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First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:23 am
by william-james88
Fellow Seibertronian Superstar Scotty P (yay for alliteration!) has sent some news our way concerning the Fan Built Combiner Victorion.

USA Today has an article showing the very first image of this new combiner, taken from an upcoming Combiner Hunters comic. The article also contains a quick series of quotes from writer Mairghread Scott. We now know that this combiner will have two helicopters, two "Race cars", a motorcycle, and a rescue truck for alt modes.

Below you will find the article along with the images:

USA Today's Brian Truitt, wrote:The Transformers universe is about to get an influx of girl power and a giant new personality.

Six female robots that team up to form the massive Combiner character Victorion debut next month in IDW's Transformers: Combiner Hunters comic book, and they're a motley crew made tighter by surviving pretty much the worst environment possible.

Not that writer Mairghread Scott is breaking out the welcome mat to greet them as they're introduced into the mythology.

"I don't like to give my characters a lot of breathing room, so Victorion comes into existence about a half-second before a sword flies at her head," she says.

"Naturally, her first concern when it comes to other Transformers is not being killed by them. But IDW Transformers has always been interested in how people navigate a world of shifting alliances, imperfect heroes, and charismatic villains."

The Combiner Hunters one-shot features the aftermath of the recent Combiner Wars saga and feature the female Autobots Chromia, Windblade and Arcee meeting the new Victorion, the result of a recent Hasbro Fan Built Combiner poll designed to create a new female character for toys and comics.

The resourceful and tenacious Autobots who combine as Victorion volunteered to search for artifacts sacred to their culture and religion in the Sea of Rust, an unsettled area on the planet Cybertron that's corrupted by toxic gases. This dangerous atmosphere corrodes armor and has unknown effects on a 'bot's processors and circuits.

"They've been forced to adapt to their surroundings and have learned how to live without much. This makes them extremely resourceful," says John Warden, Hasbro's Transformers design manager.

"They work together out of need, but they may not always like it. Life in this kind of environment can force you into some difficult choices, and these 'bots aren't afraid to make them. It makes them strong and resilient, and forges a lasting bond."

Like people, each Combiner has its own personality, weaponry and speech pattern, according to Scott. And because the characters, whose names IDW is keeping secret for now, are such a tight unit, they work well in combined form. Consequently, Victorion is more coherent and intelligent than other Combiners such as Menasor and Superion.

"Each of those Transformers accepted a difficult mission from their spiritual leader," Scott says. "You see that drive and zeal multiplied in Victorion. She is a warrior dedicated to her faith, and we all know how dangerous that can be."

The team's alternate vehicular forms include two race cars, a pair of helicopters, a motorcycle and a rescue truck. And Victorion also differs from other Combiners not only because she's female but she can manipulate gravity and has the ability to combine in different configurations. If the copter twins form her legs, she can fly, and when they make up her arms, Victorion can use her gravity powers as a weapon.

The massive lady robot has a big role to play in "Conquerers," the next story line that kicks off in IDW's Transformers series written by Transformers editor John Barber and drawn by Combiner Hunters artist Sara Pitre-Durocher.

Victorion begins to forge a new life for her team, and the six robots ultimately form an interesting relationship with Autobot main man Optimus Prime.

"Optimus is dealing with finding his place in a Cybertronian society that's changing, and Victorion will have life experiences and a world view that's different from Optimus'," says Barber. It all leads into Transformers No. 50 early next year, "where Victorion will be front and center during one of the biggest things we've ever done in Transformers comics."

The new group may be considered a bunch of rogues for those who aren't in their circle of trust, but Scott figures they are way more Indiana Jones than the Punisher.

"They may not agree with our other heroes all the time and they will fight for their beliefs, but Victorion isn't digging up these relics to alleviate some past, personal tragedy," the writer says. "She's doing it to build a better future for all Transformers."


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Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:27 am
by steve2275
sexy

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:27 am
by Lockdownhunter
This is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:33 am
by Super Megatron
Very Gundam.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:39 am
by Jones
Looks like we have an overhauled Hot Spot for the core, which is awesome. :)

Repaints/molds of AB/Blades for one or two of the arms. Should be cool to see how drastic the changes are on these!

One leg looks like a remold of Dead End, and the other likely to be Breakdown, though it's not visible in any of those pics.

I assume the 'motorcycle' will be a repaint of Groove.

Looking very good! :)

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:40 am
by Nisus
The head has a Gundam feel to it.

