 10, 2022, 5:27:20 AM7/10/22
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Codigo Postal <codigop...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Zob (if they're going to keep addressing G2, then I want updates to
>> characters like Jolt, Firecracker, Turbofire, etc.)
>
> I wonder if a re-release would ever be viable? I never owned them but I
> understand that some of the G2 molds were reissued during RobotMasters,
> and during 2001 RID.
Laser Cycles and the Hero Optimus and Megatron molds (those were KB
>> Zob (if they're going to keep addressing G2, then I want updates to
>> characters like Jolt, Firecracker, Turbofire, etc.)
>
> I wonder if a re-release would ever be viable? I never owned them but I
> understand that some of the G2 molds were reissued during RobotMasters,
> and during 2001 RID.
Exlusives here, I think, as Bludgeon and Scourge)
They’re definitely old and wouldn’t fit with the current style, due to lack
of articulation that is now standard. Not sure how much they would have to
neuter the gimmicks to meet price points.
Evil King Macrocranios
Jul 10, 2022, 12:38:41 PM7/10/22
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On Sunday, July 10, 2022 at 2:27:20 AM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> They’re definitely old and wouldn’t fit with the current style, due to lack
> of articulation that is now standard. Not sure how much they would have to
> neuter the gimmicks to meet price points.
I guess we see a little of the answer in the Legacy Laser Prime, which is complete and total gimmick neuteration. They neutered everything. No launchers, lasers, lights, nothing on the new Legacy Laserless Prime. Modern day G2 would require that the Heroes would be missing their air bladders, the Laser Rods would be missing their light up lasers, the Rotors would be missing their spinning/shooting rotors, the CyberJets would be missing their...cybers? (I would tend to think they may still be able to do pressure launch missiles.) Actually everything that made Transformers fun action figures when was a kid/teen is gone, so who exactly plays with these things nowadays, and do they have fun?
> They’re definitely old and wouldn’t fit with the current style, due to lack
> of articulation that is now standard. Not sure how much they would have to
> neuter the gimmicks to meet price points.
So I totally agree that today's world is no country for old robot gimmicks. In G2 gimmicks defined the toys to a great extent but I'm trying not to look back on it with laser colored glasses. The engineers were doing lots of stuff which was neat but they had some bad ideas that would definitely not be resurrected in the modern age of superior poseability. I'm still not a fan of big ugly ball joints and how spindly they make limbs look. Also the O-ring construction in the Laser Rods was ridiculous and should not have even been used in robot figures. This is not G.I. Joe. Nobody wants O-rings back. (Right?)
Evil King Macrocranios
Jul 10, 2022, 12:45:52 PM7/10/22
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On Friday, July 8, 2022 at 7:32:03 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> He is compatible with Weaponizers, with peg-holes present in his back, shoulders, the sides of his forearms, the sides of his legs, and under his feet. The tips of his weapons can accept Siege-era blast effects, but nowhere else on his body as far as I can tell.
If we ever did get a G2 Jhiaxus back in the day, what would his gimmick have been? Would he have been a laserin', rotorin', auto-motorized, disk missile launching, color changing, sparking stormtrooper jet? He'd have to have had some gimmicks. I wonder what they would have been.
Zobovor
Jul 10, 2022, 4:40:09 PM7/10/22
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On Sunday, July 10, 2022 at 10:45:52 AM UTC-6, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:
> If we ever did get a G2 Jhiaxus back in the day, what would his gimmick have been?
Laser Jets. Light-up rocket thrusters in vehicle mode and light-up guns in robot mode. The assortment would consist of Jhiaxus, and a green-and-yellow redeco of Jhiaxus called Lieutenant Grimlock.
> If we ever did get a G2 Jhiaxus back in the day, what would his gimmick have been?
Zob
Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats
Jul 10, 2022, 10:25:55 PM7/10/22
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