Transformers: Buzzworthy Bumblebee G2 Universe Cybertronian Trooper Is Something That Exists

 And has a very long name.

 

Comic art of the Cybertronian Army, with Jhiaxus bottom-centre, from the wiki.

 

Now, here’s the thing about Transformers, a basic and fundamental thing: the vast majority are individuals. Optimus Prime for example isn't merely a thinking robot, he's a person whom happens to be a robot. And also a truck. While this idea has developed and shifted over the years, your average Transformer had a presumption of personhood from day one. It helps sell the toys. As such, Transformers as a franchise generally avoids tropes like faceless mooks, drones and disposable robots. There were however exceptions even in those early days, the first example being the self-replicating Insecticons, although the Vehicons featured in Transformers: Prime are probably the brands best example. A fandom term for such things is "army builders", where uniform anonymity is largely the point. This leads us to today's subject matter: The G2 Cybertronian Trooper. These were Jhiaxus’ army, and like him, were created from whole cloth for the Marvel comic. They obviously never had a toy before, but here they are as part of the new Armybuilder Boxset. But before we talk about him/them, we need to talk about a completely unrelated character: the G1 Pretender character Skullgrin.

 

The original 1998 Skullgrin toy

For the unfamiliar, a Pretender was a toy where you had a rather simplistic robot, that stored within a much larger figurine, which usually had the vibe of a He-Man character. An often fun idea. These ran for a couple of years, got a few variations, major regional differences, and a few noteworthy comic appearances. There’s been a few updates over the years, but the play pattern has not been attempted again in the mass market. Power of the Primes got pretty close, but those were tiny and not hugely good. Botcon did a few too, but good luck getting them. As a result, whenever you see an attempt to modernise a pretender character, most split the difference between the shell and the inner robot, by basing the robot mode on the shell. See also my write-up on Sky Shadow for further discussion, which was my first article in this format, inceidentally. Skullgrin was a Decepticon whom had a brief movie career, and received two revamps before turning up in Legacy. One was a headswap retool of Darkmount AKA Lord Straxus, a comic-first character we don’t really have time to go into here. The other was the use of his shell by Liege Maximo, Jhiaxus’ boss, and another comic-first character we don’t really have time to go into here. The Legacy version however was purpose designed for Skullgrin, and I suspect the Liege Maximo connection may have played a part in it being adapted into being a G2 Trooper. This presents a problem as, well, Legacy Skullgrin was not hugely good.

 

The 2022 Legacy Skullgrin toy

 

So, let's acknowledge the negatives before going further: the tank mode is hot garbage. Specifically, garbage that arises when the designers try to replicate something simple, and end up missing the point so hard that they end up climbing into their collective bumholes. Needlenose had a similar problem, but perhaps less extreme. The original Skullgrin toy had an extremely basic vehicle form, as many Pretenders did, so the designers merely scaled this up, and sculpted some hands on the guns, to suggest the old transformation. No consideration was given to how this would work, or parts allocated to make it roll. We just have a set of tracks on the rear half of the vehicle, the front seemingly floating there. You'd think the sensible thing to do instead would be, I don't know, put another set of tracks up front? You know, to balance it out? Or maybe wheels like that Darkmount retool? Maybe sculpt some tanky bits while you're at it? Cybertronian alt modes often look like nothing in particular, but most try harder than this. It makes Jhiaxus' jet mode look like genius by comparison. And what's more, the new parts make this problem worse, as you have a tank with a ribcage on top, with odd colours and more gaps. Also, and something I didn't quite realise until photographing the toy, the gunblades are rubbery white plastic with painted handles, which means unavoidable paint chipping. Positives? Well... I suppose we could acknowledge the 5mm port system, and that with 4 weapons, you can mix & match in a way handy for an army builder. But this altform isn't getting a passing grade just for that.

After a somewhat annoying transformation where the treads move on weak armatures to the lower legs, we end up in robot mode. And, to be completely fair, this was an area where Skullgrin did OK, and the Trooper arguably does things better. It's an unusually profound example of a headswap retool, as Skullgrin's rubbery monster bonce has been replaced with something more conventional, along with a new chestplate. This completely changes the character of the toy, and the designers have really leant into the army building thing by including an alternative head. There's a dedicated connector to facilitate swapping between the cranium, with the horns on each having a 3mm peg allowing you to have these positioned how you liked, or indeed exchange the horns. Factor in the aforementioned weapon options, you can definitely have the room to do a mixed squad. Not everything specifically Skullgrin has been removed though, and I think I see another explanation for using that mould. The Troopers had a very 90's/heavy-metal/muscles-&-guns look, and Skullgrin fits in with such things. Maybe they should have painted the skull belt, but the shoulder pads and gunblades are right at home. The fundamentals are also there, with legacy standard articulation and no glaring problems. He also retains a tail, if that's your thing...

My point? Only that the Trooper is something that exists. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, the Trooper is quite compelling as a proof of concept. If Hasbro does want to try an army builder set again, doing it like this guy seems to be the way to go. And I'd be lying if I said the robot form wasn't appealing to me. On the other? The basic toy is based off arguably the most flawed Deception deluxe of modern times, and getting several of these is probably gonna be a nuisance. If somebody is splitting a pack, feel free to grab one like I did, but otherwise? Don't overpay.