Leozack-chan ultimate fighting justice heart warrior!
Shortpacked!: "You're in a zero-mom game. She died."
Hooray, it's the ... Skyraiders? The term for "identical Starscream-like warriors" that seemed to be discarded in favor of "Seekers" is back! (Y'know, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Sunstorm...) And now it describes these two prototypical air warriors, as well as their new non-toyed brethren.
White and teal guy on the left is Leozack, who was a Japanese-only character back in their Victory series. He was the Starscream to Deathsaurus's Megatron, meaning he was that jet dude who thought he'd make a better leader and the big dog would always have to cut him down. He also had a kitty hat, but that didn't make it to this version. He does have red "eyes" painted on his helmet, though... In the comic book that accompanied this year's set, Leozack was recast as an anime stereotype living in an otherwise "normal" world. Meaning, he spoke in a samurai font, his weapon systems require him to shout stuff like "GREAT HONOR JUSTICE MISSILES" to make them work, and he was generally super-dramatically over the top. That made him my instant favorite character of the story. What a goofball. He's, uh, Ninja Rick, sorta.
Leozack's a great addition to BotCon 2005's Deathsaurus figure, if you've got one. In fact, at BotCon this year, they were giving away two Leozacks for every BotCon 2005 set you bought! Since Leozack seemed to be the star exclusive of this show, that actually worked! They would have finally sold through all of the 2005 sets if they'd brought them all. Instead, they just got rid of all they had.
(They're going to still have those 2005 sets at the end of time. Oh no, my investment!)
BotCon Leozack is based on the anime's color scheme for the character, rather than the toy's, which is obvious when you note the lack of a red face. I admit the red face would have been more interesting, but maybe they were going for fans of the Victory anime? Um. I also wish they'd used the original toy's yellow stripes. Anyway, with all these color drops, he's attractive, but not terribly daring. He's white with a blue/greenish secondary color! We've seen this a lot before. It works, though, so that's probably why they always come back to it.
Green and caramel jet guy is Skyquake, who was a European-only character near the end of G1. That toy was redecoed into Starscream for Machine Wars, so it's kinda fun to see Starscream redecoed back into Skyquake. Cyclical! Skyquake is actually a very pretty toy, possessing a vividness that photography cannot capture. He's sparkly purple and caramel and minty green on translucent lime! Seriously, it somehow works, and I love it. In the story, he's characterized as the mechanical genius behind the Skyraider body-type. He can sniff out your thoughts, he's so in tune with machines. Unfortunately, everyone ignores him, thinking he's crazy. The fools!
The comic book adds a few more Skyraiders to their ranks, culled from the Japanese series and Generation 2. There's Hellbat and Gaihawk and... Hooligan! You know, that guy that everyone always asks for every BotCon and Hasbro Q&A. Cult character. So, of course, BotCon stuck him in the background, taunting you. You could have had him, but no! Ha ha ha ha ha. Oh, BotCon.
(Word is that "Hooligan" is a trademark owned by someone else, which would get in the way of Hasbro releasing him. May we suggest "Shenanigans"?)
The weirdest thing about these two were the little plastic booties that they came packaged in. I'm serious! Little plastic booties! Rubber-banded around their ankles! Delicate tootsies, I guess. Wacky.
Hooray, it's the ... Skyraiders? The term for "identical Starscream-like warriors" that seemed to be discarded in favor of "Seekers" is back! (Y'know, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Sunstorm...) And now it describes these two prototypical air warriors, as well as their new non-toyed brethren.
White and teal guy on the left is Leozack, who was a Japanese-only character back in their Victory series. He was the Starscream to Deathsaurus's Megatron, meaning he was that jet dude who thought he'd make a better leader and the big dog would always have to cut him down. He also had a kitty hat, but that didn't make it to this version. He does have red "eyes" painted on his helmet, though... In the comic book that accompanied this year's set, Leozack was recast as an anime stereotype living in an otherwise "normal" world. Meaning, he spoke in a samurai font, his weapon systems require him to shout stuff like "GREAT HONOR JUSTICE MISSILES" to make them work, and he was generally super-dramatically over the top. That made him my instant favorite character of the story. What a goofball. He's, uh, Ninja Rick, sorta.
Leozack's a great addition to BotCon 2005's Deathsaurus figure, if you've got one. In fact, at BotCon this year, they were giving away two Leozacks for every BotCon 2005 set you bought! Since Leozack seemed to be the star exclusive of this show, that actually worked! They would have finally sold through all of the 2005 sets if they'd brought them all. Instead, they just got rid of all they had.
(They're going to still have those 2005 sets at the end of time. Oh no, my investment!)
BotCon Leozack is based on the anime's color scheme for the character, rather than the toy's, which is obvious when you note the lack of a red face. I admit the red face would have been more interesting, but maybe they were going for fans of the Victory anime? Um. I also wish they'd used the original toy's yellow stripes. Anyway, with all these color drops, he's attractive, but not terribly daring. He's white with a blue/greenish secondary color! We've seen this a lot before. It works, though, so that's probably why they always come back to it.
Green and caramel jet guy is Skyquake, who was a European-only character near the end of G1. That toy was redecoed into Starscream for Machine Wars, so it's kinda fun to see Starscream redecoed back into Skyquake. Cyclical! Skyquake is actually a very pretty toy, possessing a vividness that photography cannot capture. He's sparkly purple and caramel and minty green on translucent lime! Seriously, it somehow works, and I love it. In the story, he's characterized as the mechanical genius behind the Skyraider body-type. He can sniff out your thoughts, he's so in tune with machines. Unfortunately, everyone ignores him, thinking he's crazy. The fools!
The comic book adds a few more Skyraiders to their ranks, culled from the Japanese series and Generation 2. There's Hellbat and Gaihawk and... Hooligan! You know, that guy that everyone always asks for every BotCon and Hasbro Q&A. Cult character. So, of course, BotCon stuck him in the background, taunting you. You could have had him, but no! Ha ha ha ha ha. Oh, BotCon.
(Word is that "Hooligan" is a trademark owned by someone else, which would get in the way of Hasbro releasing him. May we suggest "Shenanigans"?)
The weirdest thing about these two were the little plastic booties that they came packaged in. I'm serious! Little plastic booties! Rubber-banded around their ankles! Delicate tootsies, I guess. Wacky.