I was just talking about her/them at work Tuesday and was starting to wonder when we were going to see pics and/or new info. I figured it was going to happen during Botcon.

All in all, going to be interesting.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:40 am
by Puhonix
2 Alpha Bravos, 2 Dragstrips, a Groove, and a HotSpot?

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:42 am
by william-james88
Super Megatron wrote:Very Gundam.


Good or Bad? I personally really love when some robots look super japanese, it reminds me of their cultural origins.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:46 am
by william-james88
Puhonix wrote:2 Alpha Bravos, 2 Dragstrips, a Groove, and a HotSpot?


Pretty certain that isnt the Dragstrip mold we see in the pic.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:10 am
by Carnivius_Prime
Um. Not a fan.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:16 am
by Rated X
Well the comic makes her look feminine which is good. But the real question is how will the toy look ? Feminine or robobutch ?

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:40 am
by Gauntlet101010
So this is Defensor, basically.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:42 am
by Gearslide
So the torso is definitely a repainted Hot Spot (Wouldn't surprise me if they retool it in such a way that they can slap a new head on it and it'll look like Bruticus, but given it says "Rescue Truck", I'm guessing it's just Hot Spot with new heads).

BOTH of the arms appear to be identical twins, who are repaints of Alpha Bravo or Blades. Maybe one will have Bravo's head and the other will have Blades'?

The right leg looks like a Dead End repaint (it might be based on the Streetwise version, but given the visible details it resembles Dead End's version more, to me at least).

The left leg is not visible yet, but given the symmetry of the arms and Victorion having "2 race cars", it wouldn't surprise me if the left leg looks nearly identical to the right leg. That mold has 3 heads to work with after all.

And the "motorcycle" is obviously a Groove (legends class) repaint, since that mold works with the Hot Spot mold as a Chest plate.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:46 am
by Puhonix
william-james88 wrote:
Puhonix wrote:2 Alpha Bravos, 2 Dragstrips, a Groove, and a HotSpot?


Pretty certain that isnt the Dragstrip mold we see in the pic.


Yes... Head was thinking Dead End, fingers were typing Drag Strip.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:47 am
by GuyIncognito
Two more helicopters? I already have two. Are they going to be white and red again as well? Can't we get some green, purple, turquoise, orange, pink, anything but white or red?

On the plus side, it'll be cool to make an all-helicopter Superion.

Gearslide wrote:So the torso is definitely a repainted Hot Spot (Wouldn't surprise me if they retool it in such a way that they can slap a new head on it and it'll look like Bruticus, but given it says "Rescue Truck", I'm guessing it's just Hot Spot with new heads).

BOTH of the arms appear to be identical twins, who are repaints of Alpha Bravo or Blades. Maybe one will have Bravo's head and the other will have Blades'?

The right leg looks like a Dead End repaint (it might be based on the Streetwise version, but given the visible details it resembles Dead End's version more, to me at least).

The left leg is not visible yet, but given the symmetry of the arms and Victorion having "2 race cars", it wouldn't surprise me if the left leg looks nearly identical to the right leg. That mold has 3 heads to work with after all.

And the "motorcycle" is obviously a Groove (legends class) repaint, since that mold works with the Hot Spot mold as a Chest plate.


Your logic is sound.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:49 am
by william-james88
Gauntlet101010 wrote:So this is Defensor, basically.


In different colours. We always knew it would be the same molds we saw before so it was going to look similar to any of the previous combiners. It ends up being more defensor like because that torso won out.

GuyIncognito wrote:Two more helicopters? I already have two. Are they going to be white and red again as well? Can't we get some green, purple, turquoise, orange, pink, anything but white or red?


Definitiely white.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:06 pm
by MGrotusque
Colour me unimpressed. Yawn.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:09 pm
by NuclearConvoy
Unless they manage to make that Alpha Bravo mold look absolutely amazing as a new toy, I am turned off by both of her arms being helicopters and the same colors. The head looks nice, certainly more exciting than Defensor's but the colour palette overall seems tedious. I want to like this, because I like the idea of having more female characters in the franchise. .. I'm not saying that I won't be getting her, but for a first impression the two helicopter arms being what I would assume are identical twins makes me wary. I look forward to seeing the toys, and I'm sure that as the toys come out I will be more annoyed by people calling them robobutch than by the toys themselves being less exciting than I had hoped for. I find it mind-boggling how slavish to one set of basic human anatomical standards the fanbase wants giant robot ladies from another planet to be and yet are okay with the dudes having all sorts of shapes and sizes...

