Alligaticon (Transformers (Super7)) Review

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Alligaticon (Transformers (Super7)) Review

Alligaticon
Transformers (Super7) (Super7)With the vast amount of characters in the Transformers universe, there's plenty to choose from when it comes to toys. Hasbro's ongoing Legacy line takes cues from nearly every adaptation of the franchise, but with Super7, they've stuck to just G1. They've done a few deep-cut characters, but the most noteworthy one is Alligaticon.

For those unfamiliar with Alligaticon, he comes from the 1980s series' "City of Steel" episode, in which the Decepticons plot to take over New York. Optimus Prime tries to infiltrate their base, but is captured and subsequently disassembled, and most of his parts are reconstructed into a robot alligator. Hey, it was an 80s cartoon, they were allowed to get silly and weird. Despite being the first robot alligator in the franchise, Skullcruncher was the first who could transform from a robot to a gator. Hasbro never thought to make an Optimus Prime that could turn into Alligaticon (though there is a third-party one), so the first toy of the gator is one of Super7's non-transforming ones.

Judging by the scene in which Optimus is mostly back together thanks to the other Autobots, it's implied not every part of Alligaticon was taken from him, such as the head. The head shape is mostly angular with some rounded areas, and is an off-white color, which is accurate to the episode. The eyes, teeth, and inside of the mouth are painted quite cleanly, and yes, the jaw is hinged, so it can open and close. The cut-in jaw movement results in a less seamless look, and generally the sculpt isn't 100% episode accurate, but Four Horsemen did a good enough job with him, and it's not like designs and details were consistent in the show.

As an alligator, Alligaticon is more long than it is tall, scaling about 10 1/4" from snout to tail whilst being only 2 1/2" tall. It's not hard to tell which parts were sourced were source from Prime, with windows on the midsection and smokestacks near the base of the tail. The front half of the body is the same off-white as the head, but the rest is solid white, which also matches the episode. There's plenty of details sculpted into the body, and the articulation blends in with the sculpt mostly well, though the midsection joint makes it a little bit longer than it should be. The paint apps are great, mainly thanks to the lack of colors, aside from a few blemishes and marks here and there. The lights that should be near the bottom of Alligaticon's body are missing, and the red part of the body should be red on the bottom as well. Most people will forget these details, but I compared it to the episode, and I feel Super7 could've done better with the sculpt considering what they forgot.

Despite being the first quadrupedal Ultimate, Alligaticon doesn't move too much differently from the usual output, but with some unique joints. The gator bot has a hinged jaw and head, ball-jointed neck, midsection, and tail, three additional ball pegs in the tail, and swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. The figure isn't the most dynamic, both due to the design and the fact that it's an alligator, but you can get some standard gator poses, and the hinged head joint works great. Just don't expect those ball joints to get a ton of tilt.

Since Alligation was a one-shot character, there isn't a ton of accessories, but there are some goodies taken from the source episode. One of those is part of the Decepticon tower, standing just under 7" tall, with Optimus' arm connected to it. I feel the paint on it could be a little better, but the sculpt on it is just fine, but the arm is out of proportion with it. The arm is taken right from the Ultimate Optimus Prime, with all the same articulation, including the same crappy elbow and an extra joint at the shoulder to shift it up and down, but the ion blaster is an all-new sculpt. It's been redesigned to fit in the hand better, and it's nice Super7 addressed that issue the Optimus figure had. Then there's Optimus Prime's disembodied head, connected to a removable neck stump with exposed wires. The head is painted over clear blue plastic, so you can shine a light into it to give the eyes a light-up effect, and the sculpt is generally nicer than the Optimus figure, but the smaller size and larger socket means neither it or the neck piece with fit with said figure. Lastly, there's one of the blaster taxis used by the Decepticons, and the sculpt is great, with the small size making it feel in-scale with the figures. I wish the wheels on it could spin instead of being solid, because it makes the car nothing more than a hunk of plastic.

Getting an official Alligaticon figure is unexpected, but Super7's willingness to go deep is a pleasant surprise. Granted, it's not as fun as I had hoped due to the lackluster movement and general lack of playability and useful accessories compared to the other Ultimates, getting unique and/or goofy stuff is what I look for in Transformers figures, and Alligaticon fits that bill. It's a shame S7 has seemingly given up on this line, because Autobot X would make for a great release in this format.

- 11/25/24