It looked like the Jet-style Vehicon was gonna be a Japan-only release as well, so I jumped on BigBadToyStore's preorders a few weeks back.  The wings add about a third again to Jet Vehicon's mass, so if it does eventually show up over here, it'll probably hafta go in a case assortment with somebody a little smaller to compensate.

Jet Vehicon is Car Vehicon's robot mode with an entire new vehicle shell.  Yeah, it looks like it's just a car with wings, but it's not Car Vehicon's car with wings.  It's an entirely different car with wings, and one that matches the show's model exactly.  I am super in love with Jet Vehicon's altmode.  This may be because as a child I had a fascination with cars with wings (versus jets), a fascination which you may have noticed manifesting itself in this webcomic.  Or maybe it's just that it objectively looks super cool.

For the love of god, while getting him into robot mode, transform his wings first.  If you don't, you'll have to transform everything back so you can get to the wings properly.  There's no clearance to flip them up otherwise.  As one would suspect, other than the wings, Jet Vehicon's transformation is exactly the same as Car Vehicon's.  He's just reshelled, after all.  And so he has the same amazing everything-fits-into-his-legs transformation and the wonky elbows.  The former is great, the latter is not so great.

If the toy has any disadvantages over its predecessor, it's that the shell of the jet mode is harder to peg together when putting him back in vehicle form.  Closing him up again can be a little annoying.

As with the other Japanese Transformers Prime toys, Jet Vehicon comes with a little Mini-Con dude you put together.  This one transforms from a Vehicon blaster into ...an iguana, I think.  Ah, yeah, his name is Igu.  Well, that settles it.  (Then again, Iguanus never transformed into an iguana.)  Now that I've gotten four of these Mini-Cons, I can see the appeal of pegging them together to make larger weapons, as intended.  Right now my Breakdown's holding a giant double-barreled drill cannon that's half his own mass.

I wanted two of each of the two kinds of Vehicons, and now I have them, so I consider myself done with Vehicons.  Until they come out with more different kinds, I guess.  I feel four total is a manageably-sized army.

In addition to my Hot Shot and Knock Out, there was a lone Vehicon in the box from Big Bad Toy Store.  I only ordered the set of three, figuring I'd buy a second one whenever I found one at retail.  And that day has come!

I wanted more than one because, if you don't follow the show, Vehicons are the generic Decepticon troopers.  They are infinite.  Two of them are good for me.  I'd usually say three, but there are also jet-style Vehicons which are coming out later, and with two of each kind, that's a good enough-sized army for me.



This is the second Vehicon toy.  There was also a Vehicon in the "First Edition" assortment, and boy am I glad those never made it out over here!  Seriously, I am.  Because I'd own a bunch.  And you know what?  Those First Edition ones are crap.  They've got Kibble Backpack like they're going camping.  It's not an elegant-looking toy.

"Robots in Disguise" Vehicon, in comparison, is friggin' magic.  For reals.  Folks were starting at photos of Vehicon v2.0 wondering where the hell all its vehicle parts go.  They vanished!  What happened, is there a car roof shield he holds or something?  Pyche naw.  He instead defies the laws of physics.  Nearly all of his vehicle mode -- hood, roof, and all, folds up delicately and compacts inside his shins.  This should not work, and yet it does.  And so Vehicon is virtually kibble-free except the parts that are actually supposed to be there according to the character model.  It's insane.

It's not a perfect toy.  His biceps are... weird.  There's some awkward hinging there.  But the glory of his car-to-leg-stuffing transformation kind of blinds you to that.

He comes with a gun.  It can peg into any of his holes (hur hur) or it can clip onto various mounting points.  If you fold his wrist down and clip the gun there, it sort of looks like how his guns look like on the show.  Like most of the show characters, he doesn't have handheld weaponry, opting instead for a forearm that transforms into a gun.

Buy all the ones you can find.