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Zob's Thoughts on Evolution Toxitron G2 Dead End and G2 Sideswipe
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Zobovor
Aug 2, 2023, 7:38:22 PM8/2/23
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Got my last two Toxitron toys today. I would say G2 Dead End was probably the most desirable from this entire capsule (it looks like they're committed to doing all five G2 Stunticons, and you kind of need all of them to form G2 Menasor), but honestly they're all fun for different reasons.
G2 UNIVERSE DEAD END
We came so close to getting these guys for Transformers: Generation 2. They made it all the way to the packaging stage. They were heavily advertising the Protectobots and the Stunticons as being part of the G2 cartoon series, and they had selected episodes (like "Masuqerade" and "The Ultimate Weapon") specifically to showcase them. I'm tellin' ya, we were robbed.
Dead End would have substituted his dark maroon and black colors for a might brighter fluorescent red and blue combination, a far more cheery look for such a morose Stunticon. Even though this toy is designed to capture Dead End's cartoon look as closely as possible, they color-mapped it directly from the G2 prototype, so he's got the black forearms (on the G2 toy, the forearms were likely part of the same parts mold as the wheels). Both his rifles are made of black plastic but painted the same metallic blue used for his chest deco. His eyes and face are painted yellow. No Decepticon symbol on his chest for robot mode.
Car mode is bright red with silver windows, a big, black G2 Decepticon symbol painted on the hood, silver-painted headlights, a yellow sunroof (on the G2 toy, this was a sticker that said "DEAD END" and looked like a road sign), and what could be flaming comets, or eyeballs, on either of his side doors. He's such an eyesore, and deliciously so.
His instructions say nothing about combining with other Stunticons, probably because aside from G2 Drag Strip, the others haven't been made available yet. I would presume combination instructions might be found in the box with G2 Motormaster, when they get around to doing him. With that said, he's the exact same mold as G1 Dead End, so you could theoretically build a Menasor with two Dead Ends, if you wanted to.
I'm a huge fan of G2, and I will always, always support redeco toys that celebrate that fun but often forgotten little space in Transformers history.
G2 UNIVERSE SIDESWIPE
So, this one requires a little bit more explanation. Sideswipe did get a toy during Transformers: Generation 2, but it inverted his colors—he was black with red parts, rather than red with black parts. (It was likely to make him a little visually distinct from Inferno, the red fire truck who was in stores at the same time.) We already got a toy based on that named Covert Clone Sideswipe.
THIS version of Sideswipe is another deco that was probably planned for the 1995 product year. Not only was there a hand-painted mock-up created in-house at Hasbro, but packaging artwork was commissioned as well. The toy never went into production in these colors, however, and its existence only became known to the fandom several years later.
The Mark Watts illustration shows him in a bright yellow color and deco on his chest and doors illustrating a setting sun, an orange sky, and dark clouds. It's such a strange and interesting deco choice, which in all probability would have been realized as a factory-applied sticker. It also shows him with his original G1- style shoulder launcher, but in all probability, a mass-production G2 Sideswipe toy would have come with one of the Snow Serpent missile launchers, which would plug into the new hole in his car roof for vehicle mode.
This version of the Sideswipe toy (the Kingdom "Earth mode" edition) is based more on his cartoon look than the G1 toy, so he doesn't have the car doors hanging from his arms (they're tucked away inside his torso, so you can see a bit of the orange color). He's got a tampo-printed red G2 Autobot symbol on his left shoulder. They actually used the Red Alert head design for him this time, not the one used for Kingdom Sideswipe, and it's characterized by the shorter, fatter horns on the helmet. Obviously, both the Sideswipe cartoon helmet and the Red Alert helmet are just different interpretations of the same toy head, so presumably somebody at Hasbro felt like the Red Alert head, in this case, bore a stronger resemblance to the G2 concept art.
So the toy is mostly yellow, with white upper legs and forearms, silver painted toes, light teal lower legs and helmet and fists, and a significantly darker teal used for the pelvis and weapons. The wheels are a dark teal color, too, so I wonder if the two shades of teal used are related to how the parts are molded. He comes with the Siege-era rifle and shoulder launcher, with the missile painted a very dark blue color to match the box art (I think the artist was going for black, but this is a very literal interpretation of what we see).
The missile itself is weird. The base of the peg to plug it into the shoulder launcher is five millimeters, as expected, but most of the peg is two millimeters, the same size as the tip of his weapon (and other parts meant to accept blast effects). The missile still plugs into the launcher, but I cannot think of what purpose is served by reducing the diameter of most of the peg. There doesn't seem to be any additional functionality created as a result.
Vehicle mode is an almost-Lamborghini, yellow with the sunset deco on the hood and doors. He has a teal front bumper, and there's a gorgeous teal-to-yellow gradient accomplished with spray paint. Due to the way parts are molded, he's also got large teal blocks on either side, under the side windows. The lack of a spoiler bugs me a bit, but the G2 Sideswipe who transformed into a GoBot didn't have a spoiler, either.
This is a cool toy based on a cool concept piece, and it's visually distinct enough from Tigertrack that I don't feel like I'm just getting a Diaclone yellow Sideswipe. The Siege version of this mold was pressed into service a LOT, making Sideswipe the Starscream of Autobots in some ways, but the Earthrise version has seen a more limited production schedule (and Kingdom Sideswipe was an Amazon exclusive and a bit hard to find now). I'm not sure if making the Toxitron toys exclusive to Walmart means that Sideswipe as a character will be any more readily accessible, especially since he and Dead End only ship one to a case.
