Well, it took a while, but the USA/Australian carded Transformers Prime First Edition Deluxe Vehicon (same as the Canadian version would have been) finally started showing up on ebay.  Since my previous review of the Japanese version wasn’t very thorough, I thought I’d just review all three.

All pictures have the USA/Australian First Edition Vehicon on the left, The Japanese First Edition Vehicon in the center, and the USA 2012 Prime Vehicon on the right.

Vehicle Mode

I love the design of the First Edition toy, though it does look like it could be a transforming Batmobile.  The US version is dark purple, so dark that it almost looks black.  The Japanese version is slightly lighter purple.  Side by side the color difference is obvious, but I doubt it can be seen in the pictures.  Other than that, the vehicle modes are identical accept for the rear bumper.

As you can see from the picture above, they did not paint the stripes on the rear bumper.  Kind of cheap, really.

The USA Prime 2012 version is smaller, and while clearly the same vehicle, it’s of a completely different design.  It’s not terrible, but it’s not as nice as it’s larger predecessor.

Robot Mode

The first edition robot mode looks great.  It would have been nice if the rear of the car and spoiler could fold down more on his back, but that’s a minor thing.  If you look at the picture above, you can see a few color differences.  The USA/Australia one has blue knees that match the upper body while the Japanese version is the same as the rest of the legs.  The Japanese version has a dark blue area in the center of his abdomen, as opposed to the sold blue on the USA/Australian version.  Other than that and the overall color, they are basically the same with one exception.  The USA version has translucent red plastic on the back of his head, while the Japanese version has clear.

The USA Prime 2012 version is much different.  It is sleeker, without any of the car parts on his back that his predecessor had.  I actually think for the robot mode I like this one better.  One interesting thing, the entire top of his car mode from hood to spoiler splits in half and folds up to form the bulk of his legs, with a second panel with the foot folding down in front.  It’s an interesting design, as it removes much of the kibble from the larger toy, however, some of that hinged section is clear plastic, which is notorious for breaking.  I wonder if down the road, it will be hard to find loose ones of these that are not broken.

Overall, I really like both toys, but I think I like the First Edition better for the size.  It’s a shame that the First Edition Vehicon was not mass released in the USA, but you never know, Hasbro did say they were going to try to get them out.  I’m not going to hold my breath.

Thanks for reading!