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Today I received my Impossible Toys TRNS-03 Alicon (Transitional Robot Neural Soldiers), the alligator shaped creatures/sharkticons? from the 1986 Transformers movie. My first impression is that it’s big; far larger than I was expecting. This is almost more in scale with the Masterpiece line than deluxe/voyager. Here are the images I took, including some comparisons:


On Quintessa… (Kup and FP Protector Rodimus, with Impossible Toys Quintessons in the back.)


Bah weep grah nah weep ninny bong… (Kup and Rodimus right side by side)


Yes master? (The two Impossible Toys Quints, lit.)


Front quarter.


I wouldn’t scratch, even if you think he might like it….


Rear quarter. Nice tail! Hmmmmmm… <_< >_>


Part way through transformation. Do you see those two spikes in front of him? Those are from the shoulder and must be removed in order to transform him. I’m not terribly impressed with that…


Spikes in place. If you see, the shoulders fit in the “belly” area, and the spikes would prevent them from fitting together. I did try some other possible orientations to no avail. The picture on the box seems to confirm this reality. (No instruction sheet with the figure, so no official documentation of this that I know of.)


Almost a Danny DeVito look. The torso is tremendously long and the legs tremendously short. He comes with two spears.


Front quarter.


Rear quarter


Kup and Rodimus in front. (Can I use the universal greeting twice?)


Rodimus side by side with Alicon


Just to show the size with a Voyager, I grabbed Classics Jetfire

Okay, that’s it. I’m glad he’s as big as he is for $90. However, I think I would have preferred about a 20-30% downgrade in size and a drop in price (troop building is out except for the most monetarily gifted of us). The detailing is not horrible. The transformation is simple enough (so, no real need for instructions). He feels pretty solid, though in robot mode, he is a bit back heavy. I might suggest leaving his tail on the ground to support the weight, except the joints don’t really make this feasible. The removal of two spikes is a little disappointing for such an expensive piece.

Overall, I think I might give him a 7.5 out of 10. Positives: simple transformation, feels pretty solid, no real alternative that I know about. Negatives: back heavy in robot mode, simple transformation (and removal of spikes), price, size (too big unless placing with masterpieces, then perhaps too small).

He’ll fit in my Quintessa shelf. Here’s hoping a Gnaw can come out that’s similar in size...

Pretty much what I'd thought from initial pics. I'd really like some quality Quints, or failing that, this lot at reasonable prices.

I'm looking at the scene where the Allicons crowd Kup and Hot Rod right now and ... you guys are right. He's too big by a good inch. Which is an ironic problem considering most TFs are too small by a similar margin.

Still, I think it's fine.

For those that want a toy that fits in with their 80's collection, this thing's not too bad. Sadly, my collection is pretty current...

Mekatron wrote:For those that want a toy that fits in with their 80's collection, this thing's not too bad. Sadly, my collection is pretty current...

Is this truly a problem? I find this guy obscure enough not to mind the size. Especially considering you got guys like FoC Shockwave, who's way too small, and Hegemon, who's a little too large.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

Mekatron wrote:For those that want a toy that fits in with their 80's collection, this thing's not too bad. Sadly, my collection is pretty current...

Is this truly a problem? I find this guy obscure enough not to mind the size. Especially considering you got guys like FoC Shockwave, who's way too small, and Hegemon, who's a little too large.

Oh... I wasn't really taking size into much consideration (though that may be a concern to some)... he just seems very simplistic & blocky... much like the vintage toys I owned when I was a kid. Putting him next to Classics & Fansproject seems a little weird... I just think he'd fit in great with the G1 toys.

Mekatron wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

Mekatron wrote:For those that want a toy that fits in with their 80's collection, this thing's not too bad. Sadly, my collection is pretty current...

Is this truly a problem? I find this guy obscure enough not to mind the size. Especially considering you got guys like FoC Shockwave, who's way too small, and Hegemon, who's a little too large.

Oh... I wasn't really taking size into much consideration (though that may be a concern to some)... he just seems very simplistic & blocky... much like the vintage toys I owned when I was a kid. Putting him next to Classics & Fansproject seems a little weird... I just think he'd fit in great with the G1 toys.

Indeed, I think that assessment is spot on! Alicon fits with my G1 toys well in construction and articulation. For the money, especially with offerings like FansProject and TFC at a similar price point, its a little disappointing this isn't a little better articulated or that the transformation isn't more seamless.

Mekatron wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

Mekatron wrote:For those that want a toy that fits in with their 80's collection, this thing's not too bad. Sadly, my collection is pretty current...

