Transformers: Generation 2 Hooligan is Something That Exists

It is the nature of the "something that exists" series that I use it to talk about my latest purchases without pretext of it being a review. Often much, much later. I am not timely enough, nor enough of a completionist, for my reviews to especially useful. So I do a rambling essay format instead, where the toy is often just a pretext to talk about something, or to grind an axe. Case in point: Transformers Generation 2. We're doing rather well for G2 remakes currently, with the likes of Jhiaxus, the troopers and the Toxitron repaint collection. The latter is however where I feel that G2 is repeatedly stereotyped and disrespected. G2 featured a lot of aggressively bright repaints, yes. G2 toys could resemble the aftermath of a child breakfasting on crayons and red bull, that's a fair observation. And yes, G2 has been used as yet another vector for repaints of over-exposed moulds, stuff that alternates between deep discount and eye-watering after-market prices with little in between. You know what G2 also did? The singularly-wonderful Cyberjets. Yes, we’re doing a retro review today!

To give an idea of how high a regard I have for the Cyberjets, I invite you to consider the following hypothetical. You are a toy designer, and you have been given the task of making a tiny jetformer. Good for you, you're living the dream. Like a good designer, you put together a mood board or something, a collection of references for you to draw inspiration from. Pride of place is given to a picture of the Cyberjets, along such greats as the VF-1J from Macross, an obvious influence on the team. Because leaving them out would be doing it wrong. Generation 2 popularised a number of innovations and quality of life improvements, so the moulds that were purpose built for the line do hold up very well. That's why so many G2 toys went on to have comebacks and late blooming recolours circa 2003ish; not only were these good, they were good in a way that mainline toys often weren't just then, and a lot of people had missed out on them first time around. The Cyberjets were one such group, with light-piped visors, balljoints and pressure launched missiles. And, to bring things finally to today's subject, Hooligan was probably the best of them. He's also the most G2 of the bunch having an orange tiger stripe deco. 

 

The 2021 Kingdom Starscream Toy

Hooligan's jet mode mixes collector-pleasing touches and actual fun. It's based off a proposed variant of the F22-Raptor, a variable geometry or "swing wing" design, with the addition of a toyetic missile launcher in the tail-fin area. The wings go forward and back, inviting air-plane noises and bombing runs. It's colours defy realism, but the mould takes more care of the underside than most, having a very clean undercarriage and foldable landing gear. How does that modern core class seeker mould handle such things? That being this toy's rough modern equivalent, if with more subdued colours? Oh right, faux kibble, arms under the wings and his head sticking out where his landing gear should be. Hooligan utterly beats this. The core class gets it's arse handed to it by a toy a quarter of a century old and the colour palette of a callippo ice lolly, because they were more interested in the look of the robot mode than the jet mode. Back to Hooligan: there's even provisions to store another missile on the underside, my example lacking one. Of course, the counter-argument to that is how the missile just sits on top, but that's not exactly a bug, that's a feature. Seriously, pick any jetformer in roughly the same weight class, and Hooligan will match them. Hell, there's deluxes and voyagers with less basic cleanliness than this. So it does everything it needs to, and a few things that didn’t need to, and it does all of it well. Then we get to the other mode.

Transformation to robot mode is is similarly pleasing. It's another area clearly by influenced by the VF-1J, although asymmetrical with respects to the arms. The process is simple, intuitive, and hassle-free. Hand candy, in other words. Hooligan's robot mode ends up with an odd mix of distinctiveness and anonymity. The Cyberjets don't really have faces so much as visors, while the whole "cockpit becomes body, engines become legs" body plan is pretty typical of jetformers. It's perhaps not a surprise that these moulds ended up on both sides. This is of course balanced out by the colours and the weapon arm, so a Cyberjet has its own identity, especially Hooligan. Posability is an undeniable highlight as every single joint he has is a balljoint, although he would have benefited a bit  from better feet. This is the only thing I consider to be an avoidable flaw while staying within the pricepoint; he’s walking around on his thrusters and there’s no heel spurs, so he’s a bit tippy-toe. On the plus side: he can also take his missile and use it like a club.

 

My point? Only that Generation 2 Hooligan is absolutely great for what it is. The platonic ideal of tiny jetformers. A perfect example of how to simply but elegantly devise a transforming robot toy, without compromising either mode. And its aged like a fine wine. Seriously, if the designers scaled this up to a deluxe, and added ankle tilts, and put it out as part of Legacy, we’d be calling it a toy of the year contender. If you can find him, get yourself a Hooligan. Or one of the repaints, or another Cyberjet, they're all pretty good.

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. 