I honesly wouldn't hate seeing this toy in G2 GoBot colors. (They could sell it a few times as Firecracker, Sideswipe, Optimus Prime...)
Zob (and let's not forget R.E.V. from Robots in Disguise)
G2 UNIVERSE DEAD END
We came so close to getting these guys for Transformers: Generation 2. They made it all the way to the packaging stage. They were heavily advertising the Protectobots and the Stunticons as being part of the G2 cartoon series, and they had selected episodes (like "Masuqerade" and "The Ultimate Weapon") specifically to showcase them. I'm tellin' ya, we were robbed.
Dead End would have substituted his dark maroon and black colors for a might brighter fluorescent red and blue combination, a far more cheery look for such a morose Stunticon. Even though this toy is designed to capture Dead End's cartoon look as closely as possible, they color-mapped it directly from the G2 prototype, so he's got the black forearms (on the G2 toy, the forearms were likely part of the same parts mold as the wheels). Both his rifles are made of black plastic but painted the same metallic blue used for his chest deco. His eyes and face are painted yellow. No Decepticon symbol on his chest for robot mode.
Car mode is bright red with silver windows, a big, black G2 Decepticon symbol painted on the hood, silver-painted headlights, a yellow sunroof (on the G2 toy, this was a sticker that said "DEAD END" and looked like a road sign), and what could be flaming comets, or eyeballs, on either of his side doors. He's such an eyesore, and deliciously so.
His instructions say nothing about combining with other Stunticons, probably because aside from G2 Drag Strip, the others haven't been made available yet. I would presume combination instructions might be found in the box with G2 Motormaster, when they get around to doing him. With that said, he's the exact same mold as G1 Dead End, so you could theoretically build a Menasor with two Dead Ends, if you wanted to.
I'm a huge fan of G2, and I will always, always support redeco toys that celebrate that fun but often forgotten little space in Transformers history.
G2 UNIVERSE SIDESWIPE
So, this one requires a little bit more explanation. Sideswipe did get a toy during Transformers: Generation 2, but it inverted his colors—he was black with red parts, rather than red with black parts. (It was likely to make him a little visually distinct from Inferno, the red fire truck who was in stores at the same time.) We already got a toy based on that named Covert Clone Sideswipe.
THIS version of Sideswipe is another deco that was probably planned for the 1995 product year. Not only was there a hand-painted mock-up created in-house at Hasbro, but packaging artwork was commissioned as well. The toy never went into production in these colors, however, and its existence only became known to the fandom several years later.
The Mark Watts illustration shows him in a bright yellow color and deco on his chest and doors illustrating a setting sun, an orange sky, and dark clouds. It's such a strange and interesting deco choice, which in all probability would have been realized as a factory-applied sticker. It also shows him with his original G1- style shoulder launcher, but in all probability, a mass-production G2 Sideswipe toy would have come with one of the Snow Serpent missile launchers, which would plug into the new hole in his car roof for vehicle mode.
This version of the Sideswipe toy (the Kingdom "Earth mode" edition) is based more on his cartoon look than the G1 toy, so he doesn't have the car doors hanging from his arms (they're tucked away inside his torso, so you can see a bit of the orange color). He's got a tampo-printed red G2 Autobot symbol on his left shoulder. They actually used the Red Alert head design for him this time, not the one used for Kingdom Sideswipe, and it's characterized by the shorter, fatter horns on the helmet. Obviously, both the Sideswipe cartoon helmet and the Red Alert helmet are just different interpretations of the same toy head, so presumably somebody at Hasbro felt like the Red Alert head, in this case, bore a stronger resemblance to the G2 concept art.
So the toy is mostly yellow, with white upper legs and forearms, silver painted toes, light teal lower legs and helmet and fists, and a significantly darker teal used for the pelvis and weapons. The wheels are a dark teal color, too, so I wonder if the two shades of teal used are related to how the parts are molded. He comes with the Siege-era rifle and shoulder launcher, with the missile painted a very dark blue color to match the box art (I think the artist was going for black, but this is a very literal interpretation of what we see).
The missile itself is weird. The base of the peg to plug it into the shoulder launcher is five millimeters, as expected, but most of the peg is two millimeters, the same size as the tip of his weapon (and other parts meant to accept blast effects). The missile still plugs into the launcher, but I cannot think of what purpose is served by reducing the diameter of most of the peg. There doesn't seem to be any additional functionality created as a result.
Vehicle mode is an almost-Lamborghini, yellow with the sunset deco on the hood and doors. He has a teal front bumper, and there's a gorgeous teal-to-yellow gradient accomplished with spray paint. Due to the way parts are molded, he's also got large teal blocks on either side, under the side windows. The lack of a spoiler bugs me a bit, but the G2 Sideswipe who transformed into a GoBot didn't have a spoiler, either.
This is a cool toy based on a cool concept piece, and it's visually distinct enough from Tigertrack that I don't feel like I'm just getting a Diaclone yellow Sideswipe. The Siege version of this mold was pressed into service a LOT, making Sideswipe the Starscream of Autobots in some ways, but the Earthrise version has seen a more limited production schedule (and Kingdom Sideswipe was an Amazon exclusive and a bit hard to find now). I'm not sure if making the Toxitron toys exclusive to Walmart means that Sideswipe as a character will be any more readily accessible, especially since he and Dead End only ship one to a case.
I honesly wouldn't hate seeing this toy in G2 GoBot colors. (They could sell it a few times as Firecracker, Sideswipe, Optimus Prime...)
Zob (and let's not forget R.E.V. from Robots in Disguise)
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