Is this truly a problem? I find this guy obscure enough not to mind the size. Especially considering you got guys like FoC Shockwave, who's way too small, and Hegemon, who's a little too large.

Oh... I wasn't really taking size into much consideration (though that may be a concern to some)... he just seems very simplistic & blocky... much like the vintage toys I owned when I was a kid. Putting him next to Classics & Fansproject seems a little weird... I just think he'd fit in great with the G1 toys.

G1 toys had almost no real articulation. This one does so it's screaming classics shelf to me. Same with Kranix and Arbulus.

It's anyone's choice, I suppose. I'm trying to make a Neo Animated movie cast, so I'm real happy to be able to add this guy to the set (eventually). Scale, smale, I say! Since I could barely remember the proper scale for this guy it doesn't bug me. On the reverse, WfC Shockwave is positively puny next to Hegemon. I just can't win at this scale game.

Hmm, so quality-wise he's good?

Gauntlet101010 wrote:It's anyone's choice, I suppose. I'm trying to make a Neo Animated movie cast, so I'm real happy to be able to add this guy to the set (eventually). Scale, smale, I say! Since I could barely remember the proper scale for this guy it doesn't bug me. On the reverse, WfC Shockwave is positively puny next to Hegemon. I just can't win at this scale game.

I too want a TFTM cast. But...this guy looks pretty shoddy. I don't mind a character's design being a wee bit off (Gen Kup, Scourge, etc) so long as they look like good toys. This doesn't look that good, especially for the price tag. Maybe at Hasbro prices I'd get one for the hell of it.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Hmm, so quality-wise he's good?

$80 good? No. $20 good (used to be typical Voyager price), yeah, I think good (craggy was spot on with that comment). I'm not afraid to break him, though the tail feels flimsier than it looks. Everything's friction fit, so no ratcheting joints or anything. Too much handling and I could see some limbs not holding poses. Nothing spectacular in the paint apps. The hands slide out weirdly. I think I could have spent this money in better places, but this is the only rendition of this character I know of, so I'll keep him.

I don't think I'll play with him at all. He'll sit with my Quints and look pretty until Gnaw comes along. I wish I could afford two, one for each mode. I don't know what Impossible Toys is smoking calling this a troop builder.

I guess I'm the lone dissenter here.

Still, whether you think he looks good or not it'll probably be wisest to wait. IT stuff always seems to be plentiful and to come down drastically in price in a few years' time. Although I'm a pretty impatient fellow, so i may not follow my own advice.

Bumping up this topic to give my opinion on the figure. Yeah, despite saying it's best to wait, I didn't and got him at a con anyway. But he was $75 there, which is lower than he is at BBTS (with the US price there and not including shipping), and at cons these things are a bit pricier than online, so I think it about evens out. The same vendor still had IT's Arcee at $100, to give some context.

The good news: they have definitely learned a thing or two since Val! The joints, save for the upper arms, are all nice and tight. The legs, where they swivel out, are actually a bit too tight, but it didn't break when I opened them up and after that there were all good. The figure, unlike Arcee, feels solid in both modes. The only place it isn't solid is the arms in beast mode. They don't peg in anywhere and are free to flop around. More good news: the spikes aren't eye-pokingly sharp as they are on the other Quint figures!

Like most of their offerings the ting seems to come right out of the animation. Still, the torso is way too long or the arms are too short. Or maybe a bit of both. The result is a mispositioned robot mode. No, it's definitely not FP quality. Plus you have to remove some shoulder spikes to get it into beast mode.

On the plus side everything goes somewhere. The weapon splits apart for Beast mode and the middle connecting part goes in the mouth and both spikes go on the ends. So it's not like it's not self-contained. It's still a cheat, though.

As for the size ... it's huge. When I handled it i felt that, at least I got something for my money. It's ... voyager size, maybe? Maybe Ultra? The tail adds a lot to the length. Definitely large. I feel they scaled it to match G1 Gnaw. Not having a G1 Gnaw on hand, I can't really say, but that's my guess. So it's massive. But I still don't feel this is a problem. Allicons are big, dumb brutes. If it's too large, it only adds to him being a big, dumbbrute. The ONLY concern I have is that this guy won't look very nice next to iGear's Sharkticons. (If they ever actually release those guys because who really knows with iGear?)

Stylistically, I have to admit it favors G1 over any more modern TFs. It's very simple and the mispositioned look wouldn't stand out so badly among G1 figures where that sort of thing was fairly common. But let's be honest ... he's probably going to go with your IT Quintessons and G1 Sharkticons, even if you have a Neo G1 collection like me, and he looks pretty good next to those guys. I definitely like the figure. He's heads and tails better than Val was. But for the price he is right now I still think it'd benefit people to wait. Get one now if you're impatient like me, but IT stuff does tend to stick around for a long, long time. When it goes on clearance I'll probably get two more.

