TFW’s Transformers galleries updates return with a look at something cool, exclusive, and Japanese! The Million Publishing Transformers Generations books have had one or more volumes released over the last few years, and the majority are accompanied by a mail-in exclusive toy, and today, we’re taking a look at one of the Generations 2014 mail-in exclusives – here to share with you, a look at Generations Shouki!
For those not familiar with the name, Shouki was a character from the 1987 Japanese exclusive series, The Headmasters. He was a part of the Autobot combiner team, the Trainbots, and transformed into a bullet train. This Classics update of Shouki recreates that alternate mode – sans combination – using the Classics Astrotrain mold as a base. As with many of Takara’s exclusives, the deco looks amazing, from the gradient on the side panels to the detail on the chest. Astrotrain’s shuttle mode is explained away as Shouki going on an infiltration mission, masquerading as the Decepticon shuttle Thunder Arrow (better known in the west as Skystalker’s shuttle).
Shouki also comes with a bonus Mini-con partner figure, who represents human ally Daniel Witwicky in a special exosuit that resembles Skystalker. This is a nice add-on, as Daniel can attach to Shouki’s train mode to form a pantograph, to pick up electricity for the train mode from overhead lines (what this would do to Daniel is best left to the imagination). Daniel can also turn into a bow for Shouki to use in robot mode, which is a cool extra, though Daniel does not attach to Shouki’s arm all that well (the arm guards / shuttle nose gets in the way) and the weight also tends to pull the ball-jointed shoulders down. It is a pity, because the effect does look good once posed.
Overall, Shouki is a nice package. While the extreme obscurity of the character will doubtless prove to be a barrier to many, it is a phenomenally nice deco which cleverly integrates the shuttle mode, and the inclusion of a Mini-con, while not perfect, is a nice addition. Check out the full gallery, linked below:
Million Publishing Exclusive Generations Shouki
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