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:25 pm
by Dr. Caelus
Looks like the helicopters will have remodel arms - thrusters instead of missiles.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:26 pm
by ScottyP
william-james88 wrote:
Super Megatron wrote:Very Gundam.


Good or Bad? I personally really love when some robots look super japanese, it reminds me of their cultural origins.
I have no problem with v-fins personally. Gundam has used them for so long, so often for a reason: they just look cool!

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:30 pm
by Grahf_
I'll be fine with the double helicopters so long as they finally do something with the blades. I hate them so much. I can make it work in leg mode but in arm mode, I can't stand them. I wish the pin was more accessible so I could tighten it myself as it just wobbles all over the place and is too loose.

Also, I thought it was supposed to be two jets, not two helicopters. Or was that just more bad reporting from an inferior site?

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:50 pm
by Shuttershock
NuclearConvoy wrote:Unless they manage to make that Alpha Bravo mold look absolutely amazing as a new toy, I am turned off by both of her arms being helicopters and the same colors. The head looks nice, certainly more exciting than Defensor's but the colour palette overall seems tedious. I want to like this, because I like the idea of having more female characters in the franchise. .. I'm not saying that I won't be getting her, but for a first impression the two helicopter arms being what I would assume are identical twins makes me wary. I look forward to seeing the toys, and I'm sure that as the toys come out I will be more annoyed by people calling them robobutch than by the toys themselves being less exciting than I had hoped for. I find it mind-boggling how slavish to one set of basic human anatomical standards the fanbase wants giant robot ladies from another planet to be and yet are okay with the dudes having all sorts of shapes and sizes...


Not saying you're wrong, but to be fair HasTak doesn't do a lot to dissuade our expectations. For all the talk of how few fembots there are vs brobots, there's even fewer that don't look stereotypically feminine. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are Strika, Ripclaw and Ovveride, and the latter wasn't even originally a girl.

Just saying, a lot of the "slavish" mindset isn't irrational, given what we usually get.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:53 pm
by william-james88
Alpha Weltall wrote:I'll be fine with the double helicopters so long as they finally do something with the blades. I hate them so much. I can make it work in leg mode but in arm mode, I can't stand them. I wish the pin was more accessible so I could tighten it myself as it just wobbles all over the place and is too loose.

Also, I thought it was supposed to be two jets, not two helicopters. Or was that just more bad reporting from an inferior site?


I am trying to find that reporting but cant find it on our site. The picture probably was Jet/Helicopter and they opted to give us 2 helicopters.

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:09 pm
by D-Maximal_Primal
She really does look very neat. I like it so far. The twin helicopters: I saw them using one, but it will kinda look good with 2 in my opinion. It will be similar to takara Superion: The arms are the exact same thing with different colors and heads (in this case, same colors but probs different color schemes), and the legs are very similar. I also like that they are taking the RiD Ruination trick of having a flight mode and a ground mode. Very nice. I think the Hotspot mold was going to win anyways since it was new and it actually looks very good and I like it.
As another note, I like the helicopter mode since it is the Aerial vehicle that stores the h/f things the best, Although I do kinda hope the 2 racecars are Deadends since They form good kneepads.
One last thing: Don't go hating on her bad just yet. This is basically a sneak peak; this is just gives us an idea, and it's not showing the actual toy or actual official concept art. For all we know, the toys could be heavily retooled and look amazing, yet the art is not bringing it across completely. So please, just give this a chance to pan out better. :BOT:

Re: First Look at Victorion, the fan built combiner

PostPosted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 1:11 pm
by D-Maximal_Primal
william-james88 wrote:
Alpha Weltall wrote:I'll be fine with the double helicopters so long as they finally do something with the blades. I hate them so much. I can make it work in leg mode but in arm mode, I can't stand them. I wish the pin was more accessible so I could tighten it myself as it just wobbles all over the place and is too loose.

Also, I thought it was supposed to be two jets, not two helicopters. Or was that just more bad reporting from an inferior site?


I am trying to find that reporting but cant find it on our site. The picture probably was Jet/Helicopter and they opted to give us 2 helicopters.

If I remember correctly, 2 of the limbs were supposed to be aerial vehicles with 3 choices: heli, bomber and reconnaissance. It looks like the helicopters won out. Had we picked Truck, I think the first Aid, Off Road and Rook molds would then have been there for selection. :BOT: