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Series: Transformers One
Allegiance: Autobot
Categories: Power Changer
Year: 2024
Prelude: Alpha Trion usually appears as some kind of sagely wise bot, but really? He’s just a doddery old guy who hands out powerful artifacts to whatever lucky (or unlucky) bot just happens to come along. Dying dock worker brought over by time travelers? Let’s hand him the Matrix of Leadership! Four bots just turning up in his fanged cave? Hey, have some transformation cogs, why not? Not his fault one of those guys become a genocidal madman, right? So here he is, Alpha Trion from the Transformers One movie. Let’s say go!
Robot Mode: The Prime Changers are the new Deluxes / Warriors in the Transformers One mainline. Alpha Trion is about the size of a Deluxe-Class figure, maybe a tad smaller, and also adheres to the modern standard of articulation. Alpha Trion can move pretty freely, including his head being on a ball joint. Shoulders and legs are also on ball joints, which might pose a problem a few decades down the line when they start to wear, but for now he can simply move well. No complaints on that front.
We’ve only seen a few short scenes with Alpha Trion in the movie trailer so far, but a short comparison shows that the figure is a pretty good likeness, both head and body. The only thing that does not quite work for me is the “cape”. In the trailer scenes he seems to be wearing a more or less standard cape, while the figure uses the halves of its beast mode head as a substitute. It’s not bad as such, but doesn’t really look like a cape.
The “cape” is also where Alpha Trion stores his weapons, which are a sort-of dagger and something that is either a zig-zagged sword or some kind of energy whip? Probably a sword. Both “blades” are in a bright shade of blue that reminds of the Power Core Combiner ports from 2010, or possibly the “Allspark Blue” from the first Transformers live action movie in 2007. The weapons can be clipped into the cape for storage or held in hand. They don’t really look all that great, to be honest, but Alpha Trion was never really much of a weapons-out bot to begin with.
Apart from the weapons being… well, somewhat lame… the only slight complaint I have about the robot mode is the hands, or the forearms rather. Alpha Trion’s hands are fixed in place and don’t move for the transformation, but the forearms are hollow as if the fists were meant to fold into them during the conversion. Seems a bit weird. Apart from that, though, Alpha Trion is a pretty good robot. Not spectacular, but good.
Alternate Mode: Back in 2003 a Universe Alpha Trion toy was advertised for the Official Transformers Collectors Convention (OTCC). The figure would have been a Beast Wars style Alpha Trion who transformed into a lion. A mock-up was made, using Beast Machines Snarl, but in the end the figure was never produced and vanished into obscurity. Too bad, as it would have been the very first Alpha Trion figure ever. The 2016 Titans Return Alpha Trion was the first to homage that never-made figure with its lion mode. Now, we have Alpha Trion from the Transformers One movie, who also becomes a purple… well, somewhat lion-like beast, shall we say?
Alpha Trion has the most basic beast transformation of them all, he goes down on all fours. The “cape” from his back folds together into the beast head, covering his robot head. Paws flip out from his front legs and the shin guards from his robot legs fold upwards to cover his thighs. The dagger becomes the horn, the sword/whip thing becomes the tail. And we’re done.
The beast mode doesn’t look bad and all four legs retain their full articulation. Unless, of course, you follow the instructions and fix the front legs in place by slotting the shoulders into two pegs on the “mane” of the beast. Not sure why one would want to do that, but you can just not do it, so it’s all good. Sadly neither the head nor the tail is in any way poseable.
And… that’s pretty much it, really. An okay beast mode that looks kind of like a techno-organic lion with a horn. We’ll see if Alpha Trion actually transforms into this mode in the movie or not. Bottom line: a decent beast mode with no real flaws, but nothing spectacular, either.
Remarks: With the Transformers One movie still several weeks away at the time of this review, we only know Alpha Trion’s role from the trailer. Orion Pax, D-16, B-127 and Elita-1 end up in some cave, wake up Alpha Trion, who senses strength in them and hands them transformation cogs, so they can access their full potential. Not sure whether he’ll actually do more in the movie than that, we’ll see.
I bought this figure here together with Sentinel Prime and the funny thing is that I was mostly interested in Alpha Trion and just brought Sentinel along because he was there. Having both of them in hand now, though, I have to say that Sentinel is by far the better figure. Alpha Trion isn’t bad, but he is… well, boring, really. He looks good, but the transformation is basic, the weapons aren’t that great, and while he nicely captures the look of Alpha Trion from the movie trailer, there isn’t really much more than that to him. So bottom line: if you want to get the movie cast together, sure, go and get Alpha Trion. Just don’t expect too much from the figure.
Rating: C+
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