Name: Detritus
Series: e-Hobby exclusives
Allegiance: Junkion
Function: Mercenary
Alternate Mode: Army Jeep
JEEP MODE
Height: 4.5cm Length: 11cm Width: 5.5cm
A skin-coloured Jeep with black rubber tyres, a caramel brown plastic spare tyre on the back, caramel brown seats and chrome silver wheels and headlights. Detritus lacks the extensive chrome found on Hound, instead there's a dull brown plastic used for his bumper mounted winch, rear vision mirrors and tray mounted gun. The cab is wide open, with a colourless front windshield the only protection. The dull brown elements and chrome silver wheels have "dirty" earth-tone paint on them, which really gives the illusion of encrusted dirt from off-road trips. The front of the Jeep also sports a slightly darkened paint application - although it's more uniform than the painted-in-crevasses effect elsewhere. We get the choice of both Autobot and Decepticon logo stickers to place on the hood - and the relief on both is actually skin-coloured rather than white. I should clarify 'skin' colour - Detritus is the basically the colour of foundation make-up for European skin. While the colour scheme is unusual, it's both striking and very well done - the application of the dirt paint is excellent, and is a great alternative to Hound's extensive chrome.
Detritus would be smaller than most of the Diaclone cars, since army Jeeps are small, functional, things. Detritus is smaller than many Diaclone cars, although at a larger scale than most. The detailing is quite impressive, since everything gets to be slighter bigger. The trademark Jeep grille is there, while the headlights have diffusion lines and the winch is quite intricate (considering it's only for show). There are ridges in the tray and a gas can mounted on the back. There are license plate holders on the left of both bumpers. He has bucket seats and some dashboard detailing (although there's no steering wheel). Detritus's rear section is die cast metal and the tyres are ridged.
There's not really a lot of play value here, which is to be expected, but the wheels roll fairly well for a car without axles and the rear gun lifts about 30° and swivels at the base. I'm quite happy with the gun motion - it's more play value than we see of many earlier Transformers vehicles. The main flaw of this Jeep mode is the number of detachable pieces you're able to lose - the gun, gas can and spare tyre all detach. Rougher play can also break off the mirrors. Detritus's paint is more stable than Hound's - there's less chrome and the pieces that have lost chrome now have paint limited to crevices and crannies.
His small size doesn't really count against Detritus, since he _should_ be small and the wonderfully creative dirty paint is so well executed. The gun is nice and I love both the colour and choice of allegiance symbol stickers. This Jeep, while clearly a repaint of Hound, has a vastly different feel, which I really appreciate. It would have been easy to simply change the green to beige or black and not bother with anything else.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Remove the addons, all of which set aside for robot mode. Fold the back down to form his feet, fold away the seats to form his heels. Stand him up, pull the front of the Jeep up, unlocking the sides of the jeep, which rotate down. Fold the front forward to form his chest, which will cause the head to rise out of the hood. Fold the windshield back, swing back the front wheels which will cause the arms to pop out to the sides. Fold the arms down, give Hound his handgun, attach his missile launcher behind on of the shoulders and you're done.
I like the two auto-transform mechanisms here - neither really takes away from the challenge and both are fairly sturdy. The head rising out of his chest is a great effect, which always reminds me of Voltron.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 10.5cm Width: 5.5cm
Again based on skin colour, with more of the caramel brown on his arms, groin and boots. The thighs and weapons are dull brown while his face is silver with red eyes. The only chrome we see now is on his headlights, which adorn the chest along with the front of the Jeep. The allegiance symbol will sit on top of the chest, in fact you could put one of each on either side if you really want to. Again the colour scheme makes Detritus a character all his own - the loss of chrome actually helps, since Hound has so much and Detritus so little. The caked on dirt effect is still present - the missile launcher and gun (but not the missiles) have the effect.
Detritus is smaller than other Diaclone cars, and smaller than his eHobby brethren, but with a busier colour scheme that's more unified than some. His thighs are shorter than they should be, although the legs as a whole are ok since he has fairly big shins, but the arms are noticeably short. The head is also quite small, but his face is detailed enough to look good above the details on the front of his chest. The taillights and tyre mount are on his toes, adding to the already impressive array of Jeep elements visible here.
Detritus isn't very poseable - the arms swing 90° and that's it. The missile launcher on his shoulder fires fairly well, and comes with three missiles. The short arms have to hide underneath the front fenders, which is why they're small and unposeable. While there's an explanation, I'm still not really happy with the arms.
While the arms are a notable flaw, Detritus is still a nice robot. The Jeep elements make for a visually appealing robot, the detailed face and extensive chrome look good while the launcher adds something to the look (aside from much needed height!). While he's small, the paint job is excellent and the colour scheme looks great. As a limited repaint this robot mode is great, and distinct from the original.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of. Detritus is a limited, eHobby only repaint of Hound, available only in Japan.
OVERALL
A great Jeep mode and a solid robot mode make this a worthwhile toy despite the size. The Junkion mercenary concept is novel and the dirt-encrusted look is both creative and very well done, making Detritus one of the most interesting repaints we've seen. He's not as desired as some eHobby repaints, since this colour scheme has no history, but is a far more interesting repaint than most of them. The mould has some flaws, but as a repaint Detritus is as good as I could have hoped. While he's limited and therefore fairly pricey, I'd recommend Detritus if you can get him - if only all repaints were as good as this - 9/10
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