Dave's Cybertron Rant: Deluxe Wave 6 Excellion Override GTS (not purchased) It's the invasion of the Speed Planet Recolors! Perhaps a bit much right on top of the Target exclusive Hot Shot/Override two-pack. Updated June 9, 2006 with Key Code info. CAPSULES Excellion: An Energon Rodimus homage recolor of Hot Shot. Recommended if you don't have Hot Shot already, mildly recommended if you do. $9.87 at Wal-Mart. Override GTS: A nice recolor, but not a mold I want two of. $9.87 at Wal-Mart. RANTS Packaging: Standard Deluxe. Two twist-ties hold Excellion into the bubble, and one each for his gun, missile and Key. Didn't count the ones on Override GTS. They come with Space Camp contest pieces and the Jungle Map. I didn't win anything, got the Starscream sticker. Cosells on Excellion are Override GTS, Soundwave and Scrapmetal. Those on OGTS are Lugnutz, Excellion and Wing Saber. Interesting note about the packaging pics for Excellion. There's a mold difference between the pictured vehicle and the actual toy...and it's the same difference as between Hot Shot's picture and that toy. The screws holding the dragster wings are not present (or were pins or something) in the ppackage pics, and the hood ornament Autobot symbol splits down the center in the pics (but all goes with the left shoulderpad on the toys). But the Excellion pic isn't a photoshop of the Hot Shot pic. Perhaps they repainted the original prototype, or took a different picture of it and photoshopped that. AUTOBOT: EXCELLION Planet: Speed Altmode: Race car Prior Name Use: None (sorta, see below) Prior Mold Use: Cybertron Hot Shot Key Gimmick: Dragster Wing Key Code: d7p5 An outsider among the AUTOBOTS because of his brooding attitude, EXCELLION is one of the very few AUTOBOT warriors who the DECEPTICONS think of with any respect, but that respect is earned. EXCELLION has made an art of speed and stealth, moving back and forth across enemy lines as if he were invisible. More than once, he has retrieved vital information from within a DECEPTICON stronghold, or quickly and quietly disposed of a particularly annoying enemy agent. STR 6 INT 7 SPD 8.5 END 8 RNK 6.5 COUR 9 FRB 7 SKL 9 Avg 7.625 The Galaxy Force version of Hot Shot is named Excellion (or a spelling variant thereof). Clearly, Excellion's function is "Spy". Key Code Info: As a repaint of Hot Shot, this name is far more fitting than one would actually believe. In the Japanese version of Transformers: Cybertron - entitled Transformers: Galaxy Force - Hot Shot is actually called Excellion! In the past for Transformers Armada and Transformers Energon, there have been re-painted versions of Hot Shot in these exact colors as well. This color scheme is an homage to the 1986 Generation 1 Transformer Autobot cavalier HOT ROD - a futuristic roadster. (Also shows the color guide, named Exillion as of the date July 19 2005 listed on the guide.) Planet Key: Standard Speed Planet. Color Swaps: Blue becomes a slightly orangish red (FF3300), although the paint intended to match this color is closer to a pure red (FF0000). Red becomes orange (FF6600), dark blue-gray becomes charcoal gray (333333) and the clear yellow becomes clear light blue (3399FF, roughly...harder to tell with the clear colors). Paint Applications: Gold flames at the front of the car and on the spoiler in back, plus more gold paint on the shins, chest and forehead (totally covering the clear blue plastic). Silver is painted on the headlights, hubcaps and roof of the car, plus on the robot face, shoulders, abdomen and pelvis. There's a bit of orange paint on either pectoral, red painted on the molded Autobot symbol on the left shoulder, and blue eyes. Other Notes: The combination of plastic and paint colors on the doors make the forearm missiles pretty hard to see. This is pretty clearly an homage to the color scheme of Energon Rodimus, what with the charcoal and gold parts, and lack of non-metallic yellow. I wouldn't be surprised if Rodimus was one of the names submitted to Hasbro's legal department for this toy (last I heard, designers suggest a list of names, and the trademark lawyers generally pick one from that list...could have changed by now, of course). There's a more Hot Rod-ish color scheme of this toy available in Japan, but it's kinda pricy from what I hear, even if you can get it without the DVD it's normally packed with. [Later note: Yes, he's a car and not a truck. I know that. But the COLOR SCHEME is an homage to Energon Rodimus, down to the gold flame patterns. Not every red car with flames is tracked directly back to G1 Hot Rod.] Overall: I definitely prefer this color scheme to the red, yellow and blue colors the mold had originally. It could use a few tweaks, but if you haven't bought this mold yet, go for Excellion instead of Hot Shot. AUTOBOT: OVERRIDE GTS Planet: Speed Altmode: Race car Prior Name Use: None with the GTS Prior Mold Use: Cybertron Override Key Gimmick: Double-barrelled Shock Blaster Key Code: dj9n OVERRIDE channeled her frustration at being beaten by both MEGATRON and HOT SHOT into the search for the Planet Keys. Tempered by a race for something greater than a mere trophy, she returns to the Speed Planet a new leader. She has upgraded her systems with components based on the technology of both Earth and Cybertron. With her body thus enhanced, she has come back to the Speed Planet to reclaim her place as leader so that she may rule with compassion and justice learned from the AUTOBOTS. STR 7 INT 8 SPD ? END 8.5 RNK 9 COUR 7 FRB 5.5 SKL 8.5 Avg n/a Copied techspecs down from the one I didn't buy, ain't PDAs wunnerful? Got the Key Code from Nevermore's list. Key Code Info: The previous Cyber Planet Key un-lockable content for Override was a little joke regarding the characters origins. In the original idea behind Cybertron ("Galaxy Force" as it's called in Japan), Override was designed to be a boy character! In fact, in Japan, the Override character remained a boy in animation. That's why in certain scenes with the human Lori, Override blushes. He's embarrassed by Lori's comments! For the Cybertron animation, though, Hasbro decided to turn Override into a powerful, and aspirational, female warrior. (I think they meant "inspirational" rather than "aspirational". Also shows color guide. No GTS mentioned.) Colors are roughly the same ones, but in a different balance. More black in general, and flame deco on the front fenders in red on white. Not really gonna go into more detail, since I didn't actually buy this one. [Later correction: what looked like white is actually more of a silver gray, and the red is metallic.] As far as I can tell, GTS means Gas Turbine System, a sort of uber supercharger. Or Gran Turismo Super (Grand Touring Super). Or Gran Turismo Sport. Or Got Totally S...never mind. :) That last one probably applies to the upcoming Ransack GTS. Dave Van Domelen, adding some silver paint to Excellion's forearm blasters, and some other touchup bits here and there: http://www.dvandom.com/images/excellion.JPG