 

Transformers: Legacy G2 Universe Jhiaxus is Something That Exists

Jhiaxus' wiki profile picture

I don't think it's controversial to suggest that British writer Simon Furman was the main reason people liked the Marvel Transformers comic. This is not to downplay, or throw shade at, other creatives like Bob Budianski. Furman's long form narratives and characterisation are a big part of why the comics have aged better than the cartoon. For a time, Furman was the pet writer of the fandom, his presence adding prestige to many a project. However, Simon Furman has slowly aged into the Embarrassing Grandad of the brand, his presence being akin to that of Arnold Swatzengger in an action film made after True Lies. While he did good work back in the day, he needs to retire. And if you see him approach gender issues or Arcee? For primus' sake, rugby tackle him to the ground for the common good. Furman, I mean, not Arnie. Arnie's still mostly OK I think, and while the dude is in his 60's, I wouldn't want to try my luck. 

 

The 2003 Robots in Disguise Jhiaxus toy  

 The 2014 Generations Jhiaxus toy

Jhiaxus has the distinction of being one of Furman's more singular creations, created specifically for the Generation 2 comics series as a non-toy character. A noted bastard with a punny name, Jhiaxus was a Decepticon whom ran off to found a galactic empire during that 4 million gap, under Leige Maximo, a character whom eventually become important in the deep lore sense. Jhiaxus served as the primary antagonist of the comic series, gradually loosing his grip until he famously punched the mouthplate right off Optimus Prime. That is not hyperbole, its what he actually did. Jhiaxus having made his mark, made an unprecedented jump to plastic with a 2001 repaint, although it was something of a nameslap. Furman would bring the character back in a more of a mad scientist role, giving us the deeply troubling Spotlight: Arcee, a comic which IDW spent a lot time course correcting from. You can look that up yourself, but the misogynistic and transphobic themes put me off the man. This somehow didn't stop Jhiaxus from getting another toy in 2014, a retool of the concurrent Armada Starscream. That's not a bad toy, it does a lot with the retooling that it didn't need to, but it's more a melange than a specific Jhiaxus. Finally, we come to today's subject, Legacy Jhiaxus. Which, against the odds, is very definitely the G2 version. Although it may become someone else. 

 

So, let's start with the weakest aspect of it, the jet mode. As a comic first character, Jhiaxus' altmode was rarely seen and not especially well thought-out. It was a Cybertronian jet, but it wasn't immediately clear how he got there. They could have gone for a shellformer approach to replicate that, but they instead followed the visual cues of the robot mode, and extrapolated from there. So, what we have is a seeker-styled form in white & yellow with green bat wings. It is not, in the strictest sense, hugely good. The arms are just hanging out the underside and the translucent cockpit area serves the highlight a few flaws. Like the head. The general appearance of this form makes me wonder if this guy is sharing engineering with another toy, and put me off buying this until the price was right. In fact, I had a suspicion before this toy was revealed that history would repeat, and this would be a retool of Starscream again. This obviously proved to be incorrect, and given some legitimately clever touches in the leg transformation, I find myself wondering if this is purpose built, rather than merely optimised for reuse, but I honestly don't know at time of writing. Idle speculation aside, the mode is rough around the edges, but functional. Jhiaxus confirms to Siege standard 5mm ports and guns, with an undocumented feature involving his shoulder pylon. Is this alt mode good enough to stand on its own, within the voyager price point? Honestly no. You'd have to be a very lovestruck fan boy to say otherwise. But, there are other merits to this toy. 

 

Putting Jhiaxus into robot mode reveals where they put the budget, and it was money well spent. It's like Derrick Yanniger’s art just leapt off the page, personifying that seeker-but-also-a-beef-mountain build that G2 Jhiaxus had. I mean, just look at him. It's the new gold standard for such things, clean, minimal hollowed out bits, and modern touches like flight stand compatible ports worked unobtrusively into the sculpt. But then, a question presented itself, is this actually a good robot mode? Or is just a pretty one that traded its alt mode for steroids? Well, let's think about that. Legacy, to the best of my knowledge does not do bad robot modes. Since Siege there has been a lot of standardisation with respects to articulation and the 5mm port system, with toys moving the same way and having accessory options. While there is the occasional stinker, the baseline is pretty high these days, so is Jhiaxus doing enough to keep pace, and excuse the jet mode? Well, he's got nothing to apologise for, and opening hands. His construction tends towards universal joints rather ball & socket joints, but these are all well-executed. Posing is something that comes quite easily, with the hands presenting opportunities usually not available to mass market Transformers. The two guns he have also suit him very well, a large rifle and submachine gun for varied murder. It is a good robot mode, and certainly one that will please fans. Is it good enough to make you forget the jet mode? Well, dear reader, I think you're gonna have to make your own mind up on that one. 

 

My point? Only that Legacy Jhiaxus is something that exists. He's some distance from a great toy, but what he does well, he does very well. Also: Trans Rights are Human Rights.