For me this figure screams "classics". He is way too articulated to look good with blocky G1 figures. I know the aesthetics fanatics will totally disagree, but thats how I display my IT figures. I admit he is a little too big which sucks, but he is in scale with the Quint figures which IMHO are fairly in scale with classics figures. Since troop building is costly with this figure, I decided to use him as the "guard" for the Quint scientist as portrayed in the G1 episode "The Killing Jar". The guard was the only Alicon that could talk.

[quote="Rated X"]For me this figure screams "classics". He is way too articulated to look good with blocky G1 figures. [quote]
This guy is about as blocky as G1 Scourge or G1 Galvatron, really. He's more articulated than the average G1, but he's about as blocky as any of them. We'll probably have to agree to disagree, but I think he'd look great next to a G1 Sharkticon.

Although he'd also look fine with classics since classics are a real mishmash of styles.

Everyone said the same thing about IT Valkyrie. (It goes better with G1 figures than classics) I never understood why they said that…

This Arcee goes better with G1 figures:



Delicate Warrior aside, how could something as curvy as this go with G1 figures rather than classics ???



Just my perspective since I don’t mix vintage and new molds. I don’t want the new molds to out shine their predecessors and make them look like crap. (except Sky Lynx because it is perfect scale and not really a robot)

G1 doesn't mean you can't have a curve or two. Plus not only are his arms and legs tree trunks, but his back is one, big, rectangle. If you had him in hand you'd see he has a lot of flat surfaces with simple, etched in detailing.

Obviously we aren't going to agree here, but articulation doesn't mean it's not simplistic.

I do own one Alicon. Check out my Quint court and see how well IT figures fit in with classics…






I never owned G1 Gnaw because I’ve always thought his 1986 toy had one of the ugliest robot modes ever. He is basically humpty dumpty with chicken legs. They didn’t give him that lower bulk he needed to be cartoon accurate in robot mode. Hopefully Igear will get it right. But I do agree that in creature mode they do scale well together. But scale is so screwed up in every continuity that I give Alicon a pass and think he is fine for classics. That’s just my opinion since I’m not a big supporter of the “aesthetics” debate that rages over Impossible Toys and X-Transbots figures displayed with classics.

Doesn’t the scale seem to be accurate to this shot ?

You'll note that i never said it didn't fit in with the Classics line. I think Alicon fits in quite well with Classics. However I also think he'd fit in very well with G1 figures, especially Gnaw and the movie Decepticons.

However, he is overly large. There's just no denying that. If you go to the Universal Greeting scene in the movie you'll see he's shorter than Kup or Hot Rod. Which makes him a very short bot indeed. Not that this is a huge problem; I mean being big and dumb is fine and he doesn't transform into a car or anything that'd break the illusion, but facts are facts. He's larger in relation to Kyp than he should be. But he was probably made to look good next to Gnaw and the Quints.

Apologies for the necro-bump, but I just noticed that Alicon is on major clearance at BBTS for 29.99 each (the set of 7 Tetra-Jets and 9 Mini-Chargers are also on major clearance for 129.99 and 149.99 respectively, btw).

I was considering getting him back when he was on troop-builder preorder for 49.99, but ultimately passed. Now that he's so reasonably priced, I wanted to pose this question to people who already have him:

Has Alicon held up over time? Do you still like him? Is he worth the price of entry at $30 a pop? I remember that size was an annoyance - has that issue faded with time, or is it sill a pain?

Now I wished I waited to buy another. Maybe I'll get a third. Three Alicons to match a setof 3 sharkticons.

I still like him. Still glad I got him. I'm not one for changing my mind after a purchase. If you look at pics of him next to any given character and you still think he looks good, get him.

Edit:
As for height ... you know, that depends on you. They're big guys. Int he movie's famous "universal greeting" scene. they were half Kup's height, so they are bigger. Actually, I kinda like them bigger - kind of like enforcer type characters. But it's up to you.

Anyone getting those jets for 20 bucks a pop?

Wow, that's a good price. I may consider picking another one or two up at that price.

I had him down to take pics with the new Sharkticons from just a bit ago. He's fine, though I still think he's rather big. (There are some photos I took at the top of the page showing some scale.) Nothing's broken. He transformed fine. Not the best engineered figure, but hey, it's the only one in existence, right?

mooncake623 wrote:Anyone getting those jets for 20 bucks a pop?

I'm tempted. I just can't get myself to pull the trigger. I'd pick them up for $5 a pop...