Ocular Max PS-9C Hellion Covert Ops

Ocular Max PS-9C Hellion Covert Ops

The PS-9C covert ops pre-paint of Ocular Max’s Hellion (aka Masterpiece Cliffjumper) has arrived at Junkion HQ!

The first thing that you’ll notice is that it comes in a tiny window box.

Covert Ops Hellion box front

On top has some “full color” photos and “DIECAST” in silver foil.

Covert Ops Hellion box top

And, on the back is a classic G1-style tech spec.

Covert Ops Hellion box back

Based off of the blind-box chase Cliffjumper keychain from 2003 this is an all-black version of Hellion. The standard red version is expected in mid July.

Covert Hellion box contents

Despite the size of the box you get a large selection of accessories.

The Robot

Covert Hellion

I really like the fact that they didn’t go with a faux chest like X-Transbot’s Torro. For me, I’d rather have the actual vehicle parts over pure toon-accuracy.

Covert Hellion weapons

They actually include three different weapons including the long pistol, cannon and a Jazz-style rifle.

Covert Hellion bazooka

Many people have been concerned about the waist on the figure and wondered whether the designer sacrificed the robot mode to include the vehicle interior. I found that the waist feels pretty solid and is connected to the die-cast “spine” of the figure.

Covert Hellion waist rear view

And another view of the waist connection from the side.

Covert Hellion waist side view

The Porsche

Not quite a real-world Porsche 924 like the ACE or X-Transbots’ versions, but not totally a penny-racer either. All in all, an acceptable trade-off.

Covert Hellion vehicle mode

Hellion has a detailed interior including not just seats but a steering wheel and gear shift. You’ll need to be very careful with the steering wheel during transformation as it has a tendency to pop off.

Covert Hellion cockpit side

In the TOE category, Hellion has a set of water skis, hood laser and “car bra” to protect his engine from salt water.

Covert Hellion TOE

One thing to be aware of is that the instructions on how to put together the jet-ski mode are missing a few steps.

Step 1: attach accessories

I had to partially transform the legs and push out the hood panel from underneath in order to change it out.

Comparisons

Covert Hellion with Bumblebee

A perfect fit that hits all of my personal preferences.

Covert Hellion vehicle mode with Bumblebee

Here’s where the hybrid vehicle mode becomes really obvious and out of place. Although I’ve made my peace with it based on how much I like the robot mode, I would still have preferred a more accurate Porsche.

Covert Hellion with ACE Hiccups

ACE’s vehicle mode is a much better fit with the Masterpiece line than Hellion. But, since I rarely display MPs in that mode, it’s not enough to sour me on this figure.

The Conclusion

In hand the figure feels pretty good but not perfect. It has the opposite problem of Hiccups, his feet are so small that the figure wants to topple backwards when in a static standing pose. There are also a lot of very small parts (including the steering wheel that I mentioned earlier, the base boards below the doors and trigger fingers) that made me a bit nervous but they never really felt stressed so that may not have been warranted.

Now all I have to do is decide whether to display him with the shouting face beside my G2 Masterpiece figures or just in vehicle mode with the doors open.

UPDATE: Extendable Neck

Over on TFW2005, a board member was asking about about how the neck looked too long in some photos so I took some photos to show off the articulated arm that the head is mounted on.

Here’s the normal view:

Hellion head

Here he is with his neck fully extended:

Hellion neck arm extended
Hellion neck arm extended side

And a close-up of the arm with the head removed:

Hellion neck arm
Hellion neck arm side

* That One Episode” – the obligatory Masterpiece accessory that the character used once in the cartoon.