But this led to things getting a little convoluted... Because Takara released a G1 Hot Rod-inspired repaint of Exillion as part of a DVD set (much like Chromia White Version), and Hasbro decided to get in on the act by releasing a similar repaint in the western markets. However, with the name 'Hot Shot' already taken by their version of Exillion, they decided to turn him into a whole new character within their Cybertron continuity, named... Excellion.
Confused? Well, let's have a look at the toy, then...
Vehicle Mode:
So, yes... Here we have Exillion repainted as Hot Rod and named Excellion... and actually looking like a pretty damned fine interpretation and update of G1 Hot Rod's vehicle mode. Where the Japanese DVD version simply altered the colour palette while keeping the paint application layout, Hasbro's Excellion goes all-out to make this figure into a new version of the old Autobot cavalier, with a gold flame pattern on the bonnet and translucent blue windows. Ostentatious though it may be, this really feels like the paint job this mold was made for. The sober metallic blue-grey of Exillion looked good, but was perhaps a little too far off the traditional colourscheme for a 'Hot Shot'/Hot Rod. Plus, sports cars are more often associated with red than just about any other colour - Ferrari being major proponents of that particular hue. Where the original version of this mold had red plastic parts of the robot showing through at the front of the vehicle, Excellion has orange, and his wheels are a neutral grey rather than bluish-grey, but both had their hubcaps painted silver. Overall, I find his colourscheme more cohesive than the original iteration of the mold.
The flame pattern comes up over the bonnet from the very front of the car and use a very dense gold paint. It's rather a sloppy pattern, but symmetrical... and I honestly doubt that the super-stylised decal of G1 Hot Rod would have looked any good on such a ridged bonnet, so it works well enough as it is... Though, in the wake of the live action movies, I do find myself wondering if adding some pinstriping to the flames would have been a good idea. The flames also appear on the central section of the massive spoiler, and end up getting mostly covered over if the key is inserted, so that's a strange choice... On both Exillion and Hot Shot, there's a more angular pattern painted in yellow here, but it extends down the sides, above where the wings pop out.
Curiously, the key slot - mounted on the roof of the car, toward the rear - is grey here, just as it was on Exillion, but without any of the paintwork highlighting its sculpted details. Naturally, with translucent blue windows, the little wings that pop out once the key is inserted are also translucent blue. It's almost tempting to switch these wings between Exillion and Excellion to make a 'proper' Galaxy Force Hot Rod out of this one, and let Exillion have wings that better match his vehicle mode...
Robot Mode:
In all honesty, I think both Takara and Hasbro could have gone a little more full-on with this G1 Hot Rod-inspired repaint. Part of the issue is almost certainly the sprue layout - the chest shouldn't be grey, for example. The DVD version uses burgundy in place of the grey, so it's more on-brand for the homage, but it hasn't been painted effectively on either version. The layout of applications remains the same as on GF Exillion, but the number of colours applied has been reduced, and I think they would have been far better off painting the central section rather than painting around it. Nevertheless, Excellion actually doesn't look bad, he just comes across like a 'bot who decided to style himself after G1 Hot Rod without changing his own appearance too much.
Excellion is naturally packaged with the same oversized, spring-loaded launcher as the original version of the mold, only it's largely translucent blue with a translucent blue missile. It's not my favourite Galaxy Force accessory and doesn't look good mounted on the car or wielded by hand in robot mode. It's large and clumsy in a way that only the spring-loaded weapons of its period were - G1 weapons were frequently released in the UK without their springs, but none of them were this chunky.
Probably the biggest disappointment for me is that the head is largely unpainted grey plastic. The visor is painted gold and his face and eyes are nicely painted, but the rest of the helmet really needed something different... The original version had a translucent yellow visor and his antennae were painted yellow... Even if Hasbro were intent on not out-Hot Rod-ing Takara with their take on the G1 homage repaint, they could have put in a little more effort - maybe using some of the red paint used on the doors/canopy, for example, covering most of the helmet (except the antennae?), and then gold only on the 'eyebrow' parts of the visor? I dunno... it just feels like a missed opportunity.
Since his transformation and articulation are indentical to the original release, all I'll say on the subject is that the knees on mine are a little on the loose side. Not to the extent where it affects his ability to stand or maintain a pose but, since the legs on this figure aren't great to begin with, any additional issues are that much more noticeable.
There are two things I find curious about this release. First and foremost, that it happened at all. It was inspired by the version of Exillion that came packaged with a Galaxy Force DVD in Japan, and he never appeared in these colours in the TV show, so there was no real need for Hasbro to release their own version. Had they released similar boxed sets, it might have been cool but, as it is, it comes across as a cynical cash-in. Secondly, the naming... Obviously, back in 2006, they weren't able to use the name Hot Rod for whatever reason, so Hasbro's version of Exillion became Hot Shot, since Hasbro wanted to hold on to the name 'Hot Shot' and that was the colourscheme that appeared in the TV show... but, when taking the opportunity to release a Hot Rod-inspired repaint, why use the name of the Takara version of the toy and, given that decision, why change the spelling?
And, really, if those are my only doubts about the toy, it's clearly not a bad toy. Regarding the original, I did end up feeling that I could have waited for the Cybertron version rather than buying the Galaxy Force version on import. With this version, I almost feel as though I should have ordered the Japanese DVD edition (I had seen it on eBay, along with Galaxy Force Chromia White Version) because the grey plastic really lets this one down. Of course, I wouldn't have been able to use the DVD at the time, so it would have been a very expensive Deluxe class toy. That's nothing new for me, in all honesty, but I think this is one of those instances where settling for the UK mass release was the right move. Even then, it's hardly a mandatory purchase for anyone who already has either GF Exillion or C Hot Shot.
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